Music world's anti-Israel blinders, restore parents' opt-out rights and other commentary

New York Post

23-04-2025

Culture critic: Music World's Anti-Israel Blinders
Commentary's Seth Mandel wasn't 'surprised' by the Coachella anti-Israel 'sloganeering'; bands think slamming it will further their careers. But it's 'strange' that music artists pay 'so much attention' to the Israel-Hamas war without acknowledging how it started: 'with the biggest music festival massacre in history.' Indeed, 'it requires an extraordinary level of sliminess to use the music stage to boost the army that carried out that massacre.' And Nova is just 'one of the many ways that the world's support for Hamas against Israel has exposed the hypocrisy of the self-styled liberal humanists.' When Recording Academy head Harvey Mason did recognize Oct. 7 in 2024, he contextualized it and never even mentioned Israel. Better than what's most common: 'Nova victims get nothing — or worse.'
Schools beat: Restore Parents' Opt-Out Rights
'When my local school board stripped away parents' right to opt out of storybooks that promote controversial gender ideology, I knew I had to act,' sighs Billy Moges at RealClearPolitics. The Supreme Court must 'uphold the principle that it is parents — not government authorities — who should guide their children's education.' The Montgomery County Board of Education introduced new storybooks that 'went beyond teaching virtues and instead spotlighted themes like pride parades, gender transitions, and inappropriate romance for pre-kindergarten students,' and parents didn't want their children exposed to them. Before the opt-out ended, Maryland law and school-board policies allowed parents to have their kids skip 'classroom lessons that violated a family's faith.' Parents, the county should realize, are 'our children's primary teachers, not obstacles.'
Foreign desk: An Untenable Ukraine-Peace Plan
The terms of the Ukraine peace talks 'are unacceptable to all parties to this conflict save the Kremlin and the Trump administration,' thunders National Review's Noah Rothman — especially 'recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula' and the US refusal to 'provide Kyiv with direct security guarantees or even a commitment to provide future assistance.' 'The administration does appear to be racing to conclude an agreement — any agreement that it can call a cease-fire — within the president's first 100 days in office. That political objective is now running counter to America's strategic interests.' In other words, it's 'clear what Donald Trump would get out of the conclusion of this framework. How his country benefits is another matter entirely.'
From the right: Prove Your Critics Wrong, Pete
'The Beltway press would love to knock Pete Hegseth out as Defense secretary, but that doesn't come close to explaining the mess at the Pentagon,' quip The Wall Street Journal's editors — all the 'staff infighting, dismissals, and leaks over Signal app chats look to be the self-inflicted mistakes of a management neophyte.' Can Hegseth 'handle the job'? 'As GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell warned' in voting against his confirmation, 'the desire to be a change agent isn't a sufficient credential to run the giant Pentagon bureaucracy.' Hegseth should 'use the staff shakeup to hire some loyal grownups who know the building.' Remember, 'his calling card is enforcing high standards and accountability at every military level.' 'Is the secretary accountable himself?'
Higher-ed watch: Trump's Right To Target Ivies
'Trump is on to something vital in trying to reform a higher education system that has long excluded conservative students and faculty while promoting a leftist agenda,' cheers USA Today's Nicole Russell. The president 'isn't wrong to leverage taxpayer dollars in an attempt to force Harvard' to 'review the ideological diversity of administrators, faculty and students.' 'A 2022 Harvard Crimson survey found that more than 80% of the university's faculty self-identified as liberal or very liberal,' and less than 2% 'said they are conservative.' 'It would be one thing for the university to favor progressives over conservatives in hiring if it didn't receive federal money,' but Trump is simply 'against taxpayers funding universities that teach America's young people to hate our country and Western values.'
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board