'The national appetite has been waning'

'Wes Moore realizes slavery reparations are yesterday's fad'

Jason L. Riley at The Wall Street Journal

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore "did fellow Democrats a favor last week when he vetoed a bill creating a commission to study slavery reparations," says Jason L. Riley. He is "taking flak from the left, but the party ought to be thanking him." Reparations "would amount to another massive wealth-redistribution scheme, and there is no reason to believe it would be more successful than previous efforts," as "50 years of preference policies have failed to address racial disparities."

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'China caused the Covid catastrophe — at long last let's hold it accountable'

Vincent C. Chen at The Hill

The Covid-19 pandemic was a "tragedy compounded not only by the virus itself, but by deception, denial and silence from Beijing," says Vincent C. Chen. Congress "should act swiftly to amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to remove protection for governments that deliberately conceal global health threats." The White House "can identify Chinese state-owned assets within U.S. jurisdiction." If the U.S. "cannot hold the world's second-largest economy accountable for unleashing a global pandemic, what future crisis will go unanswered?"

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'Waving the flag could turn the tables on Trump and the GOP'

Laura Washington at the Chicago Tribune

Republicans have "painted Democrats as far-left extremists and America haters, to disastrous effect. It's time to turn the tables," says Laura Washington. Trump's "rants have no basis in fact, but if you bellow loud enough and often enough, it sinks in," so "flag-shagging, by wrapping yourself snugly in the American flag, is what the Democrats should do. There is no downside." They "need to stop being the party that stands up for the protester who burns our flag."

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'Rocketing toward monopoly'

Daniel Boguslaw at The American Prospect

Elon Musk has "thus far been spared from the greatest risk to his interstellar empire: the continuity of hawkish antitrust enforcement," says Daniel Boguslaw. The "richest man on Earth will soon earn an even darker and stupider moniker: viceroy of low-Earth orbit." The "creeping effects of monopolies usually include the stifling of innovation, price manipulation, increased costs, and selectively provided services." But "when it comes to SpaceX, national security concerns largely absent in consumer cartels are introduced into the equation."

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