The Perfect September Storm Threatens Democrats
[guest post by JVW]
September is setting up to be a horrid month for the Biden Administration and his fellow Democrats. Earlier this evening, the Supreme Court, to the surprise of no one at this blog, ruled that the administration’s cynical flip-flop in allowing the CDC to extend the rental eviction moratorium does not in fact pass Constitutional muster. Both Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Kavanaugh, who this past spring had joined with the liberals to allow the eviction ban to be extended a few extra months, joined this time with their conservative colleagues in ruling 6-3 that the CDC simply does not have the authorization from Congress to direct housing policy in over 80% of the country. The majority’s unsigned per curiam opinion made clear that Justice Kavanaugh was deadly serious when he wrote this past spring that any extension beyond August 1 would require Congressional authorization:
Careful review of [the] record makes clear that the applicants are virtually certain to succeed on the merits of their argument that the CDC has exceeded its authority. It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken. But that has not happened. Instead, the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination. It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts [. . .]
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent, joined by the other two left-wing members of the Court, which focused more on the idea that rather than summary judgement, the Court should have had a full hearing on the issue and rendered their decision in — oh, I don’t know — November or December. He also placed a great deal of emphasis on the idea that COVID rates are rising, and that the hardship suffered by landlords who are not receiving rent money can’t be all that bad since (1) tenants have been ordered to pay “as much as they possibly can” in the interim and (2) Congress has allocated $46.5 billion to go to landlords to make up the lost revenue. Justice Breyer either elides or is completely ignorant of the fact that (1) the idea that tenants are going to make partial payments when they have no obligation to do so is pretty far-fetched and (2) that money allocated by Congress has been held up by red tape at the state level and to date only about $5 billion of that $46.5 billion (a whopping 11%) has made its way to the pockets of landlords.
So landlords will now presumably be free to begin the eviction process anew, or, to put a finer point on it, tenants will once again be on the hook for paying up. This brings us to our next crisis point for President Biden and the Democrat Congressional leadership: the looming expiration of federal unemployment benefits. Matt Weidinger explains [bold emphasis added by me]:
On Labor Day, an estimated 7.5 million individuals are expected to see their temporary federal unemployment benefits come to an abrupt end. But even though that will mark the largest shutoff of such benefits in American history, two political dynamics have made mention of the approaching benefits cliff all but taboo in progressive policy circles: The cliff was designed by the Democratic authors of the March 2021 American Rescue Plan, and it will disproportionately affect residents of blue states.
[. . .]
One of the ironies of the coming cliff is that it was intentional. The Democratic authors of the March 2021 American Rescue Plan that extended benefits through Labor Day insisted on replacing the “soft phaseouts” created in a bipartisan December 2020 law, which would have allowed current recipients to continue collecting benefits for some time after the program closed to new applicants, with a “hard cutoff” that took away all recipients’ benefits at the same time. Why? Because in the bizarre logic of some liberal policymakers, hard cutoffs improve the odds that Congress will approve another extension. The more acute and widespread the pain of a program’s expiration, the malign thinking goes, the greater the political pressure to extend it.
That logic has been undercut by many states’ decision to simply opt out of paying federal benefits in recent weeks. The opt-outs include most red states, whose leaders argue that expanded federal unemployment benefits have kept people from returning to work. And as a result, they have reduced many red-state representatives’ incentive to support another extension of benefits, since the checks wouldn’t be going to their constituents regardless.
That contributes to the second irony behind the coming benefits cliff: The vast majority of those about to lose benefits as a result of the Democrat-designed law are residents of blue states, including populous California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. In the week ending July 24, over 80 percent of those receiving major federal benefits were in states led by a Democratic governor.
With vaccines widely available and record job openings, it is well past time for these extraordinary benefits to end. President Biden dismissed the possibility of another extension in May. Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) recently seconded that, when he suggested “I’m done with extensions.” Just last week, the Biden administration formally pulled the plug on further federal funding, stating in a letter to Congress that the $300 bonuses “will expire” as scheduled. The fact that it is Democrats who are nixing any chance of another extension has undoubtedly contributed to what some call the “current silence of federal policymakers” about the upcoming benefits cliff. But two lesser-known truths — that the cliff was designed by Democrats, and that it will disproportionately affect the residents of blue states — also explain why Washington lawmakers who usually cheer on more benefits have been notably silent about the “hard cutoff” to come.
