Studies indicate that new Omicron subvariants could cause devastating COVID-19 surge in US
Granting ‘pandemic amnesty’ would be like opening Pandora’s Box
By now, we’ve all seen what Ivy League university professor Emily Oster wrote for The Atlantic: “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty”.
Understandably, my initial reaction was one of indignation. Those asking for “amnesty” cheered on a despostic government that ravaged small businesses, stood quietly by as law enforcement horses trampled peaceful protesters, and enabled psychological torture methods which no doubt contributed to the historic suicide rates among minors. They derisively laughed from their self-elevated place of ill-perceived moral superiority, all to find out they were categorically wrong — they were so arrogant in their delusions. An official pardon for the people who sowed such calamity, while still acting with such unrighteous scorn, is something I find inconceivable. They are the epitome of “useful idiots.”
What struck me most about Oster’s essay was the complete abscondment of responsibility. Just like the guards at the Nazi death camps, they were just doing what they thought was “right” — it was someone else’s fault.
An appeal for “forgiveness” completely perverts the word — first of all, forgiveness occurs after genuine repentance, something which Oster lacks given her refusal to accept culpability for her actions, and forgiveness does not mean crimes go unpunished. A convicted murderer in the courtroom may receive forgiveness from the victim’s family, but that does not mean he becomes exempt from a just punishment. Oster simply wants to dodge the consequences of her sinful actions at all costs, pretending she wasn’t utterly participatory in the newest ‘crime of the century.’
But then it really hit me: allowing “pandemic amnesty” opens the door for every crime against humanity to go unpunished and unrectified. It won’t be that long before they’re asking for “amnesty” from the fallout of a host of catastrophic decisions influenced by leftist fallacy and fanaticism: sexual butchery labeled as “gender-affirming healthcare”; pedophilic grooming of children under the guise of “LGBTQ visibility”; the live dismemberment of preborn babies because it’s “reproductive justice”; or possibly even “vaccine mandates” that have coincidentally preempted a sharp rise in cardiac deaths and episodes.
After all, just like Oster, the perpetrators will claim “We didn’t know.”
Efforts to bring impenitent leftwing ideologues back into the fold of the American citizenry will only extend the other aforementioned areas of brutal human rights abuses. It will teach them that their beliefs and actions don’t have consequences, and they can commit the most egregious acts against their fellow man, without fear of accountability or reprisal.
If you replace the name “Anthony Fauci” with “Josef Mengele” — would we even be contemplating “amnesty” with these people?
Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Now the Disgraced COVID 'Experts' Want 'Amnesty'?
In her recent article in The Atlantic, a Brown University professor, Emily Oster, is calling for "pandemic amnesty." She is telling me to "forgive and forget" everyone who was yelling obscenities at me for not wearing a mask in a public park or calling me a mass murderer for posting a picture with a friend visiting. I must forget all this, the author insists, because all those people had nothing but my well-being in mind!
The author admits that many (if not most!) measures imposed on us by "the experts" were harmful and destructive. But "dwelling on those mistakes" is "counter-productive." After all, people who made these mistakes had only good intentions.
"As we now know," the author concedes, cloth masks are practically useless. People who got vaccinated spread COVID as easily as those who did not. Keeping children locked up at homes had disastrous consequences on their development. And some of the COVID "mitigation" measures — like beach closures in California — were outright dumb. But let's not "dwell" on them — because those were "complicated choices in the face of deep uncertainty."
"We didn't know!" the author laments.
After three years of living through the pandemic, the author all but admits that "the experts" were just as clueless about how to approach it as your next-door neighbor. "The experts" did not know even the most obvious things.
They didn't know that wearing a dirty piece of cloth over your face would not amount to anything other than a sinus infection. Seemed like even a third-grader could've figured that one out — and many did.
They didn't know that walking on the beach was the safest activity one could do during a pandemic. Sunshine and fresh air are the best disinfectants known to men, and a beach in early spring is the best place for "social distancing." You don't need a crystal ball to understand that surfing in the ocean is not "a super-spreader event."
They didn't know that being away from school causes learning delays, especially for kids who don't have a parent in the home. For many kids, a school is the only environment conducive to education. To learn online, kids require constant supervision — I got a firsthand experience with that when my high school–age son was tutoring during COVID. He had to call the parents multiple times a day to return their kids back to the computer screen. What about the kids who didn't have a parent around, or access to a personal tutor? It wasn't a difficult conjecture to know that these kids would fall desperately behind.
