Category / COVID-19

by Ed Achorn

Masking vital COVID-19 data

By Edward Achorn

Governments are instituted for the purpose of serving the public interest, not for advancing bureaucrats’ fetishes and goals. As Abraham Lincoln argued in his Gettysburg Address, the Union dead gave their lives so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Our grave responsibility as citizens is to protect that system of self-government.

In Rhode Island, the administration of Governor Gina Raimondo has proved itself shockingly contemptuous of the public in refusing to share vital information about COVID-19 tests.

Dr. Andrew Bostom, a Brown medical professor and epidemiologist, has been attempting to obtain data underlying the tests, with a hope of determining how serious the threat is. What could be more important in today’s atmosphere of crisis?

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by Ed Achorn

The numbers don’t support panic

By Edward Achorn

During the last several days, politicians and the news media have been pushing hard on a COVID-19 narrative. Americans, they suggest, should be terrified of rising “cases” of the virus.

In Rhode Island, Governor Gina Raimondo proclaimed that field hospitals might have to be opened, though standard hospitals never came close to being overrun, and her experts’ projections last spring were preposterously inflated.

The governor also declared that social gatherings of more than 10 people are now verboten. She, further, barred parents from attending their children’s school sports events.

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by Ed Achorn

A hairy week for Nancy Pelosi

By Edward Achorn

It seems a small matter: breaking the rules at a hair salon. But such incidents often have sticking power. They are packed with symbolism.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often lectures the public about wearing masks. She supports locking down small businesses. But this week Americans could see that she did not practice what she preaches.

A security tape Monday captured Ms. Pelosi during a VIP visit to a shuttered hair salon in San Francisco, ESalonSF, for a wash and a blow-out. The politicians in her home city of San Francisco have imposed lockdown dictates that bar clients from being served indoors.

Not only did the 80-year-old politician violate the rules, she declined to wear a mask indoors.

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by Ed Achorn

Canceling the debates

By Edward Achorn

Will the raging cancel culture now cancel the presidential debates? A former press secretary to Bill Clinton hopes so.

Joe Lockhart argued the other day that Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden should not participate in any forum in which President Trump can express his views.

“We saw in the debates in 2016 Hillary Clinton showed a mastery of the issues, every point she made was more honest and bested Trump,” Mr. Lockhart told CNN. “But Trump came out of the debates doing better I think because he just kept repeating the same old lies: ‘we’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it,’ ‘we’re going to keep all those Mexican rapists out of the country,’ and ‘we’re going to make great trade deals’ — none of these things have come to pass.”

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by Ed Achorn

Stop destroying children’s lives

By Edward Achorn

The science is crystal clear. Children should return to school in the fall. They are remarkably safe from catching COVID-19 and from spreading it.

Cheating them of an education and social development again this fall would be incredibly cruel.

Yes, the news media have scared many people out of their wits. Polls find many parents are terrified of sending children to school. Teachers unions and other political entities hope, as always, to exploit these fears to advance their own interests.

But I pray it is still possible for parents and leaders to muster enough courage and decency to focus on children. Young Americans need thoughtful and well-informed adults on their side.

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