Emily “Litella” Oster in The Atlantic: let’s have a COVID amnesty
Let’s just forget about all that lockdown stuff Democrats pushed and pushed and pushed, that was so damaging to society and in particular to kids, writes Emily Oster.
Like another Emily:
From the article:
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.
Who is this “we”? Medical authorities knew it was based on sheer speculation.
There was a strong and consistent choice to scare the public, and much of the information was very poorly substantiated. I’m talking about this sort of thing, or the matters discussed in this July 2021 post of mine, or this sort of thing, or this post of mine from way back in April of 2020.
From the article:
To take an example close to my own work, there is an emerging (if not universal) consensus that schools in the U.S. were closed for too long: The health risks of in-school spread were relatively low, whereas the costs to students’ well-being and educational progress were high. The latest figures on learning loss are alarming. But in spring and summer 2020, we had only glimmers of information.
That’s just plain wrong. Right from the very start, we had plenty of information that indicated that children were not succumbing to COVID nor were they a big vector for spreading it. Vaccines came into play relatively early on for the adults, and yet in many places schools stayed closed or partially closed. We had data from states that opened schools early, and the news was good.
Not only that, but we who were giving out warnings that the reaction was overdone might be more inclined to forgive and forget except for one thing: naysayers to the lockdowns and all the rest, as well as the unvaccinated, were demonized unmercifully by the left. No “amnesty” for them. Why should they forgive those who did it?
Because there’s an election coming up that Democrats might lose?
It’s even worse than the headline.
https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1587229931955785728
naysayers to the lockdowns and all the rest, as well as the unvaccinated, were demonized unmercifully by the left.
Remember how ‘everyone’ in authority – from Comrade Fauci on down – went out of their way to demonize, and ensure that the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, were named as no-name amateurs and unworthy of publication. If that wasn’t vicious, what was?
Ms. Oster should have been frequenting http://www.thenewneo.com
She would have had access to great posts and comments on the pandemic and what the data were indicating.
I appreciated this substack article by yet another Emily, Emily Burns.
Burns argues that Oster’s appeal is to placate Blue moms who were alienated by the strict Covid policies and might not vote Democrat.
___________________________
Emily is asking us to forgive a mistake. There was no mistake. There was a political calculation that harmed us, but even more, that harmed our children. The harm was considered acceptable because those who undertook it, took the votes of women for granted. They assumed they could lie and manipulate us into believing these harms were necessary, or barring that, unintentional. If we, as women, want our votes to be courted in the future by either party, we must vote to punish the past three years treachery.
https://emilyburns.substack.com/p/with-whom-does-emily-oster-want-an
I have never been so adamant about any large issue as I was about the Covid response from the very beginning and I was right on most of it.
Just about every major issue happening right now is either a direct result of that response or at least made far worse by it.
It was the worst major policy decision since at least the Civil War and there were so many people that saw it coming and were attacked and shut down for saying.
People need to be made to pay for this disaster. Firings at least, voted out for sure, and jail for some.
Early on I watched a video of a virologist (in Hong Kong IIRC, but a white guy), who made general predictions on things, for example that sunlight would kill it quickly, etc. A lot of general knowledge was known, but was rejected by those pushing a narrative. Hence you have authorities chasing down paddle boarders in the surf, etc., hundreds of yards from others in direct exposure to sunlight, and with conditions that would quickly disperse any virus that would have significantly reduced viral load quickly.
Apropos of the follow-the-science folks: The director of the CDC has tested positive a second time for COVID after taking a course of Pfizer’s latest moneymaker, Paxlovid. Evidently the antiviral causes something called Paxlovid rebound: “The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, has tested positive again for COVID-19. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday that he also tested positive for the virus. . . . The CDC has reported on Paxlovid rebound, which causes COVID-19 symptoms to return after a patient takes the five-day regimen of the antiviral. While the pills have proven effective in preventing serious disease and death among older people, and those who are immunocompromised, they have provided less benefit for younger adults who can experience a return of symptoms. As Walensky, 53, recovers from her rebound COVID-19 case, Gov. Hogan tweeted he has isolated, as well.”
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/10/31/COVID-19-CDC-director-Rochelle-Walensky-rebound-positive-paxlovid/7121667249772/
I haven’t forgotten how Walensky changed the CDC’s guidance on school reopenings to placate the teachers’ union, which described itself as the CDC’s “thought partner” in 2021: https://nypost.com/2021/05/01/teachers-union-collaborated-with-cdc-on-school-reopening-emails/
Karma, it’s a beautiful thing.
