‘I can’t believe Ron DeSantis is right about this, but he is’
Kara Alaimo at CNN
“As a progressive, I never thought I’d write this sentence: A law just signed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is brilliant,” says Kara Alaimo. The law bars kids under age 14 from having social media accounts and requires 14- and 15-year-olds to get parental permission. “It’s unclear whether this measure can survive a constitutional challenge.” But this is a start in protecting children from online bombardment with body-shaming, predators and cyberbullying at such a “vulnerable” age.
‘Mifepristone case might jeopardize the professional fabric of medicine’
Neil Schluger in The Hill
Doctors challenging the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone aren’t just opposed to caring for women who end pregnancies, which they consider morally objectionable, says Neil Schluger. Their attorney, Erin Hawley, told the Supreme Court her clients are forced to “choose between helping a woman with a life-threatening condition” related to the drug’s use and “violating their conscience.” But treating someone who might die isn’t a choice. It’s one of the “basic ethical obligations in medicine.”
‘Democrats show hypocrisy on Constitution with climate change action’
James Rogan in the Washington Examiner
Democrats “howled” when Texas’ Republican leaders challenged federal immigration authority with a state crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border, says James Rogan. “Hypocritically,” progressives “cheer” when states like Vermont try to punish the oil and gas industries over “climate change, which also is clearly a matter exclusively in the purview of the federal government.” On their pet issues, “Democrats don’t care about the Constitution or federal supremacy and preemption, they just want action.”
‘Why polling is so often wrong’
James Rosen in The Boston Globe
Political pollsters can’t seem to get it right, says James Rosen. The “red tsunami” they predicted in 2022 was a mere “trickle.” And they’re “causing political whiplash” in this year’s rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Pollsters have it tough, with cell phones reducing response rates and excessive pressure rushing fresh surveys. A bigger problem might be “outsized expectations” for clear predictions in a “polarized nation split equally between the two major parties.”