Events never happen in a vacuum. There are always connections between what goes on in our world, even if those connections are not obvious at first. We have to remember that those who work in the public arena actively strive to keep the connections hidden.
So, I like to search for those connections. It’s like playing Wordle or solving puzzles. It’s satisfying.
In the last couple of months, interesting things have been happening. On December 15, 2022, Biden’s Build Back Better monstrosity of over $3 trillion dollar addition to the federal debt died a death at the hands of the Senate. Regardless of Biden’s claims that the bill wouldn’t add anything to the debt at all, even third grade math students, the ones who score in the proficient range, saw that was lie. Thanks to Joe Manchin and Kristin Synema for their courage.
In that spending package was all kinds of education pork including new social welfare programs such as universal Pre-k, free community college, and a variety of initiatives.
Let’s go back a couple of years. In 2020, the Maryland State Legislature passed “The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future” in order to implement what was originally called the “Kirwan” funding plan. This plan included drastic, state guided and dictated measures for counties to fund education in their own jurisdiction. This was because the previous plans, the Thornton Plan and the first Kirwan plans, were such a complete disaster. They created a bureaucratic nightmare and not educational advancement.
Governor Larry Hogan, in a sudden fit of Conservative conscience, vetoed the Blueprint, but his veto was overturned. All was in place for the Blueprint to move forward.
Then we all know what happened in 2020 and things came to a virtual halt. The Blueprint was still there, but it would be hard to implement when the economy was failing and tax revenues were dead. The Blueprint which was supposed to start in 2022 was pushed to the back burner.
In steps the Federal Government to the rescue. I have written in previous blogs how the Federal Government monetized the children in our schools by giving systems millions of additional funds for “Covid Mitigation.” Suddenly, schools were flush with funds to do all they wanted to do as long as they pushed vaccines and mandated masks. Local school boards who may have leaned toward voluntary masking (or actually implemented it) for the 2021-2022 school year were suddenly told that wouldn’t work. They caved but they didn’t want the responsibility for the unpopular mandates.
The Maryland State Board of Education decided to help, mandating masks until they found out this wasn’t their job. Never fear, the legislature committee called the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Joint Committee promptly voted to the give the State Board that right. Boom, masks were mandatory. To be fair, the State Board set up “off ramps” for locals. Here is a summary of the off ramps provided by the Talbot County Schools:
And the Boards of Education could throw up their hands and claim no responsibility. (Notice how they announce in a recent meeting that we, the unvaxxed, have kept them from hitting their mark.) But, they had the funds for Covid mitigation and spent it on all kinds of goodies. And, on the horizon was Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan which would funnel millions into Maryland Education coffers.
The State of Maryland had big plans that this money would help them implement the stalled Blueprint for Education. They would be able to create schools as “one stop shopping” service centers for illegal immigrants as well as those families designated as below the federal poverty line. Think mental health facility, medical facility, adult education classes, job training for adults, vision health facility, dental health facility, and anything the state could throw into that. They would be able to hire all those additional staff for whatever. Yes, they would still hit the state and local funding agencies for the money as originally planned, but the BBB funds would make life so much easier.
And then BBB died a quick death.
The brakes screeched and the Blueprint had to be brought to a quick stop. Local school systems were told they could wait a year to present their plans and get the appointed Super Board to approve them.
While all this was going on, county Health Departments and Boards of Education, reading the handwriting on the wall with upcoming election, pushed the Covid testing, vaccinating and masking even harder. They needed to get this done and get it done quickly. Hit the accelerator.
But, once BBB and the Blueprint was put on hold, it must have become evident to those in power that things were not going well. There would be no millions flowing in.
So now what would the Progressives, who had been counting on this money for their Socialist empire, do?
They had to get things back on track. Not only was the money drying up, but public sentiment was changing regarding Covid mandates. They were disgusted at people losing jobs over vaccine status when it was clear the vaccines don’t work. People were seeing 70,000 unmasked fans and celebrities at the Super Bowl. They questioned why our Olympic athletes were travelling to China, the creator of the virus, for the Games. Pfizer postponed its request for approval for a vaccine for babies. And, of course, there were the truckers.
2022 was already looking like a historic loss for the Dems in the Mid-terms. Now it was worse. Biden’s free testing and free masks didn’t help.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the message in the Covid machine started to change. The usual suspects, CNN, Governors in blue states, even big business started to discount the need for masks and drop the mandates. Leana Wen, CNN’s CCP shill, started talking about not wearing masks.
