‘My hope for the Tibetan people’
The Dalai Lama at The Washington Post
Tibetans “continue to be deprived of their dignity as a people and their freedom to live according to their own wishes and their culture,” says the Dalai Lama. Will China “choose the path of dominance and aggression?” Or “will it choose the path of responsibility and embrace a constructive leading role?” Resolving the “long-standing problem of Tibet through dialogue would be a powerful signal,” and “what is required from China’s leadership is long-term vision, courage and magnanimity.”
‘The FDA’s new boss will face an age-old dilemma’
Daniela J. Lamas at The New York Times
FDA commissioner nominee Dr. Marty Makary “would step into a role increasingly defined by the tension between fostering lifesaving innovation and ensuring that the public is protected from unsafe or ineffective drugs,” says Daniela J. Lamas. This “will be made even more complicated by the Trump administration’s threats to research funding and the distrust of science espoused by Dr. Makary’s boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” How “will Dr. Makary reconcile all the different priorities?”
‘Trump kills an intrusive housing rule, again’
Stanley Kurtz at National Review
Donald Trump is ending the “notoriously intrusive Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule,” which “gives the feds the ability to control zoning regulations and many other aspects of local government,” says Stanley Kurtz. It “severely undermines our federalist system, not only by expanding central control but by turning suburban municipalities into helpless satellites of neighboring urban centers.” The “death of AFFH at the hands of President Trump is a sign of the times.”
‘The latest trend online must be simply devastating for JD Vance’
Scott Nover at Slate
J.D. Vance “speaks the language of the millennial internet. So the latest social media trend must be simply devastating for him,” says Scott Nover. When the “vice president scrolls on his phone, does he stare into a fun-house mirror, where he’s been stretched into forms once thought unimaginable?” The “Vance edits are a vice presidential body horror,” but “perhaps the sharpest barbs take aim at Vance’s very real performance in the Oval Office.”