So many developmental needs have been neglected to fight a virus that, in its current dominant form, has little or no impact on the vast majority of children. Those who want them have ample available protections, from vaccines to anti-virals to lifestyle choices that avoid close contact. So much non-Covid damage has been done already. What’s also very worrisome is the ease with which governments and health authorities shut down economic activity and suspended constitutional rights.
In Canada where I live we’re seeing the federal government add more controls over citizens as other jurisdictions are removing pandemic measures. The Emergencies Act, supposedly imposed to quell protests against vaccine mandates, made opposing certain policies illegal, and did so after border blockades we’re removed. It’s hard not to see such moves at power grabs.
The federal government ignored the concerns of millions of Canadians who demanded individual discretion over healthcare, a right enshrined in our Constitution. The take away for me is that the pandemic has become an opportunity for governments to suspend and reduce rights in the name of undefined ideas like public safety.
What’s the value of “safety” when individual rights are removed or suspended without a high threshold of justification? Kids are paying a huge price as government pursues safety purity. We all are.
Hi and much love to the Common Sense family. Bari, you killed it on Bill Maher and I’m super proud to support you on Substack.
I hope you can take the time to read this passionate plea to the Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent and Fairfax County School Board by a Fairfax County mom. I’m finally starting to feel the momentum! Thanks for all you do!
Riding in the car to run an errand with my eight year old I see he is still wearing his mask after picking him up from school. I tell him you can take it off buddy. He said,”It’s OK, I’m used to it. It feels like I’ve worn it my whole life.”
He hasn’t been mask free since he was in first grade. So, he had kindergarten and half of the year in first grade to be mask free -in his life of education. We live in central Oregon, so they sit outside when it’s 22° to eat lunch on the cold ground. 6 feet apart.
Anyways, I tell him there is nothing normal about wearing a mask. This is not normal life. We have done this because these were the rules and you needed to be in school. But never think this is normal. I saw another comment here talking about feeling like a caged animal and his anger.
I’m a mother of two young children in public school in a progressive state. I look over at other freer states and see we have had completely different experiences in the last two years! I am resentful. I am beyond furious. I was not a political person. But, a mom‘s fury, protection and love is a powerful force.
I was activated in 2020 when a woke teacher started teaching my 10 year old Neo racist ideology without parental knowledge.
Bari, that was a fantastic soliloquy on Bill Maher the other evening. Well said and you had me shouting my heartfelt support while you offered your cogent and rational argument for prioritizing children over greedy, risk-averse, weak-minded, selfish, and self-centered adults.
Expanding on your arguments, I am curious why:
1. With the new push for N95/KN95 masks, those issuing that edict are, seemingly, given a pass for explaining how, for almost two years, they worked in proximity to these children without incident or issue despite those self-same children wearing cloth masks that are ineffective. (They are ineffective otherwise they wouldn't be pushing for N95/KN95 masks.)
2. School districts receiving COVID-related funds have not made the investments (or sufficient investments) in their infrastructure to alleviate these concerns, thereby minimizing the impact on children through appropriate risk mitigation, and realizing no accountability nor consequences for obvious for the misuse of those Federal dollars.
3. Why those proffering these decisions are not compelled to reveal their risk calculus, not being forced to acknowledge the other harms to consider that are relevant to the children, and not being impelled to establish clear milestones for winding down these draconian measures, all without any accountability whatsoever.
This comes down to money and power, and this lingering pandemic is the biggest grift of our lifetime, resulting in quantifiably enormous wealth transfers to those people and organizations willing to brazen it out.
Certainly, there are the true believers (i.e., the Branch Covidians) who will never put this down because it fills an emotion and spiritual void in their otherwise blighted souls (much like the Identitarians and their endless focus on race and gender). These are the useful idiots acting as pawns for the cynically aware graspers and cravens.
The graspers and cravens have previously and continue to milk this situation for all the authority and money they can get, benefiting themselves and their cronies to an extent we will never likely fully understand or comprehend. They don't give a damn about our children, and it is long past time we let these soulless, heartless, greedy, gibbering, sociopathic shitheads (many, but not all, of them unelected bureaucrats) hurt our kids.
Thank you for your continued service to your readers and for standing up for what is right irrespective of the social or political consequences. You inspire the rest of us to be brave and fight for what is good and right, and protecting our children from these predations unquestionably falls into that category.
5pm in Frisco- I have a date with 3-5,000 on the telephone. Yes. Thanks Bari for “skin in game” reality check. Not a parent- I keep forgetting about the kids when I think this stuff through. If I were to do meta-research on armchair “Covid policy” discussion, guessing there would be a big 0-18 years gap in analysis. Personal friends rarely (actually never) mention children effect.
Bari you are a journalist and covid is the biggest story of the generation, yet it takes you years(!) to catch up. Why haven't you been paying attention?
A number of us have pointed out that this sht has been known for nearly the entirety of the pandemic. So it's troubling that Bari - a journalist - is seemingly only coming to this knowledge now.
It's troubling, IMO, in no small part because HAD Bari been on top of this story from the get-go or even from later than that - say, six months or even a year into the pandemic - when this information was forthcoming from *many* sources and BEFORE the jabs were authorized (not "approved") for kids, there's no telling how many parents who DID get their kids jabbed WOULDN'T have gotten their kids jabbed.
"Better late than never" works for parents who haven't yet jabbed their kids, but it's totally useless for those who *have* jabbed their kids with an untested nonvaccine gene therapy, and are only now being told that their kids weren't at risk in the first place.
"Better late than never" is hardly the creed journalists should want framed and hanging over their desks.
Dear perfect morality- “better late than never” is good, not bad. Disease fraud is different to navigate when the disease is real and the fraud hidden.
That’s a comically high bar you are setting when all that is owed is an admission of being wrong and an apology to the children who were irreversibly harmed…….. Gee, in the moral compass I raise my kids with, and demonstrate personally, when one is wrong they admit it. When that wrong hurt another they apologize for it. It’s really not that hard for anyone with an actual moral compass and a desire to be a good person.
