Social critic: Mamdani Can’t Define Working Class

Mayor Mamdani, tribune of the “working class,” couldn’t “define” it with any specificity, marvels Rob Henderson at the Free Press. The mayor suggested “having to work to pay your bills” was a good start, but then wouldn’t agree that anyone making “about a million dollars a year” is not “working class.” This “embarrassment” reflects the self-regard of his political “base,” which wants to identify as working class despite its “social class,” because it’s “easier to discuss income than educational pedigree, accent, hairstyle, clothing, taste, or zip code.” What “makes someone working class is not income” even if they are “financially strapped.” No matter where Mamdani draws the line, real working-class folks “know that he and his base are on the other side of it.”

Libertarian: Don’t Blame AI for Your Problems

After a nearly fatal “‘pulmonary embolism’ intensified by blood clots that might have been linked to his lack of movement,” Florida man Scott Winters “is suing ChatGPT” for suggesting he “remain ‘recliner-bound’” to treat dizziness and blood pressure issues, reports Reason’s Nick Gillespie. Yet ChatGPT “constantly tells users” it’s not a medical authority and to “always consult” doctors. Fact is, AI is not “a complete replacement for the existing world”; it’s “up to us” to use it wisely. “Winters didn’t nearly die because ‘ChatGPT acted like a medical authority’” but because “he didn’t take responsibility” for his own health. “If that sort of basic abdication gains the force of law, we’ll create a world that no technology will be able to fix.”

Democrat: DSA Threatens Our Midterm Wins

The “Bernie bros” and their allies in the Democratic Socialists of America seem intent on “repudiating” the effectiveness of “recruiting [congressional] candidates with ‘authentic’ broad-based appeal,” laments Rahm Emanuel in The Wall Street Journal. When the DSA pushes safe Democratic districts further left, “Democratic candidates in swing districts are put at a distinct disadvantage.” The party’s lead in generic polling narrowed “amid recent attention to” DSA primary wins. “In November, a continued focus on defunding, decriminalizing and decolonizing will highlight cultural issues that alienate many Democrats,” “independents” and “disenchanted Republicans.” Since “authenticity is a key to victory,” Democrats must “recruit messengers whose biographies burnish our message.” Winning requires championing “candidates who embody the American Dream,” “are committed to restoring it” and share a “common ground” with most of “the electorate.”

Ukraine war: Zelensky Is Reshaping Geopolitics

“Against all odds, Ukraine is right on the point of winning World War III,” declare Mark Toth & Jonathan Sweet at The Hill. Putin’s war was never “merely an Eastern European conflict,” yet the US and EUU didn’t connect “the dots between Putin and Xi [Jinping]’s escalating war against the West.” Indeed: “Stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world,” a point Volodymyr Zelensky made on the war’s fourth anniversary. “Beyond Eastern Europe, Ukraine’s success is forcing Russia to retrench, especially in the Middle East,” while also forcing “China to hedge its bets.” While “World War III is not yet won, Ukraine is putting victory in the West’s grasp — if only Washington and Brussels will seize it.”

Judicial watch: The Supremes Take on Excessive Fines

The Supreme Court this fall will “hear a relatively rare case” on “excessive fines,” offering “a chance to ensure the continued sturdiness of a crucial guardrail of liberty,” argues The Washington Post Editorial Board. Alaskan pilot Ken Jouppi “was convicted of a misdemeanor,” fined and jailed for three days after cops found “72 beers in the luggage of one of his passengers” — then the state seized “his $95,000 plane” as well, saying it was  “not grossly disproportionate” because the crime “allows for a fine of up to $10,000.” It’s just wrong “to force Americans to turn over their property over [minor] infractions.” This case “could help reinvigorate a neglected part of the Constitution.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board