{"id":14774,"date":"2020-05-30T16:21:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T20:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=14774"},"modified":"2020-09-17T13:03:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T17:03:06","slug":"politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14775\" src=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized-800x441.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized-800x441.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized-1024x564.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized-150x83.jpg 150w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized-768x423.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg 1225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a>Mises Institute, May 28, 2020<a href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Logo-Mises-Institute.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7180 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Logo-Mises-Institute.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Logo-Mises-Institute.jpg 200w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Logo-Mises-Institute-150x75.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"page-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/wire\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\">Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland<\/a><\/h2>\n<div id=\"slideshow\" class=\"group-image-wrapper field-group-html-element pull-left\">\n<div class=\"image border-secondary\">\n<div id=\"flexslider-1\" class=\"flexslider optionset-node-slideshow flexslider-processed\">\n<div class=\"flex-viewport\">\n<ul class=\"slides\">\n<li>by James Bovard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"language-es\" href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/es\/wire\/la-covidmania-de-los-politicos-hace-estragos-en-maryland\">Lea esto en Espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"required-fields group-date-author field-group-html-element\"><span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/profile\/james-bovard\" rel=\"author\">\u00a0by James Bovard<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"body-content clearfix\">\n<p>Maryland politicians have destroyed more than four hundred thousand jobs in dictatorial responses purporting to thwart the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cNearly one in five Maryland workers have filed for unemployment\u201d compensation, the<em>Baltimore<\/em><em> Sun<\/em> reported. The situation is so bad that even the <em>Washington Post <\/em>recognized that Maryland\u2019s COVID \u201crestrictions have crippled the economy and paralyzed daily life since mid-March.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shaky extrapolations of predicted infection rates sufficed to nullify limits on state and local government power. On March 20, Governor\u00a0Larry Hogan, a Republican, ordered the shutdown of all \u201cnonessential\u201d businesses. Ten days later, Hogan issued a mandatory \u201cstay-at-home\u201d order for all Marylanders. At that time, roughly a thousand Marylanders had tested positive for COVID and eighteen had died from the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the shutdown, Maryland has had over forty-eight thousand COVID cases and more than twenty-two hundred fatalities. If the shutdown had been effective, the transmission rate should have plunged after the fourteen-day incubation period for coronavirus. Didn\u2019t happen. The shutdown utterly failed to stop the pandemic but inflicted collateral damage that will hobble the state for many years and probably permanently blight thousands of lives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>From the beginning, Maryland\u2019s response epitomized iron fist progressivism\u2014one overreaching decree after another. Piety repeatedly trumped safety.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For instance, on April 9, Montgomery County\u2019s chief health officer Travis Gayles\u00a0decreed that any grocery store customer who failed to wear a mask would be fined $500. Gayles discouraged local residents from acquiring and wearing the most reliable protection, such as surgical masks or N95 masks, which the county said \u201cshould be reserved for health care workers.\u201d Hogan later followed up with a similar statewide mandate.<\/p>\n<p>But some risks were too sacrosanct to reduce. Hundreds of grocery workers nationwide have been infected by the coronavirus and at least thirty have died. One of the biggest sources of contagion\u00a0in grocery stores is ratty old recycling bags that customers drag along to tote their purchases home, which some states and cities have banned for the duration of the pandemic. Montgomery County imposes a five-cent tax on each plastic grocery bag, despite one food workers&#8217; union calling for an \u201cend to the disease-transmitting bag tax.\u201d A majority of county council members sponsored a bill to suspend the grocery bag tax to \u201cminimize risk,\u201d because \u201cthe health and safety of all Montgomery County residents must come first.\u201d The Sierra Club protested that suspending the bag tax will leave \u201cthe public with a false sense of security in encouraging single-use plastic shopping bags,\u201d which \u201care difficult to clean.\u201d But that\u2019s why they are called \u201csingle-use\u201d bags. The council quickly caved to the environmentalist demand but pretended to give a damn about grocery workers by encouraging residents to wash reusable bags after each visit to the grocery store\u2014which is as likely as hell freezing over.<\/p>\n<p>When Hogan announced that anyone who violated his \u201cshelter-at-home\u201d order could face a $5,000 fine and a year in prison, he ludicrously declared, \u201cEvery Marylander can be a hero, just by staying home.