After almost everything "the experts" told us has been proven false, they demand "amnesty" because of the "uncertainty" they were facing. Yet, back then, they denied that any uncertainty existed. Back then, they claimed they knew exactly what to do — until they didn't. Back then, they claimed that everyone who contradicted them, or doubted them, was "spreading misinformation." They proclaimed themselves "THE SCIENCE," and they ordered everyone to follow their orders, or else.
You don't need to know the future — only the past — to know that science does not require "blind following." Science involves debate, experimentation, and inquiry. "The experts" and their admirers replaced real science with THE SCIENCE, also known as dogma. And every time it clashed with reality, they turned around on a dime, and they absolved themselves of responsibility, citing "the evolution of THE SCIENCE" without providing any evidence as to how the science had "evolved."
Given the amount of uncertainty, almost every position was taken on every topic. And on every topic, someone was eventually proved right, and someone else was proved wrong.
Even in the face of uncertainty, the author admits, "some people got it right, for whatever reason." Yet she is willfully uncurious as to what that reason is. That reason was that some leaders made decisions based on common sense, not politics. They consulted with scientists and health professionals of different persuasions, not just the ones who promoted the party line. They answered questions correctly because they asked questions in the first place. These were the reasons they got it right — but these reasons, the author argues, are unimportant. All that matters is that we do not blame "the experts" for their failure.
Some people got it right because they wanted to get it right. "The experts" did not — but still, they should get "amnesty" because they "meant well." The author argues that some people made the right choices because they "had a hefty element of luck." We are supposed to believe that for three years, Ron DeSantis magically guessed all the right cards, while Doctor Fauci just kept guessing wrong. And that's why we all should cut the good doctor some slack. Sure, he was heavily compensated for his "expertise" that involved repeating whatever talking points his puppet masters were giving him. But he didn't mean any harm, so let's give him another million-dollar participation trophy.
But in spring and summer 2020, we had only glimmers of information. Reasonable people — people who cared about children and teachers — advocated on both sides of the reopening debate.
Now that "the alarming figures" are coming out, we must admit there were "reasonable people on both sides." However, back in the day, only one side was viewed as "reasonable." Anyone who dissented was known as "the science deniers" and "the grandma-killers." People who claimed they "cared" did not advocate for debate. They advocated for shutting down anyone who disagreed.
Because of "the experts," millions of kids suffered severe learning loss and developmental delays. Cancer patients missed life-saving treatments. Many did not attend the diagnostic tests that could have saved their lives. Gravely ill people died alone without saying goodbye to their loved ones. Because of "the experts," elderly people went into the crowds believing that a stupid mask would protect them. So many lives needlessly lost. And now, "the followers of the science" demand absolution because they meant "no harm." Fair enough: Let's not be mean to the celebrities wasting their lives on Twitter.
In the face of so much uncertainty, getting something right had a hefty element of luck. And, similarly, getting something wrong wasn't a moral failing.
"The experts" admit they "didn't know then," so getting it wrong "wasn't a moral failing." Not knowing is, indeed, not a moral failing — but refusing to learn is. It is because of "the experts" that we didn't learn from this tragic event that impacted a generation. And we still don't know. We don't know why the first wave of COVID was so deadly, and why the one still around is not. We don't even know how deadly each new variant is. We don't really know how COVID spreads, and how to mitigate the spread. We don't have a definite answer about the efficacy of masks. We don't know if COVID vaccines protect you, and for how long. We don't know why older people seem to be more in danger than the young. We could have answers to all of these questions by now if we were allowed to ask them. There is no excuse for why we don't know.
Because of "good intentions," we wasted millions of lives, and millions of livelihoods, and we chose to learn nothing from this horrible event. And that is why, should the new pandemic come tomorrow, instead of relying of what we have learned, "the experts" will revert to the same game plan they used during COVID, needlessly wasting more lives. If we let it slide, more people will die.
"The experts" failed us when we needed them most. Then they demonized us for doubting their "expertise." And now they admit they weren't "the experts" at all — only "well-wishers." After ruining our lives, they cry for "amnesty." If we learned one thing from a three-year pandemic, it's that we should not give it to them. We should hold "the experts" accountable so that all the future experts take notice.
