Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said she agrees with calls for a “pandemic amnesty” in which people need to forgive and forget the actions taken by public officials and commenters during the COVID pandemic.
Weingarten was referring to a column by The Atlantic’s Emily Oster, in which she made a public plea for the idea.
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If you can possibly believe the gall, those who shut down society, made parents and grandparents die alone, disastrously shut down the schools, and called you a murderer want to be absolved of all that by pleading ignorance.
“We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID,” Oster argued.
The piece is filled with astonishing claims, like “not knowing” that a bandana wouldn’t stop an airborne virus. It was all just a big mistake, you see – they didn’t know any better:
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.
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The author notes that such a tactic would involve both sides of the aisle – advocates for shutdowns and those who said such draconian measures were unnecessary.
My latest in @TheAtlantic https://t.co/w6GIOEMhZv
— ProfEmilyOster (@ProfEmilyOster) October 31, 2022
RELATED: White House Falsely Claims Democrats Re-Opened Schools During COVID ‘In Spite of Republicans’
Randi Weingarten Would Like to See a Pandemic Amnesty
Weingarten, one of the more prominent faces of incompetent leadership that harmed the education, social well-being, and the lives of our children, agrees that there should be a “pandemic amnesty.”
“I agree with [Oster] on this,” she tweeted, sharing the column.
Weingarten has been described by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “chief disrupters” who advocated for school closures “as long as she possibly could.”
I agree with @ProfEmilyOster on this https://t.co/lXLjxRcj0E
— Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩🎓 (@rweingarten) October 31, 2022
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Critics were quick to point out that a “pandemic amnesty” would absolve Weingarten of her failures.
“Of course you do [agree with Oster],” replied radio host Clay Travis. “Because you were 100% wrong on school shutdowns and refuse to apologize for it.”
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“If you had any decency at all, you’d resign for presiding over the greatest American education failure of our lives,” added Travis.
Of course you do. Because you were 100% wrong on school shutdowns and refuse to apologize for it. If you had any decency at all, you’d resign for presiding over the greatest American education failure of our lives. https://t.co/9Nj0UpRfUW
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 31, 2022
Actor Nick Searcy suggested Weingarten had ruined “more children’s lives than the Grinch.”
This bish ruined more children’s lives than the Grinch. Of course she agrees with having no consequences for her stupid lies. @rweingarten https://t.co/9kpYEzjOZv
— Nick Searcy, INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) October 31, 2022
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Republican strategist Matt Whitlock blasted the AFT President as “the grim reaper of COVID school lockdowns.”
I’m dying over this.
The grim reaper of COVID school lockdowns won’t admit she did anything wrong.
NEVERTHELESS she’d like a pandemic amnesty. https://t.co/x85BKBxD8a pic.twitter.com/GfMsyBIJVP
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 31, 2022
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RELATED: COVID School Shutdowns Caused Historic Learning Losses for Kids, Government Report Shows
Here’s the Problem
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The problem with granting a “pandemic amnesty”?
Shutdown advocates were quick to accuse lockdown opponents of wanting to murder children and the elderly when the pandemic was raging, so there was no “amnesty” on their end.
Declaring amnesty for the tyrants who ignored science and basic commonsense – and indeed basic human decency for those who had to watch loved ones pass away from behind glass – during that time doesn’t allow for them to learn from the mistakes of the past.
From @Michaelbd: As I wrote on the home page today, we really really really do not need to provide an amnesty for the Covid era.
Randi Weingarten should be exhibit A. https://t.co/HzDNW34fHG
— National Review (@NRO) November 1, 2022
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In her article, Oster points out that there is a near “universal consensus” emerging that “schools in the U.S. were closed for too long.”
Weingarten and teachers unions advocated hard for school closures.
A recent study shows young students over the past two years had significant declines in both reading and math scores, in part due to in-school learning being eliminated for them.
“The results of a national test showed just how devastating the last two years have been for 9-year-old schoolchildren, especially the most vulnerable,” the New York Times wrote.
“The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading”
NO! Democrat lockdown policies erased decades of educational progress, not the pandemic!
