Days before a deadly shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was spouting off virulently anti-ICE political propaganda and demonizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“That’s happening in the United States of America. Masked men jumping out of unmarked cars, people disappearing, no due process, no oversight, zero accountability happening in the United States of America today,” Newsom said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“Bulls**t we’re being hyperbolic,” he continued. “If you’re a black and brown community, it’s here in this country. And so I’m deeply proud that I had the privilege of signing the nation’s first bill to address the issue of masking, also to require you have simple identification.”

“I mean, if some guy jumped out of an unmarked car in a van with a mask on, tried to grab me, I mean, by definition, you’re going to push back. And so these are not just authoritarian tendencies. These are authoritarian actions by an authoritarian government,” he added.

Newsom went on to fearmonger over the White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller calling the Democrat party an “extremist organization.”

“It’s very ironic that Newsom is signing a bill banning masks five years after he signed a bill to require masks,” Keith Malinak, executive producer of “Pat Gray Unleashed,” says, before pointing out that the guests late-night show hosts have on are always Democrats.

“Stephen Colbert, 176. Conservatives, 1. ‘Daily Show,’ 157 to 9. Seth Meyers, 68 to 0. Jimmy Kimmel, 58 to 2,” Malinak says. “I mean, it’s becoming a political talk show. Not a comedy show.”

“They’re just an extension of the political arm of these networks,” he adds.

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The left closed schools, failed kids — and now sues to block choice

Democrats closed schools unnecessarily during COVID. Five years later, test scores continue to plummet. And now, unions and their allies oppose school choice with even greater intensity than ever.

This hostility toward parental choice has been the Democrat stance for decades, but since 2019 the consequences have become unmistakable. The numbers are in, and they are damning.

Red states emphasized learning; blue states kowtowed to union demands.

The first National Assessment of Educational Progress report since the pandemic shows American high-school seniors graduating in 2024 performed worse than their 2019 peers in both math and reading.

Seniors scoring at or above the “proficient” level dropped from 37% to 35% in reading and from 24% to 22% in math. The number of seniors failing even “basic” math climbed from 40% to 45%, while those below the basic reading level rose from 30% to 32%.

As The 74, an education-focused outlet, reported: COVID “took a bite out of already declining basic skills” and left seniors “reading and doing math worse than any senior class of the past generation.”

The class of 2024 spent nearly four years under lockdowns, masks, remote learning, and chronic absenteeism. By March 25, 2020, every public school in the country was closed, locking out 50.8 million students.

Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee, in “In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us,” described these closures as “the most extensive and lengthy disruption to education in history.”

Unions kept classrooms shut

What Macedo and Lee underplay is the role of the American Federation of Teachers and its president, Randi Weingarten.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concluded in its final report that many schools “remained closed because of AFT and Ms. Weingarten’s political interference” in the Biden administration’s reopening guidance.

That interference persisted despite mounting evidence that children were at low risk for serious illness and transmitted the virus less than adults. Early reports from Iceland and even the World Health Organization’s initial findings from Wuhan confirmed as much.

Instead of leading America’s schools back to normal operations, the AFT insisted that closures remain the default. The result: The U.S. more closely resembled developing nations than its advanced democratic peers.

The establishment’s response

Faced with the lowest test scores in a generation, the education establishment has not offered reform. Instead, it calls for more unions.

The 74 reported earlier this month that school administrator unions have expanded since COVID, with 11 new locals across eight states. It also noted strikes and strike threats in Washington state and Philadelphia, along with lawsuits from teachers’ unions trying to block school voucher programs as unconstitutional.

In short, the very groups that prolonged school closures now demand more money and more power, while students pay the price.

Spending more, learning less

The U.S. spent $15,500 per student in 2019 (adjusted to 2021 dollars), 38% more than the OECD average, while delivering worse outcomes. Yet unions still fight to preserve their monopoly and to block competition from private or charter schools.

But school choice is breaking through. As of May 2025, 35 states offer some form of private school choice program, most with more than one. Of those states, 27 voted for Trump in 2024. Among the 15 states without school choice, 11 voted for Harris.

