Surreptitious Saturday

RE-OPENING

"America was unprepared. Unlike the smaller Asian democracies, America did not experience and thus did not learn from the SARS outbreak of 2003. George W. Bush’s 2005 warning was ignored. The sense of invulnerability that comes with living between two oceans, and with allies to the north and south, was once again exposed as an illusion. Leaders at every level of government — federal, state, local — downplayed the threat until it was too late. The desperate circumstances forced us to use the bluntest tool available: shutdown.

"The lockdowns were necessary. They were also unsustainable. Americans, so accustomed to freedom, were bound to chafe at being told what to do. Justified fear of coronavirus devastated the food and beverage, travel, hospitality, and entertainment sectors. The economic toll could persist just for so long before it became unbearable. Nor are public health, personal freedom, and economics the only competing values in this emergency. Spiritual life has been harmed. For people living alone, the social and psychological costs of prolonged isolation can be traumatic. For children, extended separation from friends and socializing experiences will have unknown consequences . . . 

"And, given the recent decisions by officials both Republican and Democratic, a “dumb reopening” lies ahead. Whether we like it or not."  Matthew Continetti, National Review Online

HYPOCRISY

"Let’s also not forget that, despite Ford’s inconsistencies, Biden still argued that Kavanaugh should be presumed guilty. Why shouldn’t he?

"It is also quite amazing to see Biden’s defenders implicitly contending that Reade is only credibly claiming that she was sexually harassed for nearly 30 years, so her story must be politically motivated."  David Harsanyi, NRO

THE MEDIA

"The unhinged, anti-Trump BS that comes out of the media's mouth is precisely why the American people can't stand them. It's why CNN and MSNBC have low ratings. It's why more Americans are doing their own research and, quite frankly, started tuning out the talking heads on major networks and no longer reading the opinions of the "highly esteemed" that are published in the New York Times and Washington Post."  Beth Baumann, Townhall

CULTURE

"Unfortunately, parts of America have devolved into a victim-based culture focusing on everything that is wrong in the country, with the media and pundits telling us who is to blame for it.  It is the rich vs poor, men vs woman, black and brown vs white and city vs country. It is class warfare, gender identity, toxic masculinity and micro-aggressions.  We are now a Me Too, trans-gender, Woke nation where one can choose both their identity as well as their truth.  It is a cultural divide where large swaths of the population flirt with thinking socialism is a better economic operating model for the country, despite indisputable historical examples of the poverty and misery it has caused anywhere and everywhere it has been tried.  Compounding the cultural divide has been a higher education system whose mission appears no longer to create independent and critical thinkers, but rather, to create a certain kind of thinker."  Robert Chernin, Townhall