I didn't say BLTN is bad. So "perfect morality" is a straw man.
"Disease fraud is different to navigate when the disease is real and the fraud hidden." ~ then how was it that SO many of us nonjournalists knew about the fraud very early on, and Bari - an actual journalist - is only coming around to it now?
I think it is a sign of this time that people did not speak out early, including journalists. I think Bari tried, intelligently and subtly to do so. Have you listened to her podcast with Josh Rogan on China? Also, when it comes to children there is a double bind, what if she spoke out early and it turns out the Omicron virus morphed to affect children. She's also trying to build a viable business here with Common Sense and Honestly, But I also think it is a long time of students in curriculums - being discouraged to share their "own" opinion. Students having to back up in quotes every thought they have in a paper... thats bad. That is not encouraging free thinking and forward thinking. People can and should have original though unrelated to anyone from any time. Journalists have a hard time doing this. I think we are witnessing the time in our country of being able to shut others down with money, reputation, and blatant lies... The double bind I speak of is of conservatives, Everyone knowing most conservatives wait to speak out, or do things in a more underground manner, they are careful. They are careful to protect their families and businesses.. . The left wing progressives, in a chess match, can very carefully exploit the nature of conservatives in this way. We have to realize we won't have anything left to protect if the left indoctrinates our children and binds their freedoms through actions (ie mask -wearing). In other words, I think we should ALL have spoken out earlier. And we must start now if we haven't.
"Also, when it comes to children there is a double bind, what if she spoke out early and it turns out the Omicron virus morphed to affect children."
How does she know THIS isn't "early"? How does she know your "what if" WON'T happen with a later variant? She doesn't, not any more than she did 18 months ago.
And yet...here she is, with this column. Today.
No, that double bind doesn't exist. Journalists should report what is known when it is known, and then adjust as more information is learned. They don't wait until some impossible-to-know future date, because there IS no future date when all information about anything is known.
I'm going to defend Bari. I think that we should be happy that she has the courage to speak now. I lived in NYC and have had friends at the NY times. I'm still scared of them. The NY Times is very very powerful. There was a time when the paper that heralded "all the news that's fit to print," was the most powerful paper in the nation and world, it was although extremely biased and liberal still had good reporting. Everyone read it, conservatives and liberals. I knew it had gone wrong when the journalists were sooo surprised that Trump won - because it showed me that no one had boots on the street across the nation and people were not answering obvious questions... they were thinking they could dictate politics in stead of report it.. .May other journalists have the courage to start more new avenues for reporting. Monopolies are bad... the antitrust laws tell us that...Bari is doing just that... starting something new... Its not so easy.... I haven't done it yet. Have you?
Even my father every morning, and he was a business man and an Army brat. He was very conservative, and yet, he wan't to look at the graphs and the information was quite good.
But the power seeped in and the desire to get ahead and pander to the powers that be. . . We're witnessing the power of the mob force, we're witnessing how nations rise and fall. Our nation will not fall. I'm happy that she wants to discuss this. I'm really brave and I know the consequences of speaking out in a blue state... not so great...
It was fairly obvious even ten years ago that reporters were reporting about what they saw on twitter, not the real world. They're twitter obsessed, and what's important on twitter is what was important to them. Like academia, they're so far removed from the real world now, because they live in weird little bubbles with their own history, and stories built upon stories, with petty jealousies and tribal warfare dominating, that there is no way for them to connect with people that aren't plugged into this alternate reality.
Being scared of one’s friends is no excuse for adults to sacrifice an entire generation of kids at the alter of woke Covid hysteria that was demonstratively based on lies from the very beginning and done to appease the feelings of weak, whinny, zoom class middle income, middle aged, and often childless adults.
I’m glad Bari saw the light, but I will not forgive her or anyone else who went along with this, on Bari’s words, moral catastrophe, until they say the magic words “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
Why is that SO hard to understand? Millions of children have been irrevocably harmed, and they can’t even get an apology? Pathetic.
I agree.. its sooo messed up and yet I still can't get a coalition of people in my town to be confident enough to say "enough of the masks." They won't even let me in the the lobby of my child's elementary school right now. He is in a wheel chair because he broke his leg. . . and I had to wait outside in the 6 degree weather while it was snowing in order to pick him up. I can't even get my law degree friend to agree that the problem with depression and an 51% uptick in girls self harm is due to the mask wearing and COVID stuff... she thinks it is mostly because of social media. So I guess it is more a discussion about... how do we garner support in numbers if we all feel this way... that's my question for BARI... we all know this.. How do we get the teachers, the principals etc. to buck the state and stop the madness? What if we live in a state where 75 to 80% of the people still think its necessary and wear masks while driving in their cars alone? With all due respect.. are you from North Carolina... where they are not as strict?
Nope, I'm in Puerto Rico, where madness reigns supreme still, with no letup in sight, and where many of the residents have been scared with dishonest tyranny beyond belief into submission by our despotic sh*t governor, Pedro Pierluisi, who is the poster boy for The Peter Principle, not coincidentally "Pedro" being "Peter" in Spanish.
The reason they are not as strict here is because people refused to comply, not due to lack of trying. Pooper Cooper absolutely tried, but realized many would rather risk consequences than comply with authoritarian political mandates. Taking people to court gives them the opportunity to present the data and evidence that has always been there. It was easier for him to give up than risk being called out on lies.
We refused peacefully, we remained clam, and we searched for alternatives. Embracing those alternatives caused them to flourish.
Leading by example is always a good way to disprove hysteria. I haven’t worn a mask, excepting air travel, in a very long time, regardless of mandates. That absolutely came with insults, threats, anger, accusations. But here we are 22 months in, I’m still alive, my kids have lived normally, we have lived our lives, and we are all alive and healthy. I haven’t had Covid. I’m not dead.
Sure, I could be an outlier, but so could anyone regardless of how much joy and life they give up, or how much healthy development they Ron from their kids.