Bret Weinstein and the Dark Horse podcast was a good source on covid discussions.
I like Robert Barnes response to this:
A Reasoned Rant: The Argument
The Covid Authoritarians beg amnesty. Too generous an amnesty only begets the recurrence of the original sin. My answer: Never Forget. Never Forgive. Hold the Line.
Let us remember their sin. They arrested us en masse in our own homes. They shuttered the schools of learning for our children. They stripped us of simple joys like a visit to the beach, a family trip to the park, a long-planned vacation. They denied us the sacred rituals of church and family alike. They refused us celebrating a marriage, a graduation, a life well lived. They stole from us the chance to say goodbye to our loved ones on their death beds. They robbed decades of dreams from small businesses across the land. They fired us from lifelong jobs we’d spent a lifetime of loyalty to, for the simple request of respecting our bodily integrity and deepest spiritual beliefs. They reallocated wealth from us to Big Tech oligarchs and connected pols. They demanded medical sharia law of masking our faces to merely walk into a store or take a trip, as even autistic kids were shamed or denied a simple plane ride. They corrupted our elections under the guise of pandemic policies, and awarded the most powerful office in the world to a perverted derelict on the cusp of world war and global depression. They coerced unwanted, dangerous drugs into our bodies, drugs that beget disability and death, often for the youngest amongst us.
When we asked questions, they censored us, they shamed us, and they outcast us. They gleefully celebrated lost jobs, lost businesses, and lost lives, for our dissident questions and critiques. They demanded our public flogging and walk of shame for their sins. And now they ask for amnesty?
No, there will be no amnesty. Never Forget. Never Forgive. Hold the Line.
We didn’t know.
Oh, it’s a new and novel virus. All previously acquired knowledge on infectious viral diseases is null and void. Sure.
My next door neighbor was a breast cancer survivor with a family history of pancreatic cancer. In May 2020 she sensed that something was wrong with her body and tried to get an appointment with her doctor, who wouldn’t see her because COVID. Nothing she did subsequently was successful in getting her in anywhere. When in early 2021 she was finally able to get an appointment, she was told the cancer had metastasized throughout her body. She died soon after.
I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of other stories just like this in which this unconstitutional and monstrously unethical breach of civil rights has led to unnecessary deaths all because Hillary Clinton didn’t get her turn and the Bad Orange Man made them cry.
Not only do I not forgive, I am waiting to exact vengeance. I’m actually madder today than I was then.
Off with her head.
There was enough known by May (probably earlier) of 2020 that almost nothing with the possible exception of nursing homes should have been closed and it was always known that masks were useless.
But if someone in May of 2020 said the above they would have been mercifully attacked and maybe cancelled.
Turfmann,
Yep, a friend of my sister had almost the exact same story. The hoops they made her jump through to get seen took months and by then it was too late.
But she didn’t die from Covid.
I get the sense that, not only is this lady wanting us all to forgive the absolutely atrocious failures of public policy, the over-reach of authority to strip people of their freedoms, and the removal of services in order to force compliance, the relentless propagandizing – not only is she wanting amnesty for this, but out of the goodness of her progressive heart, she is also pleading for other progressives to forgive the ignorant masses for their misguided doubts and annoying tendency to question authority.
Never. I didn’t accept it then, and I don’t accept it now. I look at the pandemic antics in places like New Zealand and Australia and Canada, and understand just how close that threat is to our society, and how narrowly it was avoided here.
Because nothing says ‘Trust the Science’ like government-awarded Immunity From Prosecution and trials data sealed for 75 years…..
You all know that nothing is going to happen to the people responsible, right? That there will be no consequences, right?
Don’t mean nothin’. Not a thang.
In the first few months when no one could say we wouldn’t be burying bodies with bulldozers, I extend a lot of forgiveness, but not on anything after June 2020.
I’m reminded of the “We’re all Americans” sweetness and light the Democrats talked after Obama won in 2008.
Yeah, sure.
IrishOtter49. Has it right. Like everything else these cretins do, they will never be held accountable. The GOP doesn’t have the balls to do them justice.
Sharon W.:
I agree on the Barnes response. It sums up my feelings pretty well.
One tiny benefit of the disastrous Covid response was that it revealed the true nature of so many of the people in positions of power. We saw how gleefully they made people suffer and follow arbitrary rules (while ignoring the rules themselves) just because they could.