So, yet again, the ultra-clever Democrats — the “adults in the room,” the “competent professionals,” etc. — have out-smarted themselves. And we now face a September in which not only will plenty of blue state residents (and some red state residents too of course) lose their federal jobless benefits, but they will also likely be required to start forking over the rent money too. And all of this just as the party leadership wants to pile on over $4 trillion in new spending. Pity the poor purple or red state Democrat who has to try to explain this mess to his or her constituents, a wound the party has inflicted entirely upon themselves.
– JVW
Since politics in Washington is now, essentially, Civil War by other means. (Apologies to Von Clausewitz), maybe the Dems need to take into account Von’s other precept — no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 6:43 amGood post, by the way, JVW.
Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 6:45 amWith vaccines widely available and record job openings, it is well past time for these extraordinary benefits to end.
Like I have always said, Trump’s base does not want these extraordinary benefits to end. They want more stimulus. Endless stimulus. While they sit around on their indolent assess. And their only way of getting it is for the pandemic to continue unabated. And their only of getting that is to resist vaccination and masks.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:05 amGreat post JVW!
Pity the poor purple or red state Democrat who has to try to explain this mess to his or her constituents, a wound the party has inflicted entirely upon themselves.
I have zero sympathy for Democrats in this regard… play stupid game, win stupid prize.
whembly (ae0eb5) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:10 am@3
This is, in short, bullSchiff.
There are many, many reasons why people are vaccine hesitant and to this day, there still isn’t compelling evidence that masks works. There’s too many conflicting research the points to both direction.
whembly (ae0eb5) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:12 amNk:
Do you have evidence for anyone thinking like that? I mean, really, I will risk COVID because that will tank the economy so I can get welfare?
Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:18 am+10, JVW!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:23 amChicago sheep dip…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:24 amDeep Dish Sheep Dip.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:25 amThere is no other explanation, Appalled. To those people, getting sick from Covid is what happens to other people. What happens to them is a government check.
Meantime, Trump-state politicians (Hello, Mr. DeSantis!) are having it both ways. Playing up to their fiscal conservative base by curtailing benefits while pandering to the trailerparkatariat with vaccine and mask resistance.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:41 amOf course, some of the other people that they will pass the Covid to are unvaccinated children, the elderly, the chronically ill, the immune-compromised, and other vulnerable persons, but they don’t think about them anymore than a guy who had one last shot for the road thinks about the family in the car he will plow into. They’re murderers, really.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:22 amSo far-fetched that I’ve paid my rent every single month of the pandemic! That’s just impossible, right? Absolutely no one would do the exact thing I and millions of others have done.
Wait, maybe “far-fetched” doesn’tean what you seem to think it means.
Tlaloc (9372b6) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:29 amMayor Bill DeBlassio:
“A group of right wing extremists just decided to throw families out of their homes during a global pandemic.
This is an attack on working people across our country and city. New York won’t stand for this vile, unjust decision.”
Matt Whitlock:
“New York has only distributed 2% of the rental aid Congress sent to help renters avoid eviction.
While Texas leads the way having distributed over $600M in rental aid, New York has given out roughly the same amount as Wyoming…despite having 16x the population and the highest % of renters in the country.”
https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1431234691273740294?s=21
Obudman (6228e1) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:30 amIf Cuomo faces criminal prosecution for the nursing home deaths, I’d like to see the same thing happen to these other pandering politicos. And to Fox News Channel.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:32 amNote the list of those states who have an unemployment rate over 7%:
Nevada – 7.7%
California – 7.6%
New York – 7.6%
New Mexico – 7.6%
New Jersey – 7.3%
Hawaii – 7.3%
Connecticut – 7.3%
Illinois – 7.1%
Every single one of these states currently has a Democrat as governor, and every single one of them has a Democrat majority in their legislature. Maybe applying strict shut-down rules during the pandemic and then offering generous unemployment benefits has a downside, eh Dems?
