Conservative: The Quiet Crisis at ActBlue
“ActBlue is an important part of the Democratic machine. And now something appears to have gone terribly wrong,” reports the Washington Examiner’s Byron York.
“At least seven senior ActBlue officials have resigned in recent days,” possibly due “to the actions of a whistleblower inside the organization.”
“Nobody will say a word to reporters,” but GOP Reps. James Comer and Bryan Steil have indicated in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the House Oversight and Administration committees are investigating “recent reports suggesting fraud and evasion of campaign finance law by individuals exploiting online contribution platforms, especially ActBlue.”
York continues: “Something is going on at ActBlue,” and “it is one more problem for a Democratic Party that is beset by problems right now.”
From the right: Randi Hates Parental Choice
American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten admits she’s desperate “to avoid ‘block grants’ going to families” in the form of vouchers, notes Jonathan Turley at Res Ipsa Loquitur.
If the Eduction Department’s eliminated, she is “concerned” that states will emulate Florida which “allows for school choice and has demanded greater performance from public schools.”
Teachers unions and school boards are harming “public education by treating children and parents more like captives than consumers.”
But “once parents have a choice,” the unions will lose their “captive audience,” so “to maintain funding, they will have to actually improve educational results for these families.”
Campus watch: The Trump War on Antisemitism
The possible deportation of Mahmoud Khalil “should not crowd out coverage of the fact that university administrative culture is already changing in significant ways thanks to the White House’s focus on combating campus anti-Semitism,” observes Commentary’s Seth Mandel.
“Last week, the administration cancelled $400 million in federal funding to Columbia and announced it was undertaking a review of billions more in grants.”
So there’s no more doubt on whether there’ll “be any tangible consequences for the schools that allowed their campuses to descend into prolonged bouts of anti-Semitic hysteria.”
And the Trump crew has “notified 60 other schools that they risked the same fate.”
Team Trump “is well on its way to getting schools to discipline their own — or lose the gravy train of taxpayer money.”
Eye on NY: The ‘Father’ of Chronic Absenteeism
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo “is now running for New York City mayor as the answer to problems he helped to create,” groans The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley.
Cuomo was behind “bail reform,” “sanctuary policies” and the order forcing nursing homes to accept Covid patients which “helped to spread the virus among the elderly.”
Students “still suffering the consequences” of his orders keeping schools closed “may never recover,” as the Manhattan Institute reports that chronic absenteeism “climbed from 25% before the pandemic to 34.8% last year.”
The “economic costs of pandemic learning losses” will cause these students to “lose 5-6% of lifetime earnings.”
Libertarian: Defense Cuts Can Save Billions
As the United States rethinks its global commitments, Reason’s J.D. Tuccille identifies opportunities for “the cash-strapped US government to cut costs on military expenditures.”
Per the Cato Institute and Congressional Budget Office, “the biggest savings would be found in reducing ground combat forces” and trimming the military’s “civilian workforce of nearly 800,000.”
“Withdrawing troops from Europe,” meanwhile, could result in “potential annual savings of $100 billion.”
Some cuts are coming: DOGE released a report on a cost-saving plan, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon” to find ways to cut “8 percent from the defense budget in each of the next five years.”
Yes, “such cuts would reduce the ability of the US government to project power around the world.”
But “they would maintain protection for the homeland” while giving the “federal government an opportunity to balance the books.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board