Catholic priest Father Mike Renninger, dons a mask and gloves as he participates in distributing palms in a drive by distribution on Palm Sunday at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church Sunday April 5, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The headline is very nearly a direct quote.

The judge in question is not exclusively a judicial authority, in Texas, a county judge is the chairman of the county commissioner’s court which makes him or her the day-to-day county executive and directly responsible for emergency management (oddly enough, this is pretty much the system used in colonial Virginia). The current Wuhan virus scare has brought out the inner totalitarian in some of these people. In Dallas County, Democrat Clay Jenkins ordered that effective last Friday anyone in that county over age 2 had to be wearing a face mask in order to appear in public. His initial threat to fine violators up to $1,000 ground to a halt when the sheriff’s department said it wasn’t interested in issuing citations to go along with an illegal order.

Now Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, also a Democrat, has gotten in on the mandatory mask wear scam:

THarris County Judge Lina Hidalgo officially announced her order requiring face coverings on most county residents who leave the house, in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Under the executive order, people ages 10 and older must cover noses and mouths with a mask, bandanna, scarf or other face covering if leaving the house, beginning Monday and lasting 30 days. Hidalgo also recommended children under 10 wear a mask, if possible.

The order also requires employers categorized as essential businesses under Hidalgo’s stay-at-home order to provide face coverings and training to any worker required to come into contact with colleagues or the public.

Exceptions include eating, drinking, exercising, or being alone in a separate place indoors. The order also exempts wearing a mask when it poses a greater risk to security, mental or physical health. The county judge asked people not to use medical or N-95 masks if they could be avoided, in order to make them available to first responders. There would also be instructions to make a face covering at home on ReadyHarris.org.

“We have to use every tool in the toolbox,” Hidalgo said at a press conference Wednesday. “Because if we get complacent, people die, the economy takes longer to recover, and those are the stakes.”

Violations will be punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.

I say scam, because wearing face masks, particularly like bandanas or scarfs or the random bra you found laying about the house, are simply an exercise in 1) controlling you by making you do stupid sh** that does nothing for anyone unless you are hacking up lung biscuits and 2) making you feel like you are doing something in the same way the scrap metal drives in 1942-43 let the folks back home believe they were contributing to something other than the local landfill.

The Houston Police Officer’s Union wasn’t having any of it.

HPOU response to @LinaHidalgoTX draconian mask order: “Now we want to be very clear, HPOU believes everyone should be wearing a mask in public, in order to protect themselves from the virus and we are encouraging all of our officers to wear a mask. However, we draw the line…” pic.twitter.com/XbphfNYHii

— Houston Police Officers' Union (@HPOUTX) April 22, 2020

They are correct. The people who will bear the brunt for enforcing this stupidity are the very folks that rely upon goodwill and cooperation from the public to do their job, not the politicos who can just forget about it. Long after this bogeyman has faded into the past, HPD will be remembered for being either police officers concerned about public safety or RoboCop jerks who were ‘only following orders’, to coin a phrase.

What the nation needs more of is police officers and law enforcement officials willing to stand up and throw the bullsh** flag on the egregious and illegal nonsense being perpetrated on the public by the clowns trying to scare us into submission.