Tag Archives: mask mandate

national news

Mask-mandate issue takes strange turn in Austin

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What in the world do we make of this news?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the king of the no-mask-mandate realm of Republicans politicians, has been diagnosed as carrying the COVID-19 virus. He attended a political gathering in Collin County where — reportedly — there wasn’t a mask to be seen on anyone’s puss!

The governor is not showing symptoms. His wife, Cecilia, has tested negative. Those closest to the governor are undergoing tests. Abbott is isolating within the Governor’s Mansion.

Two thoughts come to mind immediately.

First, I wish Gov. Abbott a speedy and complete recovery. Really. I do. I do not want anyone — even pols who pi** me off with their reckless anti-mask-mandate rhetoric — to suffer from this disease.

Second, it is fair to wonder whether a positive test for a potentially fatal disease might turn Abbott from being a mask-mandate denier to someone who understands why local community leaders need the flexibility to issue mask mandates for themselves.

OK, I “wonder” about it. Will it happen? I doubt seriously that Abbott is going to reverse himself … just because he has tested positive for a virus that can be fended off by a face mask.

Abbott has been handed a bit of a public-relations setback with this COVID diagnosis. It counters the judicial support he got from the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court that has upheld his no-mandate authority, saying that he has the power to tell local governments they can do nothing more than what he allows them to do. I hate disagreeing with the learned justices … but they’re full of crap-ola!

Dallas public school officials are continuing to issue mask orders, along with their colleagues in Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. Our school leaders in Princeton, where my wife and I live, are leaving it to parents to decide; it turns out I see a lot of masks on children as they play in the school yard down the street from our house … which pleases me greatly.

There surely will be a lot of tittering over Gov. Abbott’s COVID diagnosis. I won’t go there. I intend to focus on his stubborn refusal to allow local officials determine the best way to protect their constituents against a disease that could kill them.

State news

Why the ham-handedness?

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Greg Abbott didn’t strike me as a politician who would rule with an iron hand, a clenched fist when he ran for Texas governor and then got elected in 2014.

I knew him as a Texas Supreme Court justice and then as Texas attorney general. He always seemed like a reasonable, thoughtful conservative Republican.

Now he’s governor and now he is acting like — oh, I don’t know — The Great Dictator. The latest example comes in the form of his refusal to let cities, counties and “independent” school districts decide on whether to require masks for their constituents.

Abbott insists that his statewide ban on mask-mandating stands. He won’t allow a county judge, a mayor, a school superintendent or school board president to decide whether the Delta variant of the COVID virus in their communities requires them to re-impose mask mandates.

Abbott seems to be saying, “There’s nothing to see here.”

Except that there is plenty to see. Texas and Florida account for the largest share of the Delta variant COVID infections. Memo to Greg: We ain’t doing too well, governor, in vaccinating Texans. Our dismal vaccination rates account for the spike in new infections in Texas. What that tells me is that the Texas governor should reel in his dictatorial tendencies, given that they aren’t working well enough to stem the infection that has gripped the state a second time.

What’s more, I always have understood one key element of Republican political orthodoxy to mean that “local control is best,” that local governments need not be dictated to by those in state capitols, let alone those in Washington, D.C. I guess I was mistaken.

Gov. Abbott is pushing back on President Biden’s insistence that the surge in infections is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Greg Abbott is seriously mistaken if he believes he knows better than communities spread across this vast state how to cope with a potentially unfolding tragedy.

medical news

Mask mandate lifted? OK, but …

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden has sort of spiked a proverbial football on the basis of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ruling related to the killer pandemic that has put the entire planet on edge.

The CDC says fully vaccinated Americans need not wear masks.

Hoo-ray! Now does that mean we’re back to normal life? That all that worry and angst is a thing of the past? That we should toss all caution into the crapper?

Nope. Not going to go there.

Biden calls new mask guidance a ‘great milestone’ | TheHill

It means that fully vaccinated Americans — such as my immediate family (except for my younger than 12-year-old granddaughter) — would be wise to exercise some restraint and good judgment when mingling with crowds of people they do not know. Our granddaughter’s vaccination is approaching rapidly and for that I will be grateful beyond all measure.

That will continue to be our mantra as we regain our footing en route to life as we once knew it.

President Biden calls it a milestone. He is taking a victory lap of sorts, although he has been discreet in his outward behavior as we have cleared various mile posts along the way — much to his great credit.

“I think it’s a great milestone, a great day. It’s been made possible by the extraordinary success we have had in vaccinating so many Americans, so quickly,” Biden added.

OK. I’m all in with the new guidelines. I wish I could be totally serene about our collective future and our national health. I am not yet there, given all the “variants” and the crises that are erupting in places like India, Brazil and parts of Europe.

However, I am heartened by the progress the nation is making in eradicating this hideous killer.

 

State news

Texas AG goes to war with Austin

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seems to suffer from a lawsuit fetish.

He has sued the city of Austin for having the temerity to refuse to comply with Gov. Greg Abbott’s lifting of a mask mandate. You see, it seems that Austin Mayor Steve Adler doesn’t want to lift the requirement in the city he governs.

Paxton, though, is wagging his proverbial finger at Adler and the city because he supposedly warned them against resisting Abbott’s order. So now he’s taking them to court again, Paxton said via Twitter.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Austin over mask mandate | The Texas Tribune

This clown we have for an AG is starting to annoy the daylights out of me. He tried to file a lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States, only to be rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court that said he lacked any standing to dictate how other states conducted their elections.

Now he’s at it again. Good grief, man.

