Tuesday, September 28, 2021

LEONARD PITTS SAYS GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE UNVACCINATED

The piece below is from the Miami Herald from syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts. My copy is from the St Louis Dispatch. I wish we could come together and vaccinate everyone.

I feel medical exemptions should be granted if a doctor believes it is medically necessary to not be vaccinated but otherwise taking the vaccines helps us all. I support the mandate for anyone who works in a school and other vaccine mandates too. I have no real issue with courts that have ruled in favor of mandates on public health grounds.

Let's hear from columnist Leonard Pitts on vaccine mandates:


Pitts: Goodbye and good riddance to those who would quit work to avoid the vaccine

Sept 27, 2021 

“If you want to leave, take good care, hope you make a lot of nice friends out there.”

— from “Wild World” by Cat Stevens

This is for those who’ve chosen to quit their jobs rather than submit to a vaccine mandate: No telling how many of them there actually are, but lately, they’re all over the news.

Just last week, a nearly 30-year veteran of the San Jose Police Department surrendered his badge rather than comply with the city’s requirement that all employees be inoculated against the coronavirus. He joins an Army lieutenant colonel, some airline employees, a Major League Baseball executive, the choral director of the San Francisco Symphony, workers at the tax collector’s office in Orange County, Florida, and, incredibly, dozens of healthcare professionals.

Well, on behalf of the rest of us, the ones who miss concerts, restaurants and other people’s faces, the ones who are sick and tired of living in pandemic times, here’s a word of response to those quitters: Goodbye.

And here’s two more: Good riddance.

Not to minimize any of this. A few weeks ago, a hospital in upstate New York announced it would have to pause delivering babies because of resignations among its maternity staff. So the threat of difficult ramifications is certainly real. But on the plus side, those who are quitting work go a long way toward purging us of the gullible, the conspiracy-addled, the logic-impaired and the stubbornly ignorant. And that’s not nothing.

We’ve been down this road before. Whenever faced with some mandate imposed in the interest of the common good, some of us act like we just woke up on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. “There’s no freedom no more,” whined one man in video that recently aired on “The Daily Show.” The clip was from the 1980s, and the guy had just gotten a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt.

It’s an unfortunately common refrain. Can’t smoke in a movie theater? Can’t crank your music to headache decibels at 2 in the morning? Can’t post the Ten Commandments in a courtroom? “There’s no freedom no more.” Some seem to think freedom means no one can be compelled to do, or refrain from doing, anything. But that’s not freedom, it’s anarchy.

Usually, the rest of us don’t agonize over such intransigence. Often it has no direct impact on us. The guy in “The Daily Show” clip was only demanding the right to skid across a highway on his face, after all. But now people claim the right to risk the healthcare system and our personal lives.

So if those people are angry, guess what? They’re not the only ones.

The difference is, their anger is dumb, and ours is not. Theirs is about being coerced to do something they don’t want to do. Like that’s new. Like they’re not already required to get vaccinated to start school or travel to other countries. For that matter, they’re also required to mow their lawn, cover their hindparts and, yes, wear a seatbelt. So they’re mad at government and their job for doing what employers have always done.

But the rest of us, we’re mad at those people. Because this thing could have been over by now, and they’re the reason it isn’t.

That’s why we were glad President Joe Biden stopped asking nicely, started requiring vaccinations everywhere he had power to do so. We were also glad when employers followed suit. And if that’s a problem, then, yes, goodbye, sayonara, auf wiedersehen, adios and adieu. We’ll miss all of those people, to be sure. But they’re asking us to choose between their petulance and our lives.

And that’s really no choice at all.


While Pitts makes many valid points that I wholeheartedly agree with, I don't want to say goodbye and good riddance to any of you. I would rather everyone who is not yet vaxed for COVID go get their jab before Friday at 5:00 and upload the proof so you can stay employed and not have to go on an involuntary leave. The DOE will even give you some days if you have some side effects from the shot.

66 comments:

Anonymous said...

My best friend finally got her vaccine. She was furious about the situation, but now it's done and she's over it. She's a healthcare worker and doesn't believe in vaccines, and homeschools to bypass the vaccine rule. She thinks it's bullying, and it's been difficult to have a normal conversation with her without her ranting about it.

