Tag Archives: #AndyBeshear

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It’s being set up again! The Lexington Herald-Leader is trying to set up a scenario in which Governor Beshear reissues his mask mandate

As we have previously noted, a government and credentialed media which just love to restrict our constitutional rights, are once again setting up a scenario in which Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) will claim that he just has to issue mandatory mask orders and other restrictions, for our own good, don’t you know?

    Lexington COVID-19 cases jump. Variants, loosening of restrictions to blame.

    By Rayleigh Deaton | July 13, 2021 | 1:42 PM | Updated: 2:06 PM EDT

    The number of new COVID-19 cases jumped Tuesday in Lexington as a result of lifted restrictions and virus variants, according to the health department.

    On Tuesday, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department said there were 53 new cases, and the “COVID-19 continues to spread.” The city’s previous rolling average of four new cases per day has risen to 22 since July 6, according to the department. As of June 13, there have been 35,726 total coronavirus cases and 324 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.

    Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, said, “Most of Lexington’s new cases are a form of a variant, with the Delta variant popping up among them.” The Delta variant has been more contagious.

The article writer, the editor who wrote the headline,[1]Headlines in newspapers are traditionally written by editors, not the article authors, but that might not be the case in this instance. and the Lexington Health Department spokesman all wanted to tell us the same thing: loosened restrictions on people are to blame. How long will it be before they start to advocate that Governor Beshear try to once again impose his illegal and unconstitutional restrictions on us?

    Hall said other guidelines include:

    • Avoiding close contact with people showing COVID symptoms.
    • Covering coughs and sneezes.
    • Avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
    • Washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
    • Wearing a face covering in crowded places.

There it is, of course: the setting up of fear, fear of other people in Mr Hall’s first point — after all, people who have been exposed to COVID-19 can pass on the virus before they show any symptoms themselves — and the need, in the last point, that we’re all doomed if we don’t wear face masks again.

At least so far, the Herald-Leader’s Opinion section does not show any editorials pushing the Governor to reimpose his COVID-19 restrictions, but it may well be only a matter of time.

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↑1 Headlines in newspapers are traditionally written by editors, not the article authors, but that might not be the case in this instance.
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It’s being set up again!

Long-term readers of The First Street Journal — both of them — know that my trust of Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) is so great that if he told me that 2 + 2 = 4, I’d check his math. I noted his attempts to have the state Supreme Court invalidate Senate Bill 1, House Bill 1, and other legislation which would restrict his ’emergency powers’ under KRS 39A, saying that it was necessary that he have those powers as defined before the General Assembly passed, over his veto, restrictions on how they could be used. The Kentucky Supreme Court has yet to issue its ruling, but I must admit: given how the justices have bent over backward for Mr Beshear, both when he was state Attorney General and now, as Governor, I am not confident that the Court will uphold the laws. Continue reading →

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We can see it coming: the spreading of fear to allow the government to impose new restrictions on our constitutional rights

When the elites see control slipping away, they resort to fear tactics.

“Fear is crucial for state authority. When the population is filled with it, they will acquiesce to virtually any power the government seeks to acquire in the name of keeping them safe. But when fear is lacking, citizens will crave liberty more than control, and that is when they question official claims and actions. When that starts to happen, when the public feels too secure, institutions of authority will reflexively find new ways to ensure they stay engulfed by fear and thus quiescent.” — Glenn Greenwald, “The New Domestic War on Terror Has Already Begun — Even Without the New Laws Biden Wants”.

Mr Greenwald wasn’t writing about COVID-19, but the efforts of the Biden, and past, Administrations to fight terrorism by restricting civil liberties. There is a lot with which I disagree with Mr Greenwald, but on this, he’s dead on target.

Fear, of course, was what governments used to get a free people to go along with restrictions on their constitutional rights. Now that almost everyplace in the United States has lifted restrictions — Pennsylvania’s mask mandate ended today — we are seeing the fearful wanting them back:

Gottlieb says parts of U.S. could see “very dense outbreaks” as Delta variant spreads

By Kimani Hayes | June 28, 2021 | 7:39 AM EDT | CBS NEWS

Washington — As the U.S. continues to navigate its way through the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said areas of the country could experience “very dense outbreaks” with the concerning Delta variant continuing to circulate.