Pity Gavin Newsom too. He goes into his recall election with his state boasting the second highest unemployment rate, and jobless claims in the Golden State are on the rise. If proponents of the recall can’t make hay over this, then it’s on them.
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:40 amThe Democrats will reap what they’ve sown.
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:44 amSo far-fetched that I’ve paid my rent every single month of the pandemic! That’s just impossible, right? Absolutely no one would do the exact thing I and millions of others have done.
Fair point. What I meant to convey is the idea that a tenant who thus far has not paid any rent during the pandemic isn’t likely to suddenly start paying again so long as the eviction moratorium is in effect. Why not just let Uncle Sucker take on that burden?
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:45 amIn very red state, but, sadly, with a blue Governor, Kentucky, the public schools are having real problems with a shortage of bus drivers, not only from unfilled positions but driver call outs, and with food service personnel, and though the credentialed media won’t tie it together, it’s in large part due to the mask mandates imposed on the public schools.
Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, said the quiet part out loud: Ford is experiencing significant absenteeism, in part because workers decide that they just don’t want to wear that f(ornicating) mask. Kentucky school bus drivers and cafeteria personnel don’t make that much money, but Mr Farley is telling us that even United Auto Workers union pay scales aren’t enough to keep a bunch of people off of work.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:48 amLori Lightfoot’s constituent wrote:
On what charges? Governor Cuomo used his governing authority to push COVID-infected patients into nursing homes; “pandering politicians” and Fox News were simply speaking, even if you don’t like what they said.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:51 amA fellow from Chicago wrote:
And here we see a good part of the problem: when you come up with stupidity like “trailerparkatariat,” you sure as Hell aren’t going to persuade the people with whom you disagree.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:54 amNk @ 3:
You should write for the Babylon Bee. That there is some well constructed satire. You almost had me…
DenZel (d00458) — 8/27/2021 @ 8:55 am“The thing that everybody needs to understand, even if you completely agree with the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw, the way they have handled this has been a total fu*king disaster. It will be measured in bodies, because a lot of people are dying because they can’t get out.”
—- Seth Moulton (D)
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:00 amWell, actually, Fox News may be hyperbole, but we have had governors issuing executive orders forbidding local vaccine and mask mandates and more.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:00 amWe bought our retirement home in 2014, but didn’t move here until 2017. In the interim, we rented it out, because an unoccupied home is a disaster waiting to happen.
It doesn’t take much imagination for me to see that, if I had retired in June of 2020 instead of earlier, if I had given our tenants fair notice of when we were going to take possession of the property — and we gave them six months notice — they could have simply said, “F(ornicate) you, we’re staying, and we ain’t payin’ no f(ornicating) rent, either!”
I’d still be stuck in the Keystone State, paying the mortgage, utilities, insurance and taxes on a home we wanted to leave, while still being stuck with the insurance and taxes on the home in the Bluegrass State.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:15 amEric Clapton drops a song for our times:
“This Has Gotta Stop”
Yea, verily, please make it…
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:21 amOur Windy City barrister wrote:
Except, of course, forbidding mask and vaccine mandates does not mean that they have somehow forbidden people to wear masks or get vaccinated.
Acting Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole mandated vaccinations for all Philadelphia health care workers, but The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that “more than a dozen” nursing homes in the city have less than 50% of the staff who have chosen to be vaccinated, and while I assume that some will grimace and take the jab, others will not.
So, what will happen? Will they quietly be allowed to keep working, or will Dr Bettigole’s mandate be enforced through terminations? What will happen if nursing homes lose 25% or 35% of their staffs?
Given that the zip codes with the lowest vaccination percentages in Philly are primarily black, firing nursing home workers for non-vaccination means firing a ‘disproportionate’ number of black employees.
This wasn’t eastern Kentucky, wasn’t trailerparkistan, but the City of Brotherly Love, where the voters therein gave 81.44% of their votes to Joe Biden.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:26 amDamn your facts, Bluegrass Dana!