The Texas Tribune reports: “[Travis County] Judge Brown and I will fight to defend and enforce our local health officials’ rules for as long as possible using all the power and tools available to us,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Thursday in a statement. “We promised to be guided by the doctors, science and data as concerns the pandemic and we do everything we can to keep that promise.”

Meanwhile, the Texas AG will waste more money by filing lawsuits that seek to prevent local officials from doing what they deem is best for the people they take an oath to protect.

local news, medical news, State news

Safety trumps personal liberty

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is getting plenty of push back from critics of his decision to rescind the mask-wearing order he issued when the COVID pandemic broke out.

Others, though, are backing the governor’s decision. I hear it on the news, that they are relishing the notion of exercising “personal liberty” in choosing to go without a mask when they enter public places.

OK. I want to make a critical point.

I am all in favor of personal liberty. As an American citizen, I cherish it as much as the next red-blooded patriot. However, personal liberty should not trump community health and well-being. That is my way of saying that the mask mandate — along with social distancing and other activities — protect us all from the spread of a virus that is killing Americans to this day.

I want to be free of being told to wear a mask. I want a return to being able to stand next to strangers in the grocery line, or sitting next to someone at the movie theater, or going to an entertainment event and being able to yell at the top of my lungs without fogging up my glasses because of the mask.

But … first things first. We have to grab the virus with a stronger grip than we have at this time. More of us are getting vaccinated daily. We are getting closer each day to that thing they call “herd immunity.” But we ain’t there yet.

So, spare me the “personal liberty” canard. I don’t buy it when your liberty puts my family and me in potentially mortal danger.

local news, Sports news, State news

Fans at games, too?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Greg Abbott’s big announcement today wasn’t as specific as perhaps it could have been.

The Texas governor declared that Texas businesses were “100 percent open,” meaning they could serve at full capacity. He implored us all to continue to observe social distancing, wash our hands and all that kind of thing.

The governor did not make specific mention of sporting events. Will sports fans be able to sit next to each other at venues to cheer on their favorite teams? That question has surfaced, for instance, among fans of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Double A baseball team that is set to open its second-ever season in early May.

Therein lies a dilemma, ladies and gentlemen. What about the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, the Major Leagues’ two franchises? Or the other minor-league franchises scattered throughout Texas?

If I were King of the World, I wouldn’t have made the declaration that Gov. Abbott made today. I would have kept the mask mandate in effect and I would have required that sports venues limit seating to a certain percentage significantly less than full. That ain’t my call. It falls to the governor, I guess, to determine whether it is safe to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers in sports venues.

I suppose the final answer to whether Sod Poodles fans will be able to fill all of Hodgetown’s seats when the season opens there in mid-May falls on the team ownership, or perhaps Amarillo City Hall.

I don’t have a suggestion on how the team should go with this one. You know already what I think of Gov. Abbott’s decision to open business back up to full capacity; I think it’s a potentially disastrous mistake. The pandemic is still raging, albeit at a bit calmer pace than it was a few weeks ago.

Perhaps the governor ought to provide some further guidance on what sports fans all over the state should do, keeping in mind that Priority No. 1 must be everyone’s health and well-being.

medical news, science news, State news

Abbott invites danger

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, I listened to most of Gov. Greg Abbott’s talk at the Lubbock restaurant.

The Texas governor has rescinded a statewide mask mandate and told all business owners who cater to all clientele that they are now free to open “100 percent,” despite the presence of COVID-19 virus that is still infecting Texans and other Americans.

I have decided to ignore Abbott’s recommendation. I am going instead to heed the call of President Biden who is asking us to wear masks at least for the first 100 days of his administration.

Biden is making the more prudent decision. As for the business reopening, most of ’em will have to make that trip back without me, and likely without my bride as well.

I’m staying the course in mitigating the effects of the killer virus. It could have claimed a member of my immediate family and the memory of that frightening experience is too damn fresh in my mind to ignore.

Be careful.

local news, medical news

It’s not about ‘my body, my choice’ to wear a mask

My head is likely to explode the next time I hear a Donald Trump supporter blurt out that idiocy about mask-wearing, declaring that it’s “my body, my choice” to wear a mask.

Spoiler alert: I used the “head … explode” statement as a figure of speech.

But still, I keep hearing that mantra coming from those who think mask-wearing infringes on their civil liberties. I saw a woman on TV last night tell a reporter that her decision to forgo a mask during this coronavirus pandemic is strictly her choice and that the government has no right to dictate how she cares for her body.

Note to the lady — who was standing next to a “Trump-Pence” campaign sign — and to others who hold that preposterous view: The issue transcends your body and your choice by a factor of, oh, millions and millions.

Those who insist that they should be able to decide whether to wear a mask are embarking on a selfish, uncaring, thoughtless and reckless view of the world around them. They are endangering others, perhaps even their loved ones, by refusing to comply with government mandates.

I live in Texas, a state known for its residents’ independent outlook on life and liberty. However, our community in Collin County, I am proud to declare, has been relatively quiet in terms of mask-wearing. My wife and I don’t get out much these days, but when we do we see practically everyone around us wearing masks. I haven’t seen any protest signs, or individuals arguing with the cops who are empowered to enforce the mandate.

I went to the grocery store recently and eavesdropped on one woman griping to a store employee about the ordered issued by Gov. Greg Abbott. Good grief, lady. Get a grip.

I guess my bottom line on this specious argument is that the morons among us who bitch about mask-wearing as an infringement on their “constitutional rights” are entitled to forgo the masks.

Just stay the hell away from me, my family … and everyone else!