The pattern is clear: The longest lockdowns happened in blue states, where Democratic leaders sided with unions over students.

ljubaphoto via iStock/Getty Images

Federalism’s hard lesson

Macedo and Lee note that “lengthier school closures had strong political support in Democratic-leaning jurisdictions.” The Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey measured the impact:

Red states (that voted for Trump in 2020) provided in-person instruction for 74.5% of the 2020-21 school year, while blue states (that voted for Biden) only provided in-person instruction for 37.6% of the time. Put another way, children in red states got 134 days of in-person instruction versus 68 days for blue state children. The bottom line: Red state kids got almost twice the number of in-person days than blue state kids during the school year. That’s an enormous difference in learning.

The bottom line: Red states emphasized learning; blue states kowtowed to union demands.

The takeaway

American seniors may be falling behind in math and reading, but the country has gained a civics lesson: Federalism matters. Where unions dictate policy, students suffer. Where parents have choices, students have opportunities.

The fight for school choice isn’t only about better scores. It’s about protecting families from the kind of educational malpractice that wrecked a generation of learning.

Youngkin Isn’t Doing Enough To Purge Woke Insanity From Virginia Public Schools

The Youngkin administration should explore creative tools to address leftist school district leaders’ violation of the law.

GOP election observer didn't wear mask — now faces jail, targeted by anti‑MAGA DA who smears Trump voters as 'racist bullies'

A Republican election observer in the state of Washington declined to wear a face mask while inside a ballot count room in November 2024. Now, the GOP election observer has been hit with a felony conviction and faces jail time.

Tim Hazelo — a Navy veteran and the former chairman of the Island County Republican Party — was observing ballot counting on Nov. 4, 2024. Hazelo chose not to wear a face mask inside the ballot count room.

The article noted that the prosecutor 'implied Trump supporters are members of the KKK and called them "racist bullies with second-grade intellects and behavior disorders.'''

Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider established a mask mandate in certain parts of the county elections office. Crider previously told KOMO-TV that she established the mask mandate because 50% of the staff tested positive for COVID-19 during the August 2024 primary.

KOMO recently reported that those who did not want to wear a mask could still observe the ballot counting from the hallway, but "some have said their view was obstructed from that vantage point."

Hazelo was reportedly asked to wear a mask, relocate to the hallway, or leave the premises. Hazelo apparently refused to wear a face mask, and he was escorted out of the building by two police officers.

According to the arrest report obtained by KOMO, "It was determined Hazelo would be offered one final opportunity to comply with the policy set by the Island County auditor to wear a mask in the ballot processing rooms, and if he continued to refuse to comply with the policy, he would be asked to exit the room."

LPETTET via iStock / Getty Images

Hazelo was arrested and initially charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, which was later dismissed. However, Hazelo was hit with additional charges by an anti-Trump prosecutor in February 2025. Hazelo was charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass, in addition to one count of unauthorized access to a voting center — a class C felony.

Island County Prosecuting Attorney Gregory Banks charged Hazelo with a felony that could land him behind bars for a year.

Banks, a Democrat, has a history of making disparaging remarks on social media about President Donald Trump and his supporters, according to reports.

Conservative talk show host and columnist Jason Rantz previously reported that Banks made unsettling comments about Trump supporters.

Rantz wrote in MyNorthwest.com in 2019, "Greg Banks is the elected Island County Prosecutor. Up until last week, his public and personal Facebook account was littered with vulgar, vicious smears against conservative voters and President Donald Trump."

The article noted that the prosecutor "implied Trump supporters are members of the KKK and called them 'racist bullies with second-grade intellects and behavior disorders.'"

Banks then "pulled the voluminous posts from his Facebook page and sent out a mea culpa to his staff Wednesday, saying that he had 'done something pretty stupid,'" the South Whidbey Record reported in August 2019.

Banks reportedly told his staff, "That I was unable to see the harm my posts may cause to our reputation is more than embarrassing to me."

"Banks also maintains he hasn’t treated staff members differently based on their Trump-related views, but he asked anyone with concerns to speak with him, the office administrator, one of the chief deputies, or human resources," according to the news outlet.

However, Banks allegedly wrote another disparaging social media post about Trump supporters in 2020.

"The terrifying part is 38% of voters don't see anything wrong with that. Even after we flush Trump, we have a difficult job to cleanse society of their diseased thinking," Banks wrote, according to MyNorthwest.com.

Banks also hit a second Republican election observer, Tracy Abuhl, with a felony count of unauthorized access to a voting center.

Abuhl was charged with a felony for refusing to wear a face mask in the election office in November 2024.

"I was very peaceful, very respectful, but no, this is unconstitutional," Abuhl told KOMO. "I'm there as a volunteer, a citizen. I was a Republican observer, and I couldn't do my job."