At this point having the courage to lead by example, with calculated risks and a steadfast faith in the data, is a great way to open eyes. Actions have and always will be more powerful than words.
Thank you for your response. How would you reply to: A mother of a child who has cancer... or a teacher who is age 65? They will say I'm insensitive. My idea is that the mental health of my children is equally important to the child who has cancer. Also not proven that the masks prevent anything. Also I don't want people to defend themselves out of feeling "stupid." Perhaps I'll just address that fact. Not challenging you, just thinking of the rebuttles I'll get when I go to the PTA and the School Board.
I think you hit the nail on the head - be prepared. It's an absolutely false dichotomy. Even the CDC now admits cloth masks don't work, so there its factually wrong to pretend like its picking between the two. Then you can offer an actual solution (what people really want). Support schools installing non-ozone air purifiers in every classroom with an older teacher, or immune compromised child. Hand them the studies showing that would work far better than a properly worn N95 mask to reduce viral spread - they have the added advantage of reducing allergies and bacterial spread as well. Air purifiers and ventilation doesn't take lunch breaks, water breaks, or breathing breaks either. Look at the 2021 waterloo study on masks - and read the actual study, not entirely inaccurate media twisting of it, it's easy to read - I am attaching it as the second link. The first is 150 stuides on masks not working but causing harm. I hope these arm you with facts and replicated outcomes to help change some minds. Prayers and best wishes for progress towards the kids.
I didn't say I was *unhappy* that she "has the courage to speak now", although I'll question whether it's actually courage, or just bending with the prevailing wind.
Courage would've been covering this story at ANY time prior to the vaxxes being made available to children. The data and information were known and readily available by then, and reporting about it THEN may well have saved thousands of kids from being jabbed needlessly.
Furthermore, this isn't the first time she's been late to the party.
She was woefully behind on the Kyle Rittenhouse story. Facts known and available within DAYS of the shootings were known to her not until the trial, more than a year later. Read her Substack on the subject here: https://bit.ly/3g4JlIU
I can't wait for this! I will be there. Here are my thoughts. #1 Unmask the children. I want to see their beautiful smiles and frowns, and love and wonder... how horrible a society are we, continuing to mask our children what the???? And Singing... bring back singing #2 Free the teachers... Bring back the art of teaching and pay them more. Ask yourself, would you want to be a teacher right now? #3 Covid is 1/1000 of a particle and passes through masks. #4 A real discussion of freedom and how we teach it, and where that concept comes from. (ehem, the bible) What were they teaching kids through action (more powerful then words?) They were teaching kids, you are our little pawns and you'll do as I say without question. . . You have freedom until its inconvenient for the adults methods. Freedom of expression and words but we'll take it away collectively and you'll lose everything you hold dear, a social life, your ability to learn, even when we know the science. . .etc. etc. (doesn't sound very liberal or American does it?) So obviously wrong. #5 Belief in something greater than yourself, whether you believe in God or not. #6 Quality of Life on this planet is the New frontier." I think this came from Jacques Cousteau's grandson in an issue of National Geographic from a few years ago. It has become my motto. #7 Deepen our culture, don't destroy it. As a nation we are still quite young. Understanding that the platforms of both US parties need to be revisited as there are contradictory stances on both sides. I'm not going to get into that right here... its too long. Looking forward to the round table! You are amazing Bari.
Once again, disregard the science, circulate the views of opinionated people with no expertise or training in epidemiology, virology. I'm disappointed that our hostess would play that game. And now you publish the invitation of someone who wants to have parents "beat the shit out of...responsible officials. " How this podcast has deteriorated. Shameful, Bari.
In the spirit of being civil, something I believe we all could benefit from, I wonder when you say "disregard the science" what you mean. I graduated with an engineering degree years ago and one of the central ideas of science is to question everything and then question it again. A scientist is always looking for the truth. I am concerned when I hear people say "follow the science" because it indicates a blind faith is something that is known by a few experts. The science and just basic numbers seem to be indicating clearly that kids are not at significant risk from this disease, that the vaccines do not prevent spread and that masks are also not very effective at preventing spread. So who are we trying to protect by requiring kids to wear masks? People who are unvaccinated?
It's hard to imagine an assertion so wide of the mark. In science "facts" are constantly being challenged and overturned or modified in response to new evidence unearthed by other scientists. The most celebrated examples that comes quickly to mind was Einstein's theory of relativity. It vastly modified Newtonian physics.
“The Los Angeles school district announced last Friday that “masking will be required at all times, indoors and outdoors.”
——————————————————-
I don’t want parents monitored like terrorists but I do understand concerns about the potential for violence.
If I was a parent I absolutely would have walked into my kid’s school and beat the shit out of someone by now. A surprising amount of restrain being shown by parents across the country.
At least I don’t have to hear any saccharine horse poop about teachers being heroes ever again. Some of these people are legit child molesters.
II understand why you feel this way! It is truly a dark hour for our nation. May I very gently say -If you become violent... they win. Show by your actions, peace, strength of character and strong mindedness is so much more powerful. Be stubborn, determined, unfazed, but uphold your principles. Show your kids that freedom rings in our hearts, it is very attractive because it is a universal truth.
"(Leading doctors and public health experts agree: See this useful toolkit for parents just released by Dr. Lucy McBride and others.)"
Hmmm, that name sounds familiar. McBride...McBride...yeah, she's the one who said THIS beaut (https://bit.ly/3FXnbTL):
“When you vaccinate your child, you take the claws and the fangs away from the virus. For most healthy children, they aren’t even there in the first place. But you never know. And we have abundant evidence that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe in five to eleven year olds. So yes, I would vaccinate your child.”
I have literally zero inclination to trust a "toolkit for parents" from someone who stated that "we have abundant evidence that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe in five-to-eleven year-olds."
There is (again, literally) ZERO long-term safety data regarding these experimental gene therapies, for anyone, let alone for 5- to 11-year-olds.