I used to wonder how it was possible that so many of histories great evils could have happened. I don’t wonder that any more.
Before there can be any talk of forgiveness, there has to be consequences and admissions of guilt by the people who perpetrated this madness. I’m not holding my breath.
What I told my Wife should happen to these “people” I can not say here.
Yes, I will never Forget nor Forgive.
Yes, nothing whatsoever will happen to any of them, well at least that is legal.
And I still have to wear a mask when I visit my Doc.
While she’s at it she might as well agitate for amnesty for all the Climate Cultists…even before they really get going—really get their three-ring circus on the road.
COVID-19 was weaponized against Donald Trump. No reasoned debate or rational discussion would be allowed. COVID was the end of the world and Trump was solely responsible. NOTHING that challenged or questioned those positions would be tolerated.
That’s the original petty and selfish sin from which just about all other COVID bad behavior flowed.
And whether she’s conscious of it or not, Trump is probably why this woman wants an amnesty. They’re going to use COVID against Trump and don’t want to be bothered by little things like evaluating their own actions to get in the way.
Mike
One tiny benefit of the disastrous Covid response was that it revealed the true nature of so many of the people in positions of power. We saw how gleefully they made people suffer and follow arbitrary rules (while ignoring the rules themselves) just because they could.
It revealed that there is tremendous rot in the NIH, the FDA, and, especially, the CDC. These agencies need to be purged. CDC needs to be broken into pieces if not shut down entirely. As for NIH, require they limit their research to inhouse projects and end their permission to make grants.
Forgiveness requires apology and repentance and a promise not to do this again. They won’t apologize. They make no promise to not repeat the bad treatment and I wouldn’t believe them if they did.
Radical suggestion here, but okay, they get a pass, and all of us who were right all along get to direct the next pandemic. In the meanwhile, we fire all management at the various agencies that were wrong and fill the vacancies with those of us who were right all along.
In addition, all the blue checks and lefties who promoted the failed lockdowns and other draconian measures all lose social media privileges forever, since it was misinformation with deadly consequences.
and tried to get an appointment with her doctor, who wouldn’t see her because COVID.
Many people learned something about their doctors as well.
https://davidgriffey.blogspot.com/2022/01/what-our-doctors-office-said.html
Forgiveness requires apology and repentance and a promise not to do this again. They won’t apologize. They make no promise to not repeat the bad treatment and I wouldn’t believe them if they did.
Professional class liberals admit nothing. Faculty are the worst.
“Amnesty,” as in never remember a Demo/Liberal mistake, and never forget a Wingnut/Republican mistake.
I have a suspicion that this person doesn’t genuinely want to make nice. She had to know her article would just piss people off. The Atlantic had to know. They haven’t stopped hating us all of a sudden.
Sharon W,
Indeed. No, there will be no amnesty. Never Forget. But forgiveness requires genuine repentance and repentance requires honest acknowledgement of sinful actions. Nor does forgiveness involve forgetting for they have revealed their hearts and minds. A truce is all they can ever hope for… but never amnesty for that wipes the slate clean, which in effect pretends that it never happened. They have cursed themselves with their actions and must now lay in the bed they have made.
“positions of power” Anybody who wanted to let her inner totalitarian freak out could claim “COVID”, and all must obey whatever stupid thing was demanded. You didn’t need a title and a forever position with the government to wield power.
Interesting view of some folks we thought we knew.
Forgiveness requires apology and repentance and a promise not to do this again.
Martin:
As I understand it, that’s the Jewish position on forgiveness — a bilateral act between forgiver and forgivee.
However, Christians, or at least some Christians, see forgiveness as a unilateral act on the part of the forgiver. When Christ forgave those who crucified him, he didn’t wait for an apology and a promise to do better.
It’s an interesting discussion. I can see merits on both sides.
No, there is no forgiveness, or “do over” for the people and institutions who put us all through hell for more that two years. No forgiveness for the Karens, or all the damage that they did, out of a sense of towering self-righteousness.
I’m incredibly grateful that my own natural stubbornness about flu shots and my daughter’s pregnancy prevented us from getting the thrice-be-damned clot shot.
Yeah, caught the Commie Crud, both of us. And the Wonder Grandson, too. He had the sniffles for a couple of days, Daughter and I got over it, as soon as the covid-pneumonia was addressed and taken care of.
sasha moncke, was the german born ‘johnny appleseed’ of social distancing and lock down, hannah summers if memory serves said kemp reopening georgia, was an act of ‘human sacrifice’ derek thompson talked down all sorts of effective therapeutics, those are just three off the top of my head, who were criminally wrong, all with atlantic bylines,
Plenty of people knew.
