{"id":15384,"date":"2020-12-05T12:50:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T17:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=15384"},"modified":"2020-12-05T16:23:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T21:23:52","slug":"covid-craziness-in-loco-moco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/05\/covid-craziness-in-loco-moco\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid Craziness in LoCo MoCo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>American Institute for Economic Research, December 5, 2020<\/h3>\n

Covid Craziness in LoCo MoCo<\/a><\/h2>\n

by James Bovard<\/p>\n

In August, I reported here<\/a> on how Montgomery County, Maryland, was seeking to shut down private schools as part of their Covid-19 strategy of abolishing all risk by abolishing all freedom.<\/strong> As more individuals have recently tested positive for Covid, the county government is responding with a new array of iron-fisted decrees. Some of the latest edicts make little or no sense, confirming the county\u2019s nickname of LoCo Moco.<\/p>\n

Gov. Larry Hogan blocked the county government\u2019s effort to criminalize private teaching; Catholic, Jewish, and other schools have operated safely with no significant Covid outbreaks. But county schools remain shut down in large part due to the clout of the teachers union, a bulwark of political support for County Executive Marc Elrich.<\/p>\n

For at least 40 years, MoCo politicians and school officials have invoked \u201cclosing the achievement gap\u201d as a sacred goal which justifies the sacrifice of as many taxpayers as necessary. But that goal is not as sacrosanct as assuring that teachers continue to collect full pay while taking zero risks and leaving the most vulnerable students far behind.<\/p>\n

Since the county padlocked public schools earlier this year and shifted to unreliable \u201cdistance learning,\u201d there has been a 500%+ increase in the number of black junior high students failing mathematics<\/a> and a 600%+ increase in Hispanic students failing. The percentage of black elementary school students failing English<\/a> increased more than 350% and the percentage of Hispanic students failing increased more than 500%. These numbers were revealed during a County Board of Education meeting on December 3; a local activist captured screenshots of the disastrous test results. Some of the data was also reported in yesterday\u2019s Washington Post<\/a>. Shutting down public schools has done more harm to black students than anything since the end of local school segregation in 1961.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Montgomery\u2019s results are in line with reports elsewhere that show that minority students have suffered far more harm from shutdowns justified to curtail the spread of Covid. This carnage was foreseeable. An analysis by McKinsey & Company consultants last spring estimated that if schools were entirely online until January, on average \u201cwhite students would lose 6 months of learning<\/a>, Hispanic students 9 months, black students 10 months and low-income students more than a year during the time school buildings have closed for the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

MoCo leaders recite their devotion to \u201cscience and data\u201d except when the data might curb their arbitrary power.<\/strong> C.D.C. chief Robert Redfield testified this week, \u201cThe data clearly shows us that you can operate these schools<\/a> in face-to-face learning in a safe and responsible way.\u201d Maryland State Schools Superintendent Karen Salmon urged local schools<\/a> to bring back students five weeks ago but Salmon can deliver neither vanloads of votes nor armloads of cash to County Council members. The Washington Post<\/em>, in an article on the success and safety of European school reopenings, noted, \u201cTeachers unions, which have emerged as a powerful force of opposition to school reopenings<\/a> in the United States, have generally been more acquiescent in Europe, pushing for safety measures rather than closures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many kids may have unnecessarily lost practically a year of their learning lives but MoCo has compensated with a maniacal devotion to mandating masks. On April 9, Montgomery County\u2019s chief health officer Travis Gayles\u00a0decreed that any store customer who failed to wear a mask would be fined $500<\/a>. 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<\/a> for health care workers.\u201d Mandating the wearing of unreliable masks makes about as much sense as requiring everyone to wear a dunce cap with the inscription, \u201cSave me, Big Brother<\/strong>!\u201d<\/p>\n

On August 24, the County Council \u201cexpanded\u201d the face mask mandate to compel everyone to cover their chins as well as their mouth or nose. (N95 masks were exempt but commoners were not supposed<\/a> to be using those anyway.) Neither the Council members nor health czar Gayles revealed the secret medical data on how chins could transmit Covid. The edict was poorly publicized and mostly ignored by local residents.<\/p>\n

On November 24, Gayles issued a new mask dictate<\/a>: \u201cCoverings must be worn outdoors and whenever coming into contact with individuals who are not members of their household, such as being within six feet.\u201d Ordering people to wear masks when they walked alone outside, walked their dog, or went to the mailbox spurred ridicule on local forums. One cynic groused: \u201cGayles says he follows the science. The science he follows may be from a mad scientist but it\u2019s science.\u201d The following day, the county issued a \u201cclarification\u201d<\/a> specifying that masks are not required if you are \u201cAlone in your office or vehicle.\u201d Also exempted were kids \u201cUnder the age of 18 and are engaged in vigorous sports \u2013 as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.\u201d But the pro-exercise health guidance apparently becomes null and void on the 18th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

