The Republicans will come for the FBI after the midterms

As one commentator noted, Tuesday’s red wave in the midterm elections is going to be like the red elevator scene in The Shining. I had to look that one up but, yep, it seems like an appropriate metaphor for what is about to happen.

Some hapless scribe called Emily Oster recently wrote an article for the Atlantic called ‘Let’s declare a pandemic amnesty’. That’s not likely, Emily. The rules introduced by power-hungry apparatchiks throughout the land destroyed businesses, ruined nearly two years of education and socialisation for children, made it impossible to visit your dying grandmother, go to the beach or to church or celebrate your favourite nephew’s birthday. The spectacle of the coercive power of the state being wielded against ordinary citizens going about their lives was frightening and outrageous.

‘Amnesty’ comes from the Greek word ‘ἀμνηστία’, whose primary meaning is ‘forgetfulness’. In common parlance, the word carries a suggestion of forgiveness as well. But neither forgetfulness nor forgiveness is on the docket.