And every time they opened their mouth they were attacked by mobs.
A college friend of my daughter’s, a young father of three children, died of cancer because the pandemic policies prevented him from getting timely treatment. I will never forget him.
I can forgive honest error, but in general the authorities knew they had no scientific basis for what they were doing. I cannot forgive that without honest admission of error and a believable promise not to do something like this again. Further, they shut down any discussion of alternative points of view.
Huxley, on the cross, Jesus said, about the Roman soldiers, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” They did not know who He was, and thought they were crucifying a common criminal. I think many Christians falsely think they can “forgive” people who harm them without repentance from the offenders. What they are doing is merely deciding not to let the knowledge of the offense control their own lives, which is a good thing as far as it goes. Genuine forgiveness requires that the offender repent and mend his ways.
Genuine forgiveness requires that the offender repent and mend his ways.
Kate:
My impression is most Christians believe in forgiveness as a one-way transaction. Here’s my first search hit on “christian forgiveness”:
________________________________
1. What if the person doesn’t ask for forgiveness? Am I still obligated to forgive?
This is an important question, because it’s tremendously practical. If you work to faithfully apply the words of Jesus then you will likely encounter people who do not repent, ask for your forgiveness, or even seem like they think they have done anything wrong. How does this change your responsibility to forgive? Does it?
I don’t think it changes our responsibility. The answer to the question is, we can and we must forgive them.
Let’s think about it this way. Forgiveness has two sides, there is the extension of forgiveness and the reception of it. The emphasis in this passage before us is the extension. Jesus is not here talking about receiving forgiveness, but extending it. Certainly to feel the full effect of forgiveness we desire to have both sides sync up, but it does not always happen.
Jesus other teaching supports this view. We have to do our part in the forgiveness. This is what Jesus meant, I think, when he said, “Love your enemies . . . bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). They don’t stop being our enemies when we bless them. And this is what makes this so powerful. They haven’t asked for our forgiveness, and perhaps they don’t think they have to. They are content being our enemy and making life difficult for us. One has said, “We are to bless them, and that blessing means that our part of the inward forgiveness has happened. The opposite of forgiveness is holding a grudge, but blessing is the opposite of holding a grudge, and so blessing is a kind of forgiving.” (John Piper‘s whole answer is worth the read.)
I find it helpful to consider our Savior’s words when he was on the cross. He said, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus was setting an example for us to follow. He prayed for those who did harm to him. He prayed for their forgiveness. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/common-questions-christians-ask-forgiveness/
________________________________
I don’t have a dog in this hunt. However, I would note again that the Jewish approach to forgiveness is what you say.
I don’t think the traditional Christian concept of forgiveness differs from the Jewish concept. Praying for our enemies is not the same as forgiving them if they are not repentant.
There is a difference in forgiving from the heart and in forgiving from the public policy sphere. Forgiveness from the heart is indeed unilateral and does not require admission and repentance. But in the public policy sphere it is quite different. That you forgive the murderer from your heart does not remove the need to remove said murderer from society to prevent said murderer from murdering again, to deter other potential murderers, and to declare that society finds murder unacceptable. There is a similar dichotomy here. You can forgive from your heart the rich-but-poorly-dressed fascists who brought this misery down upon us, but those same rich-but-poorly-dressed fascists must face punishment to remove their egregious judgments from the public policy sphere, to help ensure that no one advocates such a calamity again, and, most importantly, to tell those rich-but-poorly-dressed fascists that society finds what they did unacceptable.
The lockdowns were the Democratic imitations of the Chinese communist solution, except the ChiComms let millions flee to the rest of the planet to spread the virus first.
Wuhan has one of the planet’s busiest commercial airports!
It seems that Oster’s piece is having a sort of Streisand effect: Her asking everyone to forgive (and, presumably, forget) is drawing exactly the opposite reaction. Not only are people saying “Hell, no!”, but they are also shining a light on all the unforgivable policies that were inflicted on us, and the horrendous costs. Maybe a tipping point in public sentiment? So I guess we can thank her for that.
huxley; Kate; Jeff Cox, et al:
There is a lengthy discussion of forgiveness, both Christian and Jewish, in this post and thread.
“However, Christians, or at least some Christians, see forgiveness as a unilateral act on the part of the forgiver.”