Hazelo proclaimed, "We have to stand up when we believe something is wrong."

Hazelo argued that Washington law does not entitle a county auditor to impose a mask mandate for election observers.

Hazelo told KOMO, "They can say, 'Look it's highly recommended that if you feel sick, if you don't feel good, or you don't feel safe, or you're worried — we highly recommend you wear this mask.' A mandate goes too far."

According to KOMO, Banks stated in his closing arguments on Thursday: "Let's not get into a debate about masks. Follow the instructions, follow the law. This is about the administration of elections and the rules that allow that to happen."

Banks added, "He (Hazelo) had his own rules. His own rules are, 'I do what I want to do, I do it from the vantage point that I want, and I don't care about the rest of it.'"

Hazelo's defense attorney, Austin Hatcher, countered by stating that the Washington Administrative Code requires rules to be provided in writing.

"There's no mask requirement on this sheet of paper. There's no mask requirement on the official visitor and observer rules," Hatcher declared. "He signed this rule sheet, he signed the sign-in paper, he openly went into the ballot processing center, and he sat down quietly, observed the process."

Banks retorted that the mask mandate was displayed on multiple signs posted throughout the office, according to KOMO.

Hazelo pointed out, "The fact is, I signed in. I had authorization to be there. Whether or not I followed the rules after I went in has nothing to do with whether I had authorization to be there to begin with, so 'unauthorized access' doesn't work."

He told KOMO that election auditors didn't have the power to establish a mask mandate, and that decision "should be done by the health department."

On Thursday, a jury found Hazelo guilty of unauthorized access to a voting center and criminal trespass.

Hazelo told KOMO that he does plan to appeal the conviction.

Blaze News reached out to Hazelo's and Banks' offices but did not receive a response for comment at the time of publication.

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California Wiener wants to ban masks for cops

Notorious California state Sen. Scott Wiener and a fellow Democrat have introduced legislation that would prevent members of law enforcement — from the lowliest local cops to federal immigration agents — from wearing face coverings.

On Monday, Wiener of San Francisco and Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Jesse Arreguín of Oakland introduced the No Secret Police Act, which would make wearing a mask a misdemeanor for on-duty officers.

"We’re seeing the rise of secret police — masked, no identifying info, even wearing army fatigues — grabbing & disappearing people. It’s antithetical to democracy & harms communities," Wiener posted to X. "The No Secret Police Act can help end the fear & chaos this behavior creates in communities."

'They're being doxxed all over the place.'

"What we have been seeing in the last few weeks are law enforcement — some local, some federal — who are wearing masks to completely hide their faces while they are carrying out deportation and other enforcement activities," added Arreguín, according to KABC-TV.

Border czar Tom Homan has repeatedly insisted that ICE agents must wear masks to guard against doxing. "They're being doxxed all over the place," he told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck last month. "Their pictures are being put on telephone poles in major cities. These officers are under great threat. They identify them. They put their home, they put the phone numbers or home address. It's just ridiculous."

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The proposed legislation does permit some exceptions for SWAT members and those wearing medical or safety masks to protect themselves against airborne disease and wildfires that regularly rage through the state. Face shields will also be permitted for those combatting riots, so long as their faces are still visible.

The New York Post noted that masked rioters on the streets of Los Angeles were caught on camera committing horrific acts of violence, including against police.

However, as the No Secret Police Act notes, existing California law already prohibits wearing "a mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise, as specified, with the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification while committing a public offense, or for concealment, flight, evasion, or escape from arrest or conviction for any public offense."

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The reckless left is turning ICE agents into cartel targets

Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) recently took aim at Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for covering their faces during immigration raids, framing the practice as both a lack of transparency and an authoritarian overreach. Jeffries went so far as to vow to “unmask every single ICE agent,” declaring, “This is America, not the Soviet Union.”

This reckless rhetoric will lead to innocent people being harmed or killed if it continues.

By posting videos online or sharing personal details, activists provide cartels with a roadmap to retribution.

ICE agents cover their faces to protect both themselves and their families from violent retribution by human trafficking cartels, a threat exacerbated by the unprecedented lawlessness of the former Biden administration’s border policies.

The words of Jeffries, Goldman, and their activist allies not only endanger lives but also expose their inability to grasp the seriousness of the illegal immigration crisis. Such comments disqualify them as honest brokers on the subject.