Tanya Berlaga is a freelance writer, translator, and publisher and is currently a contributor to Right Wire Report, The Liberty Loft, and Free Speech Movement.
Image: Anthony Fauci. NIAID via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).
Nolte: COVID Tyrants at Left-wing Atlantic Beg for Amnesty
Our COVID oppressors at the far-left Atlantic are now begging for a COVID amnesty in the wake of all their anti-science COVID oppression.
That’s not going to happen.
Ever.
First, never forget the Atlantic is owned by this fascist who did this while you and I weren’t allowed to visit our relatives in hospitals or nursing homes or attend funerals.
Because I’ve needed both, I’m a big fan of forgiveness and second chances. Before that can happen, however, there must first be an admission of wrongdoing, an apology, accountability, and repentance.
We’re seeing nothing even close to that from our COVID oppressors. Instead, all we see is lying and gaslighting. The best example is Dr. Anthony Fauci — the COVID opressor’s tin idol — running around saying, Who me? I didn’t call for lockdowns. I didn’t call for school closures.
The thrust of the dishonest Atlantic piece is pure lies: “We didn’t know” what we didn’t know at the time.
In April 2020, with nothing else to do, my family took an enormous number of hikes. We all wore cloth masks that I had made myself. We had a family hand signal, which the person in the front would use if someone was approaching on the trail and we needed to put on our masks. Once, when another child got too close to my then-4-year-old son on a bridge, he yelled at her “SOCIAL DISTANCING!”
These precautions were totally misguided. In April 2020, no one got the coronavirus from passing someone else hiking. Outdoor transmission was vanishingly rare. Our cloth masks made out of old bandanas wouldn’t have done anything, anyway. But the thing is: We didn’t know.
Okay, but here is what you did know on day one…
You did know… The elderly were most at risk, and yet you still flooded nursing homes with infected COVID patients and then aided and abetted the cover up.
You did know… The risk of catching the China Flu was the same in a big box store or a small business. You still closed and bankrupted small businesses.
You did know… Everyday American had to watch their loved ones buried via Zoom, and then you attended the funeral for John Lewis.
You did know… The risk to children was minimal, and you still closed schools and practiced the cruelty of forcing crying and confused toddlers into masks.
You did know… People legally traveling to America were as capable of spreading infection as those illegally entering America. Yet, you still refused to stop illegal immigration.
You did know… That while we were shamed, ridiculed, fined, punished, and bankrupted for not following your fascist rules, that one left-wing COVID oppressor after another — including Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Muriel Bowser, the United Nations — proved they knew those rules were unnecessary by personally violating them.
File/An activist holds a mask during a protest of a visit by first lady Jill Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at a clinic at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, June 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
You did know… Every gathering came same with the same risk of infection. Yet, you cheered and joined Black Lives Matter and Antifa “gatherings,” while condemning any gathering of Trump supporters or the Faithful.
You did know… You declared liquor stores “necessary” while locking Churches and Synagogues.
You did know… It was as safe to buy vegetables as vegetable seeds. Yet you made seeds off limits.
You did know… It was unconstitutional for anyone outside of state legislatures to alter voting rules. Yet you did so anyway.
You did know… There was zero proof the vaccine stopped the spread of infection or prevented anyone from becoming infected. Yet you lied and said it did to justify firing, fining, ridiculing, harassing, dehumanizing, bullying, and discriminating.
You did know… Every human life is worthy. Yet you still laughed at those of us who died, wished us dead, and threatened violence against us.
No.
There will be no amnesty before there is accountability for the savages who forced our loved ones to die alone.
David Perruzza, owner of Pitchers bar, stands for a portrait behind signs requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2022. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty)
There will be no forgiveness before there’s a reckoning for the mercenary liars who abused our elderly and children.
There will be no moving on before there’s justice for those who were bankrupted, fined, jailed, mourned alone, forced into lonely despair, and stripped of youth’s magic and irreplaceable moments.
Most of all, there will be no reprieve because you are not sorry; because given the opportunity, you will do it all over again; because you are vicious, heartless, mercenary, politically-driven bullies only asking for amnesty so you can catch us off guard the next time.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