Consider that the pharma companies did NOT know that their concoctions had NO long-term efficacy; so how can they or the inestimable Dr. McBride declare so confidently and assuredly that they have no long-term debilitating side-effects, that they are "extraordinarily safe" based upon "abundant evidence"???
Certain people should be disregarded and ridiculed. Dr. Lucy McBride is among them.
A correction: Kids in LA public schools have always been required to wear masks indoor AND outdoors since the return to school in late spring 2021 despite vax mandates for students, staff & teachers. My elementary aged kid wears a mask 10 hours a day (school + aftercare) everyday even though he is fully vaccinated and tested every week for Covid. Although this supposedly keeps us “safe”, the school is not the same anymore. The lack of community, camaraderie and friendships are gone since kids and parents are treated like deathly diseases even when most of us are vaxxed and boosted. We have no way to escape this other than moving somewhere else as apparently many parents and especially teachers want even MORE restrictions. It’s insane.
My heart goes out to you. I used to live in Santa Monica. What a strange twist when the most liberal state in the country turns to the most dictatorial.
Hmmm. Because I'm not super rich and can't just jet myself and my family off to somewhere else without knowing we'll have jobs, money, a home, etc. I have a very good job in LA. Which only make me more angry at this situation. With that being said, I have been researching school districts in Texas and Florida and looking at home prices.
I say... if everyone moves to Florida and Texas and Tennessee or Idaho... If you can't move you are sooo brave, stay where your are and sound your trumpet loudly! I will give you my wings so you can be brave...
I would do anything for my kids, except give up my very good job in Los Angeles. That makes me angry.
What is there to research in Florida and Texas? Those schools are in person without masks, right? And unless you are moving to an upscale suburb of Dallas or Houston or Coral Gables or Naples or Key West you're housing dollar is going to go further in Florida and Texas than it does now. So again, what is there to research?
Moving is uncomfortable. The unknown is scary. I get that. But you owe it to yourself and your kids. If you can find a very good job in LA you'll land on your feet in Florida, Texas, or wherever else.
Good luck, I hope you take the leap. You won't look back and you will only wonder why you waited so long.
If you are going to vote for Democrats in the near to mid future, you are probably better off staying in CA and trying to change things there. Voting the same way somewhere else, and expecting a different outcome, is also insanity.
But, if you see that was it happening to children is wrong, and you acknowledge that these policies are harming your own child, and you see a way out, you might find taking that road might result in far more success than you could have imagined? The job market is on fire just about everywhere outside of far-left dystopian blue country.
I understand the sacrifice may be too great, and that each person faces a different cost-benefit analysis, so I am not judging that you have remained. I personally see a lot of wisdom in the phrase God helps those who help themselves. Helping oneself nearly always involves a willingness to make a change.
I have 2 elementary aged children. Their births started a long series of pride swallowing, eye opening, admitting I had been wrong realizations that took a good 4-5 years after the oldest was born to actually accept. For a personal example, it was really hard for me to accept that I really was indoctrinated in undergrad and grad school, and that the Democrat policies I voted for resulted in bad outcomes that most often harmed the youngest and least among us. That was major humble pie after voting almost exclusively for Democrats for the first 15 years I was old enough to vote. Today, I'm glad I actually changed because simply being frustrated absent that change would mean knowing better but living with the personal guilt of refusing to do better. I chose humble pie and better outcomes. I have no regrets.
Whatever path you take, I wish you luck, and your child healing.
As part of this worthy conversation, folks might also take time consider the root causes of the sheep like willingness of so many of our elites to so easily relinquish their Constitutional right to assemble (mask mandates and lockdowns and lockouts) and exercise free speech (cancel culture and the DEI initiatives that are the crack cocaine of woke corporate america). Those root causes, through my humble lens, result from a disease that is far worse than Covid. That disease is called ignorance and arises from (a) a decline in faith of any kind in our society and, with that loss of faith, a corresponding fear of all things, (b) the presence of a generation of young people who have been told, since birth, that they are special and entitled to a trophy merely for showing up (hard work doesn’t matter, I am entitled, either because I am special or because my ancestors had a really hard time in the past), (c) a ruling class that is singularly focused on wealth creation versus the historic concept of noblesse oblige, and (d) the hijacking of our educational system by modern day tenured apparatchiks who are indoctrinating our children with neo-marxist ideologies without first providing those children with the foundational understanding of our Republic and the principles of limited government. It is no wonder that anyone who can, is rapidly fleeing our crime ridden faithless Blue cities for parts of this great country that still respect the rule of law, salute the Flag and revere the Republic and its guiding principles.
I think you have a point in that belief in a higher power, which is inherent to nearly all humans, has been transferred from religion to government by many.
However, I don't think it has much to do with "snowflake" culture. Our "elites" are box checkers. They followed the rules in school, checked the correct boxes to get into college, jumped through every hoop their professor asked them to, had the correct internships, got the job in the correct industry etc. On every step of the path they've had guidance and rules and processes to follow. This does not require creativity or critical thought, in fact, those are detrimental, it requires compliance.
And when covid hit, and there were suddenly no known rules to follow and chaos everywhere, they were the ones that demanded the world shut down so that they could create a set of rules and customs that would allow them to regain the sense of control that they've always felt. Now those customs and rules are being challenged and they are fighting back ferociously because how dare someone ever challenge the system that they've bought into.
So no, it's not entitlement, it's personal cowardice in the face of chaos.
So many developmental needs have been neglected to fight a virus that, in its current dominant form, has little or no impact on the vast majority of children. Those who want them have ample available protections, from vaccines to anti-virals to lifestyle choices that avoid close contact. So much non-Covid damage has been done already. What’s also very worrisome is the ease with which governments and health authorities shut down economic activity and suspended constitutional rights.
In Canada where I live we’re seeing the federal government add more controls over citizens as other jurisdictions are removing pandemic measures. The Emergencies Act, supposedly imposed to quell protests against vaccine mandates, made opposing certain policies illegal, and did so after border blockades we’re removed. It’s hard not to see such moves at power grabs.
