(THU 4/21/22)
Scroll down to below this post to read "(Ketanji Brown) Jackson Deserves Better."
More arms for Ukraine … President Biden Thursday announced an additional $800 million in military aid for Ukraine (AP) but warned that Congress will need to approve additional funds to maintain U.S. support. This is on top of $2.6 billion already contributed to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia. The latest tranche goes for heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition and drones for an escalated battle over the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. …
Tweet this … Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he’s secured the $46.5 billion necessary to buy Twitter outright, at $54.20 per share, NPR reports. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the world’s richest person says he has lined up $25.5 billion in loans from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and other banks, and will shell out the remaining $21 billion from his personal fortune. ...
Mask mandate appeal coming … The Justice Department says it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask mandate on public mass transit including commercial airplanes, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The CDC asked the DOJ to appeal the ruling by a federal judge in Tampa, Florida, that lifted the mandate earlier this week.
The CDC did not follow proper rule-making procedures, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said in a 59-page opinion Monday. The CDC says that wearing a mask on buses, subways, airplanes and other public transit “remains necessary to protect the public health.”
_____________________________________
WED 4/20/22
Masks Off
Some airline passengers removed masks mid-flight Monday after a federal judge overturned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national public transportation mask mandate to fight the COVID-19 virus. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, in Tampa, Florida, said in a 59-page opinion that the CDC did not follow proper rule-making procedures in issuing the mandate.
Mizelle’s ruling does not preclude local authorities and private companies from mandating their own masking requirements, The Washington Post reports, though United, Delta, Southwest and American immediately lifted their requirements –- even triggering removal celebrations on some in-air flights –- and the Raleigh-Durham (North Carolina), Miami and Portland (Oregon) airports are among those announcing they will no longer require masks, per local TSA directives, according to the New York Post. Lyft and Uber also have lifted the mask mandate for drivers and passengers.
New York’s subway system and LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports, and San Francisco International are reportedly maintaining mask mandates. There has been a surge in new East Coast cases of the BA.2 omicron variant in recent weeks.
This left the Biden administration and the CDC scrambling Wednesday to determine how to respond. See left and right columns for more.
What do you think?: Should the Justice Department appeal Judge Mizelle’s ruling to the Supreme Court, or is it time to take off masks while on airplanes and public transportation? Email your comments to editors@thehustings.news and tell us in the subject line whether you’re “left” or “right” no matter whether it matches your opinion on this question. We will post civil comments … no echo chambers and no trolling … in these columns.
--Todd Lassa