And, there were lawsuits being filed against the Boards of Education, local and state. One group, Coalition of Maryland Parents, filed suit against the Maryland State Department of Education on behalf of 24 locals.
In Maryland, a strange thing started to happen in our schools. All of a sudden, some systems were getting rid of the mask mandates. People were celebrating. What they didn’t realize is that they hadn’t actually won. Look at this graphic about Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the removal of their mask mandates. (By the way, this was put together by a parent, Megan M) via her own diligence.
Look at what was on the web:
The school system hit their mark and lo and behold, masks were gone.
Except, did they hit their target?
This graphic, posted at 10 a.m. on the day the masks were voted out, showed Anne Arundel’s vaccination rate at 75.44%. Now, maybe they got a statistical margin of error, but other counties, including Talbot, were not given that leeway. In fact, according to my sources, on January 14th, Talbot’s rate was 79.4% and no leeway. In fact, their vaccination rate DROPPED to 69.5%.
So, what happened? Did Anne Arundel have a huge walk-in vaccine bump? Or, did someone “fix” it for them. Who knows. More research is required.
(Parents from all over the state are suddenly asking how Anne Arundel’s mandate got dropped and their kids still have to wear masks. What better way for the State Department of Health to coerce more vaccines. “See, if you would do what Anne Arundel did, your kids could be free too.”) One more gasp from the vaxx pushers.
But, again, I said this was all connected. And I believe it is.
First, the 2022 elections are on the horizon. And, whether we will get a legit election is certainly up in the air based on how the Dems defrauded the public in 2020. But, the Dems MUST SEE how their tyrannical and extreme Covid policies have hurt their electability. They have to ease up the one thing that people care most about. Of course, inflation is a huge problem for them as well, as is the senility of their guy in the White House. But, as the Dems do, they are going to be all hands on deck to protect their power.
And that power MUST be protected and increased to assure that Build Back Better 2.0 gets passed. Dems both at the Federal and State level need this funding to make sure their progression to Socialism is alive. They HAVE to get their people elected.
If they can get mandates lifted, particularly in schools, then their odds of getting more Progressives elected are better. If the public can be tricked into thinking that local, state and federal officials listened to them, then maybe the officials can regain our trust and votes. They are hoping our memory is as bad as Joe Biden’s.
( Some politicians have figured out that this isn’t going to happen. That’s why 40 Democrats will not be running for re-election to the House.)
If Build Back Better gets passed, then The Blueprint can be fully implemented. Federal funds will certainly supplement it, but even when the locals have to increase their taxes and education budgets to support it, they might have Federal funds as a safety net.
Trust me, they want that. That safety net will allow them to create their Socialist Utopia and maybe people will not notice the cost.
There may be some of you out there who say, “Whatever. As long as the mandates are gone, who cares?”
I have a saying, “Whoever collects the data can skew the data.” It happens all the time. And, in the case of Covid, it happens with those who create the definitions and the “goals posts” that get constantly changed and moved.
When their political crisis ends, Progressives will return to their deceptive ways. If it’s not Covid vaccines and mask wearing, it will be something else. We’ve already seen Federal agencies enact initiatives calling peaceful protest “terrorism” and alternative opinions “misinformation.” Imagine a country where there is a social credit system like China. Everything you say, post online, do, etc. will count for or against you in your finances, freedoms, etc.
And we will be back where we started in 2020. Except worse.
In Maryland, that will mean the Blueprint for Educational Excellence will be enacted and our taxes both state and local will skyrocket. Our children will be subjected to indoctrination at a much earlier age, our schools will be pulled further away from their actual mission, and we will watch our children sink deeper into mediocrity.
Even if I am way off base and these are not connected, parents, families and taxpayers need to understand what is at stake here. As long as our children are viewed as “data points” and commodified by school boards and government officials as they implement these overreaching programs, parents will never have rights and our children will be in danger.
CREDIT for analysis of Thornton/Kirwan; “Kirwan Education Reforms Are At High Risk of Repeating Historical Disappointments;” Charlie Hayward, 2/1/19
Summary of THE BLUEPRINT: https://dls.maryland.gov/pubs/prod/Educ/BlueprintOverview.pdf