“It’s going to be hyper-regionalized, where there are certain pockets of the country [where] we can have very dense outbreaks,” Gottlieb said Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

The most vulnerable areas continue to be those with low vaccination rates and low rates of immunity from prior infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many southern states have vaccination rates that lag behind the national average.

“I think as you look across the United States, if you’re a community that has low vaccination rates and you also think that there was low immunity from prior infection, so the virus really hasn’t coursed through the local population, those communities are vulnerable,” he said. “So, I think governors need to be thinking about how they build out health care resources in areas of the country where you still have a lot of vulnerability.”

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a state where hospital admissions are up 30%, expressed concern about the Delta COVID-19 variant and low vaccination rates in his state.

“The Delta variant is a great concern to us. We see that impacting our increasing cases and hospitalizations,” Hutchinson said on “Face the Nation.” The governor also noted that vaccine hesitancy is high in his state, which he attributed to conspiracy theories, the pause in Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot regimen in April and individuals simply not believing in the efficacy of the virus.

There’s more at the original.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), having scheduled the end of almost all of the restrictions for following day anyway, argued before the state Supreme Court that he needs the laws passed, over his veto, by the state legislature earlier this year to be declared unconstitutional, because they would restrict his executive authority to fight a pandemic like COVID-19. One can argue that the restrictions on the Governor’s authority under KRS 39A were unwise, which is what his mouthpiece, Amy Cubbage, did, but unwise is not an argument that a law is unconstitutional. I, however, do not trust the state Supreme Court not to make its usual obeisance to Mr Beshear and let him get away with things again. Despite the best efforts of Republicans, and Kentucky’s voters,[1]In 2020, Republican candidates for the General Assembly ran against the Governor’s orders, and voters rewarded them with 14 additional seats in the state House of representatives, for a 75-25 … Continue reading Governor Beshear has pretty much gotten away with his dictatorial and unconstitutional actions. At this point, the battle is to keep him from being able to do it again. I am not confident that the state Supreme Court will follow the law; they’ve been far too compliant with the Governor’s wishes. But, with the restrictions over, there is no reason at for the justices to ignore the laws passed by the General Assembly other than the argument of what might happen sometime in the future.

It’s easy enough to see coming: just a few cases of the new ‘Delta variant,” and the Governor might once again issue his mandatory mask orders and attempt to close down ‘non-essential’ businesses, because dictators gotta dictate!

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↑1 In 2020, Republican candidates for the General Assembly ran against the Governor’s orders, and voters rewarded them with 14 additional seats in the state House of representatives, for a 75-25 majority, and 2 additional seats, out of 17 up for election, for a 30-8 majority.
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Andy Beshear: Lying through his scummy teeth!

As we have previously noted, the state Supreme Court has consolidated the cases against the General Assembly’s new laws restricting Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A, and a lawsuit against the Governor exercising those powers. The state Court then set June 10th, then eight weeks away, to hear oral arguments in the cases. That means, in effect, that the Governor will continue to exercise authority the General Assembly denied him, for at least 3½ months after the state legislature took its action, and, in all likelihood, a couple of months after that.

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

Several lawsuits were filed in state courts last year to stop the Governor’s emergency decrees under KRS39A. On July 17, 2020, the state Supreme Court put a hold on all lower court orders against Mr Beshear’s orders and directed that “any lower court order, after entry, be immediately transferred to the clerk of the Supreme Court for consideration by the full court.” Three weeks later, the  Court set September 17, 2020, another five weeks later, to hear oral arguments by both sides.

The Court then waited for eight more weeks to issue its decision, until November 12, 2020, which upheld the Governor’s orders.

If the Kentucky Supreme Court, officially non-partisan but in practice controlled by the Democrats, follows the same pattern, a second eight week delay will mean a decision around the first week of August! Even if that decision supports the duly passed laws of the General Assembly, the state courts will have given the Governor half a year to exercise power that the General Assembly restricted.

On May 6th, Governor Beshear announced that he would loosen the restrictions, but not eliminate them entirely, effective just before the Memorial Day weekend. Then, on May 14th, the Governor announced that almost all restrictions would be lifted on Kentuckians, including the hated mask mandate, even for those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. He had, the previous day, followed the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations, and stated that “fully vaccinated” Kentuckians could dispense with face masks.

