From the right: Canada’s Vaccine Disaster
The “government health-care systems in Canada and Europe have repeatedly failed” during the pandemic, notes Katie Pavlich at The Hill, unlike America’s private system. With “Operation Warp Speed, the federal government partnered with the private sector, rather than controlling it, to produce” vaccines “in record time.” President Donald Trump predicted in September 2020 we’d have enough doses for every American adult by April 2021, and in fact, “vaccine supply will soon be an oversupply.” In Canada, by contrast, “there is a shortage,” with a panel recommending provinces wait four months to give people their second shot instead of the two or three weeks here. Universal government-provided health insurance “isn’t health care. Americans should remember this next time Democrats advocate” abolishing the private system.
Libertarian: Progs Want To Control Everything
On Wednesday, President Biden outlined “the most expensive and expansive agenda in modern American history,” marvels Eric Boehm at Reason — including $6 trillion in new spending, “a $15 national minimum wage,” “protectionism for unions” and “new entitlement programs.” He also “promised to raise taxes on the wealthy and to sic the IRS on rich people.” Yet all that isn’t good enough for Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D–NY) and fellow progressives. “We need to think bigger,” huffed Bowman after the speech, illustrating progressives’ longing for “control over just about every aspect of life.” They’re “unlikely to be satisfied with Biden’s agenda no matter how” profligate; “that’s in their nature.” Yet “what’s more worrying is how far they’ve already managed to push” him.
Media watch: Fact-Checkers Give Joe a Pass
Now that Joe Biden’s president, the media are scaling back their fact-checking, observes Spiked’s Fraser Myers. They think now that “the ‘adults’ are back in charge” and “Donald Trump is out of the picture,” journalists can put their trust in “old, reliable Uncle Joe.” So The Washington Post will “no longer maintain its fact-checking database of Joe Biden’s claims.” And Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal blog Daily Kos, declares, “So weird, not having to fact-check a presidential speech.” What a shift: In the age of Trump, fact-checking was elevated from “a routine part of journalism” to “a performance of opposition.” Meanwhile, Biden “has a serious case of foot-in-mouth disease,” yet the “urgency to set the record straight” is gone. “Fact-checking has served its purpose.”
Pandemic journal: Apologize to Dr. Atlas
Virus guru Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just relaxed outdoor-masking rules — yet, recalls The Federalist’s Jordan Davidson, it was Team Trump’s Dr. Scott Atlas who first “pushed back on masking outdoors and questioned the dominant narrative that conquering the virus required a fear-filled approach.” Asked Atlas: “Why in the world would you wear a mask if you’re riding your bicycle all alone outside? Why in the world would you wear a mask if you’re in your own car driving?” Yet, Davidson notes, “the mouthpieces at the CDC . . . were clearly opposed to Atlas’ thinking,” Fauci characterized him as an “outlier,” and the “corporate media” piled on against him. Now his sane views are “making a comeback.”
Foreign desk: China’s Stoking US Division
“China’s Communist leadership is no position to lecture anybody about racism” — yet it does, growls Ian Williams at Spectator USA. “Two years ago, China had almost no diplomatic presence on Western social media. Now around 200 diplomats” use these platforms “to sow disinformation and discord,” with Twitter closing “170,000 accounts linked to the Chinese government” last June alone. “Chinese diplomats reveled in American protests over policing and race,” accusing the US of “double standards on human rights” to “deflect attention” from its Uighur genocide. After the Atlanta spa shootings, “Chinese state media used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to stoke a narrative of American racism and hatred.” It’s a devilish scheme: “In targeting identity politics, China is stoking the most difficult and divisive issues in America.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