Masks save lives

ICE agents operate in a high-stakes environment where their identities are a liability. Human trafficking cartels, particularly those tied to groups like MS-13 or Sinaloa, thrive on fear and retaliation. These organizations don’t just smuggle people across borders — they exploit, extort, and kill.

When ICE agents conduct raids to apprehend illegal aliens, many of whom are entangled with these cartels, they themselves become targets. Cartels have the resources and networks to track down agents’ personal information — addresses, family members, daily routines, and so on.

A single photo of an agent’s face, circulated online or sold to the wrong hands, can lead to harassment, assault, or worse. Border czar Tom Homan recently said that agents are being “doxxed all over the place,” with their pictures posted on telephone poles in major cities.

Masking is not a power play — it’s a necessity to protect agents and their families.

— (@)

Doxxing could be a death sentence

Activists who film these raids and attempt to expose agents’ identities are not champions of transparency — they’re overzealous enablers of violence. By posting videos online or sharing personal details, they provide cartels with a roadmap to retribution.

This is not speculation; it is happening. Agents have faced death threats, their children have been harassed, and their homes have been targeted.

Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images

The precautions agents take stem directly from the Biden administration’s catastrophic negligence on the southern border. Over the past four years, millions of illegal immigrants have crossed into the United States, overwhelming border facilities and local communities.

The previous administration’s policies — from stopping border wall construction to limiting deportations — created a vacuum that cartels have exploited. Human trafficking, drug smuggling, and violent crime all surged as a direct result of these policies.

Biden made raids necessary

ICE raids don’t create problems — they respond to them. Agents now face the task of cleaning up a border disaster the last administration let spiral out of control, and they’re doing it at great personal risk.

If Democrats like Jeffries and Goldman understood the threat cartels pose, they wouldn’t push policies that put federal agents in danger. If they grasped the scale of the crisis — millions crossing unchecked, with thousands of criminals among them — they wouldn’t waste time posturing about “transparency” while ignoring the lawlessness that forced ICE to act in the first place.

Their obsession with exposing agents reflects a dangerous unseriousness. It disqualifies them from offering any credible solution.

ICE agents are not faceless storm troopers; they are public servants enforcing laws that Congress itself passed. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, still in effect, mandates strict enforcement measures, including deportations. Jeffries and Goldman, as lawmakers, should be aware of this. Yet, their rhetoric aligns more with activist talking points than with the reality of law enforcement.

Strong leadership needed

To solve the illegal immigration crisis, we need leaders who acknowledge its severity and prioritize the safety of both American citizens and law enforcement. Jeffries and Goldman have shown they are not those leaders.

Honest brokers would address the root causes — lax policies, cartel exploitation, and unchecked migration — rather than scapegoating the agents tasked with upholding the law. Until they demonstrate a willingness to confront these realities, their voices in this debate are not only unhelpful but also part of the problem. Our ICE agents, their families, and our communities demand better.

Sacrificing children on the altar of science: How the COVID-19 response hurt our most vulnerable

When COVID-19 washed up on American shores, everyone, including children, were believed by the top scientists in the country to be at grave risk. However, once the threat to children was found to be minimal, children instead became suspected of being “super spreaders.”

“Empirical evidence was being ignored, and instead, the officials were following theory. They made up all sorts of contrived reasons,” David Zweig, investigative journalist and author of “An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions,” tells Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable.”

Despite the fearmongering surrounding schools reopening and children’s status as “super spreaders,” the fact that cases went down in places like Europe after children went back to school didn’t phase the scientists.

“What that does suggest, of course, is that children were not super spreaders, schools were not driving the pandemic,” Zweig tells Stuckey. “The point is, the evidence was there that this wasn’t dangerous, this wasn’t increasing cases, and it was ignored, and it was dismissed with these contrived reasons.”

While the mainstream media and “the science” was focused on the potential harm faced by the immunocompromised, what they didn’t seem to care about was how social isolation, masks, and digital learning would affect children in the most formative years of their lives.

“There is something disordered in asking kids to sacrifice on behalf of adults,” Stuckey tells Zweig, adding, “There is something inherently unjust about that.”

“What they aren’t understanding, perhaps, is the incredible harm on so many children, millions of kids, and you have to think about what kind of society, as you said, what kind of society does this to children?” Zweig agrees.