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:28 am“Fear is crucial for state authority. When the population is filled with it, they will acquiesce to virtually any power the government seeks to acquire in the name of keeping them safe. But when fear is lacking, citizens will crave liberty more than control, and that is when they question official claims and actions. When that starts to happen, when the public feels too secure, institutions of authority will reflexively find new ways to ensure they stay engulfed by fear and thus quiescent.” — Glenn Greenwald, “The New Domestic War on Terror Has Already Begun — Even Without the New Laws Biden Wants”.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:30 am“The first person I was instructed to call on, is Kelly O’Donnell of NBC…”
His energy level during his address was through the roof!
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:31 amColonel Haiku wrote:
Darn, facts are racist
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:33 amWe must ne’er question orders
I denounce myself
democrats spun up
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:35 amteh clown in chief is not well
Cackles in bullpen
Lepke Buchalter did not sharpen Kid Twist’s icepick for him, either. He still got the chair for pushing the button.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:37 ampray for good afghans
Colonel Haiku (8f010c) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:40 amtheir grief and desperation
engineered by Joe
NYTimes: In Britain, Young Children Don’t Wear Masks in School
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/students-masks-classrooms-britain.html
Denmark joins UK, Norway and Sweden in lifting school mask requirement.
Obudman (6228e1) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:45 amhttps://ajlamesa.medium.com/children-in-much-of-europe-will-be-going-maskless-at-school-this-fall-b244e4f035ad
The Biden Democrat Party is practically asking to lose their majority in 2022, to a party that scarcely deserves it.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 8/27/2021 @ 9:50 amYet the left continues to pass their communist agenda without real resistance. Why is that?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:37 am#10
You assume that a “vaccine hesitant” member of the Trump base believes that his action to dodge vaccine and masks will cause the economy to tank (because he has grasp of cause and effect, but an exaggerated sense of self-importance) and that will mean more stimulus (because he figures one will lead to the other, naturally)
I gotta tell ya, NK. You need a college degree from the Ivy League to manage that level of Wile E Coyote stupid. And most of those folks voted for Biden.
Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:38 am“It was always going to end this way”.
Chiseled in stone when they installed the sad, befuddled old man in the office.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:47 amcatfish are jumping
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 10:50 amcasting a pall on water
better use stinkbait
Pity Gavin Newsom too.
Kamala bailed on doing the campaign stop for him on her way back from prosperous, communist Vietnam.
“Pity.”
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/27/2021 @ 11:00 amThe democrats do what they want. They will continue to do so. Republicans look at this as a Wellstone fund raising event. Pathetic.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/27/2021 @ 11:11 amworse than Trump/2024
Well, DeSantis got a judge to give him CYA with the trailerparkatariat. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031714923/florida-judge-throws-out-governor-ron-desantis-order-prohibiting-masks-in-school Now, he can claim he tried but those mean courts overruled him.
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 11:17 amFriedPiss Hockey BoogiePiss, piss, piss
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 11:22 amPissss
Pisssssszz
That’s called gettin’ ready for the boogie
Yeah, the “Piss Hockey Boogie”
Aw, yes
Ever since the days of the last president
Well, folks come along and asked us why didn’t we uh, kinda uh, get our sh*t together
So we kinda thought that over and decided that would be a pretty good idea…
Well, DeSantis got a judge to give him CYA with the trailerparkatariat. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031714923/florida-judge-throws-out-governor-ron-desantis-order-prohibiting-masks-in-school Now, he can claim he tried but those mean courts overruled him.
Look at the title of the NPR story to get an idea at how the leftist media is intent on bringing down the Florida governor: “. . . Ron DeSantis Order Prohibiting Masks in School.” If you are a mindless leftist drone, you would read that headline and conclude that DeSantis had decreed that masks were not allowed to be worn by anyone in a Florida public school (if you are really a hopeless case you might also conclude that DeSantis prohibited the wearing of masks in private schools as well). However, anyone who takes but one second to go beyond the superficial Democrat-media spin and learn what is going on would discover that Gov. DeSantis merely prohibited the mandatory wearing of masks in school. Ergo, if your child is hyper-sensitive to germs or if you are just an ultra-high-strung worrywart, you are free to wear your mask or have your kid wear his or hers in Miami or Pensacola or Wauchula or Homosassa or wherever you happen to reside, but the school district simply cannot mandate that everyone wear masks as a condition of being enrolled in or employed at the public school. The fact that the left has to continually obfuscate this point indicates to me that they know Gov. DeSantis’s order has a kernel of sense to it.
