Progressive era is over, NY's leaky mega-budget and other commentary
Culture critic: Progressive Era Is Over
'The decline of woke isn't merely a 'vibe shift,'' posits Eric Kaufmann at The Wall Street Journal. 'It marks the end of the 60-year rise of left-liberalism in American culture. We are entering a post-progressive era.' The cultural left's push for 'next-level DEI policies' sparked 'an enduring antiwoke reaction.' Even 'immigration attitudes have turned restrictionist after decades of liberalization.' 'Confronted by this broad-based rejection, progressive activists have lost confidence and energy.' And making it worse is that 'culturally inflected problems elude progressive solutions.' That has cost 'cultural progressivism' considerable influence. So, yes, we're 'leaving the age of progressive confidence behind.' But what replaces it 'as our cultural lodestar will become evident only in the fullness of time.'
Eye on Albany: Our Leaky Mega-Budget
Advertisement
'New York's budget has sprung its first major leak just five days after being finalized,' chortles Empire Center's Bill Hammond. He notes a move by feds to close 'a loophole in the Medicaid financing system' exploited by the state. Billions in increased Medicaid spending — plus $2 billion in 'rate hikes' for providers — was predicated on revenue from the 'newly enacted MCO tax.' The scheme allowed the state to 'keep the federal matching aid as net revenue.' The amended rule allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to 'start withholding federal matching funds for those taxes as soon as the regulation takes effect,' possibly this summer. Without the MCO tax revenue, New York's Medicaid 'fiscal cliff appears to be just two or three months away.'
Liberal: The Dems' Political Monopoly
'One-party political rule by Democrats in big cities,' notes The Liberal Patriot's John Halpin, is the 'the largest monopoly of them all.' Yet the 'anti-monopoly and abundance policy concepts' currently en vogue around housing, energy infrastructure, and transportation aren't applied to the political monopoly Dems enjoy. 'In America's biggest cities, this translates into enervated municipal governments that coast from election to election with little outside challenge.' So 'schools don't get fixed. New housing or other development gets stalled. Roads, transportation, and other public utility projects get screwed up and delayed with massive cost overruns. Crime goes unaddressed. Public spaces and parks go to seed.' In other words, 'concentrated, one-party political power' is just one of many 'forms of misrule that lead to poor policy outcomes.'
Advertisement
Conservative: A Sick ICC Coverup
Freshly exposed allegations might explain why International Criminal Court top prosecutor Karim Khan issued 'an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,' observes Commentary's Seth Mandel. 'A female employee of Khan's testified that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted' by him and was bullied into covering it up. After learning of the allegations, Khan canceled trips to Israel and Gaza; 'two weeks later he issued the arrest warrants.' The accuser wrestled with coming forward because she didn't want to derail the warrants; Khan believed they 'would insulate him from criticism from many of the ICC member states.' According to testimony, he 'explicitly tied the rape allegations to the Israeli warrants.' 'There is obviously no defense of the arrest warrants' legitimacy now.'
Advertisement
Libertarian: Power AI With Nukes!
Nuclear power would 'allow the U.S. to make advancements in AI with minimal greenhouse gas emissions,' reports Reason's Jeff Luse. That's badly needed: 'Goldman Sachs projects that AI will increase data center power demand by 160 percent nationwide through 2030.' Texas, 'the fastest-growing consumer of electricity in the nation,' will need to add 'the energy equivalent of 30 nuclear power plants by 2030 to meet demand.' The good news? 'Last Energy is preparing to deliver . . . 30 of its 20-megawatt reactors in Haskell County, Texas, to service data centers across the state.' Up to now, the company 'has focused on growing its business abroad because of stringent federal regulations.' New nuclear energy projects 'will only be as cost-effective and efficient as regulations allow.'
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
12 minutes ago
- UPI
Australia awaits American decision on AUKUS nuclear submarine pact
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, Calif. in March of 2023. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo June 12 (UPI) -- Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced Thursday he feels that the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal which connects with the United Kingdom and United States, will continue after the Trump administration reviews the pact. "I am very confident this is going to happen," he told ABC News, as he believes AUKUS is of strategic interest to all three nations. The Pentagon has expressed that the 2021 deal is being reassessed to make sure it's a fit with President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda before he meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit taking place in Canada next week. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also had met with Marles, who is also Australia's Minister for Defense, earlier this month and recommended Australia increase its defense spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP. Albanese said in a press conference Tuesday that he thinks "that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia's defense" when asked about a defense spending boost, while not directly addressing if he would risk losing the AUKUS deal over that decision as questioned. The Pentagon review is being led by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who in the past has been critical of the deal made under the Biden administration to arm Australia with nuclear subs that use advanced American and British technology. "In principle it's a great idea," Colby posted to X about AUKUS in August of 2024," but added he's "agnostic" about the program. However, Colby also posted that day he was "convinced we should focus on Asia, readying for a war with China" in order to avoid it. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian announced Thursday in a press conference when asked about his nation's opinion on the possibility of an end to AUKUS that China opposes "manufacturing bloc confrontation and anything that amplifies the risk of nuclear proliferation and exacerbates arms race."