“No one was saved by long-term school closures. No one was saved from masking 2-year-olds. No one was saved by barriers on desks and all this other nonsense. This was only harm. No trade-off. No benefit,” he continues.

“Even beyond the horrors of child abuse,” he says, which he notes became more prevalent during COVID, “there were plenty of kids who became anorexic and bulimic, screen time skyrocketed during the pandemic and never kind of went back down, anxiety, depression.”

"I talked with a lot of mental health professionals for children. Their practices were exploding during the pandemic, and it wasn’t because of people dying, let me be very clear about that. It was directly correlated with kids being kept out of school,” he explains.

Politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) claimed that their hard stance on COVID was only so strict because it was worth it to save even one life — but Zweig knows that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“You’re taking one or more lives to ostensibly try to save that one life. It was extraordinarily foolish,” Zweig says.

“Toxic empathy,” Stuckey chimes in. “It blinds you to reality and morality, and you ignore the victim on the other side of the moral equation.”

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Columbia President Talks Out of Both Sides of Her Mouth on Masking and Disciplinary Process

Publicly, Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong says she's committed to implementing the reforms the Trump administration is demanding. Behind closed doors, she is telling colleagues not much is going to change. In a weekend meeting with roughly 75 disgruntled faculty members, Armstrong told colleagues that, despite national news headlines indicating the school had genuflected before the administration, there would be "no change to masking" and that the university’s disciplinary process "remains independent" and "has not been moved to my office."

The post Columbia President Talks Out of Both Sides of Her Mouth on Masking and Disciplinary Process appeared first on .

Blaze News original: Let us not forget the COVID masking madness those in power put us through

Blaze News recently took detailed looks at a pair of contentious reactions to the spread of the coronavirus several years ago — the left's reprehensible behavior toward fellow Americans who refused COVID jabs and then how COVID lockdown lunacy, tyranny, and hypocrisy harmed all of us.

In this installment, we're breaking down the fallout from masking madness.

'As a concerned carry-permitted gun owner, if you refuse to wear a mask and try to come within 6 feet of me or my family, I will exercise the same constitutional rights to shoot you.'

It's not terribly hard to recall how insane things were at the outset of the COVID pandemic with regard to masking. There were mask shortages and conflicting guidance on their use. Then-U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams posted on social media in early 2020, "Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"

Dr. Anthony Fauci reportedly flipped-flopped on his masking views. Then last year he admitted that there was no scientific evidence behind the six-foot social distancing protocol — or the guidelines for masking children, according to bombshell congressional testimony.

In the meantime, masking mandates were in full swing. It was rare to see folks in public without them. Along with that came scary, ridiculous, and hypocritical behavior.

In the below collection of vignettes, we revisit a bizarre tale of a high school that actually used individual tents for band students so they could play their instruments amid the COVID spread ... elected officials who fiercely enforced masking protocols and ignored them for themselves ... a prominent doctor who said "let 'em die" in regard to those who didn't wear masks ... blatant threats ... admissions of "political theater" in regard to masking ... and tyrannical statements.

This is how they treated us. Never forget.

High school mercilessly mocked for placing band students in tents so they can practice amid pandemic

Washington state's Wenatchee High School in February 2021 came up with a novel way to allow band members to practice their instruments while remaining socially distant in the battle against COVID-19 — placing the students inside individual tents, KCPQ-TV reported.

Of course, students can't wear masks while playing trombones and clarinets. Ergo, the tents were their masks. You can view a video report here showing an extended interview with the school's principal — and the band students in their tents performing.

A number of observers on social media were both disturbed and amused:

"Well this confirms it," a Twitter user declared. "Our decision to move to a Red state is definitely correct."
"Can someone in the Wenatchee area donate a couple of their old camping tents to the high school for the poor tuba players?" another user asked.
"That adults, government, teachers or parents, would abuse young people like this is unimaginable," another commenter wrote.
"They're just f***ing with us at this point," another user said.

Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he held his breath when photo was snapped of him not wearing mask while standing next to Magic Johnson at NFL playoff game

Then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) said he held his breath when a photo was taken of him not wearing a mask while standing next to NBA legend Magic Johnson at the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in January 2022.

Stadium rules stated that "masks are required for all attendees except when actively eating or drinking" in accordance with an order from the Los Angeles County Department of Pubic Health.

“I’ll take personal responsibility,” Garcetti said, according to Deadline. "And if it makes you and everyone else happy — or even the photographs with people where literally I’m holding my breath for two seconds — I won’t even do that.”