‘A huge relief.’ Businesses, politicians celebrate end of KY COVID-19 restrictions.

By Alex Acquisto and Daniel Desrochers | June 11, 2021 | 6:00 AM | EDT | Updated: 7:45 AM EDT

A year of mask-wearing and social distancing ends Friday, as Kentuckians were given clearance to stop taking routine precautions against spread of COVID-19 for the first time since the virus initially invaded the state.

Gov. Andy Beshear first required masks be worn in public places and around others outside one’s household in July of 2020 as a way to blunt the spread of the disease and has renewed that order each month since.

On Friday, that order was lifted, along with restrictions on crowd capacity in restaurants and most other businesses, ripping off the state’s COVID-19 protective band-aid.

So, despite the best efforts of Republicans, Governor Beshear has pretty much gotten away with his dictatorial and unconstitutional actions. At this point, the battle is to keep him from being able to do it again.

KY Supreme Court hears arguments on limiting the governor’s power during emergencies

By Jack Brammer | June 10, 2021 | 1:37 PM EDT | Updated June 11, 2021 | 7:57 AM EDT

A day before Gov. Andy Beshear is to remove most COVID-19 restrictions in Kentucky, the state Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments on Beshear’s challenge of Republican-backed laws that limit his authority to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies.

Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. said after nearly two hours of oral arguments on two related cases that the state’s highest court will rule “as quickly as we can.” A decision is not expected for several weeks.

The state Supreme Court last year unanimously ruled that Beshear’s orders were legal but that was before the legislature passed laws earlier this year restricting the governor’s powers.

There’s a lot more at the original, but basically the Governor’s attorney was arguing that the Governor had to have the powers he exercised.

After the court hearing, Beshear told reporters that a governor’s emergency powers certainly “have to be large enough with a one-in-every-hundred year pandemic that creates the deadliest year in our history, it has to be significant and strong enough to do what’s necessary there.”

“You look back at different things that this legislature has tried to do in the midst of this pandemic and they would have not had the courage to step up and mandate masks, which we know from the experts is absolutely necessary,” he said. “We would have looked like the Dakotas and not what we looked like here in Kentucky.”

The Governor was lying through his scummy teeth. The laws did not prevent him from issuing declaring a state of emergency or issuing executive orders under it; what hey did was to limit those orders to thirty days unless the General Assembly specifically authorized an extension. The legislature passed House Joint Resolution 77, which granted extensions to some, but not all, of the Governor’s executive orders, but did not include the hated mask mandate, and then highly partisan Judge Phillip Shepherd issued an injunction against that, saying that the Governor’s existing executive orders and emergency regulations constituted “proper responses to a public health crisis.” That’s a political judgement, not a legal one.

Mr Beshear was pissed off that the legislature did not agree with all of his executive order, only some of them. Saying that the legislature “would have not had the courage to step up and mandate masks, which we know from the experts is absolutely necessary” is a political argument, not a legal one.

Republicans, frustrated by the courts’ refusal to rein in the Governor’s mandates, ran against the Governor and his actions in the 2020 elections, and the voters rewarded Republicans with 14 additional seats in the state House of Representatives, for a 75-25 majority, and two additional seats in the state Senate, out of 17 being contested, for a 30-8 majority in that body. The state legislature, in passing the bills at the beginning of this year’s session, was doing whet the voters of Kentucky wanted them to do. The Governor does not like that the voters did not agree with his dictates.

Mr Beshear, who was very, very, very concerned about the law when he was state Attorney General and doing his best to frustrate Governor Matt Bevin (R-KY), doesn’t seem to care much about the law anymore, not when the law is a problem for him. He has argued necessity, as though the Governor’s personal judgement of what is necessary somehow trumps or supersedes the law.

Well, not just no, but Hell no! The law is the law, and the constitution is the constitution, and no Governor, not Mr Beshear or anybody else, should have the authority to just suspend or ignore parts of it.

Alas! I am not confident that the state Supreme Court will follow the law; they’ve been far too compliant with the Governor’s wishes. But, with the restrictions over, there is no reason at for the justices to ignore the laws passed by the General Assembly other than the argument of what might happen sometime in the future.

The real solution for Kentuckians will come on November 7, 2023, when they will have the chance to vote this wannabe dictator out of office.

