Foreign desk: Darkness in Venezuela
Venezuela’s recent election protest “unfolded as it was always destined to: [Nicolás] Maduro, the architect of Venezuela’s deepening despair, remained in power,” mourns Robert Ampuero at The Free Press. “María Corina Machado, the indomitable leader of the Venezuelan opposition, was abruptly freed by the same police force that had detained her at a protest,” but “Edmundo González Urrutia, the rightful victor of the election, and Machado’s ally, failed to return to the country as he had boldly promised.” “Maduro’s survival demonstrates his utter reliance on the Cuban lifeline.” “Unclear is how the world will respond as Venezuela’s crisis deepens.” “The new Trump administration will be tempted to seek a pragmatic détente with the regime,” so: “What little hope remains lies not with foreign powers but with Venezuelans themselves.”
Conservative: Newsom’s Awful at Governing
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is “terrible at this ‘governing’ thing, and he’s been terrible at it for a long time,” snarks National Review’s Jim Geraghty. Amid the pandemic, Newsom “attended a fancy dinner party” and “was seen bare faced while indoors” at an NFL game when his state limited large gatherings and mandated masking indoors. US News & World Report ranks California “dead last in opportunity, dead last in affordability, 47th in employment, 47th in energy infrastructure, 46th in air and water quality. “For five straight years,” U-Haul data ranked California “highest in people moving out of the state.” “The catastrophe” of the Los Angeles fires will likely end chatter that “Newsom could be president someday,” but: “Why do California Democrats love this guy?”
Eye on Cali: The Price of Wrong Priorities
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his plans to ‘Trump-proof’ the Golden State,” recalls The Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley, but “how about fire-proofing” it? LA’s fires are “exposing” progressive “follies” — such as when it halted wind and fire upgrades for power lines to probe destruction of milkvetch plants, its “bloated” firefighter-union contracts, which shift funding away from actual fire prevention, and “wrongheaded priorities” like restricting water from the north to protect delta smelt fish. Even its “response to crime and homelessness may have contributed to the fires,” as criminals and homeless started past fires. Will the fires now prompt Newsom & Co. “to rethink their delusions? Forget it, it’s La La Land.”
From the right: Fetterman Wins Over Trump
Prez-elect Donald Trump praised Sen. John Fetterman as an “impressive” and “commonsense person” who “loves our country,” after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, reports the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. “Trump said his impression of Fetterman early on was that he was very liberal,” but that “started to change as he has watched the Pennsylvania senator navigate his support for Israel since Oct. 7, 2023,” and now Fetterman is working with Republicans on measures like the Laken Riley Act. Fetterman explained he would “meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps” deliver results “for Pennsylvania and the nation,” reminding critics he’s “the senator for all Pennsylvanians — not just Democrats.”
Ex-NYPD: Behind Gotham’s Soaring Disorder
The “crucial element missing . . . as disorder grips the Big Apple,” ex-NYPD Det. Michael Alcazar argues at Unherd, is that “law-breakers don’t respect law enforcement — and for good reason: they know that, thanks to misguided criminal-justice ‘reform,’ they can re-offend over and over with utter impunity.” NYC’s 1990s “renaissance” was “driven by a police culture of strict enforcement.” But by 2020 the Legislature had “launched its disastrous experiment with bail ‘reform,’ eliminating cash bail and removing judges’ discretion in detaining criminal suspects.” Today, “nearly 20% of offenders break the law again.” “Offenders are often released on the same day they are arrested, and many go on to do more harm even as earlier cases against them are still pending. Yet district attorneys like Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg remain committed to . . . programmes that keep criminals on the streets.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