Huxley, that’d be pretty much on the mark.
But forgiveness does not remove the need for satisfaction of justice.
Someone has to pay the cost for the damage done. Christians see this cost borne in our rebellion against God by Christ crucified & risen, so forgiveness is complete.
In our still sinful human world, where human relationships & other things are damaged & destroyed by the actions of others, I can forgive, but I cannot remove the need for justice that still must be satisfied. You steal my car & I can forgive you that crime, but the state has a requirement to enact justice…ie…jail time that I cannot contravene.
In the matters of Covid-tyranny, as viscerally as I want vengeance, I’ll accept justice. What was done by the Covid-tyrants was wilful & malicious and requires justice. I’ll let others decide what that looks like, but prison & bankruptcy would be the minimum in my mind.
Aw come on!
Whaddaya want from us!?
All we did was FORTIFY the response to the pandemic…
…FOR YER OWN GOOD!!
Ye’ freakin’ ingrates…
@ huxley in re forgiveness – Emily Burns addressed that in the remainder of the post you quoted, considering “amnesty” of the type requested by Oster as being essentially unconditional forgiveness.
I hope I will remember to look for her next post, because this one was excellent.
Burns posts a number of links to responses by other people who are of like mind.
I clicked over to this one, somewhat randomly because of the lead graf.
FWIW, he has screencaps of some of Oster’s tweets, showing that she was fully on-board with the persecution procedures.
https://michaelpsenger.substack.com/p/lets-declare-a-pandemic-amnestynot?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web
I stand with commenter Nicole:
@ Shirehome > “And I still have to wear a mask when I visit my Doc.”
I was in this morning for a routine physical – masks are still mandatory at the hospital and its associated clinics.
However, my physical therapist’s corporation has finally made them optional.
No one there wears them except a very few patients and staff.
Last summer I got dangerously ill. I literally and painfully staggered into the emergency room, struggling with my breathing. The nurse on duty told me to wear a mask. I do not believe Neo would like it if I posted my response to the nurse here.
On the other hand, the very idea that SOME KIND of forgiveness is understood to be needed (and is therefore requested—suggested? DEMANDED??) MEANS that there is—quite amazingly—a feeling of SOME KIND of guilt…or—let’s not get carried away here—CULPABILITY.
Which is most likely in large part due to the current parlous state of the Tuesday elections (from the Democratic Party’s POV—unless they have the ability to MEGA-FORTIFY this upcoming election, which they might well have, but it must certainly be DAUNTING)….
Once again, wouldn’t want to exaggerate…
(Moreover, one might wonder if Ms. Emily—no, not Litella—will soon have to be looking for another job…along with her editor(?)…)
P.S. …All this perhaps being the answer to the question asked a week or so ago from an upper NYS commenter—forget who, exactly—wondering why on earth Chuck Schumer was running election ads this year north of the Bronx….
Comment at Burns’ post:
I think there is an interesting parallel with the illegal immigration amnesty.
The “request” (plea? suggestion? demand?) has the same tone of “it’s done now so hey, what’s your problem?” — “it” in that case being the illegals who were at that time residing here illegally.
The amnesty was supposed to be followed by changes in immigration law that … never happened.
Now, Biden Inc & the Democrats are not even asking for formal or legal amnesty; they are just moving illegals in and giving them citizen-style benefits (or better).
And abortion was supposed to be safe, legal, and RARE.
I’m seeing a trend here.
Short version:
“Biden”‘s plan to destroy the country, its institutions and over half its citizenry IS—in spite of “his” best efforts (and those of “his” numerous allies: fellow prevaricators, autocrats, censors, narrative-spinners, prestidigitators, saboteurs, cranks, quacks and charlatans)—BEING NOTICED.
It was NEVER supposed to have been noticed.
NEVER….
They’ve been spinning like dervishes! Now they’re wondering, what after all is power of the press/media/info-tech for, anyway??
File under: Holy Barack! What do we do now???
@ Art Deco > “Many people learned something about their doctors as well.”
Great post at that link.
I remember our family doctor making house calls (well at least once). Of course, he went to school with my folks and lived on our street, so that might have helped.
However, the point David Griffey makes is a good one.
He articulates it in the post:
and also in a reply to a commenter:
Then there’s the automatic-message from the office, of that species of humble-brag-we’re-so-concerned-but-gee-it’s-hard pabulum that we also see in the groveling of university administrators and corporate officers when they are flashing their woke credentials.
