Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York’s newspapers:
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The Wall Street Journal on the AT&T and Time Warner Merger
Feb. 26
Someone pass the smelling salts. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday issued another rebuke to the Justice Department in its quest to block the AT&T -Time Warner merger and unanimously affirmed the trial judge’s ruling. As a legal matter this is a stone-cold knockout.
Justice sued to enjoin the merger in November 2017, arguing it would increase the leverage of Time Warner networks in carriage-fee negotiations with other distributors. AT&T, which owns DirecTV, would supposedly suffer less pain if negotiations deadlocked and Time Warner channels went dark since it might lure customers from other distributors. If carriage fees went up, non-AT&T customers might wind up paying more.
We won’t rehash the reams of evidence to the contrary, but suffice to say the government’s theory ignores the competitive nature of fast-evolving media markets, as federal Judge Richard Leon detailed last June. “Generic statements that vertical integration ’can’” lead to “’an unfair advantage over its rivals’ do not come close to answering the question before the Court,” Judge Leon noted in a biting 127-page opinion.
The three-judge appellate panel comprised of two Democratic appointees largely agreed, notwithstanding some nits with Judge Leon’s legal diction. As is its custom, the D.C. Circuit judges reviewed the trial court ruling for “clearly erroneous” misstatement of facts, and they did identify misrepresentations by the government.
For instance, Judge Judith Rodgers noted the government ignored that Turner Broadcasting had “sent letters to approximately 1,000 distributors ’irrevocably offering’ to engage in ’baseball style’ arbitration at any time within a seven-year period.” This would prevent an AT&T monopoly over content. The government’s models also did not take into account long-term network contracts, “which would constrain Turner Broadcasting’s ability to raise content prices for distributors,” she wrote.
We repeatedly advised Justice to drop the suit, and the Trump Administration should be glad the D.C. Circuit’s liberals didn’t take up the opportunity to rewrite antitrust law along European lines as some on the left urged. Rather than suffer another humiliation at the Supreme Court, the antitrust cops should drop the case and consider why they lost so thoroughly.
Online: https://on.wsj.com/2U6YdtH
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The New York Daily News on Central Park construction
Feb. 26
So eager is Mayor de Blasio to destroy the cherished tradition of Central Park carriage horses, he’s doing it the Robert Moses way: bringing in the bulldozers and running roughshod over landmarks laws, not to mention fair play.
The mayor, who failed to outright ban the horses and failed again to move them into a mythical Central Park stable - neither plan could pass City Council muster - has now forced the Department of Transportation to do his bidding through the rule-making process. He’s uprooting the carriage hackline from 59th St., where it been since the Civil War, and putting it inside the park, out of sight from most potential customers.
The move is obviously designed to devastate the little industry and its good union jobs. So carriage operators sued. Manhattan state Supreme Justice Arthur Engoron wrongly denied their initial claim, failing to consider the impact of the banishment on people, not to mention horses.
Rather than wait for a scheduled motion to reargue before the same judge, let alone an appeal to a higher court, the DOT is ripping up historic Belgian block paving stones on a park drive median.
Even more troubling than his legal arrogance is the fact that de Blasio broke city law by altering the protected park without prior approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Nor did he let any of the five Community Boards abutting the park weigh in.
The same guy who used to blast Mayor Bloomberg for tuning out community concerns is wearing bigger blinders now.
Online: https://nydn.us/2Uc6rRl
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The Times-Herald Record on church sexual abuse
Feb. 26
If timing is everything, then the timing could not have been worse for Pope Francis as he prepared for an unprecedented four-day conference of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy to discuss the sexual abuse scandal ravaging the institution.
As the pope prepared for the conference, it was revealed that hundreds of priests in Brooklyn had been named in yet another investigation of cover-up of abuse of young boys. Reports also surfaced of nuns being sexually assaulted by priests. A book was released alleging a secret Vatican coterie of homosexuals who publicly espoused the church’s anti-homosexuality position.
Not surprisingly, expectations were not high when the church leaders met at the Vatican last week. Unfortunately, despite much moving testimony from victims of abuse and strong words from the pope himself on the need for an “all-out battle” against clerical sex abuse, those expectations proved to be accurate.
When the conference concluded, there was still no specific plan to deal with bishops covering up abuse. The Vatican did say it would provide a guidebook for bishops to help them understand their “duties and tasks” on abuse, although that would seem to be obvious after so many revelations of abuse worldwide.
One of the bishops, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, actually offered his own specific plan to deal with cover-ups, which recommended, among other things, including lay people in investigations of allegations. But the Vatican itself only offered faint hope that the culture of the church would change amid the growing worldwide frustration and anger with the slow pace of concrete action.
Francis, as pope, has the power to specifically hold bishops accountable for cover-ups, but has been reluctant to do so. The sheer number of bishops worldwide makes it a difficult task. Cardinal Cupich’s proposal would give local dioceses the power to conduct investigations and assign accountability.
Francis did say that the Vatican is working to clarify a new church law on accountability and negligence. The bishops again heard calls for ending the all-male power structure of the church, but those calls seemed to fall on traditionally tone-deaf ears.
