On Tuesday night’s NBC Nightly News, the always pretentious and smug Lester Holt appeared to sneer at Americans who are tired of wearing masks and whined that Florida District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle struck down the federal mask mandate.
“With the country on track to soon reach 1 million COVID deaths in the next few weeks, this, a face mask, has remained the flashpoint of our anxieties and frustrations and now tonight objects of mixed messages” Holt wailed while standing up in the middle of his studio and holding a face mask.
Continuing his preaching Holt ranted: “a federal judge setting the rule's demise in motion yesterday vacating the CDC mask mandate calling it unlawful, but tonight many health experts point out that legal decision may not square with science and an upward tick in COVID cases around the country.”
Trying to guilt the country, Holt claimed that exercising your own personal freedom to decide whether or not to wear a mask “may also put small children and those with compromised immune systems at risk.”
Finishing the report for Holt, correspondent Tom Costello made sure to remind viewers that Judge Mizelle was “a Trump-appointed federal judge.”
Costello then blamed the mask mandates for an uptick in violence onboard commercial airplanes:
For more than a year, flight attendants have been on the receiving end of disruptive even abusive behavior with the mask mandate getting much of the blame.
Before taking back over, Holt asked Costello about the possibility of the Biden administration appealing the ruling on masks. Costello replied that they “may appeal if the CDC insists that the mask mandate is needed” but they won’t attempt to “stay” or halt the decision.
Of course, Costello’s main concern was whether Judge Mizelle “may have set precedent prohibiting the CDC from taking action like this in the future with another health emergency.”
Oh no! God forbid the government is prevented from shutting down small businesses and mandating people wear a mask over their faces again.
Lester Holt sneering at freedom-loving Americans was made possible by Tide, Angi & Liberty Mutual. Their information is linked so you can let them know how you feel about Holt’s behavior.
To read the relevant transcript of this segment click “expand”:
NBC Nightly News
4/19/2022
7:01:54 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Good evening, everyone. With the country on track to soon reach 1 million COVID deaths in the next few weeks, this, a face mask, has remained the flashpoint of our anxieties and frustrations and now tonight objects of mixed messages. Today there were celebrations in the sky as federal mask requirements for flyers and other means of transport were abruptly ended. A federal judge setting the rule's demise in motion yesterday vacating the CDC mask mandate calling it unlawful, but tonight many health experts point out that legal decision may not square with science and an upward tick in COVID cases around the country. The new freedom to don face masks on planes, they warn, may also put small children and those with compromised immune systems at risk, and now late word the Justice Department may appeal the judge's ruling. Tom Costello sorts it out for us.
(...)
TOM COSTELLO: Celebration mixed with concern, two years after airlines began requiring masks and 14 months after the White House required them, the mask mandate is now out, struck down by a Trump-appointed federal judge who ruled the CDC had exceeded its authority in requiring masks on public transportation. In train stations, on planes, and in airports, travelers today seemed evenly split on whether they would keep masking up.
(...)
COSTELLO: The ruling comes just days after the CDC and TSA had extended the mask rule until May 3rd, concerned about a fast-spreading COVID variant. For now, President Biden says masking is an individual choice.
(...)
COSTELLO: For more than a year, flight attendants have been on the receiving end of disruptive even abusive behavior with the mask mandate getting much of the blame.
(...)
HOLT: And Tom, there's late word the government may appeal this judge's decision. What are they saying?
COSTELLO: Justice says it may appeal if the CDC insists that the mask mandate is needed, but the Justice Department would not go out for a stay. It really is concerned that this judge may have set precedent prohibiting the CDC from taking action like this in the future with another health emergency.
