Politics

Watergate prosecutor says Mueller should wrap up now and other commentary

Historian: To Stop Trump, Dems Need the Senate

Democrats increasingly are focused on regaining control of the House. But Jeff Greenfield at Politico says if their real goal is to “thwart the wholesale, radical changes” President Trump is making, they’re pursuing “the wrong target.” It’s the Senate that’s been “the most significant political player of the past four years.” Had Dems run the Senate, Trump’s power to reshape the federal bench “would have been significantly weakened” and tax reform would never have passed, nor would have repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate and a number of the president’s Cabinet choices. So let Dems party in November if they retake the House: If Republicans hold the Senate, as seems likely, “the most significant elements behind Trump’s victories will remain untouched.”

Activist: Social-Media Censors Target Moderate Islam

Though a federal court ruled in April that President Trump may not block people from his Twitter account because it’s a public forum, Sam Westrop at National Review says the thinking in Silicon Valley “is currently very different.” Indeed, “social-media companies favor censorship,” and have made themselves “the world’s top arbiter of acceptable speech.” Worse still, “Facebook, Google and other tech companies” don’t play fair: “While counter-extremist activists and moderate Muslims are silenced, plenty of genuine terrorist content remains.” In fact, “censorship of anti-Islamist voices by Silicon Valley is now an almost weekly occurrence,” given that “it has proved easy for Islamist activists and their apologists to use the simple complaint processes offered by social-media companies to paint criticism of intolerant ideologies as broadly brushed hate.”

Watergate prosecutor: Don’t Wait for Prez’s Testimony

Last week’s report by the Justice Department’s inspector general offers an important lesson to special counsel Robert Mueller, suggests Philip Allen Lacovara at The Washington Post: “It’s time to act on the remaining pieces of his investigation” and wrap things up by “promptly” bringing whatever indictments may be warranted. Adds Lacovara, who was counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor: “It’s best not to pursue Trump’s testimony,” even by fighting for a subpoena, rather than risk interfering with the midterm elections. At this point, the president’s testimony is not “essential to finding out what happened,” especially given his unreliability as a witness. Mueller, he said, “should have enough information now to decide whether there is a basis for filing any more Russia-related charges.”

Canadian view: James Comey’s Astonishing Ignorance

Anthony Weiner has two claims to fame, notes the National Post’s Rex Murphy: His status as “the Ansel Adams of genital selfies” and “his (now exploded) marriage to Hillary Clinton’s top aide and principal pilot fish, Huma Abedin.” Indeed, “even the chipmunks in Central Park” knew they were husband and wife. But not, or so he claims, former FBI Director James Comey, “the No. 1 sleuth of the greatest investigative institution of all human history.” Comey, we now learn, says he had no idea the presence of Clinton’s emails on Weiner’s laptop — the discovery that triggered reopening of the investigation just days before the 2016 election — suggested an inevitable link to Abedin. Maybe Comey got the FBI job because “Inspector Clouseau was too busy sorting out whether there was ever any connection between one Brad Pitt and a woman named Angelina Jolie.”

Culture critic: The Dangers of Distracted Parenting

There have been many warnings of the dangers of smartphones and other digital devices on youngsters, but Erika Christakis at The Atlantic says “emerging research suggests a key problem remains underappreciated.” And while “it involves kids’ development,” it’s “probably not what you think: More than screen-obsessed young children, we should be concerned about tuned-out parents.” Today’s parents may enjoy more face time with their kids than their own parents did, but it’s “increasingly low-quality, even ersatz,” and “less emotionally attuned.” Growing parental screen use, dubbed “continuous partial attention,” is interrupting “an ancient emotional cueing system, whose hallmark is responsive communication, the basis of most human learning.” Fact is, “we’re in uncharted territory.”

— Compiled by Eric Fettmann