From the right: It’s North Korea’s Olympics Now

Given the events of the past few weeks, says The Weekly Standard’s Ethan Epstein, the games that open Friday “should be re-christened the Pyongyang Olympics.” Because “what should have been a celebration of South Korea’s titanic cultural, economic and political achievements is degenerating into an event that will instead normalize the barbarous North Korean regime that wants to destroy the South.” Now comes word that Kim Jong-un’s sister, who has been sanctioned by the US for human-rights abuses, will attend the opening ceremonies, the first-ever visit to South Korea by a member of the ruling family. Says Epstein: “This isn’t a diplomatic breakthrough. It’s an abomination.”

Political scribe: Dems Have Bigger Lift Than They Realize

Conditions “look particularly good” for Democrats to take back the House in a “blue wave” this fall, says The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty. So what could go wrong? Her answer: “Plenty, actually.” Dem strategists already “are getting a little jumpy about the party’s shrinking advantage in the polls, especially the closely watched generic-ballot test.” Ironically, the most “worrisome” factor is the “record number of candidates running” — which inevitably will lead to “large, messy primaries,” which Republicans hope will “pull all the candidates leftward.” Because to win, Dems “will have to take territory that Hillary Clinton could not.” Remember, Tumulty cautions: Most waves “break before they reach the shore.”

Foreign desk: Elon Musk 1, Russia 0

Nowhere did Tuesday’s launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket “echo as powerfully as in Russia,” says Bloomberg’s Leonind Bershidsky. SpaceX “continues to produce technical feats on which the Russian space industry has given up.” In fact, Musk “now has the most capable missile in the world,” capable of delivering up to 64 tons into orbit. Even China likely will beat Russia to a superheavy launch vehicle. But Musk is a visionary, with hopes of colonizing Mars; Russia “doesn’t really have a dreamer to match.” Plus, “the private passion of a socially clumsy, irritating, science-fiction-reading, electric-roadster-driving geek has done more to establish SpaceX’s leadership than any state support could have done.”

Conservative: About Those GOP ‘Attacks’ on the FBI

Are Republicans really conducting an “unparalleled attack” on the FBI over the Trump-Russia investigation, as the national news media maintain? Byron York at the Washington Examiner suggests that “a more accurate description” is that they’re “condemning the FBI leadership’s handling of two of the most heavily politicized investigations in years — the Trump-Russia probe and the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation.” Which only goes to prove that “when law enforcement wades into politics, it becomes the target of sometimes intense political criticism.” But the FBI’s long record of “selflessness and dedication is clearly not what Republicans are criticizing.” Still, the agency over the years “has made some horrendous mistakes,” most notably the botched investigation — led by an unapologetic Robert Mueller, in fact — of later-exonerated anthrax suspect Steven Hatfill.



Businessman: Cuomo Tax Will Sicken the Insured

More than three-fourths of all New Yorkers receive some form of government-subsidized health insurance, through Medicare, Medicaid or public employment, notes Bob Confer at the Buffalo News. The remaining 23 percent face “very real struggles,” he says, having taken “an inordinate amount of abuse at the hands of the state, while so many others have been granted benevolence from it.” The “insanely high” cost of their private insurance has risen “an almost unbelievable 5 percent per year over the past eight years.” New York already imposes “four taxes on individuals and their employers who buy health insurance.” Now Gov. Cuomo wants an additional 14 percent surcharge on private health-insurance companies. That will lead many businesses to shift “to high deductible plans.” Which may be “exactly what Cuomo wants” — so that more people move to government health insurance.



— Compiled by Eric Fettmann