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It has come awfully late in the game, but at last it has come! Governor Beshear has been slapped down by the courts!

As we have frequently noted, Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) has been trying to run out the clock with his ’emergency’ decrees under KRS 39A. The Kentucky state Supreme Court, on April 16th, decided to hold a hearing on the disagreement between courts in Franklin and Scott counties over the Governor’s executive orders, and then set June 10th, a date then eight weeks into the future, for a hearing.

On May 6th, Governor Beshear announced that he would loosen the restrictions, but not eliminate them entirely, effective just before the Memorial Day weekend. Then, on May 14th, the Governor announced that almost all restrictions would be lifted on Kentuckians, including the hated mask mandate, even for those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. He had, the previous day, followed the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations, and stated that “fully vaccinated” Kentuckians could dispense with face masks.

Well, today is June 8th, just two days before the state Supreme Court hears oral arguments, and three days before our dictatorial Governor will (supposedly) lift almost all of his emergency COVID-19 orders. But today, the Boone County Circuit Court declared the Governors actions to be illegal and unconstitutional.

THEREFORE, JUDGMENT IS HEREBY ENTERED in favor of Plaintiff and DECLARATORY RELIEF is GRANTED in that the Court finds and declares that all actions taken by Defendants, Hon. Andrew Beshear, as Governor, Mr. Eric Friedlander, as acting Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Dr. Steven Stack, M.D., as Commissioner for the Department of Public Health, and all emergency orders imposed by said defendants, or that are being continued by said defendants, are unconstitutional, void and without any legal effect, to the extent that the same are in conflict with, or otherwise contrary to, House Bill 1, Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 2, and House Joint Resolution 77, as passed by the 2021 session of the General Assembly.

Here’s the decision:

Boone Circuit Court Order by Chris

This should have come at the end of March, not today, but it is at least a bit of a relief that it has occurred.

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On lying

Though I have refused to carry my vaccination record, as some form of #VaccinePassport, I have stated publicly that I did receive the Moderna vaccine shots, interestingly enough on April Fool’s Day and then Cinco de Mayo.

The Centers for Disease Control stated, on May 13th, that “fully vaccinated” people could dispense with face masks and “social distancing.” Now, I have been fighting as hard as I can Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) authoritarian dictates, not that fighting has done much good; he has gotten away with his illegal and unconstitutional actions. The Governor has stated that he will lift almost all of his COVID-19 executive orders on June 11th, and already lifted the mandatory mask order for those “fully vaccinated” when the CDC guidance was issued.

I, of course, had never worn a mask outdoors, and only did so indoors at the insistence of property owners.

But, with my status of being “fully vaccinated” not occurring until May 19th,[1]May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now! fourteen days after my second dose of the vaccine, I was presented with a dilemma on Sunday, May 16th. The Bishop of Lexington, and my individual parish, stated the same thing, that “fully vaccinated” parishioners could attend Mass indoors without a mask.

Now, I have not believed that a mask was necessary at all, and have noted before that the forecasts that Texas would see doom, doom, doom! for dropping its mask mandate on March 10th instead resulted in the Lone Star State seeing a precipitous drop in cases, but Mass, being held three days prior to achieving that mythical “fully vaccinated” status meant that if I attended Mass without a mask, I would be, in effect, lying to my pastor, to our church sister, and to the other parishioners, concerning my vaccine status. Yes, I wanted to, will always want to, fight the Governor’s illegal and unconstitutional restrictions, but the change in the regulations, which have always been political, also meant a change in the nature of telling the truth. Not wearing a mask previously was a political action, a statement of resistance, and it was not a statement of vaccine status. Once the CDC and the Governor took their actions, not wearing a mask also became a statement that one was fully vaccinated.

Thus, from May 13th through 18th, not wearing a mask indoors would be, for me, the public telling of a lie.

I chose not to lie!

Come June 11th, if the Governor has not lied — and if Mr Beshear told me that 2+2=4, I would check his math — wearing or not wearing a mask is no longer a point of truth-telling. But, until then, not wearing a mask can be interpreted as a public statement, “I have been vaccinated.” Concomitantly, wearing a mask when you have been fully vaccinated can be interpreted by others as a statement that you have not been vaccinated, and might be an #antivaxxer.