The federal government ignored the concerns of millions of Canadians who demanded individual discretion over healthcare, a right enshrined in our Constitution. The take away for me is that the pandemic has become an opportunity for governments to suspend and reduce rights in the name of undefined ideas like public safety.
What’s the value of “safety” when individual rights are removed or suspended without a high threshold of justification? Kids are paying a huge price as government pursues safety purity. We all are.
Will this call be available for replay? I was not able to attend.
NCmom’s comment could have been a column on its own.
Hi and much love to the Common Sense family. Bari, you killed it on Bill Maher and I’m super proud to support you on Substack.
I hope you can take the time to read this passionate plea to the Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent and Fairfax County School Board by a Fairfax County mom. I’m finally starting to feel the momentum! Thanks for all you do!
https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/opinions/smiling-is-more-contagious-than-covid/article_e65d5b0a-8056-11ec-bc79-b3fee78cb24e.html
Riding in the car to run an errand with my eight year old I see he is still wearing his mask after picking him up from school. I tell him you can take it off buddy. He said,”It’s OK, I’m used to it. It feels like I’ve worn it my whole life.”
He hasn’t been mask free since he was in first grade. So, he had kindergarten and half of the year in first grade to be mask free -in his life of education. We live in central Oregon, so they sit outside when it’s 22° to eat lunch on the cold ground. 6 feet apart.
Anyways, I tell him there is nothing normal about wearing a mask. This is not normal life. We have done this because these were the rules and you needed to be in school. But never think this is normal. I saw another comment here talking about feeling like a caged animal and his anger.
I’m a mother of two young children in public school in a progressive state. I look over at other freer states and see we have had completely different experiences in the last two years! I am resentful. I am beyond furious. I was not a political person. But, a mom‘s fury, protection and love is a powerful force.
I was activated in 2020 when a woke teacher started teaching my 10 year old Neo racist ideology without parental knowledge.
Bari, that was a fantastic soliloquy on Bill Maher the other evening. Well said and you had me shouting my heartfelt support while you offered your cogent and rational argument for prioritizing children over greedy, risk-averse, weak-minded, selfish, and self-centered adults.
Expanding on your arguments, I am curious why:
1. With the new push for N95/KN95 masks, those issuing that edict are, seemingly, given a pass for explaining how, for almost two years, they worked in proximity to these children without incident or issue despite those self-same children wearing cloth masks that are ineffective. (They are ineffective otherwise they wouldn't be pushing for N95/KN95 masks.)
2. School districts receiving COVID-related funds have not made the investments (or sufficient investments) in their infrastructure to alleviate these concerns, thereby minimizing the impact on children through appropriate risk mitigation, and realizing no accountability nor consequences for obvious for the misuse of those Federal dollars.
3. Why those proffering these decisions are not compelled to reveal their risk calculus, not being forced to acknowledge the other harms to consider that are relevant to the children, and not being impelled to establish clear milestones for winding down these draconian measures, all without any accountability whatsoever.
This comes down to money and power, and this lingering pandemic is the biggest grift of our lifetime, resulting in quantifiably enormous wealth transfers to those people and organizations willing to brazen it out.
Certainly, there are the true believers (i.e., the Branch Covidians) who will never put this down because it fills an emotion and spiritual void in their otherwise blighted souls (much like the Identitarians and their endless focus on race and gender). These are the useful idiots acting as pawns for the cynically aware graspers and cravens.
The graspers and cravens have previously and continue to milk this situation for all the authority and money they can get, benefiting themselves and their cronies to an extent we will never likely fully understand or comprehend. They don't give a damn about our children, and it is long past time we let these soulless, heartless, greedy, gibbering, sociopathic shitheads (many, but not all, of them unelected bureaucrats) hurt our kids.
Thank you for your continued service to your readers and for standing up for what is right irrespective of the social or political consequences. You inspire the rest of us to be brave and fight for what is good and right, and protecting our children from these predations unquestionably falls into that category.
Thank you Bari!
5pm in Frisco- I have a date with 3-5,000 on the telephone. Yes. Thanks Bari for “skin in game” reality check. Not a parent- I keep forgetting about the kids when I think this stuff through. If I were to do meta-research on armchair “Covid policy” discussion, guessing there would be a big 0-18 years gap in analysis. Personal friends rarely (actually never) mention children effect.
Bari you are a journalist and covid is the biggest story of the generation, yet it takes you years(!) to catch up. Why haven't you been paying attention?
A number of us have pointed out that this sht has been known for nearly the entirety of the pandemic. So it's troubling that Bari - a journalist - is seemingly only coming to this knowledge now.
It's troubling, IMO, in no small part because HAD Bari been on top of this story from the get-go or even from later than that - say, six months or even a year into the pandemic - when this information was forthcoming from *many* sources and BEFORE the jabs were authorized (not "approved") for kids, there's no telling how many parents who DID get their kids jabbed WOULDN'T have gotten their kids jabbed.
"Better late than never" works for parents who haven't yet jabbed their kids, but it's totally useless for those who *have* jabbed their kids with an untested nonvaccine gene therapy, and are only now being told that their kids weren't at risk in the first place.
"Better late than never" is hardly the creed journalists should want framed and hanging over their desks.
Dear perfect morality- “better late than never” is good, not bad. Disease fraud is different to navigate when the disease is real and the fraud hidden.
That’s a comically high bar you are setting when all that is owed is an admission of being wrong and an apology to the children who were irreversibly harmed…….. Gee, in the moral compass I raise my kids with, and demonstrate personally, when one is wrong they admit it. When that wrong hurt another they apologize for it. It’s really not that hard for anyone with an actual moral compass and a desire to be a good person.
I didn't say BLTN is bad. So "perfect morality" is a straw man.