One individual on X cast some doubt in regard to the issue, stating that "Eric Garcetti hopes you’re dumb enough to believe that he held his breath every single time he took his mask off at the Rams game."

Photos show far-left California Gov. Gavin Newsom dining unmasked with large party at ritzy restaurant — and state Medical Association officials were among the guests

The optics were sorely lacking after photos showed far-left California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) dining unmasked in a fancy French restaurant with a large group of unmasked guests in November 2020. Certainly a faux pas considering the controversial COVID-19 dining restrictions he instituted.

But Politico soon reported that California Medical Association officials — of all people — were among the guests seated with Newsom at the "opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month." Sacré bleu!

CMA spokesperson Anthony York told Politico in a statement that "the dinner was held in accordance with state and county guidelines." Lobbying firm Axiom Advisors said it was an outdoor dinner, the outlet reported, adding that Napa County restaurants were permitted to offer indoor service at the time of the Nov. 6 event.

Still, Newsom acknowledged the dinner was a "bad mistake." According to Fox News, he added that "I should have stood up and ... drove back to my house. The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted. I need to preach and practice, not just preach."

Despite his admissions, that wouldn't be the first time Newsom was accused of COVID masking hypocrisy. He was photographed without a mask at the NFC Championship Game in early 2022 despite SoFi Stadium rules stating that "masks are required for all attendees except when actively eating or drinking" in accordance with an order from the Los Angeles County Department of Pubic Health. In July 2021, he pulled his children from a summer camp that had no mask requirement — but only after maskless photos emerged on social media.

Hot mic appears to catch Pennsylvania's Democrat governor, state rep laughing about 'political theater' of wearing masks

A video that circulated online in September 2020 appeared to show Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf and Democrat state Rep. Wendy Ullman chuckling over the "political theater" of wearing masks.

The two were preparing to take part in a news conference in Doylestown — a Philadelphia suburb — when Wolf told Ullman, "So Wendy, I'm gonna take — I'm gonna take my mask off when I speak."

Ullman, who was standing near the microphone with her mask still on, then walked toward Wolf and responded off camera, "I will as well, just, I'm waiting so that we can do a little political theater."

Wolf replied, "OK," and the two officials shared a laugh before Ullman walked back toward the podium and added, "So that it's on camera."

Blaze News reached out to both officials for comment about the exchange, but neither immediately replied by the time of publication.

Others had a few things to say, though. One Twitter user replied to a post made by Ullman, saying, "I enjoyed your political theater, meanwhile families and businesses suffer." Another wrote: "Pelosi, Feinstein, now this. Rules for thee, but not for me." The mayor of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, blasted Wolf's and Ullman's actions, saying, "The destruction of the livelihoods of millions of Pennsylvanians is no laughing matter and we don't find this entertaining."

Earlier in September 2020, a federal judge ruled that the state's burdensome lockdowns were unconstitutional. Not long before, Wolf issued an order that made wearing masks mandatory and implemented a policy that limited indoor gatherings to 25 people and outdoor gatherings to 250 people.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot caught breaking own COVID mask mandates

Then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) found herself in hot water in October 2021 after posting a photo of herself violating her own city and state mask requirements.

The left-winger came under fire after posting a photo of herself violating the city's mask mandate during the Chicago Sky's WNBA championship victory. As the Sky took the league title over the Phoenix Mercury, Lightfoot was packed into the city's Wintrust Arena with other fans for the game, Fox News reported. The photo in question shows her celebrating the team without wearing a mask — while surrounded by scores of masked fans. Her move violated both her city mask mandates and the state's mask requirement.

According to Wintrust Arena, fans were required to wear masks at all times, except when eating or drinking, Fox News said. Lightfoot was neither eating nor drinking. The mayor's office did not respond to the cable news network's request for comment.

It wasn't a first for her. Lightfoot repeatedly warned against gathering in large crowds and even blasted a "Reopen Illinois" rally for daring to violate Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order. But in November 2020, she defied the state's commands and joined hundreds of people in the streets of Chicago to celebrate Joe Biden's presidential election while not wearing a mask.

Prominent doctor reacts to news video showing maskless Floridians in grocery store by declaring, 'Let 'em die. I'm so tired of these people. No vaccines for y'all.'