She lives the good life, enjoys cruises and her children are in dance, theater, swimming, diving, you name it, they're in it. Even though she believes their immune system can withstand it she did because she needs her job and wants to continue providing for her children and there is no shame in that. The one thing she regrets is not getting it sooner because now she has to feel she was forced, and for her that's the hardest part. It's not surprising because that the biggest complaint I hear at work, and on this blog, "I don't want to be forced". So Pitts is right, it's petulance.

Anonymous said...

I remember people here, a year ago, saying they would NEVER take the vaccine.
Because #orangemanbad...
They would become an orange fascist or something.
And now?
Funny how the narrative and yall attitudes along with it have changed, huh?

The Veteran NY Teacher said...

While mandatory vaccines for adult civilians are virtually unprecedented here in the US, I got fully vaccinated months ago and so did all of my wiser colleagues.

At the same time I do agree with points regarding slippery slopes and health mandates. There’s a reason mandatory vaccines for adult civilians are so rare. I get a flu shot each year (although I’m not at high risk of hospitalization/death from flu I could pass it on to the very elderly and kids who are at greater risk). As a matter of fact, flu is a more serious risk to kids than covid. I guess I could support a flu shot mandate for teachers/nurses/first responders but that’s as far as I’d go.

Anonymous said...

Always the ignoring that hospital and D75 staff were told to wear PPE and go to work while many were home on zoom.

They go exposed to covid risk every day for the greater good.

They then got confirmed COVID cases. Recovered and came back to work more.

16 studies, WHO, UK, Italy etc all acknowledge immunity is recognized. Only shaky retrospective observational Kentucky study says maybe half as good as vaccine...if you only look at this group for 2 months.

It is simply not following the sci or data but something else.

Colleagues, just get that one shot and hope science is recognized. The one shot is very very likely to help you not get covid again this winter.

It will buy time until October and perhaps you can delay or avoid the second.

I got moderna but all work very well to keep you out of hospital. If you already got COVID yes many will feel bad the next day or two from vax as your body building antibodies again.

You can choose to resign or change your life later.

Thanks for risking your health to work in person last year and getting covid as a result. Some parents appreciated it, students and colleagues benefited.

Thank you

Anonymous said...

I GUESS WITH A NAME LIKE PITTS HE IS A TRUE JACKASS TRUST ME WOULD NOT WANT TO CROSS MY PATH...

Anonymous said...

Don't forget our civil rights can always be compromised. During war time, we technically don't have freedom of the press, and we can't do what we want with our own bodies. We can't do illegal drugs, sell parts of our bodies, or prostitute ourselves, so saying we have absolute freedom to do what we want is a farce.

Anonymous said...

Yeah @ 6:17. Trump couldnt be trusted and trust is everything.

ed notes online said...

Trumpet - you are a propagandist with a purposeful forgetting of history -- people were nervous about the vaccine under Trump because he was trying to get them to approve it before the elections. So yes it the FDA had approved due to that pressure I would have waited. Like we have no reason to think Trump would risk lives for his own advantage. Once the election was over the attitude changed. People trusted the vaccine. Note that your idols at Fox are required by the company to be vaxxed -- the same rules Biden is using. Vax or test.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if it actually stopped the spread, provided full immunity, and didn’t just reduce symptoms, people would not have to be bribed, berated, and bullied to get it. This is no longer about health. Stop pretending like it is. The mandate is for submission. Just look at your lovely model country, Australia.

Anonymous said...

6:32,

You're right they are still learning about covid. My family got it last October. After I was cleared by the health dept to go out, I still had med professionals scolding and yes, yelling at me that I was spreading the disease by going out. There is a lot of bad/wrong info out there. Also, after my clearance, I still registered "positive" on the covid test. If we didn't have all these dumb arguments-mask v. no-mask, etc. then I think we all could have learned the nuance that would have been really helpful to all of us. But that is water under the bridge.

My family all got the vaccine. My husband and I had to travel 50 miles to get the shot. I know some even went further. I did have a minor reaction (body aches) after the first dose. I called the nurse helpline and they talked me through it.

Thanks for your encouraging and realistic advice.

Anonymous said...

I tested positive for covid last year. I had it twice (Jan and March). It was terrible. I still suffer challenged breathing. I tested positive for antibodies every month all the way through summer 2021. I didn't get the vaccine until late August. I still don't believe we have enough information about this (the illness and the vaccine), to say we are making our decisions based on science and not pharmaceutical sales.