"Disease fraud is different to navigate when the disease is real and the fraud hidden." ~ then how was it that SO many of us nonjournalists knew about the fraud very early on, and Bari - an actual journalist - is only coming around to it now?
I think it is a sign of this time that people did not speak out early, including journalists. I think Bari tried, intelligently and subtly to do so. Have you listened to her podcast with Josh Rogan on China? Also, when it comes to children there is a double bind, what if she spoke out early and it turns out the Omicron virus morphed to affect children. She's also trying to build a viable business here with Common Sense and Honestly, But I also think it is a long time of students in curriculums - being discouraged to share their "own" opinion. Students having to back up in quotes every thought they have in a paper... thats bad. That is not encouraging free thinking and forward thinking. People can and should have original though unrelated to anyone from any time. Journalists have a hard time doing this. I think we are witnessing the time in our country of being able to shut others down with money, reputation, and blatant lies... The double bind I speak of is of conservatives, Everyone knowing most conservatives wait to speak out, or do things in a more underground manner, they are careful. They are careful to protect their families and businesses.. . The left wing progressives, in a chess match, can very carefully exploit the nature of conservatives in this way. We have to realize we won't have anything left to protect if the left indoctrinates our children and binds their freedoms through actions (ie mask -wearing). In other words, I think we should ALL have spoken out earlier. And we must start now if we haven't.
"Also, when it comes to children there is a double bind, what if she spoke out early and it turns out the Omicron virus morphed to affect children."
How does she know THIS isn't "early"? How does she know your "what if" WON'T happen with a later variant? She doesn't, not any more than she did 18 months ago.
And yet...here she is, with this column. Today.
No, that double bind doesn't exist. Journalists should report what is known when it is known, and then adjust as more information is learned. They don't wait until some impossible-to-know future date, because there IS no future date when all information about anything is known.
I'm going to defend Bari. I think that we should be happy that she has the courage to speak now. I lived in NYC and have had friends at the NY times. I'm still scared of them. The NY Times is very very powerful. There was a time when the paper that heralded "all the news that's fit to print," was the most powerful paper in the nation and world, it was although extremely biased and liberal still had good reporting. Everyone read it, conservatives and liberals. I knew it had gone wrong when the journalists were sooo surprised that Trump won - because it showed me that no one had boots on the street across the nation and people were not answering obvious questions... they were thinking they could dictate politics in stead of report it.. .May other journalists have the courage to start more new avenues for reporting. Monopolies are bad... the antitrust laws tell us that...Bari is doing just that... starting something new... Its not so easy.... I haven't done it yet. Have you?
Even my father every morning, and he was a business man and an Army brat. He was very conservative, and yet, he wan't to look at the graphs and the information was quite good.
But the power seeped in and the desire to get ahead and pander to the powers that be. . . We're witnessing the power of the mob force, we're witnessing how nations rise and fall. Our nation will not fall. I'm happy that she wants to discuss this. I'm really brave and I know the consequences of speaking out in a blue state... not so great...
It was fairly obvious even ten years ago that reporters were reporting about what they saw on twitter, not the real world. They're twitter obsessed, and what's important on twitter is what was important to them. Like academia, they're so far removed from the real world now, because they live in weird little bubbles with their own history, and stories built upon stories, with petty jealousies and tribal warfare dominating, that there is no way for them to connect with people that aren't plugged into this alternate reality.
Being scared of one’s friends is no excuse for adults to sacrifice an entire generation of kids at the alter of woke Covid hysteria that was demonstratively based on lies from the very beginning and done to appease the feelings of weak, whinny, zoom class middle income, middle aged, and often childless adults.
I’m glad Bari saw the light, but I will not forgive her or anyone else who went along with this, on Bari’s words, moral catastrophe, until they say the magic words “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
Why is that SO hard to understand? Millions of children have been irrevocably harmed, and they can’t even get an apology? Pathetic.
I agree.. its sooo messed up and yet I still can't get a coalition of people in my town to be confident enough to say "enough of the masks." They won't even let me in the the lobby of my child's elementary school right now. He is in a wheel chair because he broke his leg. . . and I had to wait outside in the 6 degree weather while it was snowing in order to pick him up. I can't even get my law degree friend to agree that the problem with depression and an 51% uptick in girls self harm is due to the mask wearing and COVID stuff... she thinks it is mostly because of social media. So I guess it is more a discussion about... how do we garner support in numbers if we all feel this way... that's my question for BARI... we all know this.. How do we get the teachers, the principals etc. to buck the state and stop the madness? What if we live in a state where 75 to 80% of the people still think its necessary and wear masks while driving in their cars alone? With all due respect.. are you from North Carolina... where they are not as strict?
Nope, I'm in Puerto Rico, where madness reigns supreme still, with no letup in sight, and where many of the residents have been scared with dishonest tyranny beyond belief into submission by our despotic sh*t governor, Pedro Pierluisi, who is the poster boy for The Peter Principle, not coincidentally "Pedro" being "Peter" in Spanish.
The reason they are not as strict here is because people refused to comply, not due to lack of trying. Pooper Cooper absolutely tried, but realized many would rather risk consequences than comply with authoritarian political mandates. Taking people to court gives them the opportunity to present the data and evidence that has always been there. It was easier for him to give up than risk being called out on lies.
We refused peacefully, we remained clam, and we searched for alternatives. Embracing those alternatives caused them to flourish.
Leading by example is always a good way to disprove hysteria. I haven’t worn a mask, excepting air travel, in a very long time, regardless of mandates. That absolutely came with insults, threats, anger, accusations. But here we are 22 months in, I’m still alive, my kids have lived normally, we have lived our lives, and we are all alive and healthy. I haven’t had Covid. I’m not dead.
Sure, I could be an outlier, but so could anyone regardless of how much joy and life they give up, or how much healthy development they Ron from their kids.
At this point having the courage to lead by example, with calculated risks and a steadfast faith in the data, is a great way to open eyes. Actions have and always will be more powerful than words.