On Feb. 3, 2021, NBC News correspondent Sam Brock shared a video on X showing maskless shoppers and employees inside the Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Naples, Florida. The caption of Brock's video post reads, "Store sign outside cites 'medical exemptions,' we can't ask questions."

The video caught the attention of Cleavon Gilman, an emergency room physician who got a phone call months earlier from then-President Joe Biden thanking him for his work fighting against the pandemic.

Gilman went on a now-deleted ran t directed toward those seen without masks in the NBC News video: "Let 'em die. I'm so tired of these people. No vaccines for y'all."

Gilman also stated — presumably in the wake of his first shot over the bow — that "Republicans trying to take my words out of context as if I deny medical care to people that don't wear masks & 'let 'em die.' My point is that we can't waste our energy on these COVID deniers.. they are not gonna protect themselves, so let 'em die. They'll find out the hard way."

Gilman also wrote that he treats "every patient that comes through the door" the same and that "many" are "gasping for breath and devastated when they find out COVID is not a hoax."

The previous November, Gilman posted on X, "Just as active alcoholics with terminal liver disease are REFUSED liver transplants... People who don't follow preventative public health measures against COVID19 should be the LAST to get hospital beds." That post also appears to have been deleted.

Nancy Pelosi torched for swanky maskless Napa Valley fundraiser: 'It's utter hypocrisy'

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) was seen schmoozing with Democratic deep-pocket donors, none of whom appeared to be wearing masks, at a Napa Valley fundraiser in August 2021.

New York Times journalist Kenneth Vogel posted an invitation for the fundraiser, which shows that tickets started at $100 and were as much as $29,000 per chair. The money raised went to vulnerable frontline Democrats in danger of losing seats in the 2022 midterm elections.

Prominent individuals lampooned Pelosi for the maskless event:

Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.): "Speaker Pelosi wants to lock you down again while she wines and dines with her political donors. It's utter hypocrisy."
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald: "All the servants fully masked. The almost-entirely old, white, rich crowd of DCCC donors free to go maskless as they're served."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.): "Speaker Pelosi does not care about #COVID. Democrats don't care about covid. They only care about controlling you. Magical covid science: The virus stops spreading the minute you sit down to eat or when you speak in a microphone or if you are one of the elites. Liars."
Progressive political commentator Jimmy Dore: "Isn't this what they used to call a 'Super-Spreader Event'? They don't seem worried at all. What do the rich elite know that we don't?"
Attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon: "SUPERSPREADER EVENT!"
BlazeTV "Relatable" podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey: "They're not scared of COVID, in case you hadn't noticed."
Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell: "The white people are all free to breathe without a mask. The people of color must wear masks — and serve. Stop voting for Democrats…they are laughing at how easy you are to manipulate."

Arnold Schwarzenegger says 'you're a schmuck for not wearing a mask' and defends health experts: 'Screw your freedom!'

Arnold Schwarzenegger in August 2021 blasted Americans who refused to wear masks after another spike in the coronavirus infections. Schwarzenegger made the comments during an interview with CNN's Bianna Golodryga.

He said people should trust experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci because they studied the issue for so long — and Schwarzenegger criticized those concerned that their "freedom is being disturbed." With that, he exclaimed, "Screw your freedom!"

He also said, "Yeah, you have the freedom to wear no mask. But you know something, you're a schmuck for not wearing a mask because you're supposed to protect the fellow members around you."

Republican Maryland governor says 'there's no constitutional right to walk around without a mask'

Then-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said in a November 2020 coronavirus media briefing that that "there's no constitutional right to walk around without a mask."

"It's sort of like saying I have a constitutional right to drive drunk, I have a constitutional right to not wear a seatbelt or to yell fire in a crowded movie theater or to not follow the speed limit," Hogan added.

"We're talking about a quarter of a million people dying already. You know, more than, you know, the Korean War, the Gulf War, and the Vietnam War added together. Which part don't you understand?" he asked.

Elementary school teacher placed on leave after comparing anti-maskers to the KKK

A Nebraska elementary school teacher was placed on administrative leave in August 2021 after she shared a social media post comparing anti-maskers to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Elkhorn Public School District announced on Aug. 24 that an unnamed elementary teacher was placed on leave for an unspecified amount of time after posting an illustration comparing people who were against masks with members of the KKK. The image showed the phrase "Isn't it strange they can breathe in this" next to a klansman hood and the words "but not this" next a COVID mask, WOWT-TV reported.