I think there must be either a boiler-plate factory they get them from, or a writing class one of their staff takes on-line.
In the context of David’s story of being unable to get a response after weeks of calling about a serious health problem, it’s just gaslighting.
Here’s another post from Burns worth reading for the numbers.
And to keep focused on why Oster really, really wants that amnesty.
https://emilyburns.substack.com/p/fact-checking-the-school-closers
There are actually more than two “Republican” states in the middle (open for less than 50% of the school year), but they are also “purple” mixed-party governments.
I think it not unreasonable that forgiveness on this issue is in extremely short supply, because those whom we would forgive absolutely do not deserve it. Too many lives were destroyed, in too many ways, in too great a degree, with great abandon and disrespect, to allow it.
Those in power abused that power, terribly, because they had that power readily available to abuse. The long term solution is to very severely restrict the power they may wield (a worthwhile general principle that should be extended forthwith to each and every component of all governments in the United States, notwithstanding the need to permanently and with prejudice eliminate a great many, if not most, of those components); in the short term some means of identifying those who abused it so that all may know. I suspect their names alone may not be enough.
Gonna be hard for these people to “forget and forgive” as Ms Oster and her colleagues demand.
https://notthebee.com/article/jesse-kelly-asked-his-followers-for-their-covid-lockdown-stories-and-their-replies-are-tragic-and-heartbreaking
One imperfect measure of anyone’s claiming humble and sincere remorse: $$$$$$$’s.
Compensation. From the perpetrators, e.g., Gates, Fauci, others. Not from our taxes.
Until then, it’s really just, “Oops, honey, I am so sorry you came home early and found me cheating” etc etc etc yada yada yada blah blah blah
If you give a Dem a cookie….
https://babylonbee.com/news/besides-covid-here-are-43-other-things-democrats-are-requesting-amnesty-on
When the Nazi death camps were liberated, the local citizenry usually claimed that they had had absolutely no idea about what had been going on.
Dr. Peter McCullough has been irreparably harmed financially professionally etc
Dr. Pierre Kory.
Dr. Simone Gold.
Many, many, many others.
That’s just some doctors.
How about all the small businesses that were destroyed.
Remember those gym owners in New Jersey?
And all the people who died alone.
The ATLANTIC magazine is owned by Steve Jobs’s widow. This women could begin to set an example for other Leftists if she just simply wrote a check for Dr. Peter McCullough’s legal fees.
How about Jeff Bezos or his ex-wife write a check to a few of the many small businesses and employees who were destroyed … whilst the Bezos’s wealth expanded dramatically
Thanks, Neo, for your link on forgiveness. Your summary is consistent with my Christian understanding of it. As you pointed out, Jesus was a Jew speaking to Jews, and the Jewish concepts of sin and repentance underlie the Christian understanding.
Maybe… if only they’d come clean, maybe if they were the slightest bit honest for once…maybe then, some MIGHT BE WILLING to forgive ’em. Maybe…:
“OK, OK, we’ll be honest with ye’. We HAD to do this! We HAD to pull this stunt because…how else could we have been able to “FORTIFY” the 2020 elections?? Come on! YOU TELL US. What else could we have done?? And then admit it—ADMIT IT, DAMN IT—ADMIT that we didn’t really have any other good alternatives here….”
…Then again, maybe not….
Good luck with that, Barry Meislin. Government “authorities” did what they did in the full knowledge that they didn’t have scientific support for their policies, and then they deliberately suppressed public discussion.
Forgiveness for the horror show of the past two and a half years would require a level of honesty of which these people are apparently incapable.
No. Why are they even asking? They have identified as proudly arrogant pricks. Never forget what they are, and never forgive them.
Tuffman, my wife is in a similar situation. Her mother died of melanoma within 5 months of our marriage and my wife had 4 melanomas before this year. She was scheduled to visit the dermatologist in 2020 but of course they were shut down for months, and when they re-opened the wait times to get an appointment were extreme. When she finally got in it was determined that she had 2 melanomas, both of which turned out to be invasive. Rather than operate immediately, she started immunotherapy for 6 weeks, and then had surgery to remove greater margins and another mole that I thought was suspicious. It too turned out to be an invasive melanoma, so a second and more radical surgery was necessitated, and we discovered that the melanoma had spread to a lymph node. The difference between Stage I and Stage IIIC melanoma is striking: https://www.saintlukeskc.org/health-library/melanoma-your-chances-recovery-prognosis. She’s now undergoing targeted therapy and it is brutal. I blame the assholes who forced unnecessary shutdowns for medical screening in the name of power and control. They didn’t follow the science and that had deadly implications.
