Liberal Writer: 'I'm Done' With COVID Restrictions, And What We're Doing to Children is a 'Moral Crime'

We've mentioned and cited Bari Weiss – a center-left writer and thinker who famously resigned in a blaze of glory from The New York Times – from time to time, often in the context of applauding her relentless battle against the forces of wokeness on the illiberal Left. She's now under fire from progressives for declaring her independence from further COVID restrictions on Friday's "Real Time with Bill Maher." She said she's done everything that's been asked of her, but now she's had enough.

And Travis is right that the cheers from Maher's notoriously left-wing audience are noteworthy:

The most impressive thing about Bari Weiss on last night’s Bill Maher is the wild applause after she finishes here. After two years the tides are turning, even for the left leaning people in this country when it comes to covid. Watch this: pic.twitter.com/8DIH3zTibM
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 22, 2022

Speaking on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night, the Substack journalist declared that she is 'done with covid!' 'We were told you get the vaccine, you get the vaccine and you get back to normal. And we haven't gotten back to normal. And it's ridiculous at this point,' Weiss began on the HBO show. 'I know that so many of my liberal and progressive friends are with me on this and they do not want to say it out loud because they are scared to be called anti-vaxxed or to be called science deniers or to be smeared as a Trumper,' Weiss explained...'I'm sorry, but if you believe the science, you will look at the data that we did not have two years ago and you will find out that cloth masks do not do anything. You will realize that you can show your vaccine passport at a restaurant and still be asymptomatic in carrying Omicron. And you realize, most importantly, that this will be remembered by the younger generation as a catastrophic moral crime.' Weiss noted how remote learning was undoubtedly having a detrimental effect on students who are still subjected to lessons over Zoom. A school in Flint, Michigan recently announced there would be indefinite virtual learning. Weiss said that it was leading to growing incidents of self-harm among young girls. 'That is why we need to end the lockdowns and declare it a pandemic of bureaucracy,' she said.

Some conservatives have understandably responded that they're less than impressed by center-left figures who are only belatedly coming around to views that were assailed as "anti-science" and "misinformation" not long ago. I think all help should be welcomed, but conservative writer Karol Markowicz says Maher and Weiss are also the "wrong targets" for such critiques:

People are unfairly saying @billmaher and @bariweiss only just became COVID-sane. Maher was good on COVID early (5/20 clip below) & Bari has been supportive to me for a long time as I wrote about what COVID policies did to kids. Wrong targets. https://t.co/pwQyqZpxrQ
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) January 23, 2022

Weiss is absolutely correct about the impact of these restrictions on children, who are being used as culture war guinea pigs by tribalism-addicted adults. From continued ad hoc school closures to school mask mandates – it's empirically indefensible, especially given the known harms such policies are inflicting on children. And yet, the madness continues:

wake up, parents. pic.twitter.com/h0C3JSBg7l
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) January 22, 2022

For a glimpse at just how lost the plot is in Fairfax, check the slide that has staff "building mask tolerance" in kids w IEPs who have difficulties tolerating masks. Children w IEPs were denied legally required help for a year & now the staff will focus on their MASK SKILLS. https://t.co/q67ugAyo9G
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 21, 2022

California would allow children age 12 and up to be vaccinated without their parents' consent. https://t.co/1gfCN12YXz
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) January 21, 2022

'Teenagers living in group homes in Laval were confined to windowless rooms for 10 straight days this month, in the name of COVID-19 control – though they didn’t have COVID-19.'

Policies like this have brought shame to public health and its practioners.https://t.co/pDZYDAKrrS
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) January 22, 2022

It's all become so tribal, and the education wars have become so toxic, that American's most notable former civil liberties organization has reversed its own position to argue against transparency. The contempt for parents on the activist left, and therefore within the Democratic Party, is astounding:

Florida doesn't need more money to keep schools open. Florida's schools have been open for the last year-and-a-half, without mandatory masking. It's gone extremely well. Gov. Ron DeSantis made a huge, consequential, correct call on this in the early days, and has been viciously attacked for it. He was right all along. And now the Biden administration is reduced to arguing that Florida is bad on school openings because the state hasn't been spending money from the wasteful federal slush fund fast enough, in order to achieve something Florida had achieved by August 2020. Who comes up with this stuff? I'll leave you with this. Some COVID safetyists are well-meaning people. Others are neurotics who've lost the plot and nearly all perspective. Still others are power-hungry control freaks who will relinquish control only when they are forced to. Send people in the latter category a message at the ballot box:

California school board president ends meeting after 2 minutes because some people aren't wearing masks "correctly." pic.twitter.com/ctquTtazkf
— Samuel Bravo (@bravojourno) January 23, 2022

UPDATE - Progressive activist Jim Acosta at CNN isn't happy with Weiss:

"I’m done with that attitude, honestly. She needs to understand that trolling people to own the libs is not a sacrifice.”
--CNN's @Acosta complaining about @bariweiss segment on Bill Maher where she said she was done with COVID
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) January 24, 2022

Weiss is a lib, Jim. And if you don't agree with her attitude, you can live your life differently. This mentality must be actively resisted and defeated:

"How dare you!" Whoopi ridiculously pops off against Bill Maher for anti-mask jokes, tell him to say out of society. Sara Haines joins in by saying masks will be a permanent "new normal" like airport security after 9/11. "I may never ... feel comfortable without a mask." pic.twitter.com/AHjJcKR79c
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 24, 2022