'A reactionary social media post tells you nothing'

'I do have opinions, of course, but they don't fit in a tweet'

Elizabeth Spiers in The New York Times

Anybody who doesn't post outrage about Hamas' attack or Israel's response risks being accused of "depraved indifference to human suffering," says Elizabeth Spiers in The New York Times. But who cares what Justin Bieber or L'Oreal thinks? Every "simplistic" reaction "cheapens the discourse and impedes progress. It's sloganeering masquerading as moral clarity." The pressure to spout an opinion "discourages shutting up and listening and letting the voices that matter the most be heard over the din."

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'Leeching support from independents, and some Republicans, away from Trump'

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling in The New Republic

Republicans' nightmares about "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent party pivot appear to be coming true," says Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling in The New Republic. A new national poll by NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist found that RFK Jr.'s jump from the Democratic primary into an independent run for the White House widens President Biden's lead over Donald Trump to seven percentage points, compared to five in a two-candidate race. "Independents tired of hyper-partisan politics" want another option. 

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'An annual shot for everyone is a bit of a waste'

F.D. Flam at Bloomberg

The U.S. vaccine policy "isn't working," says F.D. Flam at Bloomberg. Health officials are tying the annual Covid booster to flu shots to "increase uptake," but "less than 3% of eligible Americans have gotten the new booster this fall." It would be better to focus on "the most vulnerable to severe illness" to avoid "squandering money and public trust on a broad vaccination campaign that isn't really necessary." Save mass vaccinations for "a more dangerous variant."

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'Nothing in the law grants workers the right to kvetch publicly'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

"The National Labor Relations Board has declared that employees can't be fired for staying home," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. The board has charged X, formerly Twitter, with violating labor laws by firing a software engineer after she complained about "new owner Elon Musk's return-to-office policy." That's "good news" for grumbling workers. But creating new labor rights "out of whole cloth" is bad for business. "Employers have rights too."

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