The U. The Hamas attack of Oct. That was the right thing to do. 8 billion a year in military aid, the largest outlay of American foreign aid to any one country in the world — is a reflection of the exceptionally close and enduring relationship between the two countries. The question is not whether Israel has the right to defend itself against an enemy sworn to its destruction. Netanyahu has ignored his obligations to provide food and medicine to the civilian population in the territory that Israel now controls. Nor should Americans ever lose sight of the threat that Hamas, a terrorist organization, poses to the security of the region and to any hope of peace between Palestinians and Israelis. The United States has had to take extraordinary steps, including airdrops and building a pier, to overcome Israeli obstacles to providing humanitarian aid. Thanks in part to the bombs and other heavy weapons supplied by the United States, the Israeli military now faces little armed resistance in most of Gaza. He has, until recently, resisted diplomatic efforts for a cease-fire that might have led to a release of hostages still in the custody of Hamas. The mechanism to do that is already in place. and international law. But this is neither a formal cease-fire nor an end to the war, and it is incumbent on the Biden administration to persevere in its efforts to help end the fighting, free the hostages and protect Palestinian civilians. Last week, Representative Nancy Pelosi was among 40 House Democrats to sign a letter to the president and the secretary of state urging them to ensure that military assistance to Israel is in compliance with U. Failure to fulfill those measures could lead to suspension of further arms transfers. Military aid is the one lever Mr. -Israeli relations when Israel’s security, and the stability of the entire region, is at stake. The United States has had Israel’s back, diplomatically and militarily, through decades of wars and crises. html___April 12The Washington Post on the measles outbreak in the United StatesThis year is not yet one-third over, yet measles cases in the United States are on track to be the worst since a massive outbreak in 2019. Confronted with that suffering, the United States cannot remain beholden to an Israeli leader fixated on his own survival and the approval of the zealots he harbors. The virus is slipping through the gaps. 2 percent during the 2019-2020 school year to 93. 1 percent in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the CDC, leaving approximately 250,000 kindergartners at risk each year over the past three years. The global vaccine coverage rate of the first dose, at 83 percent, and second dose, at 74 percent, are well under the 95 percent level. Many of the outbreaks in the United States appear to have been triggered by international travel or contact with a traveler. The elimination of measles in the United States in 2000, driven by a safe and effective vaccine, was a major public health success. Although the elimination status still holds, the U. The CDC reports that, in the decade before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, the disease killed 400 to 500 people, hospitalized 48,000 and gave 1,000 people encephalitis in the United States every year — and that was just among reported cases. The only side effect of those diseases was that my mom sighed heavily and called work to say she had to stay home to look after a kid with spots. ” The author, Alan Cassels, claims that the news media is advancing a “a fear-mongering narrative,” and adds, “Those of us born before 1970 with personal experience pretty much all agree that measles is a big ‘meh. Capitol riot and the Supreme CourtThe people who breached the U. At the same time, the rest of the world must also strive to boost childhood vaccination rates, which slid backward during the covid-19 pandemic. , and rooting for the government to lose requires no sympathy for the MAGA mob. ” The government says he “crashed into the police line” after charging it. The feds tell an uglier tale. ” The feds won 2-1 at the D. Now watch, as jurists with Ivy degrees argue about the meaning of the word “otherwise. ” Or how about a Congressman (Rep. ”Judge Gregory Katsas filed the vigorous dissent. The obstruction statute “has been on the books for two decades and charged in thousands of cases — yet until the prosecutions arising from the January 6 riot, it was uniformly treated as an evidence-impairment crime. Access to weapons, alcohol and pornography is curtailed in this way because a level of maturity is the precondition for access (but not a guarantee of responsible use). The other piece of context is that prosecutors going after Jan. If there is not yet a consensus that young people’s use of smartphones needs stricter regulation, that is the trajectory. But there is evidence of sudden, steep rises in depression, anxiety and other mental health problems in the first generation to pass through adolescence in a state of digital saturation. But there is plausible culpability in the simultaneous mass dissemination of platforms and devices that dissolve notions of privacy, are engineered to be addictive and turn social interaction into something akin to a competitive video The hardware is neutral. It is the apps and the content they channel that harm young people. The trilateral mischief-making clique is just the latest in a series engineered by Washington with the aim of containing China. The tortured evolution of the recent online safety bill shows the immense complexity of regulation in a rapidly evolving realm. One counterview is that phones are the wrong target. repeatedly calling on the US to invest in the Philippines. For the Philippines, it is an attempt to curry favor with the US in the hope of receiving some largesse. For the US, it is taking comfort in numbers. This will ensure their security cooperation evolves into the core of the “Indo-Pacific” wing of the US’ security network, with Tokyo helping to dovetail it with the transatlantic wing. In this way, Japan is taking a ride on the US’ strategy to contain China using the pretext of shared values.