So, at Mass on May 16th, I wore a mask, and did not lie. On Sunday, May 23, which just happens to be one year since we were so graciously ‘allowed’ to return to Mass, I did not.

Attendance at Mass should not be a political act, but our Governor has made it one, and I have not missed Sunday Mass once since the Diocese of Lexington has reopened.

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↑1 May 19th is special to me as well, because it is Mrs Pico’s and my wedding anniversary. For some unknown reason, she has put up with me for 42 years now!
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Why June 11th?

We have been saying, all along, that Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) has been playing politics with his COVID-19 executive orders, planning on ending them just in time for the state Supreme Court to simply declare the cases against him moot rather than rule on them.

The state Supreme Court has consolidated the cases against the General Assembly’s new laws restricting Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A, and a lawsuit against the Governor exercising those powers. The state Court then set June 10th, eight weeks after consolidating those cases, for oral arguments.

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

‘Back to normal.’ Beshear removing almost all COVID-19 restrictions in KY on June 11.

By Alex Aquisto | May 14, 2021 | 10:58 AM | Updated 11:55 AM EDT

Kentucky will return to full capacity everywhere and fully lifts its mask mandate in less than a month, ending more than a year of COVID-19-related restrictions, Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Friday.

“We will return to 100% capacity for all venues and events in exactly one month, on June 11 . . . [and] life will be almost fully back to normal,” the governor said in a live update. That day, the state will also rescind its mask mandate for everyone, including those who are unvaccinated, “with the exceptions of places where people are the most vulnerable,” he said.

Beshear is waiting a month to fully lift those restrictions to allow time for adolescents ages 12-15 to get vaccinated. That age group was given the green light by federal health agencies earlier this week to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, and most vaccination sites in Kentucky just began administering doses to those teens on Thursday.

“One months also gives notice and time to everyone else who has not yet received their [dose],” Beshear said.

So, what is so magical about June 11th? It’s a Friday, but what makes conditions different on June 11th than on June 9th? It’s four weeks from today, but who knows what will happen in four weeks?

Ahhh, but it’s one day after June 10th, the day the state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments against the Honorable Mr Beshear’s[1]Some of the commenters on Patterico’s Pontifications have complained about me referring to the Governor as Reichsstatthalter, the German title of Reich Governor, so I decided to use only decent … Continue reading illegal and unconstitutional actions, and he can argue to the Justices, ‘hey, everything’s going back to normal tomorrow, so everything is moot, there’s no case, let’s just drop it.’

But there are a couple of problems with that:

  1. If the cases are simply dropped, if our distinguished Governor decides that his edicts need to be reimposed, the legal process will start all over again, giving him yet more time, once he gets partisan Democratic Judge Phillip Shepherd to give him another injunction against enforcement of the laws.
  2. If the cases are simply dropped as moot, our noble Governor will have gotten away with restricting the constitutional rights of all Kentuckians, with no penalty.

It’s clear: with the support of too many of the sheeple, our rights will have been restricted for fifteen months, and the Governor will walk away smiling. The only thing we will be able to do is defeat him for re-election, and that won’t happen until 2023.

The voters of the Commonwealth of Kentucky gave Republicans, Republicans who were running against our well-meaning Governor’s executive decrees, fourteen additional seats in the state House of Representatives, for a 75-25 Republican advantage, and two more seats, out of just seventeen up for election, in the state Senate, for a 30-8 Republican advantage. The voters wanted to stop Governor Beshear’s actions, but a partisan judge, and an officially non-partisan but practically Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court, allowed him to escape the democratically-elected will of the people.

Yes, this makes me angry.

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↑1 Some of the commenters on Patterico’s Pontifications have complained about me referring to the Governor as Reichsstatthalter, the German title of Reich Governor, so I decided to use only decent and pleasant adjectives to refer to Mr Beshear. Some readers here might think I am using such adjectives sarcastically, and I shall not disabuse them of that thought.
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Andy Beshear tries to finesse his #COVID19 orders to escape a state Supreme Court decision

As we have previously noted, the state Supreme Court has consolidated the cases against the General Assembly’s new laws restricting Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A, and a lawsuit against the Governor exercising those powers. The state Court then set June 10th, then eight weeks away and still more than a month away, to hear oral arguments in the cases. That means, in effect, that the Governor will continue to exercise authority the General Assembly denied him, for at least 3½ months after the state legislature took its action, and, in all likelihood, a couple of months after that.