Ya’ think?….
Related:
“EU Warns Twitter Not To Restore Free Speech Protections After Calls From Clinton & Other Democratic Leaders”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/eu-warns-twitter-not-restore-free-speech-protections-after-calls-clinton-other-democratic
Wow, Kate is on a roll! All very well said. Particularly,
…would require a level of honesty of which these people are apparently incapable.
miss oster is not merely stupid she is aggresively dangerous
https://time.com/4081343/no-alcohol-during-pregnancy/
so naturally she would follow the most seld destructive protocols,
COVID-19 was weaponized against Donald Trump. No reasoned debate or rational discussion would be allowed. COVID was the end of the world and Trump was solely responsible. NOTHING that challenged or questioned those positions would be tolerated.
I read Scott Atlas’ book “A Plague Upon Our House and he writes that Trump wanted to reopen schools by Memorial Day 2020. Atlas met with the “Committee” chaired by Pence and tried to get them to read the literature, which by that time, was based on real data. They refused and he finally gave up. He was trashed in the Media as a “mere radiologist” ignoring his history of health care research.
The Media was obviously an accessory to this malpractice by public “health” doctors. Members of Trump’s administration were afraid to fire Fauci and others because the Media supported them.
John Dorman, I feel for you. The medical profession did not help its image. I wonder if this is a generational thing? Younger doctors, I have found, are far less interested in long hours and hard work than we were.
That link to Oster’s “Time” article is interesting.
To me, this highlights the very real downside of recommendations like this one, which do not involve any nuance. The bottom line is that while there is clear evidence of the dangers of heavy drinking—especially binge drinking—in pregnancy, the same cannot be said for low levels of alcohol consumption. As even the AAP report acknowledges, there is consensus on this issue. A large share of OBs in the U.S. report telling their pregnant patients that some alcohol is fine.
Why write stuff like this? Most women, including my wife, avoided alcohol when pregnant. My cousin, a great guy and 50 mission B-17 bombardier, married a woman who drank during all her pregnancies. She was not a binge drinker but a steady “social” drinker who once joked that her child would be “born in kilts” from the scotch she drank. She had four kids, all dull normal. The oldest did not talk until he was 4. None amounted to much. It was just a shame.
Dr. Malone on the Covid Censorship/ Propaganda:
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/censorship-and-defamation-weapons?
In California there is still lots of Covid Rules in place. Wearing a mask is required in health care facilities.
La counties mass transit mask mandate was only lifted a month ago:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/coronavirus/southern-california-coronavirus/la-county-has-dropped-its-mask-mandate-on-public-transit-heres-what-to-know/2991258/
Obamacare changed the health care industry by forcing massive consolidation. End results is most Dr. Became employees. Which changed their politics. Business owners that have to write paychecks, are a lot more conservative.
they were more like witchdoctors and alchemists, I didn’t know this woman was that ignorant, although publishing anything in Time magazine is a tell now adays
(see French David)
John W Dorman:
So sorry that you and your wife have had to undergo such an ordeal, and I hope the treatment is highly successful.
Unimagined consequences. Saying the consequences were unintended is like saying inconceivable over and over by an Emily of The Atlantic.
Eggs and ommlettes.
Just when you thought they couldn’t get any funnier:
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Galactic Empire Requests Amnesty For Anyone Who May Have Gotten Carried Away And Blown Up A Planet.
I endorse every comment about “amnesty” that recites a variation on the “F*** no — War!!”, but since Osler is a doctor there is another point that absolutely must be made. Since we stopped bleeding people as a remedy for unbalanced humors the focus of medicine seemed to be 2 pronged: try to prevent someone getting sick, but if they DO get sick, roll out the therapeutics to keep it from getting worse. Except, the medical community did the exact opposite, including engaging their government and press attack dogs to bar ANY access to any therapy that might help a COVID patient. Remember Didier Raoult and HCQ? Remember Ivermectin? Remember these were drugs in use for decades, well known and understood, and the medical community stood foursquare against even allowing us to try them — still less, give them an honest test. I asked my doctor if, should I get sick with COVID at age 71, would she prescribe either for me to mitigate the symptoms … she weaselled and waffled, I persisted, and finally she said no, she wouldn’t. I haven’t changed doctors, since the whole bunch are equally bad, but I’ve been forced to accept that they are not just unreliable as a profession, all of their pious assurances of caring and promises of care are simply self-serving lies. Do Not trust your doctor. Ever again. Goes double for Dr Osler
They want forgiveness without repentance (amnesty). They want grace without any form of reconciliation or trying to reach out to us.