Maryland has a hotline number to report any violators of statewide mask mandates, and MoCo is a rich soil for raising informants. Politicians and bureaucrats have fanned mass fears which have ripened into hatred of anyone who does not comply with the latest edict<\/strong>. I was recently walking along the C & O Canal Towpath, talking to two friends. None of us were masked.<\/p>\n

Coming in the opposite direction was a geezer, walking slumped forward with a long white shirt, big floppy hat, and a six-foot walking stick. \u00a0He suddenly stops and points his stick at me and shouts:<\/p>\n

\u201cDISTANCING!\u201d
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0I\u00a0replied
\n\u201cYOU\u2019RE\u00a0NOT\u00a0DISTANCING!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSo what are you supposed to be, an Old Testament prophet?\u201d I said. \u201cGreat \u2013 so now we got the Prophet Isaiah casting damnation on all Towpath violators.\u201d I should have counted my blessings that he wasn\u2019t like Coleridge\u2019s Ancient Mariner, buttonholing people and forcing them to listen to a 45-minute poem.<\/p>\n

Maybe I should have also felt lucky that Prophet Dude could not summon a police SWAT helicopter. Maryland has vigorously encouraged people to rat out violators and the state has no shortage of self-appointed Junior Stasi members.<\/p>\n

County agents conducted 90 inspections of businesses on the night before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Earl Stoddard, Montgomery County\u2019s head of emergency management, lamented to the Washington Post<\/em>: \u201cWe can\u2019t be everywhere<\/a> in every store all at once.\u201d Stoddard encouraged residents to file accusations against any business with which they had \u201cconcerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s Black Friday sales were treated by government officials like a crime scene in progress. A long line of customers waited outside of a humongous Best Buy store \u2013 along with police cars from both the county and Rockville. Perhaps the police were equipped with long-distance Tasers to zap anyone not wearing a proper mask?<\/p>\n

Businesses have no safe haven regardless of how much they have spent to protect customers and placate bureaucrats. A Harris Teeter grocery store made extensive changes after the start of the pandemic, including placing large plexiglass screens between every one of its nine self-service checkout stations. A single customer, who perhaps failed to take his Xanax that morning, complained to the Montgomery County government that he felt unsafe when he visited the store. A county inspector swooped in and threatened to shut down the grocery store unless they blocked access to half of their self-service stations. As a result, the store now sometimes has long lines of people waiting to check out \u2013 and presumably increasing their exposure to Covid while waiting. The inspector also forced the store to designate one of its two entrances as an \u201cexit only.\u201d One store employee feared that county inspectors could return and compel the store to dictate which direction people walk down each grocery aisle.<\/p>\n

Trader Joe\u2019s in Rockville, perhaps seeking favor with zealous inspectors, has imposed some of the tightest restrictions on shoppers since the pandemic began. There is usually a long line out front; shoppers are also required to form a single long line before checking out. Recently, a Hispanic lady pushed her grocery cart to bluntly cut the line. A number of black customers with their grocery carts were in line behind her, and a shouting match ensued with ethnic taunts flying thick and fast. The store manager raced to the scene to squelch the uproar. But this type of fracas never happened in that store prior to its \u201cpandemic fixes.\u201d This is another example of how unjustified government prohibitions are spurring pointless social conflicts.<\/p>\n

Perhaps local residents should be grateful that Gayles or County Executive Elrich have not gone as far as the California mayor who swore that anyone not wearing a mask in public was guilty of \u201can act of domestic terrorism<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, all the bankrupted local businesses, all the shafted young children, and the surge in cases of attempted suicide <\/a>and mental illness are irrelevant to how MoCo scores its good deeds. As long as county officials can claim that things would have been worse without its destructive edicts, they can continue pretending to have saved humanity<\/strong>. Perhaps Elrich and Gayles are hoping that if they inflict enough misery on MoCo, the Biden administration will appoint them to prestigious positions to help impose a national Covid lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Institute for Economic Research, December 5, 2020 Covid Craziness in LoCo MoCo by James Bovard In August, I reported here on how Montgomery County, Maryland, was seeking to shut down private schools as part of their Covid-19 strategy of abolishing all risk by abolishing all freedom. As more individuals have recently tested positive for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2574,1868,2573,2284,2349,2365,2489,157,2285,2269,2313,148,2572],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-big-brother","tag-blacks","tag-coleridge","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid","tag-elrich","tag-gayles","tag-hispanics","tag-masks","tag-montgomery-county","tag-pandemic","tag-schools","tag-stasi"],"yoast_head":"\nCovid Craziness in LoCo MoCo - 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\/12\/05\/covid-craziness-in-loco-moco\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covid Craziness in LoCo MoCo - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American Institute for Economic Research, December 5, 2020 Covid Craziness in LoCo MoCo by James Bovard In August, I reported here on how Montgomery County, Maryland, was seeking to shut down private schools as part of their Covid-19 strategy of abolishing all risk by abolishing all freedom. 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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 & 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\/15384","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=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15388,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions\/15388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}