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It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Schrodinger: “I don’t know. It seems low enough. I know the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation own it, but the problem is Cathie Wood owns it [for] ARK. When things are good, that’s fantastic. When things are bad, it’s real bad. Right now, maybe go slightly. Take a small position if you want to.”

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Digital Turbine: “It’s another one of those creative video situations. I got like 70 of them. At least it makes money. But there’s just too many of them. This is my big theme that I’ve had to say since November and gotten a little more, let’s say, boisterous about it. There’s just too many of these, and no one can keep track of them anymore, so they sell them.”

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AGNC Investment Corp.: “Mortgage-backed security company that has a big yield that does nothing. That’s what it’s had since I started the show. That’s what it continues to be, and I don’t want you in it. I think you should sell, sell, sell.”

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Weber: “I recommended this. And Traeger, I mean there’s like five barbecue companies now. I don’t know. I am shocked that it’s this low. It’s a really, really good company, and it makes a lot of money, and it’s very inexpensive, but it has no catalyst.”

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Cleveland-Cliffs: “I was going over this company with Matt Horween, my writing partner, and we were both shocked it could be this low. Obviously, the estimates are too high. Obviously, there are people who are goin to say it has a high multiple because the numbers are too high. I still believe in the company.”
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The city is beginning to prepare for a long hot summer with closed beaches and residents remaining locked inside under stay-at-home orders, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday, warning that this summer will be very different from years past.  Barbecues, picnics, ball games and days at the beach or by the pool, all […] More

General Motors will hold moments of silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on Friday, Juneteenth, as a sign of solidarity and support for the Black community, according to an internal memo. The time frame, as referenced in the Tuesday afternoon message by GM President Mark Reuss, represents how long a Minneapolis police officer knelt […] More

Tesla should accept that it violated labor laws if Elon Musk is serious about inviting the UAW to organize workers, union chief Ray Curry said.
Curry said that such an action would be a “good faith effort” and “demonstrate a commitment to the workers of the facility” in Fremont, California.
“The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference.”

Founder and CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk speaks during a media tour of the Tesla Gigafactory, which will produce batteries for the electric carmaker, in Sparks, Nevada.
James Glover II | Reuters

If Tesla CEO Elon Musk is serious about welcoming organizing efforts of the company’s U.S. workforce, the automaker should rehire a fired employee and stop attempting to overturn a ruling that it violated federal labor laws, said an automotive union leader.
United Auto Workers President Ray Curry said that such actions would be a “good faith effort” and “demonstrate a commitment to the workers of the facility” in Fremont, California.

In 2018, Musk tweeted a comment that was found to have violated federal labor laws after Tesla had already fired a union activist, Richard Ortiz. The National Labor Relations Board ultimately ordered Tesla to rehire the employee and to have Musk delete the tweet, which they saw as threatening workers’ compensation.
Tesla is appealing the administrative court’s decision, however.
Curry spoke on Tuesday during an Automotive Press Association webinar. His remarks followed more provocative tweets by Musk earlier in the day. The CEO, who has a following of 79.5 million on Twitter, wrote: “The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference.”
The Detroit-based union is under federal oversight through a court-approved monitor as part of a settlement between the UAW and the government following a multiyear corruption probe that sent 15 people to prison, including two recent UAW presidents and three Fiat Chrysler executives.
The investigation uncovered years of bribery and kickback schemes involving millions of dollars and several top union leaders.

Earlier this month, Musk said on Twitter that he was “inviting” the UAW to try and organize employees at his company’s plant in Fremont. “Tesla will do nothing to stop them,” he wrote.
Curry said the union “definitely would welcome that opportunity, but clearly know that there’s some current appeals that are out there.”

United Auto Workers President Ray Curry speaks at the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant on November 17, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan.
Nic Antaya | Getty Images

“A key piece out of all of this is not the whim of a tweet or anything else, an exchange between the UAW and Tesla, it’s about the workers in those locations having a voice inside of their workplace. That’s the most important part of this whole process,” Curry said.
Musk’s open invitation to the UAW on March 3 followed Musk earlier in the day tweeting a YouTube video that he says “helps explain why former UAW members who work at Tesla are not huge fans of UAW.” The clip was published in 2010 by the World Socialist Web Site channel on YouTube.
In the video, workers at the NUMMI plant, which would later become the Fremont Tesla plant, are seen complaining that a union member was prevented from recording a UAW meeting in the local union hall.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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CNBC Travel

Vaccine mandates trickled into the U.S. travel sphere last winter, picked up steam in the spring and hit fever pitch over the summer.
Vaccine shots are now necessary to eat in cafes in France, to see a Broadway show in New York City and soon, to fly commercially in Canada.