It was less than a year ago that Democrats were still considering remote learning for 2021-22!https://t.co/Emc6cQ1uUL
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) September 1, 2022
If you have the misfortune of living in the wrong area, these people forced you to not earn a living. Forced your children to stay home while their education and social skills eroded. Prevented you from seeing your parents and grandparents. Kept you from family functions, and living your life.
And they forced the elderly who contracted the virus to die alone.
No, lockdown proponents like Randi Weingarten do not deserve “pandemic amnesty.” They deserve to be scorned and shamed publicly from now until the end of time.
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No amnesty for all those authoritarian tyrants. However, nothing will happen to them. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies were granted immunity so they did not care if their drugs worked or not so many people have had adverse effects including death from them. All of the people who were terminated for not getting the jab need an apology and their jobs back with back pay. People have lost faith in all of the medical “experts” like the CDC, FDA, WHO NIH etc. Most importantly, Dr Fraudci needs to be held accountable and prosecuted for his tyrannical actions and for finding of this biological weapon that was released to the World.
The fact that they don’t think simply shutting up and slinking away until another golden opportunity arises will be good enough after all, speaks volumes about their guilt.
I got accused of being a murderer for not wanting to wear a mask or get vaccinated until there was proof that it worked. I have now been proven correct. The masks and vaccines not only do not work, they are actively killing people. No amnesty for those lying criminals who did not follow the science and did kill people.
Americans, particularly Conservative Patriotic Americans, have been treated like DIRT by these COMMIES for the last 6-7 years.
I am willing to forgive, but they do NOT deserve AMNESTY!
You canNOT make this BS up. No one would believe you if you tried.
You want a pass for all the bad policies? Forced vaccinations and lockdowns? Destruction of people’s businesses and lives? Lost learning for our children? I’d say that’s a big fat NO!
THEY ALL NEED TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID AS IN LOSE THEIR JOBS.
So are we also going to forgive the Germans that guarded the extermination camp, because “They just didn’t know any better?.
Bullcrap hold them all accountable
Don’t work in the dark anymore!
No, lockdown proponents like Randi Weingarten do not deserve “pandemic amnesty.”
Play stupid games, get NO Amnesty!
Excellent article, Rusty! You have it 200 percent correct. NO AMNESTY for those who inflicted psychological torture and physical isolation. Everyone who mandated, promoted, and enforced control over American society must be held accountable and, importantly, PAY THE PRICE of their satanic motivations. Those asking for amnesty are DOMESTIC TERRORISTS. They destroyed America and the freedoms for which this country stands.
the government, fauci, birx all lied and lied and lied to put us all in house arrest for two years and collect millions for themselves. no no no no no amenesty – we have patriots going to jail and one murdered on jan 6 and patriots spent two years in solitary confinement and the cop who murdered ashley is treated as a hero – shot her with no warning or provocation. Sorry these all need to be indicted and go to prison
Shove your wanting an amnesty for being an idiot where the sun don’t shine
Lock downs saved hundreds of thousands of lives. A recent study showed that had the country followed San Francisco Bay Area lockdown and protocol over 600,000 lives would have been saved.
The ignorance is staggering.
There are still idiots saying that vaccines and masks don’t work, when the statistics show Clearly that the unvaccinated are dying 17x more than the vaccinated.
Seriously? You allowed a spammer but nixed my comment?
File that under NEVER!
Not only should they NO be excused for their actions they should be held to account for what they did! They hurt and even killed so many people that they should be in jail at the very least! Our kids were harmed by keeping them out of school, elderly people died because of placing people with covid into care facilities , Many people lost jobs and their business for no good reason. Homes were lost, people were harmed purposely by these people. Teachers unions were at the top of the list along with corporate leaders and government officials. They all need to be brought to justice!!
Nope. They own it. Not forgiving, not forgetting.
How quickly they forget that it was all done on the Advise of one of their ( Democratic ) member and Supporter, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Or that while Republican led states reopened ( in phases ) the Democratic led states refused to for almost a year ( some even more ). But of course that doesn’t fit in with their agenda, so lie, lie, lie. Then lie some more, it’s the Democratic party way after all