\u201d As of early May, Maryland police had arrested more than a hundred people for violating the order and responded to more than three thousand reports of violations. It is unclear whether the percentage of Marylanders who turned into informants was higher than the rate in former East Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Private parades are strictly prohibited during the lockdown. But Montgomery County police conducted at least three police car parades in front of local hospitals to show their support for healthcare workers. At the same time, the county police exploited the pandemic to justify refusing to provide any information on a brutal predawn, no-knock raid on March 12 in which Duncan Lemp, a 21-year-old libertarian-leaning\u00a0gun rights activist was killed as he slept in his parents\u2019 home in Potomac, Maryland. When Lemp family members signaled their intention to attend a planned protest over their son\u2019s killing at the police headquarters, a county prosecutor speedily threatened any family members who attended the\u00a0protest with a $5,000 fine and jail for violating Hogan\u2019s shelter-in-place order.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Politicians talked as if any large gathering of people would be tantamount to mass murder. But there was a tacit exception for anything that trumpeted the majesty of the government.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A military jet flyover tribute to local hospitals in the Washington suburbs was Security Theater at its best. The Montgomery County Police Department announced on Twitter: \u201cPlease adhere to @GovLarryHogan social distancing order and do not congregate at any hospitals in the County to view the flyover as we must keep the hospital areas clear for healthcare workers.\u201d Twitter user @LibertyLockPod replied, \u201cThe roar of the jets will give me strength while I cower indoors. Thank you government!\u201d Another Twitter user groused, \u201cSome hospitals in Montgomery County are out of hand sanitizer, supplying that would be a great way to honor them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the US Navy Blue Angels did a heavily publicized flyover of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda on May 2, hundreds of people squeezed into the hospital parking lot and elsewhere to see the show, social distancing be damned. At least one county council member joined the crowd in blatant violation of the governor\u2019s \u201cshelter-in-place\u201d order, while a second council member stood near the throng. But the media, except for the online Rockville Reports, ignored the high-profile hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Government officials justified the lockdown by endlessly claiming that their decisions were based on \u201cscience\u201d and \u201cdata.\u201d But the data is available only to those authorized to enter the Inner Temple of Maryland Politics, apparently.<\/strong> The online activist group Reopen Maryland complained that<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hogan has provided no transparency about the process through which models were consulted and used in Maryland&#8217;s decision-making to justify state and county closures. Reopen Maryland again calls upon the Governor to make his task force and recovery team minutes and records public. Taxpayers deserve to know how and why these destructive decisions were made.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The state government denied a request for such information under Maryland\u2019s Public Information Act.<\/p>\n<p>Maryland is busy hiring a thousand \u201ccontact tracers\u201d to track down anyone who might have interacted with anyone who tested positive for COVID. Privacy will be no excuse for failing to disclose personal contacts. However, at the same time, the Maryland Department of Health ordered local county health departments to cease disclosing which nursing homes have been ravaged by COVID outbreaks, claiming that such information \u201c\u2018serves no public health purpose\u2019 and violates privacy laws,\u201d as WJLA TV reported. Most COVID fatalities statewide have occurred in nursing homes. One would think that sons and daughters would have a legitimate interest in knowing where their parents faced the greatest risk of dying, but no such luck in the Free State.<\/p>\n<p>Why the secrecy? Reopen Maryland requested and was denied \u201cinformation on whether\u2026the state forced nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients discharged from hospitals, as suggested by the Governor&#8217;s April 5 executive order and corresponding directives from the Maryland Department of Health.\u201d Similar policies in New York and Pennsylvania contributed to thousands of nursing home deaths.<\/p>\n<p>As elsewhere in the United States, Democrats are far more enthusiastic about perpetuating the lockdown than are Republicans. On May 15, Governor Hogan rescinded the statewide stay-at-home order. That dictate never made any sense for much of the state. Garrett County, for instance, has had only ten COVID cases and no fatalities, but its schools and businesses were shuttered at the command of Annapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Media-favored experts shuddered at Hogan\u2019s premature release of 6 million people from <em>de facto<\/em> house arrest. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, lamented, \u201cPeople wonder if it\u2019s necessary, if it\u2019s not necessary. When people receive mixed messages, they\u2019re not going to do what they need to protect themselves.\u201d Without Hogan\u2019s dictate, every Marylander would presumably rush out into the street and hug everyone they saw. Actually, Marylanders responded to the pandemic by voluntarily \u201csocial distancing\u201d even before Hogan\u2019s stay-at-home order. Unacast, a company that created software to track social distancing via cell phone data, rated Maryland an \u201cA\u201d and one of the best in the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan\u2019s announcement ending the state shutdown sparked a political pity party by Democratic officials in the Washington suburbs and Baltimore area. \u201cAll of us were taken aback by his announcement. We were hung out to dry,\u201d whined Montgomery County executive Marc Elrich, who faced the burden of justifying perpetuating the lockdown for the million residents in his county. Elrich lamented that that \u201cmakes it sound like it\u2019s an arbitrary decision.