COVID watch: ‘Cult’ of Fear Harmed Kids

“There is no shortage of articles and studies documenting the harm caused by COVID-19 school policies,” notes Alex Gutentag at Tablet. One stat: “The rate of chronically absent students nationwide is now 22%, 2.7 times what it was before school closures.” As the tragedy “comes to light, some outlets . . . have been eager to suggest that we are now aware of the overwhelmingly negative consequences of these policies thanks to ‘new research’ ” and that closure advocates “can therefore be forgiven.” But this was no “innocent mistake.” “It was the product of a concerted campaign of censorship and demonization”, which ignored “all previous research on education.” So “to pretend that the ramifications of school closures were unknowable is to excuse the inexcusable.”

Eye on Elex: Biden’s Bribes To Backfire?

“Enticing voters with ‘free’ stuff is part of” the Democratic playbook, jokes Bernard Goldberg at The Hill. Case in point: President Biden’s plan “to forgive some student loan debt, supposedly to ease the burden on those folks who took out loans to go to college and now — oh, the horror! — actually have to pay it back.” Yet “while he may win some support for his ‘free’ money bonanza, he also might alienate a lot of people who took out student loans and scrimped and saved to pay back what they owed.” As a result, “Democrats may lose more support than they pick up. But desperate politicians come up with all sorts of desperate ideas. And Joe Biden is one desperate politician.”

From the right: Joe Wants High Gas Prices

The prez cited an “incredible transition” from fossil fuels even, marvels Marc A. Thiessen at The Washington Post, “as Americans were struggling to put gas in the tank.” Hmm: “If the Biden administration cared about high gas prices, they would be doing everything in their power to increase domestic production,” not trying to stop “all new federal leasing” to drillers. “It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Democrats welcome high gas prices as part of an intentional strategy to speed our transition away from fossil fuels,” especially since Biden “is desperately turning to the United States’ enemies for oil.” Simply put, he “sees the crisis with Russia as an opportunity to speed” his green agenda.

Campus beat: Harvard v. One Black Life

Harvard’s dean announced in 2020, “We unequivocally state our belief that Black Lives Matter,” but Albert Eisenberg at RealClearPolitics flags an exception: Black superstar economist Roland Fryer, subject to “a witch hunt-style cancellation” that year. It’s “a cautionary tale at the Ivies,” echoed as Princeton just “took the extraordinary step of firing  . . . Joshua Katz, after a similar witch hunt led by campus bureaucrats.” Fryer’s now “back in the classroom” but “his research and academic life are under the direct supervision” of a chancellor. “The chill . . . must affect the research Fryer is now conducting — robbing his students, and the American public, of an opportunity to learn more about our most complex social problems.” “Donors and alumni should take note.”

Libertarian: ACLU Blind to Own ‘Partisan Drift’

The ACLU’s David Cole “contends that the organization” has stayed true to its values, observes Joe Lancaster at Reason. But Cole himself “chaired [a] committee that drafted new case selection guidelines,” listing “ways in which the organization can distance itself from its potential clients’ beliefs.” The ACLU has also moved into “outright partisan political activism,” spending $800,000 “on a campaign ad for Democrat Stacey Abrams” and demanding student-loan debt cancellation — neither issue “related to the defense of constitutional rights.” Add in the group’s “internal struggles over whether free speech is compatible with social justice.” Cole “acknowledges that ‘some on the left are less committed to free speech than they once were’ ” while ignoring “how that describes the ACLU.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board