| ◼ The right to free speech has long been far more robust in the U.S. than across the Atlantic. This gap has been widening, as Europe’s increasingly radicalized ruling class has clamped down on expressions of dissent, notably but not exclusively relating to immigration policy and its consequences. The growth of online dissent has alarmed Europe’s authorities, and hence the recent proliferation of repressive social media laws. Vice President Vance called out this illiberalism in a speech in Munich, which his critics, self-parodically, labeled “unacceptable.” The refusal of Europe’s mainstream to engage with voters’ unease over the way their societies are changing is driving them toward harder-line parties in which an unhealthy sympathy for the Kremlin is all too common. Besides, as CBS’s Margaret Brennan demonstrated later by absurdly suggesting that the abuse of free speech had led to the Holocaust, Americans could use a refresher on the case for the First Amendment.
◼ Inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target, and has been rising in recent months. Its reductions in interest rates in late 2024, totaling 100 basis points, may have been premature. President Trump is now urging the Fed to cut rates further. Yet looser money risks even more inflation, and thus also risks future rate hikes to rein it in. That wouldn’t be good for the Fed, the president, or the rest of us.
◼ Under the terms of the first phase of a cease-fire deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, 25 of them living, who were dragged into Gaza on October 7, 2023, in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including murderers and terrorists, held by Israel. As of this writing, 19 Israelis have been released, along with five Thai nationals also taken hostage. Among those released were two U.S. citizens, Keith Siegel, 65, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36. The former hostages have spoken about their ordeal: Beatings, torture, and starvation. Kept in tunnels, sometimes chained; not seeing daylight for 15 months. They came home with scars, shrapnel, and untreated gunshot wounds. Siegel, one of the three men who emerged emaciated and weak on February 8, endured six months alone in tunnels. Eli Sharabi did not know until the day of his release that his wife and two daughters were killed on 10/7. Yarden Bibas survived only to learn that his wife Shiri and two tiny sons, Ariel and Kfir, had not returned from hell. On Thursday, in a sickening “ceremony,” Hamas released four coffins; these were supposed to hold the bodies of Shiri and her children, and of Oded Lifshitz, 83. Israeli forensics identified the remains of Lifshitz and said he was murdered in captivity. Israel also identified the remains of Ariel, four when abducted, and Kfir, nine months when abducted, and said they were “brutally murdered.” The fourth body does not belong to their mother; it is an unknown body. The IDF called this “a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization” of the current cease-fire deal. Of the 70 hostages who remain in Gaza, about half are believed to be alive. Among them are Edan Alexander, 21, from Tenafly, N.J., the last American hostage believed to be alive, and the bodies of four Americans killed on October 7. For some three dozen living souls, February brought the grim milestone of 500 days in captivity.
◼ TV shows come and go. M*A*S*H ran for about ten years. Seinfeld for nine. All in the Family for eight (and change). Saturday Night Live just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is embedded in American life, practically defining American comedy: Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, on and on. It has been overseen by producer Lorne Michaels, for this half century. The show has often irked us conservatives, with its left-leaning biases. (Young artists!) But not many would do without it, or deprive others of the pleasure. |