Though mandates were expected for cruises and international travel, the pace and scope of activities that they now cover —  from booking group tours to staying in hotels —  has surprised industry experts.
“It has been interesting to watch the striking acceleration of vaccine mandates,” said Harry Nelson, founder of health-care law firm Nelson Hardiman.
He said that while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last month has prompted some mandates, they’re also being “driven by increasingly supportive public opinion of the vaccinated majority.”

Are vaccine mandates legal?

Yes, said Lawrence O. Gostin, professor at Georgetown Law and the faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.
“Businesses have full power to require reasonable safety standards for customers,” he told CNBC. “Just as many businesses have required masking, they could also ask for proof of vaccination.”

That’s true whether mandates come from private businesses or government-owned attractions, such as the Grand Canyon or tours at the White House, he said.

We felt strongly that it was the right thing to do, and sometimes doing the right thing is hard.

Kelly Sanders
senior vice president of operations, Highgate Hawaii

“For some high-risk businesses, such as cruise lines and hotels, it is very much in their economic interests to make their customers feel safe and secure — they have every right to do so,” said Gostin. “Similarly, President Biden, who oversees federal properties, could require proof of vaccination for entry to… national parks and federal buildings.”   
Nelson agrees, adding that there is a long history of courts upholding vaccine mandates, though those have mostly been in the context of school requirements.
“I expect that, for the most part, the vaccine mandates will stand up,” he said.

Vaccine exemptions

The next great debate could be the diluting effect that vaccine exemptions may have on vaccine mandates.
Gostin said public and private companies “probably have to allow both medical and religious exemptions” but they can be “narrow and hard to get.”
United Airlines seems to be taking that approach. Staff granted religious exemptions to the airline’s recently-announced workforce vaccine mandate will be placed on temporary unpaid leave starting next month.  

Unvaccinated tourists who travel to New York City can walk down the streets near Broadway, but they can’t attend shows without an exemption.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The government has an “easy case” to refuse religious exemptions for vaccines against infectious disease, wrote Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, in an article published last week on Australia-based news site The Conversation.  
“Even when religious objections are sincere, the government has a compelling interest in overriding them and insisting that everyone be vaccinated,” he wrote. “And that overrides any claim under state or federal constitutions or religious liberty legislation.” 
As for how far challenges to vaccine mandates can go, Laycock wrote: “Unless governments mandating vaccines do not defend their rules, or the Supreme Court changes the law, the answer is likely, ‘Not far.'”
Nelson said he believes a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court would welcome the opportunity to articulate broader personal religious freedoms if given the chance.

What’s next?

Expect more companies to announce vaccine mandates, said Nelson, especially after vaccines are approved by the FDA for kids aged 5-12, and eventually those even younger.
Hotels have been slow to enter the vaccine mandate fray, but that’s starting to change. Elite Island Resorts, which operates nine resorts in the Caribbean, and Highgate Hawaii, which operates seven hotels in Hawaii, both announced mandatory vaccine policies, as have others.
“We felt strongly that it was the right thing to do, and sometimes doing the right thing is hard,” said Kelly Sanders, senior vice president of operations for Highgate Hawaii. “I expect that more (hotels) will eventually follow.”

Starting Oct. 15, guests aged 12 and older must be vaccinated to stay at Highgate Hawaii’s ‘Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach.
Courtesy of ‘Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach

Flights may be next, if airlines follow the lead of Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce, who indicated earlier this month that passengers will be required to be vaccinated on its international flights.  
U.S. officials are debating whether to require vaccinations to fly both domestically and internationally, as reported last week by The Washington Post. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said this month he would likely support a vaccine mandate for air travel.
Georgetown’s Gostin said he could foresee President Biden issuing a vaccine mandate for interstate or international travel, similar to the one his administration announced earlier this week for foreigners traveling into the U.S.
“But airlines themselves could also set this requirement,” said.  
To date, no major U.S. airline has announced such a policy.

Vaccine passports

So-called “vaccine passports” may be on the horizon too, said Nelson, as interest increases for reliable proof of vaccination status.
“I think we are going to see them throughout the hospitality and entertainment industry,” he said.

From Sept. 13, guests staying at New York City’s Equinox Hotel must be vaccinated.
Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The White House last April ruled out plans to create a federal vaccine passport, but Nelson said he feels they are more likely to show up in “blue” states given “the trend of ‘red’ state hostility to the concept.”  
“My sense is that the government is counting on the fact that as more ambivalent and reluctant people are vaccinated, the stronger the public pressure will be,” he said. “New measures, coupled with fear over hospitalization and mortality rates among the unvaccinated, are likely to lead to even more support for more restrictions.” More