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/27/2021 @ 11:49 amThe Big Rock Candy MountainThe Place Joe Biden Fu*ked UpIn the Place Joe Biden Fu*ked Up, they’re not goin’ on holiday
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 12:05 pmThey’re runnin’ for their lives, dodging bombs
and trouble is there to stay
They never even have to clean it up, cuz it all gets blown away
There’s a squintin’ old man playin’ kick the can
Where the Taliban rules, allies got fooled
In the Place Joe Biden Fu*ked Up
JVW —
The story is fine – it gives you the actual news, though it is clear the reporter has a POV that DeSantis is likely Satan. The headline is grossly misleading — but don’t blame the reporter. They don’t write the clickbait headline.
Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 12:25 pmI come home from work to hear the news proclaim “US decision to share names with Taliban sparks outrage”
First, no kidding.
Second, what the hell was Biden thinking?
Hoi Polloi (998b37) — 8/27/2021 @ 12:54 pm6. Appalled (1a17de) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:18 am
It might make sense for someone ina leadership position pr who benefited in some other way from the continuing emergency to have other people get Covid, or to emphasize the continuing danger of Covid.
I could think of teachers’ unions. They want conditions for re-opening that are impossible to do.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:07 pmChildren uncciated for Covid are in less danger than children unvaccinated for chicken pox (the reason for vaccinating them is that it is a pressure point, and that if they are vaccinated before age 20, they’ll still be immune at age 20 or 30 or 40, and with the disease no longer spreading chances are they won;t get exposed in childhood
Children also do not usually pass on serious cases.
But the danger is if it goes through a chain, each time getting worse because an infected person gets exposed to more viral particles to begin with. The exact same variant can be more dangerous the more people have it. This is something people don’t realize. Including the CDC. It’s just ;logic, and seems to fit experience but there’s no study maybe backing up this idea, nor could there easily be one.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:15 pmJoe biden and the establishment democrats are failing to run interference for their corporate masters who fear AOC and the democratic base. If democrats lose 2022 congressional election it won’t be AOC and the squad who lose their seats ;but establishment corporate moderate liberal democrats. Stalin would not have a problem with mitch mcconnell and the 6 conservative judges on the supreme court and neither will AOC. 2024 latinx love AOC and black community luke warm at best with vice president harris a former prosecutor who put a lot of blacks in jail for smoking dope.
asset (cdf648) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:16 pmThere is now the issue of the back rent.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:18 pmThe story is fine – it gives you the actual news, though it is clear the reporter has a POV that DeSantis is likely Satan. The headline is grossly misleading — but don’t blame the reporter. They don’t write the clickbait headline.
Read my comment again. I make no mention of the reporter. My criticism is entirely directed at NPR, the whole goddam editorial operation, which is naturally funded in part with our tax dollars.
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:22 pmHeh! Thanks, Colonel! that was great.
felipe (484255) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:36 pm@51
I slip on out the back door and down the streets I go
frosty (f27e97) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:39 pmShe a-howlin’ about the front rent, she’ll be lucky to get any back rent
She ain’t gonna get none of it
“DeSantis merely prohibited the mandatory wearing of masks in school.”
Why would you not make it mandatory? Masks are certainly not perfect, but they do offer some barrier. I get that close seating and bad ventilation might offset the benefit, but that probably argues against any in-person at all. Young people getting covid, being asymptomatic, and then spreading it to their parents et al….seems to be a realistic concern…why take mandatory off the table? I agree that some media are distorting what he did, but does his decision make a lot of sense?
AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:48 pmIt’s not a surprise to JB either. He said he expected it to get shot down. Now, what? Any bets they just ignore SCOTUS. At some point, the better legal eagles among us will explain how this SCOTUS ruling isn’t what we think it is and the moratorium is perfectly fine.
frosty (f27e97) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:53 pmThanks, felipe. Hope all is well with you and yours!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 1:54 pmSecond, what the hell was Biden thinking…
[Bob Hope turn on radio]: “Static.”