Thank you for your response. How would you reply to: A mother of a child who has cancer... or a teacher who is age 65? They will say I'm insensitive. My idea is that the mental health of my children is equally important to the child who has cancer. Also not proven that the masks prevent anything. Also I don't want people to defend themselves out of feeling "stupid." Perhaps I'll just address that fact. Not challenging you, just thinking of the rebuttles I'll get when I go to the PTA and the School Board.
I think you hit the nail on the head - be prepared. It's an absolutely false dichotomy. Even the CDC now admits cloth masks don't work, so there its factually wrong to pretend like its picking between the two. Then you can offer an actual solution (what people really want). Support schools installing non-ozone air purifiers in every classroom with an older teacher, or immune compromised child. Hand them the studies showing that would work far better than a properly worn N95 mask to reduce viral spread - they have the added advantage of reducing allergies and bacterial spread as well. Air purifiers and ventilation doesn't take lunch breaks, water breaks, or breathing breaks either. Look at the 2021 waterloo study on masks - and read the actual study, not entirely inaccurate media twisting of it, it's easy to read - I am attaching it as the second link. The first is 150 stuides on masks not working but causing harm. I hope these arm you with facts and replicated outcomes to help change some minds. Prayers and best wishes for progress towards the kids.
https://brownstone.org/articles/more-than-150-comparative-studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0057100
I didn't say I was *unhappy* that she "has the courage to speak now", although I'll question whether it's actually courage, or just bending with the prevailing wind.
Courage would've been covering this story at ANY time prior to the vaxxes being made available to children. The data and information were known and readily available by then, and reporting about it THEN may well have saved thousands of kids from being jabbed needlessly.
Furthermore, this isn't the first time she's been late to the party.
She was woefully behind on the Kyle Rittenhouse story. Facts known and available within DAYS of the shootings were known to her not until the trial, more than a year later. Read her Substack on the subject here: https://bit.ly/3g4JlIU
I can't wait for this! I will be there. Here are my thoughts. #1 Unmask the children. I want to see their beautiful smiles and frowns, and love and wonder... how horrible a society are we, continuing to mask our children what the???? And Singing... bring back singing #2 Free the teachers... Bring back the art of teaching and pay them more. Ask yourself, would you want to be a teacher right now? #3 Covid is 1/1000 of a particle and passes through masks. #4 A real discussion of freedom and how we teach it, and where that concept comes from. (ehem, the bible) What were they teaching kids through action (more powerful then words?) They were teaching kids, you are our little pawns and you'll do as I say without question. . . You have freedom until its inconvenient for the adults methods. Freedom of expression and words but we'll take it away collectively and you'll lose everything you hold dear, a social life, your ability to learn, even when we know the science. . .etc. etc. (doesn't sound very liberal or American does it?) So obviously wrong. #5 Belief in something greater than yourself, whether you believe in God or not. #6 Quality of Life on this planet is the New frontier." I think this came from Jacques Cousteau's grandson in an issue of National Geographic from a few years ago. It has become my motto. #7 Deepen our culture, don't destroy it. As a nation we are still quite young. Understanding that the platforms of both US parties need to be revisited as there are contradictory stances on both sides. I'm not going to get into that right here... its too long. Looking forward to the round table! You are amazing Bari.
Once again, disregard the science, circulate the views of opinionated people with no expertise or training in epidemiology, virology. I'm disappointed that our hostess would play that game. And now you publish the invitation of someone who wants to have parents "beat the shit out of...responsible officials. " How this podcast has deteriorated. Shameful, Bari.
In the spirit of being civil, something I believe we all could benefit from, I wonder when you say "disregard the science" what you mean. I graduated with an engineering degree years ago and one of the central ideas of science is to question everything and then question it again. A scientist is always looking for the truth. I am concerned when I hear people say "follow the science" because it indicates a blind faith is something that is known by a few experts. The science and just basic numbers seem to be indicating clearly that kids are not at significant risk from this disease, that the vaccines do not prevent spread and that masks are also not very effective at preventing spread. So who are we trying to protect by requiring kids to wear masks? People who are unvaccinated?
"The Science" is a big book of incontrovertible FACTS. Settled. Cannot. Be. Questioned. Follow the Science on Twitter ....
It's hard to imagine an assertion so wide of the mark. In science "facts" are constantly being challenged and overturned or modified in response to new evidence unearthed by other scientists. The most celebrated examples that comes quickly to mind was Einstein's theory of relativity. It vastly modified Newtonian physics.
It's hard to imagine you could not tell I was being sarcastic
When someone says "follow the science", they mean THEIR science, and ONLY their science. Which, of course, is faith. Religion. Anything *but* science.
"They mean?" Not what I meant.
My comment was in response to Ed's, not yours.
“The Los Angeles school district announced last Friday that “masking will be required at all times, indoors and outdoors.”
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I don’t want parents monitored like terrorists but I do understand concerns about the potential for violence.
If I was a parent I absolutely would have walked into my kid’s school and beat the shit out of someone by now. A surprising amount of restrain being shown by parents across the country.
At least I don’t have to hear any saccharine horse poop about teachers being heroes ever again. Some of these people are legit child molesters.
II understand why you feel this way! It is truly a dark hour for our nation. May I very gently say -If you become violent... they win. Show by your actions, peace, strength of character and strong mindedness is so much more powerful. Be stubborn, determined, unfazed, but uphold your principles. Show your kids that freedom rings in our hearts, it is very attractive because it is a universal truth.
Everything you say is correct...but so too is Jefferson's observation about the Tree of Liberty.
Yes, obviously they are trying to provoke violence.
My point was that I’m surprised it really hasn’t worked.
"(Leading doctors and public health experts agree: See this useful toolkit for parents just released by Dr. Lucy McBride and others.)"
Hmmm, that name sounds familiar. McBride...McBride...yeah, she's the one who said THIS beaut (https://bit.ly/3FXnbTL):
“When you vaccinate your child, you take the claws and the fangs away from the virus. For most healthy children, they aren’t even there in the first place. But you never know. And we have abundant evidence that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe in five to eleven year olds. So yes, I would vaccinate your child.”
