By WIN GRUENING
“I must stop Christmas from coming… but how? I mean – in what way?”
How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie – 2000
Dr. Seuss’s beloved children’s book and movie adaptation are playing out in real life as President Biden and Dr. Fauci vie for the title of the most insufferable grinch.
When How the Grinch Stole Christmas was first published in 1957, it did not go unnoticed that the Grinch was the first adult and the first villain to be a main character in a Dr. Seuss book. Reviewers called the Grinch “easily the best Christmas-cad since Scrooge.”
Amid rising inflation and bitter discourse, exhausted Americans are now approaching their third year of living under the crushing weight of pandemic mandates. The never-ending demonization of the unvaccinated and the politically acrimonious rhetoric of the Biden Administration have divided America like no other time in recent history.
President Biden is now lecturing us that the Omicron variant is spreading fast and that unvaccinated Americans are facing a winter of “severe illness and death.”
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci followed that grim prophesy with the possibility that more restrictions may be needed to curb the transmission of Covid-19 if cases continue to surge.
“If the counts keep going up and the test positivity keeps going up, we may need to be more restrictive.” When Fauci was asked, “Are we ever going to get to a point where we won’t need to wear masks on airplanes?”, he responded, “I don’t think so.”
Those dire predictions contradict initial research that shows, while the Omicron variant is highly transmissible (even among vaccinated individuals), the symptoms are typically mild and hospitalizations are significantly less. More importantly, Covid-19 treatments have come a long way since the early days of the pandemic.
The availability of vaccines, effective monoclonal antibodies, and new therapeutics will continue to improve medical outcomes and apparently are useful against this variant in reducing severe symptoms. The increased availability of rapid at-home tests will help to further limit COVID-19 transmission. Some medical experts believe this variant could help us reach herd immunity and an endemic state where pandemic protocols will no longer be needed.
Nevertheless, the Biden Administration and many politicians across the country continue to focus on number of cases and case positivity percentage while downplaying decreasing hospitalization and death statistics. Sadly, there is little recognition of the economic and social impacts of lockdowns and mandates – especially among young people.
The relentless villainization and threats by Biden and Fauci haven’t significantly improved vaccination rates and only promote resentment, anxiety, and paranoia among the general population. They strain credulity and appear more designed to divert attention from administration-caused catastrophes home and abroad.
Will we ever reach the end of the story when the Grinch has a change of heart and strikes a kinder, more positive tone? Not if our leaders continue to believe politics is more important than the power of religious faith and hope.
As noted in Steve Malanga’s City Journal article, throughout history global events such as “famine, pestilence, and war have sent people seeking the comforts of religion.“ This hasn’t happened in this pandemic, as evidenced by falling church attendance. This is likely due, in part, to government mandates and pronouncements over the last two years preventing or discouraging church goers from consistently attending in-person religious services. Many municipal and state governments labelled church activities as “non-essential,” in contrast to liquor stores and cannabis dispensaries which were allowed to stay open.
This only exacerbated the overall isolation and disruption of social connections created by the pandemic that has resulted in mounting apprehension, depression, drug use, and suicide. As educators discovered after school closures, religious leaders found that virtual Zoom meetings were no substitute for in-person services and, in fact, “eroded the religious experience, disillusioning the faithful.”
Christmas is a season of hope. Why can’t our nation’s leader craft a message of optimism instead of panic, fear and despair?
Americans should celebrate Christmas this year as they always have, with family and friends, encouraged and reaffirmed by our country’s ability to persevere and overcome, just as it has so many times throughout history.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
Let’s go Brandon. Spend time with your family. Life is uncertain and you never know when it’s going to end. Don’t shut them out if you may regret it for the rest of your life. Time with them is precious.
I note that Joe Brandon just complimented Trump for the first time. I think they figured out that it would actually help Joe’s approval rating! (makes sense to me) Otherwise they would never do it.
I think it is very unfair to compare Fauxci or China Joe to the Grinch.
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The Grinch only wanted to take Christmas away from the Whos; he did not actively try to poison and kill them.
No church should have closed. The Bill of Rights does not get set aside because of the overreaction of stupid politicians and bureacrats over a virus. We the People allowed it to happen. What do you think would have happened if EVERY church stayed open?
While I think the online church experience during the pandemic has reduced enthusiasm for religion, statistics show that the overall appeal of organized religion has been on the wane since 2002.
I am far more bothered by the TSA than I am about Dr. Fauci, Dr. Zink, and the thousands of health care workers that support Covid prevention measures. Those medical people are hardworking professionals but the TSA is merely lazy people standing around (thousands standing around). The TSA justifies its existence by a Muslim attack on us that occurred over 20 years ago and wasted 3,000 lives. This Chinese flu attack has killed 800,000 of us and it is still killing us. After the Muslim attack we invaded two countries that had less to do with the attack than did Saudi Arabia, Egypt or the Muslims in Palestine. Our recent defeat in one of the countries we invaded has us much too scared to do anything to push back against China. Our fear of China is making China much bolder, and that is very likely to not end well for us. Remember that when the TSA pats you down.
Win, clearly this isn’t about combatting a virus it is about a further consolidation of control over people , think Totalitarianism.
From what I’ve been able to learn the Jabs offer zero protection beyond 6 months, some less then half that period of time. Meanwhile , those unjabbed who contact the virus and beat it have ” Robust immunity” and yet we never hear a peep from the Dog Lover Anthony Fauci about natural immunity.
Why?
Indeed, Mr. Schenker, our current cultural struggle is only yet another step in the inexorable descent to the final reckoning for our republic. Much like Dante’s Inferno. You are right to point out we must keep our eyes on the real problem rather than the mere symptoms.
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As Rabbi Cahn quoted, ” …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”—2Chron7:14
The real TWO grinches who stole Christmas from Alaska senior citizens
DHSS Commissioner Adam Crum and DHSS Director John Lee CUT the senior benefit payment to 4,131 Alaskan seniors by 50% to fund pet programs. They will enjoy Christmas with plenty, while many seniors struggle for food.
Art, how did one qualify for this “senior benefit payment” of which you speak?
If Joe Brandon wanted to send a message of hope to all Americans, he would fire the little tyrant, Anthony Fauci, and end the vaccine mandates. A good third move would be to replace Dr. Rochelle Walensky at the CDC with a qualified infectious disease professional that was focused on excellence in medical research rather than social control.
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