E&E News
16 minutes ago
- E&E News
New megabill text revives land sales, axes IRA funding
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's portion of Republicans' party-line bill proposes to sell off certain public lands and repeal billions of dollars for energy programs in Democrats' 2022 climate law. The committee's proposal, unveiled Wednesday evening, contains many of the provisions in the House-passed H.R. 1, the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill Act' — including ones that would target the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office or charge a one-time fee to speed up permitting for some natural gas projects. But there are some significant differences. Most notable is a new section favored by Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) to revive the sale of public lands, reigniting a firestorm of opposition from advocates. The provision goes further than an abandoned proposal in the House, encompassing Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands across 11 Western states. Advertisement ENR's text comes as the Senate is racing to tweak and quickly vote on tax, energy and national security legislation after the House approved its version last month. Republicans are working through the reconciliation process, which will allow them to skirt the Senate filibuster and pass the budget-focused bill with simple majorities.
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Senate Democrats demand probe of Ed Martin's pledge to 'shame' Trump's opponents, other actions at DOJ
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing for an investigation into top Justice Department official Ed Martin over his stated plans to "shame" political opponents of President Donald Trump who he's unable to charge criminally, as well as a host of other politically charged matters Martin has publicly pledged to pursue in his new position. "I write to express my grave concern about Ed Martin's stated intention to abuse his new roles as lead of the so-called 'Weaponization Working Group' you constituted at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and as DOJ's Pardon Attorney," Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter transmitted to the Justice Department, which was first obtained by ABC News. "Following his disgraceful tenure as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Mr. Martin apparently plans to continue his misconduct in his new roles at DOJ." The DOJ did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment on the letter. MORE: Ed Martin, Trump's DOJ pardon attorney, says he'll review Biden's outgoing pardons Martin's controversial tenure as the interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., in the opening months of Trump's presidency thrust the office into turmoil and led several Senate Republicans to state publicly they wouldn't support his permanent confirmation in the role. But once the White House announced they were pulling Martin's nomination, Trump said Martin would instead be appointed to several top positions working out of DOJ's main headquarters -- serving as an associate deputy attorney general, the U.S. pardon attorney and director of the so-called "Weaponization Working Group." Martin celebrated the news on his X account, posting 'Eagle Unleashed,' and in various interviews celebrated what he described as a mandate from Trump directly to target the alleged 'weaponization' of the department under the Biden administration. 'It's classic Donald Trump, right? That somebody tries to block him and block his pick, and he decides to double down,' Martin told Breitbart News last month. 'This is probably the greatest job I could ever envision.' MORE: Trump US attorney nominee distances himself from antisemitic Jan. 6 rioter he once praised In a news conference announcing his departure from the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, Martin confirmed he planned to launch a probe of last-minute pardons issued by former President Joe Biden just before he left office -- and suggested that officials he's unable to charge would instead be publicly "shamed." "There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people," Martin said. "And if they can be charged, we'll charge them. But if they can't be charged, we will name them ... And in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are shamed. And that's a fact. That's the way things work. And so that's how I believe the job operates." The approach would directly conflict with longstanding DOJ policy that prohibits prosecutors from naming or disparaging individuals who they don't intend to charge criminally. When asked about that policy by ABC News during the news conference, Martin said he would "have to look at what the provision you're referring to, to see -- we want to square ourselves with doing the things correctly." The letter from Senate Democrats said Martin's statements "are a brazen admission that Mr. Martin plans to systematically violate the Justice Manual's prohibition on extrajudicial statements by shaming uncharged parties for nakedly partisan reasons. Weaponizing DOJ in this manner will further undermine the public's trust in the department in irreparable ways." MORE: Bondi, as new AG, launches 'Weaponization Working Group' to review officials who investigated Trump In his early days as pardon attorney, Martin said he advised the president in his pardon of former Virginia county sheriff Scott Jenkins, who had been sentenced to ten years in prison for a federal bribery conviction. "No MAGA left behind," Martin posted on X in response to the pardon. Durbin's letter further cited reports Martin has "personally advocated" fast-tracking pardons for members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted of seditious conspiracy stemming from their roles leading up to the attack on the Capitol, after President Trump initially opted to commute their sentences in his sweeping clemency action for the nearly 1600 individuals charged in connection with Jan. 6. Durbin's letter requests Bondi provide a host of records related to Martin's appointment and early days as head of the Weaponization Working Group and Pardon Attorney's Office. It's unclear whether DOJ will ultimately respond to Durbin's demands given Democrats' minority position on the committee. Senate Democrats demand probe of Ed Martin's pledge to 'shame' Trump's opponents, other actions at DOJ originally appeared on
