‘Iraq Syndrome’ is dead, why PBS & NPR had to go and other commentary

Foreign desk: ‘Iraq Syndrome’ Is Dead 

“Fear of the expression of American military power has now dissolved,” cheers Commentary’s Seth Mandel.

In his first term, President Trump “adopted a modified Murphy’s Law that also governed his predecessor’s foreign policy: Anything that can be Iraq, will be Iraq.”

But that looks to have changed “when President Trump ordered the successful strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.”

Notably, “Ukraine is now benefiting from the Iran strikes because reality has dispelled the fog of Iraq Syndrome and the president is seeing more clearly.”

Fact is, “the ‘just like Iraq’ line of thinking isn’t accurate, and now Trump realizes that.”

How “fitting that Donald Trump, who rode the effects of Iraq Syndrome all the way to the presidency (twice), would be the one to cure American politics of this malady.” 

Health beat: Med-Schools’ Merit Malpractice 

“The Supreme Court banned racial preferences in university admissions, but finding ways to maintain them has become a cottage industry in higher education,” blasts The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Medical schools are one of the worst abusers. A new study finds “admitted black applicants had lower MCAT scores than admitted white and Asian applicants at 22 out of 23 schools.”

At places like the University of Wisconsin, “a black medical school applicant was about 10 times more likely to be admitted than white or Asian applicants with identical test scores and GPA.”

“In the admissions cycles since 2023, little has changed.” “Preferences that elevate less qualified doctors won’t reduce inequities in public health, but they will stigmatize successful minority applicants who excel.”

“Oh, and to remind, racial preferences are against the law.” 

Media watch: Why PBS & NPR Had To Go 

“Let us call a spade a spade: NPR and PBS have earned the ‘woke’ label,” roars TIPP Insights’ editorial board. That’s why it’s so great Congress just cut off federal funds.

“NPR is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It enjoys the tax-exempt privileges of a 501(c)(3) organization, yet operates as a de facto mouthpiece for the Democratic Party and progressive ideology.”

Two GOP senators, Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), voted against the cuts, crying about the “impact on rural and tribal communities.”

“It’s a flimsy argument”: Both “stream through the internet and airwaves,” so “even the most rural communities can access their content instantly.”

As we’ve asked before,“In a world of endless streaming and podcasting, why are taxpayers still funding a media cocoon for coastal elites?” 

Spy world: Russia-Hoax Document Bonanza 

The “floodgates” of “long-classified information” about the Russia-hoax scandal may finally be opening, reports Paul Sperry at RealClearInvestigations.

Documents include a secret audit revealing that an “intelligence community assessment on Russia ordered by President Obama after the 2016 election” was framed to portray Trump as beholden to Putin.

A US intelligence official “alleged the outgoing administration weaponized” Russian intelligence “to sabotage President-elect Trump.”

The information could “strengthen a criminal case” against Obama intelligence officials like former CIA chief John Brennan.

Former FBI officials say prosecutors have “sufficient grounds to charge Obama’s FBI and CIA officials with criminal conspiracy.” 

Statistician: Medicaid Fearmongers’ Bad Math 

Yale law professor Natasha Sarin’s claim that “at least 100,000 more” Americans will die over “the next decade” due to Medicaid cuts “reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of ‘statistical lives saved,’” warns Aaron Brown at Reason.

Sarin “and several other prominent journalists misinterpreted a recent working paper” by economists Angela Wyse and Bruce D. Meyer, which estimated “that the Medicaid expansion reduced mortality among eligible adults between 0.40% and 4.52% ,” or about 27,400 lives.

But these are “statistical lives,” and “these same government programs also take many statistical lives.”

“Counting statistical lives” is “a debased currency, because it counts each actual life multiple times. And citing only the good side of the ledger makes it impossible to evaluate.” 

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Page