Indeed, after days of searing, heartfelt testimony and calls for “zero-tolerance” of priests who abuse, many victims were left with the feeling that their pain and frustration were not understood, that, while their words may have been heard, and while some bishops seemed to understand the depth of the problem and the need for action, many others did not and even the pope himself may be misjudging the crisis.
With the scope of the scandal and its long standing within the church now obvious to the world, asking the faithful to be patient while their spiritual leaders search for a better understanding of their responsibilities as they struggle to find answers is simply unacceptable.
More bad timing: As the conference concluded, it was revealed that Australian Cardinal George Pell, Vatican treasurer and close adviser to Pope Francis, was convicted of multiple child sex offenses at a trial last December in Melbourne. He is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be convicted of child sex abuse.
The Catholic Church has been put on notice. It is time for dramatic action, not words.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Nyu2JB
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The Post-Star on a proposed state split
Feb. 24
State Sen. Daphne Jordan, a Republican from Halfmoon, is offering hope to all her constituents who have dreamed of coming from their own state of Upstate and leaving all that downstate glitz behind.
Who needs an ocean coastline anyway? Let those city slickers have the beaches and the ports. We’ve got Mount Marcy! We’ve got the Canadian border!
Jordan has introduced a bill to create a working group that would study splitting the state in two - the good part, with great stuff like Michigans and jack wax; and that other part where people heap sauerkraut on their hot dogs instead of sweet spoonfuls of meat sauce.
But seriously, if Jordan’s little act of political grandstanding ever resulted in an actual split - and there is zero chance of that happening - it would bankrupt upstate.
New York City has the largest municipal and regional economy in the country, and upstate benefits from that in many ways - most directly from state funding. Although you often hear complaints around here about the city receiving more than its share, the truth is the New York City area contributes significantly more in taxes than it gets back in state funds. That means if the state were split, our area would immediately be in even worse financial shape than it is now.
And when it comes to culture, don’t we have the best of both worlds here in New York? It’s the union of Big Apple and apple orchards that makes this New York one of the world’s great places.
New York City is a national and international center for art, fashion and finance; home of Broadway, the United Nations and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a tourist draw for millions of visitors every year and the financial engine of the world’s richest country.
All of that downstate greatness doesn’t matter to Jordan, however.
What matters to her is that those people in the state’s southern regions - New York City’s boroughs, Long Island and Rockland and Westchester counties - are different. Essentially, they’re Democrats.
Of course, they’re not all Democrats; many of them are Republicans, but never mind. Jordan is fixated on the differences between New Yorkers. She calls it a “tale of two states,” but it’s really a tale of two outlooks.
You can see New York as divided, because part of it is a densely populated urban area and part of it is a more sparsely populated rural area; or you can see it as outstanding, because it contains one of the world’s most dynamic cities and one of its most awe-inspiring wilderness areas and a whole lot else besides.
We have the skyscraping buildings and the cloud-wreathed mountains; broad beaches pounded by surf and remote lakes that lie still and frozen for half the year.
We’ve got the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls! Fort Ticonderoga and the Brooklyn Bridge! Wine and cheese! Oysters and cows!
For a state to be split, its Legislature and the U.S. Congress must approve the measure. The last time that happened was in 1863, when West Virginia was split off from Virginia. Numerous state-splitting efforts have been pushed since then, including multiple efforts in New York, but none has gotten close to approval.
It’s not a new idea, and it’s not a good idea. We wish Daphne Jordan would find something more constructive to do with her time, like promoting all the wonderful aspects of upstate that contribute to making New York great.
Online: https://bit.ly/2GPwScK
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The Leader-Herald on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report
Feb. 26
After nearly two years of work, special counsel Robert Mueller is nearly ready to release his report on whether some Americans cooperated with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.
It already is known that Moscow devoted resources to both a social media-based propaganda campaign and to a mostly futile attempt to hack U.S. electronic election systems. The social media attack continues and, with the unwitting help of many Americans, has driven a wedge between tens of millions of us.
Mueller and his staff already have charged several former associates of President Donald Trump with improper activities, many not related to the 2016 election. The question now is what Mueller’s report will say about Trump himself, who insists he never cooperated with the Russians in any way.
Democrats in Congress, many of whom have proclaimed that somehow, some way, they will impeach the president have been hoping for months that the Mueller report would provide them with ammunition.
There are reasons to doubt it will do so.
But a few of the Democrat lawmakers have seized upon a traditional practice of all federal prosecutors in an attempt to score political points and sow public discontent.
They say that unless the Mueller report is released in its entirety, along with pertinent documents, they will use a House of Representatives committee to subpoena the materials.
In summing up their investigations of all types of alleged crimes, prosecutors at all levels tend to discuss evidence against only those they believe have broken the law. That is a longstanding practice.
So, if Mueller and his staff have investigated Trump thoroughly - as they have - and found no evidence of wrongdoing, it is entirely possible the president will be mentioned only in passing in the report.
That is not what Trump’s foes in Congress want, of course. They desire something - anything - they can use against the president, whether he is guilty of a crime or not.
Mueller and his superiors in the Justice Department should let the chips fall where they may. If Trump engaged in wrongdoing, the American people deserve to know about it.
But if he did not, Mueller and the Justice Department should refuse to be part of a political vendetta.
Online: https://bit.ly/2TgF8Zc
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