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:00 pmHope changes station to Crosby singing]: “More static.”
doctor DOCTER!!! doctor Jill has sure been keeping her head down. Not like Biden at his presser yesterday. Just down.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:01 pmOT, but speaking of storms, if you live in New Orleans now is the time to visit higher ground. That hurricane headed your way is looking to be a doozy.
NJRob (9e8b7b) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:16 pmTed Kennedy had a better exit plan than joe cellar.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:19 pmhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-moderate-democrats-blue-dog-progressives-congressional-majority-2022-midterm-11630015136
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:26 pm60. The height of the hurricane season is from about August 25 to September 2.
Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:27 pmI agree that some media are distorting what he did, but does his decision make a lot of sense?
There’s a rational argument to be made that local school districts ought to have the latitude to impose mask rules, but I think that the whole mask obsession has been taken too far. I was reading an account of the latest school board meeting in my little beach down, and alongside of the expected “masks are fascist and ruining the lives of our kids” comments from parents came the equally-expected “the children are all going to die and we need to require that masks be worn outdoors during lunch hour too” comments from parents.
Given the low death rate among children with COVID, I would err on the side of not mandating that kids be required to wear masks every day all of the time. If a kid wants to wear a mask, they ought to be allowed, but no vaccinated teenager should be forced to put on a mask from 8:00 am until 2:30 pm. Finally, we really have to question what unknown harm comes from making kids believe that their safety is dependent upon covering their face all day. They get enough doomsday talk each day between the claims that environmental catastrophe and racial animosity is going to ruin their lives as it is.
JVW (ee64e4) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:47 pmMr Liberty wrote:
Because a large segment of the people don’t want it.
In the Bluegrass State,¹ Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) asked local school districts to impose a mask mandate. Then, when the elected school boards in most of them declined, the Governor waxed wroth and made it an order.
Fortunately, the state Supreme Court finally issued its ruling, remanding back to the trial judge with orders to dismiss the injunctions which barred enforcement of the new state laws which curtailed the Governor’s ’emergency’ authority under KRS 39A, and stating that it is the General Assembly, not the Governor, which sets policy in Kentucky. The Governor cancelled his executive order at that point, but, by then, the state Board of Education had issued new regulations mandating masks. That order may be subject to the same 30 day limit passed in Senate Bill 1, but the BoE says that it is not.
Republicans enjoy huge majorities, well more than veto proof majorities, because the legislators specifically campaigned on reining in an out of control Governor, and the voters rewarded them with 14 additional House, and 2 additional Senate seats.
In the Keystone State, Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) asked school districts to impose mask mandates, but 415 out of 474 districts, again, with elected school boards, declined to do so. The state legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, in response to the Governor’s authoritarian dictates, placed a constitutional amendment on last May’s ballot, an amendment which curtailed the Governor’s emergency authority, and the voters in Pennsylvania passed it by a significant, though not landslide, margin.
The answer to your question, “Why would you not make it mandatory?”, is because the people, the voters, oppose it.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:48 pm____________________________
¹ – Link is to my own site, in which I have more documentary links than are allowed in Patterico comments.
Robert from New Jersey wrote:
There was a cartoon, back in the days of Hurricane Katrina, which illustrated a toilet, with the tank labeled Lake Ponchatrain, and the bowl labeled New Orleans. That was pretty apt.
Much of Nawlins is below sea level, which might not be the best idea of a place to build a city.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (3867c9) — 8/27/2021 @ 2:52 pmBiden Vows Revenge, Terrorists Will Be Sent to Scranton When Captured
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/27/2021 @ 3:01 pm60.OT, but speaking of storms, if you live in New Orleans now is the time to visit higher ground. That hurricane headed your way is looking to be a doozy.
“I only see the rainBeau,” weeps Joe.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 8/27/2021 @ 3:07 pmAny way you want to analyze it, DeSantis was posturing for the trailerparkatariat.
Why not let the local people deal with do we need masks, do they work, do our employees tolerate them, do our kids tolerate them, what do the parents say, does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?
Plus, I wanted to say “trailerparkatariat”. Driving between Tampa and Orlando in the ’90s, I would encounter two highway hazards: Blinding, one-minute rain squalls out of a sunny sky, and flatbeds carrying half of a double-wide
nk (1d9030) — 8/27/2021 @ 7:08 pm