By now you’ve heard that a Federal judge has struck down the CDC’s ridiculous two-week extension of the mask mandate on airplanes and other public transportation, and in airports and other transportation terminals. The mandate was set to expire on April 18 before the CDC extended it to May 3, but the judge’s ruling took effect on April 18, so the mandate effectively ended then.
The judge ruled that the CDC failed to provide any justification for its decision to extend the mandate, and did not follow proper rule-making procedures for a federal agency. In so doing, it overstepped its authority. The judge was ruling on a lawsuit brought by a small number of individuals; however, she noted that it would be impossible to end the mandate selectively for that group. Thus the only remedy was to vacate the decision entirely, ruling that “a limited remedy would be no remedy at all.”
As pilots and flight attendants announced the decision mid-flight shortly after it was made public, passengers cheered the decision, consistent with polls that have shown that a significant majority of Americans oppose the continuation of the mandate. However, the reaction of a minority was predictably vocal – and entirely devoid of logic.
One doctor tweeted his complaint that the airlines didn’t wait “another month or two” to comply with the order, which makes zero sense, since the CDC extension was only for two weeks. Why would they extend the requirement weeks beyond the CDC mandate?
Several people opposed to the judge’s decision declared that they would boycott the airlines that complied with the order, and fly on their competitors instead.
Just one problem with that strategy: every U.S. airline announced immediately after the judge’s decision that masks would heretofore be optional on all domestic and most international flights. So good luck with that. As one friend of mine suggested, perhaps those folks can hop in their electric cars and drive across the country. They’ll just have to stop and charge up every couple of hours.
Another woman lamented that the decision came even as “the equivalent of a plane-load of passengers die every day of COVID.” Well, U.S. deaths from COVID the day the decision was handed down totaled 70, and the day before they totaled 104, so those would be pretty small planes. And considering that about 45,000 passenger flights per day take off in the U.S., I guess the odds are pretty good.
You’re infinitely more likely to wreck your car on the way to the airport than you are to get COVID on your flight and die.
But the best comments were from those who cried that a judge’s order “shouldn’t take the place of the legislative branch.” This illustrates the brilliance of those who made that argument – and there were a good many of them, which should frighten us all, because they undoubtedly vote, and probably even procreate – for three reasons.
First, the CDC is not the legislative branch. It’s an arm of the executive branch. These geniuses don’t even understand the three branches of government, and they’re griping about one of them. Checks and balances, anyone? Moreover, they don’t understand – nor do they care – that the legislative branch never had a say in whether we all had to wear masks on planes or not. In other words, since we the people elect the legislature to make law on our behalf, we the people never had a say.
(One person tweeted that “you should be really, really concerned that the Courts are effectively taking away power from the federal government.” Ummm … this was a federal judge. Maybe you should be really, really concerned about your proclivity for tweeting without knowing what the hell you’re talking about. Bless your heart.)
Second, these lemmings are opposed to a judge making a decision they have to live with, but they’re perfectly okay with an executive agency making an unsupported, arbitrary and capricious decision that they’re subject to? Good on ya, comrade. Again, I’ll take an order of checks and balances with a large side of justice, please. Make that to go – I’ve got a flight to catch.
Third – and this is the richest irony of all – these same people were delighted, thrilled, over-the-moon, every time a judge overturned a decision made by President Donald J. Trump’s administration. But now that a judge has overturned a decision made by the jack-booted stormtroopers of the Biden administration, they’re aghast. It’s beyond the pale. It cannot stand.
And their tears are like the sweetest nectar.
Look, many of us put up with wearing masks for a very long time, as the CDC extended the mandate again, and again, and again, and again, even as mask mandates in all states were being eliminated, and cases, hospitalizations and deaths were falling to well within endemic range. An isolated minority made a scene over it, but most of us just complied with it, because it was required, and we wanted or needed to fly.
And we all knew that it would end at some point, just like the state mandates ended, the county mandates ended, and the city mandates ended. No, this isn’t different because people are all sitting together on a plane. It’s no more crowded than many restaurants in major cities. No, it isn’t different because the passengers come from all over the world. So do people you encounter every day, once they get off of planes. We live in a connected world.
So instead of insisting that your will be imposed on the rest of us, how about you do you, and we’ll do us? You can still wear your mask. We won’t judge. We’ll be polite. And if your mask is that effective, you really don’t need for us to be wearing one, too. (If you do, then just don a second one. Fauci said it was a good idea, after all.)
And if you still don’t like it? Then, by all means, boycott the airlines. It’s just that you’ll have to boycott them all. So take Amtrak. (Oops – they made masks optional, too.) Or a bus. (Oops again.) Take an Uber cross-country. (Oops.) Walk, for all I care.
I’m just glad to have that empty seat next to me.
