‘NEANDERTHAL THINKING:’

For anyone who has followed Joe Biden’s political career, the image he presented of himself during the 2020 campaign was a laughable contrivance. Biden as paternalistic bridge-builder with an inviolable commitment to courtesy and collegiality made for a strong contrast with his compulsively churlish opponent. But the president was never the “good cop” he pretended to be.

We got a fleeting glimpse of the real Joe Biden on Wednesday following the edict of two Republican governors that will lift many statewide COVID restrictions. “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said of the decision by the governors of Texas and Mississippi to ease pandemic-related proscriptions, including mask mandates. “The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.”

It would have been foolish if, for example, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told his constituents that “everything’s fine” and Texans should “take off your mask” and “forget” about the pandemic. But that wasn’t what he said, nor is that likely to be the outcome of his state’s policies.

What Abbott announced was that “all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100 percent.” The executive orders put in place during the pandemic, including masking requirements, would be rescinded because “people and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate.” It would have been a premature declaration of victory over the pandemic if Abbott had stopped there. But he didn’t.

Abbott also urged Texans to exercise “personal vigilance.” “Removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility,” the governor added. While his orders will foreclose on criminal penalties for people who do not wear masks, businesses can still impose masking requirements on their patrons and deny them service if they do not comply. Biden’s reaction to the move might lead you to believe that Texas is the first state in the Union to withdraw such edicts and that reckless mouth-breathing troglodytes will soon overrun the state as a result. In fact, Texas is now the 15th state without a universal masking ordinance. It joins states such as Georgia, Arizona, and Florida where, despite the occasional viral video to the contrary, masking is a self-reinforcing social norm just as it is in much of the country.

Meanwhile in Connecticut: Gov. Ned Lamont’s Big Reopening Move Drops Capacity Limits for Restaurants, Retail, Offices.

Will Biden call this decision by a Democrat governor neanderthal thinking as well?

Related: Shock: Hateful MSNBC Floats Withholding Emergency Services to Texas.

More: Texas Governor Abbott to Biden: Don’t Tell Me Not To Open the State When You’re Flooding Texas With Covid-Positive Illegal Aliens.

MAYBE I’M OLD-SCHOOL, BUT I’M NOT A FAN OF SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE: Tesla and other carmakers want you to pay monthly for feature subscriptions.

AND NOT BY ACCIDENT: Academic Freedom Is Withering On College Campuses.

Hypothesis: “Academic freedom” was constructed as a notion in order to protect communists and other leftists who worked in education from responses by non-leftists. Now that it’s no longer needed, because leftists are thoroughly in control of those institutions, it’s being discarded.

HOW TOO MANY PEOPLE THINK TODAY: “Does your state allow steak to be served medium rare? No Medicare for you!”

CUOMO ADVISERS ALTERED REPORT ON COVID-19 NURSING-HOME DEATHS:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top advisers successfully pushed state health officials to strip a public report of data showing that more nursing-home residents had died of Covid-19 than the administration had acknowledged, according to people with knowledge of the report’s production.

The July report, which examined the factors that led to the spread of the virus in nursing homes, focused only on residents who died inside long-term-care facilities, leaving out those who had died in hospitals after becoming sick in nursing homes. As a result, the report said 6,432 nursing-home residents had died—a significant undercount of the death toll attributed to the state’s most vulnerable population, the people said. The initial version of the report said nearly 10,000 nursing-home residents had died in New York by July last year, one of the people said.

The changes Mr. Cuomo’s aides and health officials made to the nursing-home report, which haven’t been previously disclosed, reveal that the state possessed a fuller accounting of out-of-facility nursing-home deaths as early as the summer. The Health Department resisted calls by state and federal lawmakers, media outlets and others to release the data for another eight months.

State officials now say more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities were confirmed or presumed to have died from Covid-19 since March of last year—counting both those who died in long-term-care facilities and those who died later in hospitals. That figure is about 50% higher than earlier official death tolls.

Mr. Cuomo now faces mounting political pressure over both his administration’s handling of the pandemic in nursing homes and accusations that he sexually harassed two former staffers. Republicans and some Democrats have called for the governor to resign from office or be impeached.

As Amber Athey wrote on Tuesday: Cuomo’s problem isn’t #MeToo. It’s killing old people.

