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Week in Review: Lone Star Restart, Obtuse on Seuss, Qualms with Cuomos

The Blue State Conservative

Headline #1:          Texas to Lift COVID Restrictions on Monday

On Tuesday, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced his decision to lift Texas’ mask mandate and restrictions on businesses effective this upcoming Monday, March 10, and Mississippi later made a similar announcement.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Commenting from a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, Abbott explained, “It is now time to open Texas 100%.” You got that right governor; enough is enough. Well done.
  • Compared to the draconian measures taken by many other states, Texas has taken a more reserved approach to lockdowns from the beginning, yet the state currently ranks in the middle of the pack at 24th in the country in deaths-per-million. Lockdowns aren’t the answer, and never were.
  • “Personal vigilance to follow the safe standards is still needed to contain COVID,” Abbott said. “It’s just that state mandates are no longer needed.” Reduce government involvement and appeal to personal responsibility; conservatism in action.
  • Abbott received fierce and almost immediate backlash, most notable of which came from President Joe Biden who called the decision, “Neanderthal thinking.” Am I the only one who was expecting Biden’s comment to evolve into a Geico commercial? “It’s such an easy decision even a caveman could make it.” Based on Biden’s remark, we can assume Neanderthals were fond of civil liberties, understood the proper role of government, and recognized the need to balance public safety with economic prudence. Who knew?
  • Others who were quick to weigh-in included embattled Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said Texas is “going too far,” and similarly-embattled Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom who called the decision “absolutely reckless.” California has the most COVID deaths in the country, and New York has the second-highest deaths-per-million. And both achieved their brutally dismal results while simultaneously destroying their states’ economies and trampling citizens’ rights. Neither Cuomo nor Newsom have any credibility on the matter; they’ve both been disasters. Newsom and Cuomo offering opinions on COVID restrictions is like Alec Baldwin giving advice on anger management.
  • There are really two reasons for the objections by Democrats:  1) States like New York, California and New Jersey have screwed the pooch with government overreach, which had little benefit for residents and crushed their economies along the way. When a state like Texas beats them to the punch on reopening, and can do so with overall results that are demonstrably better, their incompetence is exposed and underscored. And 2) they don’t want to see their power dissipate. COVID means government control, and they crave that control like an addict craves his drug.

Headline #2:         Cancel Culture Strikes: Publishing of Six Dr. Seuss Books to Cease

As announced by the company that owns the publishing rights to Dr. Seuss’ material, due to alleged “racist and insensitive imagery,” six of the author’s books will no longer be published.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The six books include “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo,” both of which are Seuss classics. Note that the banning is for “imagery” and not written content. Subjectivity comes into play when evaluating virtually anything for bigotry nowadays, and it’s much easier to subjectively claim racism with illustrations than it is with texts.
  • If you’re not outraged, you should be. You need to reevaluate. Dr. Seuss wasn’t racist and his drawings weren’t racist, and to label this development as a “slippery slope” would be an understatement. Only a few years ago, if we had heard the statement “Dr. Seuss is racist” it would have been used as a punch line; a joke. But this is not a joke. If they can cancel Dr. Seuss, who can’t they cancel?  No one is off limits, and this situation should scare the living daylights out of you.
  • Several pundits have called the actions “a book burning,” and such language is spot-on. Though the practice of book burning didn’t originate in Nazi Germany, it’s most closely associated with their ideology, and rightfully so. I generally stay away from comparisons to Hitler and Nazis, because in most cases it’s hyperbolic to do so, but not this time. These steps are fascist in nature and deeply troubling, and need to be called out.
  • The logic behind the whole controversy is absurd. In one book, an Asian person is depicted wearing a conical hat, using chopsticks and possesses what has been traditionally used to show Asian facial features. In another, an African man has dark skin, is barefoot and is wearing a grass skirt. Sorry, but those pictures are no more racist than those that show an Italian person eating spaghetti or a Mexican person wearing a sombrero. That is not racism.
  • Ironically, if we could crawl into the mind of Dr. Seuss – who has been dead for almost thirty years –we’d probably learn that he incorporated those drawings and characters in an effort to be more inclusive. Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel, as was his full name, was no conservative. Politically, he was very liberal. As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.
  • Can anyone think of the real reason why Dr. Seuss is being cancelled? Anyone? Could it be perhaps that Dr. Seuss was white? And that the majority of his characters are white? Maybe? If Dr. Seuss was not white, there is no chance any of this nonsense would be happening. For those who want to see what true racism looks like, you need not look any further than those who are pushing this propaganda.

