Media critic: Julian Assange May Already Have Won
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange say his arrest on US charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion constitutes a dangerous crackdown on freedom of the press. But as Politico’s Jack Shafer notes, prosecutors “stayed well clear of the dangerous notion of prosecuting a publisher for publishing.” Yet the result is that Assange “might get exactly the fight he’s looking for, served up to him by the government he purports to loathe” and allowing him to argue that “it’s all a political setup.” Fact is, this indictment “is very weak tea” — so much so that he may convince a British court not to extradite him for trial by suggesting the feds plan to charge him with espionage crimes only after his return. But we’re still “a long way from anything that would scare off journalists from changing the way they do their jobs.”
From the right: Biden and Bernie Too Old for White House
The two current front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, share “one common trait,” according to Byron York at the Washington Examiner: “They are too old to be president.” True, voters are open to older candidates; President Trump is 72. But they elect presidents with the expectation that they’ll serve two terms, meaning Sanders would be 87 and Biden 86 on leaving office. The issue is not just whether they’re “out of touch with the today’s concerns. The issue is whether they are simply too old to handle the rigors of the presidency.” Trump would be 78 at the end of a second term, the oldest president ever. But “that is the age Biden would begin his presidency. And Sanders is a year older.”
Foreign desk: In Sudan, a Coup That Really Wasn’t
The ouster of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, “one of the world’s worst villains,” after waves of popular protest, “should be a moment of celebration,” declares Bloomberg’s Eli Lake. But al-Bashir “was not driven from power by people seeking a democratic transition.” He was “taken out by his henchmen, who came to see him as too much of a liability,” and the army, which “he counted on to brutalize his many opponents.” Their first response after assuming power: impose a national curfew, suspend the constitution and declare military rule. Which means that the coup is not the end of Sudan’s nightmare, but only “the beginning of the end.” The next step, suggests Lake, is to “resist the temptation to reach out to the military regime” and ensure that Sudan “remains isolated until it is free.”
Sports watch: Soiling the Mets’ Spirit of ’86
Ron Darling, the Yale-educated former star pitcher for the 1986 world champion New York Mets, has written a new book accusing his former teammate, the fiery, tobacco-chomping Len Dykstra, of having hurled racist language at Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis Boyd, affecting his Series performance. Dykstra has responded by suing Darling for libel. Asks Emmett Hare at City Journal: Whom should Mets fans believe? On “personal credibility,” Darling would win. But several other teammates, including Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, “have taken Dykstra’s side” and Darling “seems caught off-balance by the vehement response.” Bottom line: Darling “went out of his way to spread a story that, at best, would sully the cherished reputation of a great team.”
Campus watch: NYU Sees Anti-Semitism as Worthy Work
Last April, activists from NYU’s branch of Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted a celebration of Israel’s 70th birthday by stealing an Israeli flag and ripping the microphone from the hand of a student who was singing the Israeli national anthem. The point, as SJP’s president put it, was “to make being Zionist uncomfortable on the NYU campus.” This year, reports Commentary’s Noah Rothman, SJP has been “selected to receive a President’s Service Award, granted to organizations that “have had an extraordinary and positive impact on the University community.” This, even though NYU’s president repeatedly has called boycotting Israel “contrary” to the university’s “core principles of academic freedom.” So what many would call anti-Semitism is now getting an official pat on the back.
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann