Title 42
Commentary hears that the number of applicants for the nine HISD Board of Managers positions has been whittled down to 50 or so. They have 22 days to eliminate another 41.
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Commentary is a Chron subscriber. Just doing my duty in supporting local journalism. See this from the Chron today:
Houston Chronicle editorial writers Monday were named finalists for a 2023 Pulitzer Prize in opinion writing for a series of editorials about the Uvalde school massacre.
Editorial board members Lisa Falkenberg, Joe Holley, Nick Powell and the late Michael Lindenberger were honored for their work for helping Texas readers understand the mass shooting that killed 21 people, including two teachers and 19 elementary school students.
“Writing about gun violence in Texas is hard, sometimes demoralizing work,” Falkenberg said. “Change is too slow in coming. But how will change ever come if opinion journalists aren’t out there beating the drum, saying the names of victims, repeating the names of victims, elevating their families’ pleas for stronger gun laws?”
She said Uvalde families and allies travel to Austin weekly to demand that legislators raise the age to purchase semi-automatic weapons. “Lawmakers who oppose that effort just want them to go away,” she said. “They won’t. We won’t, either.”
Powell said progress can be slow.
“It’s a weird topic to win for because there’s nothing really to celebrate,” Powell said.
Powell said he took some comfort from the news Monday that a bill that proposing a higher age limit on buying assault-style weapons had passed out of a state legislative committee, hours before a deadline that would have killed the measure.
Congrats to Lisa Falkenberg and her team.
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It is sad that it took a mass shooting in Allen, Texas and the persistence of the Uvalde community to get a bill out of committee. Two GOP legislators voted to move the bill. I wonder if that will get them primaried by the wackos.
Sad, but historic.
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When my Dad was still around, Commentary would wear a mask when I went to retail outlets. It turns out, my Dad got COVID-19 at a rehab facility and he left us a few weeks later.
About a month after he passed, I went to Las Vegas. Rode on a jet. Went to a few casinos and to watch Love and never wore a mask.
When I returned, I went to The Yard and have been to a few games since. I finally gave up the mask a few weeks ago. I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I still have a full supply of masks, sanitizer, and wipes stored away just in case.
I still run into folks at the Kroger or drug store who are still wearing masks. I have no problem with that.
It is May of 2023. We went into pandemic mode in March of 2023. Over three years ago.
Are we back to normal. I don’t think so, but still.
Some folks didn’t handle the pandemic well. They are vowing never to go into lockdown mode again. They will never abide by future mask mandates, vaccinations, or restrictions.
Check this out from Ted Hesson of Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is getting ready to lift COVID-19 restrictions that have blocked migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020, a major policy shift with humanitarian and political implications.
WHAT IS TITLE 42?
The COVID restrictions, known as Title 42, were first implemented under Republican then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the order was needed to stem the spread of the coronavirus in crowded detention settings.
Title 42 allowed border agents to rapidly expel many migrants to Mexico, but some public health experts, Democrats and advocates criticized its health justification, saying it was part of Trump’s goal of curbing legal and illegal immigration.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021 vowing to reverse Trump’s restrictive approach, but kept Title 42 in place and expanded it as his administration grappled with record migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since its inception, migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times under Title 42, although the total includes many repeat crossers and Mexico has generally only accepted certain nationalities.
The Biden administration intends to lift Title 42 next Thursday when the U.S. COVID public health emergency ends.
If folks have had it with COVID restrictions, all is fair with Title 42. You know. The goose and the gander thing. Of course, we all know this is about hating immigrants. That is why arsehole Gov. Greg Abbott rolled out the razor wire this morning.
You can’t have it both ways.