Headline #3:         Cuomo Brothers Are Getting Clobbered by Former Allies

CNN personality Chris ‘Fredo’ Cuomo and his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, were on the defensive this week as they tried to fight off attacks from fellow Democrats and mainstream media leftists.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Fredo, who gleefully covered his brother’s handling of the COVID pandemic when the overall narrative was positive, has been conspicuously quiet on the matter. On Monday, he announced on his show that he obviously can’t cover his brother’s ongoing scandals because they’re brothers.  Really Fredo, “obviously?” You’re correct, it is obvious. And no less obvious than the inappropriateness of your fawning coverage of him only a few months ago. Is it possible that CNN viewers don’t recognize the ridiculousness of the whole affair? Evidently, yes, it’s possible.
  • Leftwing journalists – including the New York Times’ Annie Karni and Susanne Craig, and the Washington Post’s Ben Terris – finally called Fredo out for his faux journalism. Many such statements dripped with sarcasm, such as this one by Terris, “Every J-school student knows that ethically you are only allowed to interview your brother when the news about him is good.” You’re a little late to the party gang, like, really late… as in, the keg is floating and the snacks are gone. Why weren’t you addressing the issue when he was stroking his brother last year? A lot of us were doing so, but none of us are on the left.
  • Meanwhile, Fredo’s big brother Andrew is being hogtied, loaded onto a forklift, and about to be thrown squarely under the Democratic Party’s bus. Prominent Democrats across the country are turning on him, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), New York City Democratic Mayor Bill DeBlasio, and thirty Democratic state lawmakers. It’s all political opportunism, and illustrates the nature of the beast, but it’s hard to feel sorry for Cuomo. If anyone deserves it, it’s the “Love Gov.”
  • Why are Democrats turning on him? Yes, Cuomo is becoming toxic because of the multitude of sexual harassment claims, and the likelihood of more to come, but that’s not the reason. The accusations coming out on Cuomo are believable and probably legitimate, and he’s a disgusting person if they’re true. But Democrats have no problem applying double-standards when it comes to #MeToo. They let Joe Biden off the hook without a whimper when Tara Reade accused him of actual sexual assault last year. But with Cuomo, he’s become a pariah due to his New York nursing home scandal. That scandal is extremely serious, and Cuomo’s actions were quite possibly criminal. They could put Cuomo behind bars, and Dems want to get as far away from Cuomo as possible. The sexual harassment scandal is simply a means to an end.

Headline #4:          Capitol Cops Request Two-Month Extension for National Guard Presence

Two months after the January 6th riot at the capitol, the Capitol Police Department is asking to have the deployment of approximately 5,000 National Guard troops extended until mid-May.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Washington D.C. continues to look like it’s under martial law, with razor wire and other security measures still in place two months after the riot. It was understandable to keep the troops in town for a few days after the riot, perhaps even a few weeks. But if the police department’s request is approved, it will be four months. This request isn’t about security or protecting members of Congress, it’s about power and optics; plain and simple.
  • Democrats are in power, they control the legislative and executive branches of government, and they want everyone to know it. The troops will serve as a reminder, or so they hope. They also want the continued troops’ presence to keep the riot fresh in everyone’s mind. “See how bad that riot was? The troops are still here and remember, it was all Trump’s fault.” This is not what unity and healing looks like, folks.
  • Even some prominent Democrats such as Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) are questioning whether or not such an extension is necessary. We also have to wonder, if our tax dollars are paying for the Capitol Police, and if they can’t handle the situation two full months after the riot, then why do we even need the police? Let’s just assign regular soldiers to permanent detail there if the situation is so dire. The truth is, the situation is not dire.

Headline #5:         Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has Brilliant Idea for Improving Biden’s COVID Plan

The Senator said during an interview on Fox News, “President Biden said, in putting together the bill, ‘We want to meet you half-way.’ If that’s the case, he’s a damn poor judge of distance. This bill’s dreadful. The only way I know how to improve it is with a shredder.”

Thoughts and Observations:

  • Senator Kennedy is a national treasure. He’s intelligent, logical, courageous, and he’s funny as hell. Republicans are lucky to have him in their caucus, and we should all hope he sticks around for a long time.
  • Some of Kennedy’s other great quotes include, “This is why aliens won’t talk to us,” and “You can get a goat to climb a tree, but you’d be better off hiring a squirrel.” And of course, we can never forget this classic regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “She’s got a Billy goat brain and a mockingbird mouth.” Senator Kennedy should run for president. If nothing else, he’d help lighten the national mood.
  • The initial topic of the interview was Biden’s immigration policy, and Kennedy was equally critical. Kennedy said of the President’s mindset, “He thinks vetting people at the border is racist. It’s not. It’s prudent.” Kennedy couldn’t be more correct and more precise.
  • It’s worth noting that the Democrats seem to stay away from attacking Kennedy. Could it be they fear a witty retaliation? I wouldn’t doubt it. The guy has more one-liners than Rodney Dangerfield.

Photo by intiasar_ziyad at Flickr.

Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.

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One Comment

  1. The whole entire rhetoric from the Left is about CONTROL, TOTALITARIANISM!!!!!

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