Anonymous said...

The mayor and chancellor and many others even on this blog appreciate nothing.look at that sow Hochul spewing about patients worrying about a hospital worker infecting them.meanwhile, they went in despite a ppe shortage with awful conditions and risked it all for you guys.and this is how they are treated??there is no gratitude in this country.
I could agree with many if the jab would end covid.but it wont!look at israel! Look around.it isnt a shot.its a lifetime of shots to whatever else they have in the freezer to release.its more and more...till the shot kills ypu and pharma will never stop being greedy.media wont cover neg stuff about shots because that is their bread and butter.this is endless.the narrative is unravelling.its a plandemic funded by taxpayer dollars.fauci and others are at the helm.pharma lied about opioid epidemic and snow jobbed unsuspecting doctors. How can u trust these companies who have no scruples?that includes bozo,the crackhead chancellor, and the witch governor who totallt disrespects the workets who saved lives.we are in the last days whete right is wrong and and wrong is right.
No wonder they wete desperate to steal the election.trump would not have done this mandate.bye bye biden.texas jystice should be applied to these criminals.

Anonymous said...

Ps when antibody dependent enhancement occurs in schools and numbers explode, will they offer remote or just make more shots?

Anonymous said...

Arbitrator is a modern day Mengele. For all his denials, hope he rots in hell.he will pay when he gets to his maker in any case.

Anonymous said...

It’s disingenuous to say citizens should trust Biden but not Trump. I trust neither. Both would gladly sacrifice American lives for their politics. I’m retired so I am free to do what I want. Hang in there teachers. Milk the city for everything you can. Tell the fools who rate you what they want to hear. Then go home and think of none of it until the next work day. Retire as soon as you can.

Anonymous said...

Where exactly does this guy live? People around the country are out and about going to restaurants, sporting events etc without any vaccine mandate bullshit It’s only in the wacko left wing strongholds like NYC and LA that are making these outrageous rules He thinks he’s on the “right” side of this Ha! He’s a fool

Anonymous said...

11:20 horrible advice

Anonymous said...

NBC News has reported that YouTube banned anti-vaccine accounts:

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/youtube-cracks-anti-vaccine-videos-bans-major-accounts-rcna2400

Anonymous said...

ed notes online aka Jao Xidenpet...
See what I did there?
What, are you 12?

Anonymous said...

Two-thirds of NYC schools could experience disruptions due to vaccine mandate, UFT says

https://www.silive.com/coronavirus/2021/09/two-thirds-of-nyc-schools-could-experience-disruptions-due-to-vaccine-mandate-uft-says.html

Anonymous said...

Perfect example of why people reading this blog may have negative feelings about teachers

Anonymous said...

Biden lied about getting every American out of Afghanistan. He lied about military advice to leave some troops in place. He lied about Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan. He lied about his stance on vaccine passports. He lied about the damn laptop. He’s plagiarized. But he’d never lie about vaccine safety or taking the vaccine himself???? Come on. You trust this man? I do not. Not one bit. If you were vaccine hesitant because of Trump but somehow believe Biden is being honest about all things COVID, I don’t see how you can deny that your hatred for Trump is clouding your judgement on Biden.

Anonymous said...

Biden lies -- every day -- but your guy Trump lied every second. We know Biden's history and don't trust him or the corporate Dems. Supporters of Trump lost their right to talk about Biden.

Anonymous said...

Science and data do not lie-no matter who is the President—however, when there one guy that says that Covid would be gone by Easter 2020, constantly mocked and fiought with members of his own Covid task force,, suggests that injections of Clorox substance could alleviate Covid, doesn’t support wearing of masks, then gets Covid with around the clock medical treatment , he quietly takes the vaccine—and het has not really publicly supported the vaccines—despite its development during his term-
So, when it comes to trust—I think I will take Biden or just about anyone else.

Anonymous said...

3:45. Americans don’t lose their right to comment on any president because you don’t like who they voted for. The issue is trust. Why is it acceptable for you to distrust vaccine because you didn’t trust Trump but others don’t trust the vaccine because they don’t trust Biden or Trump or both or Fauci or the CDC etc? The point is trust and if Biden and Trump both can’t be trusted and it would have been acceptable to refuse vaccine under Trump it sure is acceptable to refuse under Biden.