Related: ‘Thank God for Andrew Cuomo’: A Timeline Of CNN’s Adoring Coverage Of Andrew Cuomo.

The adoration wasn’t just from CNN, of course:

Never forget
pic.twitter.com/n2XJZYhITk

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 5, 2021

JOE BIDEN’S RETURN TO NORMALCY: U.S. Capitol May Stay Militarized Well Into Spring.

GEORGE KORDA: WORDCRIME AND PUNISHMENT. “She will not be attending the university this fall.”

FROM SAM SCHALL:  Risen from Ashes.

As a Marine, Ashlyn Shaw knows the day might come when she would not return from a mission. As an officer in the Fuerconese Marine Corps, she’s faced the difficult duty of sending the men and women under her command to their deaths. Both are nightmares she, and so many like her, live with. War is a cruel and costly endeavor, but one well worth the cost if it means keeping their homeworld free.

What Ash wasn’t prepared for was betrayal. Betrayal by members of her own government. Betrayal by certain members of the military. Betrayal by supposed allies. Betrayals that cost the lives of too many she cared for.

Unluckily for her enemies, that betrayal has cut too deeply to be allowed to go unpunished. Her enemies will soon learn how foolish they were to push her too far.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED:  ‘Coming 2 America’ – Weak, Woke and Wholly Unnecessary.

THIS IS THE MOST ACCOMMODATING AND TOLERANT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD:  We The Different.

If we lose this, if we let it become like the rest of the world, all the eccentrics and different, all the outliers and those who stick out will be in real trouble.  And the engine of creativity will stop.

TAXING BLOOMBERG AT 1000 PER CENT IS VITAL TO SAVE THE WORLD:  Bloomberg: “600% Gain in Carbon Prices Vital to Rein in Global Warming”.

Also in the name of sanity, someone duct tape his mouth. Or at least tell him to shut up.

A BILLION YEARS IS SOON. THESE INUMERATE IDIOTS WILL BE THE DEATH OF US:  “Earth’s Oxygen is Rapidly Running Out…” We’re Doomed!

YOU CANNOT TRUST CHINA – CHINA IS A-HOLE:  US-China tensions threaten global climate change efforts.

And no matter what our relations with China, the Middle Kingdom has never done more than pay lip service to the foreign devils obsession with the weather gods and their appeasement.

RED STATE RESOURCEFULNESS:  Seven-year-old sells lemonade to fund her own brain surgery.

And this, dear leftists are why we’re down, but we’ll never be out. You’ll never pin us down and have your way with America.

WHEN HAS THEIR ADVICE EVER BEEN WRONG?  CDC warns to avoid indoor gatherings this St. Patrick’s Day.

Oh yeah. On Winnie the flu, every single time. Green beer with friends it is.

SOMEBODY OUGHT TO – AND FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS AMERICA’S DOJ IS OCCUPIED:  UK launches antitrust probe into Apple’s App Store.

AND THEY’LL ALL GO DOWN TOGETHER WHEN THEY GO:  eBay Pulling Listings of Canceled Dr. Seuss Books Because They Violate the ‘Offensive Material Policy’.

NOT SOON ENOUGH, MITCH:  The Bloom Is Off The Ruse – Report: McConnell Planning Early Exit Before Term Concludes.

THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER IS AN ACTIVE ENEMY OF THE CONSTITUTION:  Southern Poverty Law Center Pushing Biden to Implement ‘Curriculum on Structural Racism’.

WELL! HOW CAN THEY KEEP LYING WHEN THERE ARE RECORDINGS?  YouTube Purges Trump’s CPAC Speech, Suspends Right Side Broadcasting For Posting It.

UPPER EDUCATION IMPLOSION UPDATE:  Smith College President: Damaging racism hoax exposed by NY Times was matter of “perspective”.

IT’S TIME TO STAND UP; IT’S TIME TO NOT GIVE AN INCH; IT’S TIME TO BUYCOTT:  Fighting Back Against Cancel Culture.

SHADES OF SEINFELD. THE VACCINE NAZIS SAY “NO VACCINE FOR YOU”:  Kelly admin calls withholding vaccines ‘enforcement mechanism’.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: America’s elites are waging class war on workers and small biz.

SHH. DON’T TELL THEM. A liberal analyst’s warning: Liberal elites are driving minority voters from Democratic Party.