I have literally zero inclination to trust a "toolkit for parents" from someone who stated that "we have abundant evidence that the vaccines are extraordinarily safe in five-to-eleven year-olds."
There is (again, literally) ZERO long-term safety data regarding these experimental gene therapies, for anyone, let alone for 5- to 11-year-olds.
Consider that the pharma companies did NOT know that their concoctions had NO long-term efficacy; so how can they or the inestimable Dr. McBride declare so confidently and assuredly that they have no long-term debilitating side-effects, that they are "extraordinarily safe" based upon "abundant evidence"???
Certain people should be disregarded and ridiculed. Dr. Lucy McBride is among them.
A correction: Kids in LA public schools have always been required to wear masks indoor AND outdoors since the return to school in late spring 2021 despite vax mandates for students, staff & teachers. My elementary aged kid wears a mask 10 hours a day (school + aftercare) everyday even though he is fully vaccinated and tested every week for Covid. Although this supposedly keeps us “safe”, the school is not the same anymore. The lack of community, camaraderie and friendships are gone since kids and parents are treated like deathly diseases even when most of us are vaxxed and boosted. We have no way to escape this other than moving somewhere else as apparently many parents and especially teachers want even MORE restrictions. It’s insane.
My heart goes out to you. I used to live in Santa Monica. What a strange twist when the most liberal state in the country turns to the most dictatorial.
Then why haven't you moved?
Hmmm. Because I'm not super rich and can't just jet myself and my family off to somewhere else without knowing we'll have jobs, money, a home, etc. I have a very good job in LA. Which only make me more angry at this situation. With that being said, I have been researching school districts in Texas and Florida and looking at home prices.
I say... if everyone moves to Florida and Texas and Tennessee or Idaho... If you can't move you are sooo brave, stay where your are and sound your trumpet loudly! I will give you my wings so you can be brave...
I would do anything for my kids, except give up my very good job in Los Angeles. That makes me angry.
What is there to research in Florida and Texas? Those schools are in person without masks, right? And unless you are moving to an upscale suburb of Dallas or Houston or Coral Gables or Naples or Key West you're housing dollar is going to go further in Florida and Texas than it does now. So again, what is there to research?
Moving is uncomfortable. The unknown is scary. I get that. But you owe it to yourself and your kids. If you can find a very good job in LA you'll land on your feet in Florida, Texas, or wherever else.
Good luck, I hope you take the leap. You won't look back and you will only wonder why you waited so long.
If you are going to vote for Democrats in the near to mid future, you are probably better off staying in CA and trying to change things there. Voting the same way somewhere else, and expecting a different outcome, is also insanity.
But, if you see that was it happening to children is wrong, and you acknowledge that these policies are harming your own child, and you see a way out, you might find taking that road might result in far more success than you could have imagined? The job market is on fire just about everywhere outside of far-left dystopian blue country.
I understand the sacrifice may be too great, and that each person faces a different cost-benefit analysis, so I am not judging that you have remained. I personally see a lot of wisdom in the phrase God helps those who help themselves. Helping oneself nearly always involves a willingness to make a change.
I have 2 elementary aged children. Their births started a long series of pride swallowing, eye opening, admitting I had been wrong realizations that took a good 4-5 years after the oldest was born to actually accept. For a personal example, it was really hard for me to accept that I really was indoctrinated in undergrad and grad school, and that the Democrat policies I voted for resulted in bad outcomes that most often harmed the youngest and least among us. That was major humble pie after voting almost exclusively for Democrats for the first 15 years I was old enough to vote. Today, I'm glad I actually changed because simply being frustrated absent that change would mean knowing better but living with the personal guilt of refusing to do better. I chose humble pie and better outcomes. I have no regrets.
Whatever path you take, I wish you luck, and your child healing.
As part of this worthy conversation, folks might also take time consider the root causes of the sheep like willingness of so many of our elites to so easily relinquish their Constitutional right to assemble (mask mandates and lockdowns and lockouts) and exercise free speech (cancel culture and the DEI initiatives that are the crack cocaine of woke corporate america). Those root causes, through my humble lens, result from a disease that is far worse than Covid. That disease is called ignorance and arises from (a) a decline in faith of any kind in our society and, with that loss of faith, a corresponding fear of all things, (b) the presence of a generation of young people who have been told, since birth, that they are special and entitled to a trophy merely for showing up (hard work doesn’t matter, I am entitled, either because I am special or because my ancestors had a really hard time in the past), (c) a ruling class that is singularly focused on wealth creation versus the historic concept of noblesse oblige, and (d) the hijacking of our educational system by modern day tenured apparatchiks who are indoctrinating our children with neo-marxist ideologies without first providing those children with the foundational understanding of our Republic and the principles of limited government. It is no wonder that anyone who can, is rapidly fleeing our crime ridden faithless Blue cities for parts of this great country that still respect the rule of law, salute the Flag and revere the Republic and its guiding principles.
I think you have a point in that belief in a higher power, which is inherent to nearly all humans, has been transferred from religion to government by many.
However, I don't think it has much to do with "snowflake" culture. Our "elites" are box checkers. They followed the rules in school, checked the correct boxes to get into college, jumped through every hoop their professor asked them to, had the correct internships, got the job in the correct industry etc. On every step of the path they've had guidance and rules and processes to follow. This does not require creativity or critical thought, in fact, those are detrimental, it requires compliance.
And when covid hit, and there were suddenly no known rules to follow and chaos everywhere, they were the ones that demanded the world shut down so that they could create a set of rules and customs that would allow them to regain the sense of control that they've always felt. Now those customs and rules are being challenged and they are fighting back ferociously because how dare someone ever challenge the system that they've bought into.
So no, it's not entitlement, it's personal cowardice in the face of chaos.
That was utterly brilliant. I hope you don’t mind if I share it with others.
Feel free