Several lawsuits were filed in state courts last year to stop the Governor’s emergency decrees under KRS39A. On July 17, 2020, the state Supreme Court put a hold on all lower court orders against Mr Beshear’s orders and directed that “any lower court order, after entry, be immediately transferred to the clerk of the Supreme Court for consideration by the full court.” Three weeks later, the  Court set September 17, 2020, another five weeks later, to hear oral arguments by both sides.

The Court then waited for eight more weeks to issue its decision, until November 12, 2020, which upheld the Governor’s orders.

If the Kentucky Supreme Court, officially non-partisan but in practice controlled by liberals, follows the same pattern, a second eight week delay will mean a decision around the first week of August! Even if that decision supports the duly passed laws of the General Assembly, the state courts will have given the Governor half a year to exercise power that the General Assembly restricted.

And now? The Governor is trying to make most of the cases moot:

COVID-19 capacity restrictions lifting to 75% at most Kentucky businesses on May 28

By Alex Aquisto | May 6, 2021 4:57 PM EDT | Updated May 6, 2021 | 5:34 PM

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY)

Indoor and outdoor businesses in Kentucky serving fewer than 1,000 people can increase capacity to 75% at the end of the month, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, as he announced 655 new cases of COVID-19 and six virus-related deaths.Capacity restrictions right now for these businesses are at 60%. Beshear also said people gathering indoors “for private gatherings and for business” no longer have to wear a mask, as long as “100% are fully vaccinated.” That change goes into effect immediately.

Additionally, for businesses and events serving more than 1,000 people outdoors, Beshear increased their operating capacity from 50% to 60%. Both capacity increases go into effect May 28. Beshear said he expects the state will have no coronavirus capacity restrictions by July.

Translation: by the time the state Supreme Court will probably rule, there will be far fewer restrictions in place, and the Governor will argue that makes the cases moot. The Court would like nothing better than to simply dismiss the cases as moot, and you can bet your last euro that the Court would notify the Governor before any decision is announced what it would be and when it would be issued.

Governor Beshear said that Texas decision to drop mask mandates “will increase casualties,” but COVID cases there have dramatically declined.

We noted on Thursday that Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) was lifting his restrictions on Memorial Day, May 31st, and asked why he was going to ruin 2/3 of the holiday weekend and then suddenly declare, on the final day, that no restrictions were needed. At least Governor Beshear recognized the silliness of that!

The Governor’s latest thirty-day renewal of the illegal and repugnant mask mandate expires on Thursday, May 27th, at 5:00 PM EDT, just before his other COVID-19 restrictions are scheduled to be weakened, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him issue that one again.

Reiterating that Kentucky will not be repealing its mask mandate anytime soon, Gov. Andy Beshear announced 1,068 new cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky on Thursday, as well as 28 virus-related deaths.

Earlier this week, Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi lifted coronavirus restrictions, repealing their states’ mask mandates and reopening businesses to full capacity. Kentucky will not do that, Beshear said.

“We’re going to continue to lose people until we’re fully out of the woods and everybody is vaccinated,” he said in a live update. “That’s the reason we’re not going to do what Texas or Mississippi has done. Those decisions will increase casualties when we just have maybe even a matter of months to go.”

Except, of course, those decisions did not increase casualties, the seven day moving average of new cases in the Lone Star state being down to 2,651 as of May 6th, the lowest figure since June 17, 2020, while Mississippi is seeing a seven-day moving average of 182 new cases per day, a number not seen since April 14, 2020. Regardless of what the so-called ‘experts’ have told us, the empirical evidence has been that ending the mask mandates has not led to more cases, but, hey, dictators gotta dictate!

If Governor Beshear does not extend the mask mandate past July, virtually all of the cases on the laws would turn moot, so the Governor would not have a decision recorded against him; the state Supreme Court would simply dismiss everything. But that leaves open the possibility that, in a future ’emergency,’ or if COVID-19 cases suddenly increase again, that our authoritarian Governor would once again try to restrict the rights of Kentuckians.

This Governor needs to be slapped down, and slapped down hard, but the only way that will really happen is at the ballot box, in November of 2023.