Progressive: No ‘Right’ Side to History

“The right side of history,” that “staple of progressive rhetoric,” is a “myth,” argues William Deresiewicz at The Free Press: History “does not take sides.” The myth “makes for arrogance and condescension” on the left, a belief that progressives “have the right — the duty — to teach others how to live. How to speak, think, eat.” It “authorizes bad behavior” via an endless “crisis” that gives permission “to suspend the rules: to bury a story, to suppress dissent, to betray the principles you’re supposed to stand for.” In short: “Talk of the right side of history is, at bottom, propaganda — an attempt to persuade us that the largest issues have already been decided.”

Libertarian: Team Biden’s ‘Censorship by Proxy’

“Twitter’s moderation of pandemic-related content was intertwined” with Biden administration policy “from the beginning,” leading it to “suppress” tweets that were “truthful” but in conflict with “official advice,” fumes Reason’s Jacob Sullum. Many tweets on vaccines and pandemic policies were labeled “misleading” or taken down entirely merely for challenging “establishment views.” Twitter “was eager to ‘partner’ with the White House,” because it had been “repeatedly harangued” — including by government officials — “for not doing enough to suppress ‘misinformation.’ ” In effect, Team Biden “managed to impose censorship by proxy”: “Acting publicly and behind the scenes, ‘very angry’ officials have indirectly limited speech that is indisputably protected by the First Amendment.”

From the right: A Start on Fixing the FBI

Charges the FBI “has become too politicized” and should be abolished or reorganized have moved “from the fringes,” notes The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn, with “each revelation of the FBI’s bad behavior — from running interference for Hunter Biden and lying to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to policing speech on Twitter.” But while a “rethinking of the bureau’s mission and clearer guidelines might be needed,” strangely “few have pushed for a sensible step that would start to address it: choosing FBI directors with experience as agents.” “Many of the bureau’s fiercest critics say the overwhelming majority of agents are professional investigators who do their jobs without regard to politics. That’s precisely the culture the FBI needs. So why not start a reform by picking the next FBI director from their ranks, and returning case decisions where they belong — to agents in the field?”

Republican: Protect the Judiciary

It’s not just the would-be assassin of Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “Attempts to intimidate Supreme Court Justices” and other federal judges are “becoming our new normal across America,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich thunders at Fox News, thanks to a “concerning rise in tone and rhetoric against our independent judiciary on both sides of the aisle — but especially from the left.” Worse, “we have seen the Biden Department of Justice continually look the other way when Republican-appointed justices or judges are targeted for potentially illegal protests.” “This will not end well for the men and women who serve on our nation’s highest court, which is why Congress and the U.S. Attorney General must act immediately to prevent a catastrophic tragedy from occurring.”

Eye on NY: Dodging Unemployment-Fraud Facts

“After years of foot-dragging, State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon in a Times Union op-ed last week finally gave an estimate of how much in unemployment insurance benefits her agency paid out to fraudsters during the Covid-19 pandemic,” grumbles the Empire Center’s Peter Warren. Yet she put it at only $4 billion of the $105 billion in total UI payouts from January 2020 to March 2022, while state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli puts it at $11 billion for just the first COVID year. Also, Reardon’s early claim to have “detected and avoided $36 billion in fraudulent claims” fell apart when “the agency couldn’t produce data or analysis to support that boast.” In all, Reardon has behaved “as though her primary job is to shield the public and its elected representatives from knowing how the system is holding up.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board