No. They need to repent, to see what they did in the same we we did, to apologize and ASK to be forgiven. Not demand amnesty.
no she’s not a doctor, she’s an economist, who ventures often into areas far a field,
Forgiveness? Not this week.
But thanks? Absolutely!
Thank you Emily Oster and all your ilk for revealing who and what you really are.
Next time*, we’ll be ready.
*And there will be a next time. God help you if you target children.
They ruined a great President by vote fraud, destroyed lives with lockdowns, killed thousands from their only permitted Fake Vax and no other treatments allowed.
So how about No.
Others have also noticed “Emily the Remorseless.”
https://pjmedia.com/columns/megan-fox/2022/11/01/the-people-who-destroyed-our-freedom-during-covid-want-amnesty-hell-no-n1641964
Is this really about forgiveness, or just “forgiveness”…the kind an abusive husband asks of his wife, for what he did to her; both knowing that the abuse will resume at a later time?
KRB
The more liberal view of forgiveness doesn’t think the embezzler has been forgiven until he’s given a job as a bookkeeper.
This is an impressively comprehensive summation of why
#AccountabilityNotAmnesty is appropriate–and necessary
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1587950321783001088
Thanks for that link, lee.
Here’s another impressive, and comprehensive, retort along the same lines…
“Why I Am Voting Republican”—
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2022/why-i-am-voting-republican
H/T Instapundit.
– – – – – – – –
Alas…..
We are truly, truly sorry…how could we have done this…please forgive us…we can barely live with ourselves…we implore you…you must…if you don’t, how can we go on….
Oh, by the way!
” Medical Board Moves To Strip Dr. Peter McCullough Of Certifications;
” A medical board has moved to strip top cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough of his certifications in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease, claiming that he provided misleading medical information to the public about COVID-19 vaccines.”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/medical-board-moves-strip-dr-peter-mccullough-certifications
SUCKAAAAHS!!! (Never said we’d stop doin’ it, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…)
…Yes, indeedy, The Joker would appear to be the Democratic Party’s cherished mascot…
…and then there’s this gem from Victor Davis Hanson:
“The Left were the mad scientists — We were their lab rats”—
https://jewishworldreview.com/1122/hanson110322.php3
H/T Powerline blog.
A brilliant column.
Only(!) two “problems” as far as I’m concerned (to be sure, YMMV):
1. The two instances of “were” in the headline should be, “…were, are and will be…” (or if that’s a bit too clunky, “…have been and will always be…”)…or maybe just replace “were” with “are”(!)
2. “…Rarely have voters turned over their country to radicals, socialists, and nihilists.
“We did in 2020….”
Except that “We” didn’t, ARRGHHH—sorry, merely(!) a pet peeve of mine—and I can’t for the life of me understand (even though I can) any reasonable person making that claim (or at least making it in such a simplistic fashion)…though no doubt Prof. H. has his reasons…gosh, maybe he even believes it!!)….
Anyway, Read The Whole [elegant] Thing…
People used the violent force of government to destroy lives by the hundreds of millions. They need to be punished. Severely.
1. This wasn’t negligence. It was, at best, reckless and punitive. They knew they were lying. They knew their “science” was fraudulent and incompetent. They knew they were engaging in censorship and vicious cancel culture. They knew that they refusing to treat people until they were so sick they required a hospital. They knew that lockdowns were devastating. They knew that masks and social distancing didn’t work. The list of reprehensible actions, deliberate and intentional, is incredibly long.
Never again. Whatever we do, we must do everything possible to see it never happens again.
2. Even if it could somehow be “excused” as mere negligence, the victims of negligence are entitled to recompense.
Amnesty would be the most irresponsibly dangerous course we could pursue. It would be unconscionable.
As the late Andrew Breitbart said “F*** You. War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSy-6VqIww
When I remember the stories of the Alzheimers sufferers isolated away from their families, warehoused with the infected people, and men getting arrested in front of their little girls playing in a park, I have no sympathy for the bastards. https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-former-cop-arrested-social-distance-play-catch-daughter-20200408-plfk64splfc4dbcozwk3ndk63e-story.html
Offenses like those cited above are endless. Let us also not forget mask tyranny.