\u2026[Hogan] kind of ignited this rebellion against what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Post<\/em> summarized Elrich\u2019s response: \u201cMontgomery County rushed to create its own data dashboard last week, so elected leaders could justify to constituents why they remain stuck in a coronavirus shutdown.\u201d But county officials are apparently being slippery, relying on arbitrary selection and manipulation of data to justify perpetuating arbitrary power. Maryland daily COVID fatalities have fallen by more than 50 percent, and the hysteria is becoming harder to perpetuate every week. Anne Arundel County struck bureaucratic gold when it declared that its pandemic emergency would continue until \u201chealth equity\u201d was achieved\u2014whatever the hell that means.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Most Maryland residents live in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, and most of the media coverage in that area has been both pro-panic and progovernment. As a result, Maryland politicians may face few consequences for the destruction and pointless subjugation they imposed. But the Great Pandemic Follies of 2020 may prove a fertile breeding ground for anarchists, libertarians, and unregenerate cynics across the nation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"view view-term-landing view-id-term_landing view-display-id-author_box audience author-box view-dom-id-9db0888d366016d20eae5682ea7622bf\">\n<div class=\"view-header\">Author:<\/div>\n<div class=\"view-content\">\n<div class=\"views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last\">\n<div class=\"ds-2col-custom-fluid column node node-person-profile view-mode-author_box clearfix\">\n<div class=\"panel-body\">\n<div class=\"group-top col-xs-12\">\n<p class=\"author-box__name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/profile\/james-bovard\">James Bovard<\/a><\/p>\n<p>James Bovard is the author of ten books, including 2012\u2019s <em>Public Policy Hooligan<\/em>, and 2006\u2019s <em>Attention Deficit Democracy<\/em>. He has written for the <em>New York Times<\/em>, <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>, <em>Playboy<\/em>, <em>Washington Post<\/em>, and many other publications.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mises Institute, May 28, 2020 Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland by James Bovard Lea esto en Espa\u00f1ol \u00a0by James Bovard Maryland politicians have destroyed more than four hundred thousand jobs in dictatorial responses purporting to thwart the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cNearly one in five Maryland workers have filed for unemployment\u201d compensation, theBaltimore Sun reported. The situation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[592,2270,2365,2368,2364,122,203,2285,2269,2330,2366,2331,252,2367,434],"class_list":["post-14774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-baltimore","tag-duncan-lemp","tag-elrich","tag-flyover","tag-hogan","tag-hypocrisy","tag-maryland","tag-masks","tag-montgomery-county","tag-recycling","tag-shelter-at-home","tag-travis-gayles","tag-tyranny","tag-unemployment","tag-washington"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Politicians&#039; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Politicians&#039; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mises Institute, May 28, 2020 Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland by James Bovard Lea esto en Espa\u00f1ol \u00a0by James Bovard Maryland politicians have destroyed more than four hundred thousand jobs in dictatorial responses purporting to thwart the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cNearly one in five Maryland workers have filed for unemployment\u201d compensation, theBaltimore Sun reported. The situation [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1653,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"baltimore\",\"Duncan Lemp\",\"Elrich\",\"flyover\",\"Hogan\",\"hypocrisy\",\"Maryland\",\"masks\",\"Montgomery County\",\"recycling\",\"shelter at home\",\"Travis Gayles\",\"tyranny\",\"unemployment\",\"Washington\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/\",\"name\":\"Politicians' COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg\",\"width\":1225,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/30\\\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Politicians' COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Politicians' COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard","og_description":"Mises Institute, May 28, 2020 Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland by James Bovard Lea esto en Espa\u00f1ol \u00a0by James Bovard Maryland politicians have destroyed more than four hundred thousand jobs in dictatorial responses purporting to thwart the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cNearly one in five Maryland workers have filed for unemployment\u201d compensation, theBaltimore Sun reported. The situation [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1225,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland","datePublished":"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/"},"wordCount":1653,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg","keywords":["baltimore","Duncan Lemp","Elrich","flyover","Hogan","hypocrisy","Maryland","masks","Montgomery County","recycling","shelter at home","Travis Gayles","tyranny","unemployment","Washington"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/","name":"Politicians' COVID Mania Ravages Maryland - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-30T20:21:12+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-17T17:03:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/jpb-mask-maryland-flag-twitter-sized.jpg","width":1225,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/politicians-covid-mania-ravages-maryland\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politicians&#8217; COVID Mania Ravages Maryland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14774"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15086,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14774\/revisions\/15086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}