Blue Areas Arenโt Going to Surrender Their Covid Powers
22 Apr 2022
BUCK: Philadelphiaโs mask mandate lasts a whole four days, and they drop it pretty openly.
CLAY: Yeah.
BUCK: Theyโre just saying itโs because of noncompliance, which I gotta say, City of Brotherly Love, good stuff, well done. People just saying, โThis is so dumb, we are not going to do this.โ I think that Philly, therefore, is not quite as far down the Fauci brainwashing scale as New York is. Certainly not as far down โ well, weโll see โ as Los Angeles is, โcause in the same 24 hours or so where Philly drops a mask mandate after four days because everyoneโs basically sayingโฆ
I know what the Bronx salute is. I donโt know if Philly has the equivalent of that is โ one finger extended in the general direction of the CDC?
CLAY: I think probably similar.
BUCK: Probably similar. I think Philly and the Bronx probably have similar gestures. And theyโve said that basically, you know, โLeave us aloneโ in Los Angeles โ thatโs one way of putting it. In Los Angeles, however, Clay, they have gone back to transportation mask mandate for all their whatever. I donโt even know what mass transit people take in L.A. but the point is โ
CLAY: By the way, thatโs a great point. Iโve spent a ton of time in L.A. Iโve hardly ever seen anybody take the mass transit there.
BUCK: There is a train that drops in Santa Monica. Iโve seen it. Yeah, but โ
CLAY: You guys, by the way, still have to in New York City also do this, right? We talked about this a little bit the complicating factors of what would happen, for instance, if youโre in L.A. right now you have to wear a mask in LAX, and then you can take off your mask, in theory, although I donโt know how theyโre enforcing it, when you get on the airplane and actually taxi to take off.
BUCK: Yeah, I think thatโs true. Producer Ali doesโฆ Were there a lot of masks on the subway, would you say? (interruption) Was itโฆ? (interruption) Yeah. Oh, wow. She says everyone on the subway pretty much masks up. What level we talking about? Oh. And people are getting aggressive about it. Their anxiety disorder is coming out on the New York City subway system, but I think hereโs the problem. They realize cops donโt want to enforce this stuff. The reason airlines got away with being such tyrannical lunatics on this is that thereโs a very defined power they have, right?
CLAY: Yes.
BUCK: Someone kicks you off a subway car, guess what, youโre gonna just get on the next one or youโre gonna hop in a cab or whatever, right, like no big deal.
CLAY: Right, right, right. They donโt have a full list of whoโs going on the subway on a day-to-day basis whereas for airlines they really can ban you for life pretty easily.
BUCK: Yeah, youโre risking whatever it is, $3 now, for a subwayโฆ I was gonna say, โsubway token.โ My God. Thatโs been a long time since weโve had those but on your MetroCard whereas on, you know, thousand-dollar airfare to go from New York to Paris and youโre booted because you donโt want to mask above your nose, thatโs pretty powerful. Thatโs why they get away with it.
CLAY: Itโs also to me โ think about this โ super weird. Letโs say youโre in LaGuardia or youโre in JFK or youโre in LAX. These are three of the biggest and busiest airports in the country. Whoโs enforcing the city directive on masks? The TSA isnโt requiring it, right? The TSA are federal employees. So does that mean they just have random people who are walking around inside of the airport enforcing it?
BUCK: They have conductors, sort of like an Amtrak train, right? There are conductors so the MTA would have โ
CLAY: Who are those people?
BUCK: Oh, thereโs the Port Authority which is also a city authority that has its own police force.
CLAY: Ah, so those are the people that would be theatrically enforcing it? Okay. I was trying to think like who would be walking aroundโฆ? โCause thatโs a big deal if youโre in New York or L.A. given how big those airports that thereโs just some random authority โcause itโs not the TSA anymore and itโs certainly not the airline agent. So they just have a random third party now. I guess it could be cops. I guess it could be security at the airport.
BUCK: I also think weโre seeing what the Biden administrationโs play is here because, remember, they had the judge โ the amazing, the wonderful, the talented โ
CLAY: Judge Mizelle.
BUCK: โ brilliant Judge Mizelle down in Florida, federal judge, who struck an enormous blow for freedom, and the Biden administration was thinking, โWell,โ to your point, Clay, โdo we want the politics of this where we push for the mandate to come back? Do we really want to be on that side of it right now?โ
And it seems that what theyโre going to do is the challengeโฆ Remember she only got rid of masks until May 3rd when it was set so expire anyway so the Biden administration wants to have it expire on their terms, it seems to me. If they challenge, they want to get the authority back, but they wonโt necessarily use the authority starting May 3rd. Here is senior White House adviser Dr. Ashish Jha saying just that.
Bidenโs top COVID advisor Ashish Jha says โa major goalโ of the Biden administration โis to make sure that the CDC has the authorityโ to unilaterally implement mask mandates in the future. pic.twitter.com/fxdTXqUDko
โ RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 21, 2022
CLAY: Well, this is why, Buck, I think itโs been such a bad decision to appeal. Because right now itโs just one federal district court judge who doesnโt have necessarily a great deal of authority. The 11th Circuit has a lot of conservative judges on it. It wouldnโt surprise me at all if they uphold the decision that she made, and then it would go to the Supreme Court.
In other words, the CDC โ if itโs just a district court judge โ can still argue they have the authority. If the Supreme Court tells them they donโt, then theyโre really screwed. If the 11th Circuit tells them they donโt, then theyโre really screwed. Theyโre in a tough spot here, a bad spot.
BUCK: I think itโs interesting they just want the power to mask you all up across the country. Everybody listening, every time you get in a plane, they want to be able to snap their fingers and snap those masks back on your faces on planes, trains, et cetera. They want the power, friends. Theyโre actually saying it out loud.
CLAY: Even scarier, Buck: Are they doing this because they want the power to change elections in 2022 again? Thatโs my concern.
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