Staff Reports
This week gave us three little stories that tell a big truth: elites love moralizing, but they also love power. A Cornell student’s ugly line went viral. New York’s mayor rolled out a city‑backed grocery plan and then answered for a viral clip. And CMS officials crowed about $42 billion in “savings” — measured, apparently, in colonoscopies. None of it is surprising. All of it deserves a clear, conservative take.
Cornell’s Bias Incident and the Student Who Said “Not Interested in Working for a Jew”
The short version: a Cornell student replied “Not interested in working for a jew” to a recruiter. The employer shared the exchange, Cornell reported it as a bias incident, and Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff condemned the comment while saying the school must protect free speech. The student then posted on social media that his parents kicked him out and a crowdfunding page followed. Conservative outlets rushed in to amplify him; others rightly called it hateful.
What this really shows
College kids say stupid and hateful things. Sometimes they deserve discipline. Sometimes public shaming is over the top. What matters is consistency: if universities care about free speech, they must apply that standard across the board — not play referee for some viewpoints and prosecutor for others. And parents who disown ugly hatred get credit. Society doesn’t need more excuses for antisemitism, but we also don’t need universities that act like speech police when conservatives are the target.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “Affordable” Grocery Pilot — Headlines vs. Reality
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a pilot for city‑backed grocery stores that aims to cut prices on a core basket by roughly 30 percent at sites like La Marqueta and The Peninsula. A clip of officials talking about “targeting New Yorkers” went viral and conservatives screamed “IDs for groceries.” The mayor’s team and the NYCEDC later clarified the program is a city‑funded affordability pilot with private operators, not a government supermarket lockdown with library‑card rules.
Why conservatives should still be worried
Even with clarifications, the plan smells like every other well‑meaning government program: it starts small, then bakes in ways to control distribution, and then crowds out private grocers. Government “affordable” markets routinely destroy competition and leave taxpayers holding the bag. If the goal is lower food prices, cut red tape and taxes, not expand experiments that let politicians play grocer.
“Colonoscopies” and the $42 Billion CMS Boast
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Deputy Administrator Kimberly Brandt wrote an op‑ed claiming Medicare saved $42 billion in fiscal 2025 from anti‑fraud prevention. To make it digestible, they said that sum could pay for millions of procedures — including 37.5 million routine colonoscopies. Cute math. Sensible goal. But big agency claims deserve careful scrutiny from watchdogs, not press releases dressed as policy wins.
Don’t let flashy numbers replace accountability
Stopping fraud is important. But “savings” can be an accountant’s trick. Prevention efforts often mean denying payments up front, not actually freeing cash for patient care. Conservatives should applaud fraud‑fighting, then demand transparent methods, independent audits, and real reinvestment into care — not PR stunts that read like a health‑care infomercial.
These three stories add up to one simple point: the left loves to lecture about values while pushing bigger government power. Sometimes the targets are rightly called out, like antisemitism. Sometimes the state’s “solutions” do more harm than good, like subsidized markets that crush private business or agency math that sounds better than the reality. Voters should demand both moral clarity and policy common sense — not performative outrage and political experiments that make life harder for everyday people.