4:27. Trusting Trump less doesn’t mean anyone should trust Biden’s advice on the vaccine. Biden can either be trusted or not. I say he can’t be trusted based on his documented history of lying. So no thank you to his COVID advice.

Let’s see who starts the name calling and insults in lieu of intelligent commentary, James.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the national guard can come into the hood and staff some classrooms that will be empty because of this shithead policy

Miles said...

So let's see if we can frame this in the appropriate context.
The government,overreacting to a virus in which the survival rate is 99.8%, creates a policy that causes worker shortages in all industries, including critical Healthcare.
And you wonder why any sane person would hate the government and consider it to be stooooopid?

James Eterno said...

This is from Wikipedia on polio.You guys would have said only about .5% of those infected have it effect the nervous system. Thank God we didn't fight the science when the polio vaccine was distributed.


Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus.[1] In about 0.5 percent of cases, it moves from the gut to affect the central nervous system, and there is muscle weakness resulting in a flaccid paralysis.[1]

Anonymous said...

Whoever these people are on here...they're trolls talking a lot of crap. Teachers will not be leaving in hordes because they refuse to get the vaccine. People are milking this situation until they can't anymore. Right before the deadline hits, I'm sure hesitant teachers will get the shot.

James Eterno said...

Get the shot and take your side effects days on the DOE if you need them.

Anonymous said...

"If an employee believes his or her individual liberties are more important than legally permissible conditions on his or her employment, that employee can and should choose to exercise another individual liberty, no less significant—the right to seek other employment."

Anonymous said...

The ugly truth

Anonymous said...

So accurate and so sad

Anonymous said...

Love the inaccurate 99.8 percent claim.

THE FACTS: As of July 23, there were more than 34.3 million known cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 610,370 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That means the case fatality ratio -- or the portion of known cases that result in death in the country -- is 1.8%. In other words, on average, 98.2% of known COVID-19 patients in the U.S. survive. Because the true number of infections is much larger than just the documented cases, the actual survival rate of all COVID-19 infections is even higher than 98.2%

Anonymous said...

Interesting how a union blog would advocate for the firing of fellow brothers and sisters. You've become a monster James Eterno

Anonymous said...

Very true! I've been all over the country and I can tell you NYC is GASLIGHT CENTRAL

Anonymous said...

Vaccine nazis rule! Heil Fauci! Heil Fauci!

Anonymous said...

Speak for yourself.i have an exemption hearing.if i dont win, i will be off payroll.already making provisions.im not risking my life.i have documented serious allergies.no job is worth lising ypur health or life.god will provide.i can retire, although i wanted to stay a bit longer.some will cave out of necessity, others wont.

Anonymous said...

9:29 troll alert

Anonymous said...

The with gov should be burned at the stake!creating shortages and inferior care by outsiders for her polutical ambitions.vote the bitch out come election time.she is dangerous.she is jyst bucking for the left.what if it was worse here in ny and she did this...irresponsible.

Anonymous said...

I know of about 10 teachers at my school, (I am sure there are more), who claim that they plan to take the year off because of the vax mandate.

My school is expected to hire 10 teachers over the weekend? It is hard enough to find one good teacher. Most substitutes are not teachers. I do think this will be messier than what Deblasio and Mulgrew think.

Anonymous said...

Nat'l guard means maybe the kids will behave.
Remember Rosa Parks bus boycott?that tool like 2 years?the diff is that we are greatlt divided now.back then, all were together...

Anonymous said...

What if my side effects last longer than a few days? Can I sue the DOE or Pfizer? Or do they both have immunity from liability for any damages or adverse reactions ?

Anonymous said...

Amen

The Veteran NY Teacher said...

I think Pitts is sending the message, perhaps unknowingly, that those of us who are vaccinated are not threatened by the unvaccinated adults so don’t worry about them. Yeah, they incur dollar costs in terms of healthcare (as do drug abusers, smokers, and the obese) but why obsess on that?

Knowing the science I’m not too worried about the unvaccinated kiddies. (Even the covid-obsessed admit the flu is a greater threat to this subset and I honestly never think about kids dying during flu season).

At some point the masks in school will be tossed (although it would be nice to see a metric for that from the ‘experts’).

Anonymous said...