The anonymous teacher told the station, "My personal views on politics, masking, those are outside of the classroom. I love my job. My opinions are not part of my job. I do my job, I teach math, I teach literature, I teach critical thinking skills. We don't talk about politics."

High school staff member who called student 'piece of s**t' over mask dispute resigns, principal says

John Mensik, principal of Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, Illinois, told Fox News in September 2021 that a staff member who was seen in a viral video calling a student a "piece of s**t" for allegedly wearing a mask improperly had resigned.

Fox News said the clip was posted on social media along with a caption that read, "My friend had his mask under his nose, and this Karen went crazy, got up in his face and cuzed [sic] at him."

Fox News said the staffer told the student, "I knew you were going to take off your mask the moment I turned the corner." He then threatened the student with in-school suspension before telling the student that it was "because you're a piece of s**t."

Fox News added that in response to the video circulating online, Mensik sent parents a notice saying the incident was being investigated and would be handled "in an appropriate manner."

Gym holds maskless Christmas party in private home; city officials launch investigation

Officials in Durham, North Carolina, launched an investigation after learning that a fitness studio held a 2020 Christmas party in a private residence during which at least two dozen people gathered without masks, which violated state and local COVID-19 restrictions, WRAL-TV reported.

Triangle Krav Maga posted photos of the party on Facebook, the station said, adding that it featured movies, pizza, "quality booze," a white elephant exchange and other games, and a sleepover for kids.

"Sure beats sitting at home in a mask, doesn't it?" a Facebook post noted about the event, which WRAL said was deleted after the station began asking questions about the party.

Durham officials received at least two complaints about the party, city spokeswoman Amy Blalock told the station.

Triangle Krav Maga owners Molotov Mitchell and his wife, Dr. Greer Gunther, didn't return multiple requests for comment, the station reported.

WRAL said Gunther at the time was in the second year of a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Duke University School of Medicine and that Duke officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The News & Observer reported that some social media posts noted that a Duke University psychiatrist was at the party and encouraged people to contact the university.

Good news for anyone hoping to look like a lunatic: 'Pac-Man' face mask invention allows wearers to eat without actually removing mask

Israeli inventors created a "Pac-Man" mask, KXAS-TV reported in May 2020, which allowed wearers to eat without taking the mask off. Wearers could squeeze a lever that opened a slot in the mask and allowed wearers to eat like the Pac-Man from the iconic video game.

You can view a video report here that shows the mask in action.

Celebrities allowed to go maskless at the 2021 Oscars while the cameras are on — but need to wear them during commercials

In April 2021, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Oscar ceremony attendees would not have to wear masks during the telecast — but would have to wear them during commercial breaks, Variety reported.

"Yep, according to the logic of selective state-imposed mask mandates for showbiz types, science apparently makes it clear that while the coronavirus cannot be transmitted while cameras are rolling, the same crowd is at risk when the telecast pauses to run advertisements," Blaze News' Chris Field wrote in regard to the odd rule.

School board member resigns after threatening to shoot maskless people who come near her or her family

A member of a Pennsylvania school board resigned in May 2020 after threatening to shoot maskless people who came near her or her family.

Jennifer Rager-Kay — then with the Selinsgrove school district's board — in a Facebook post threatened to shoot those in her or her family's path who weren't wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, PennLive reported. Rager-Kay reportedly made the remarks in response to seeing a photo of anti-lockdown protesters in Harrisburg, the state capital, who weren't wearing face masks but were openly carrying guns

"As a concerned carry-permitted gun owner, if you refuse to wear a mask and try to come within 6 feet of me or my family, I will exercise the same constitutional rights to shoot you," she wrote.

Rager-Kay announced her resignation just days after admitting that she had "received threats against my personal and professional well-being," the Sunbury Daily Item reported.

In a statement, she said, "I would like to publicly apologize to anyone offended by my most recent post regarding the hypocrisy of those who refuse to wear face masks yet walk around openly carrying guns. I am in a profession where the threat of someone approaching me not wearing a mask while in the midst of a pandemic is equivalent to the threat against my life. Just as it would be if they approached me with their gun drawn and pointed at me."

She continued, "As a wife, mother, and physician, it is my job and responsibility to 'do no harm,' and the constant barrage of protests and defiance to public health reached a boiling point for me, thus the reason for my overly dramatic and exaggerated post. My words demonstrated how constitutional rights can be misinterpreted and were meant to serve as an example of extremism."