5:23: A lot of times the subs are better than the teachers. Don't make blanket assumptions.

Anonymous said...

Can someone share the UFT rules for students keeping masks on and consequences.

Can a pre-k student repeatedly spit on and at other students and remain in the classroom?

Isn't this a covid spread danger?

Anonymous said...

8:29,

I spent several years as a sub- thanks for sticking up for us!

Anonymous said...

Notice that their ego-maniacal (sorry aoc and wfs) viewpoint allows them to dismiss the concerns of others regarding the near and long-term effects of an experimental injection -- and they ironically attempt to claim moral superiority as they do that.

And notice they do not even mention the religious principles that others hold -- because they want very much to push those principles completely out of the
discussion.

In this, and in all others aspects of your life, and in your children's life, they do intend to rule you.

They see you like cattle to be herded. Some of you are happy with this.

Anonymous said...

9:00 am. The doe is back to normal. So yeah kids can spit all day long and they’ll tell you the kid would stop spitting if you were a better teacher.

Anonymous said...

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”… – Cicero in the year (43 B.C)

A friend said...

The article is trash. How do you expect individuals to take a no liability product into their bodies?How do you expect phobia people to go in a room with spiders. People are literally scared of the injectable. A trillion dollar industry with no liability that should be the main discussion. How about Joe saying take the jab and if something happens to you I will make sure you are compensated and taken care of. That would go along way!

A friend said...

Exactly!

Anonymous said...

I’m vaccinated. Got it as soon as I could. I wanted the vaccine to be what was promised but it wasn’t. We were lied to. We’re being manipulated. Even ultra liberal Russell Brand has woken up and sees the lies of the American left. The next guy in charge might be from the right. They will double down on the authoritarianism embraced by the left. When we finally do end up like the Handmaidens Tale, the blame will be placed at the feet of Americans who are cheering on the loss of freedom now.

Anonymous said...


This is America. Why are we being told we must get vaxxed or get axxed? We say America is so great because we get to decide how to live our lives, but freedom is in danger. Are you aware what goes into the vaccines that we put into our bodies? How they are tested and created?

Anonymous said...

We had someone tour our High School today. My classroom was packed 33 kids and I hoped someone would look in or step in, but no one did. Our visitor was escorted around the building and entered only a few classrooms that only had 10 students on the roster at maximum.
He was not shown the crowded areas of the school nor did he go anywhere near the cafeteria. So glad we are being kept safe. So glad many of my students were told they were socially distanced by 3 feet.

Anonymous said...

So glad we have the strongst union in the counntry negotiating 1% per year raises since 2011.

The yield on the 10-year treasury hits 1.5%
Inflation off the charts.

This could wind up being a rocky Fall.

Anonymous said...

The entire cafeteria staff in my school will be gone Monday due to vaccine refusal. Smooth start, right mulgrew?

Anonymous said...

Stephanie, I am sad to report, is leaving the DOE. Read:

This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life, but I feel like it’s an important one,” said Bronx history teacher Stephanie Edmonds.

Edmonds says she fought hard for schools to reopen last year, so students could get a better education. But now, she’ll have to say goodbye to those she’s mentored the past six years.

“I will not be coerced into inserting something into my body that does not fall in line with my religious faith,” Edmonds said.

Anonymous said...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/09/30/nyc-teachers-covid-vaccine-mandate-supreme-court/%3famp

Anonymous said...

For those against the vaccine keep this in mind.

When you are taking any medicine you are putting pathogen fighting chemicals in your body AFTER infection.
When you take a vaccine you are putting pathogen fighting chemicals in your body BEFORE infection.

If you are ok with taking medicine then I am not sure what your argument is.

Anonymous said...

70,000 health care workers were heroes last year. Now under satanic, unelected Hochul they are america's number one enemy. James is fine with this because this is his narrative.

Nobody knows true ingredients, look at Israel you need 3 now to be normal, then 4, maybe 7??

Anonymous said...

If you're ok eating any processed food, smoke, vape, you should have nothing on a vaccine-

Anonymous said...

This article sounds important:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-mild-cases-of-covid-may-leave-a-mark-on-the-brain

Anonymous said...

12:09: Exactly these anti vaxers must live a life of only eating fruits, vegetable and drinking water.

waitingforsupport said...

Don't forget coffee smokes and sedatives.