Oh, Democrats. If it weren’t for hypocrisy, evil, and mendacity, they’d have nothing.

The new governor of Maryland (as of January this year) is a phenomenally talented fellow named Wes Moore. He’s got what reads initially as a terrific background story, with a host of accomplishments since his mother packed his truculent teenage butt off to Valley Forge Military Academy to get it in line: Army officer with an Afghanistan tour, Rhodes scholar, investment banker, TV producer, film maker, author, you name it. No wonder they swooned over him.

He also seems to carry the same sort of “problematic” issues with paying taxes/utilities…

Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore owes Baltimore City $21,200, having failed to pay any water and sewage charges over the last 18 months, online records show.

…and resume stretches – especially regarding military service – that are pretty commonly ignored when it’s a Democrat running for office, especially one as appealing as this guy.

…Moore is also a decorated veteran. In 2010, during a book tour event for his first book, The Other Wes Moore, Moore appeared on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. Host Stephen Colbert introduced Moore to the show by rattling off some of Moore’s accomplishments.

“You’re a decorated veteran in the Afghan War, is that correct,” Colbert asked.

“Yes,” Moore said.

“You have a Bronze Star,” Colbert asked as a quick follow-up.

Moore can be seen in the frame of the screen before a camera cut shows just Colbert on camera. Moore appears to nod his head and says yes.

…Three years later, an article appears in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talking about a book tour event Moore was holding in the city. The author of the article calls Moore a Bronze Star recipient.

…FOX45 News reached out to the U.S. Army for confirmation of Moore’s Bronze Star Medal. Sgt. Pablo Saez, a U.S. Army Spokesperson, provided information regarding Moore’s military history, including his deployment to Afghanization from August 2005 to March 2006.

…“There is no record of a Bronze Star Medal in his file,” Sgt. Saez said.

I also despise weasel words like the ones Moore’s spokesman uses along with “combat veteran.”

…“In hundreds of interviews about his military service and veterans’ advocacy, Wes Moore – a decorated combat veteran who proudly volunteered to lead soldiers in combat with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan – has never claimed to have a Bronze Star,” the spokesperson said.

Good on him – the “M” device on his reserve medal means he volunteered to go to Afghanistan when his unit got called up. He never claimed to have a bronze star, but he sure didn’t actively correct anyone personally to the contrary. That’s awful. Moore doesn’t ever note he has a “combat action ribbon” or “combat infantry badge.” The only “awards” mentioned in his biographies are the National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Parachutist Badge and Army Service Ribbon. None of them have a thing to do with being in combat and I would think that he would want to burnish those “combat” claims with something that proved them.

That’s what’s weird here to me. Being in a combat zone doesn’t make you a “combat veteran.” Buttigieg larping on a hillside in half a kit with his rifle doesn’t make him a “combat veteran,” however much he wishes it did. Besides, in today’s military, every officer is a volunteer, so of course he’s offered to “lead men in combat.”

As most Americans are unfamiliar with military awards, they don’t realize many of them are handed out simply for being on active duty during a designated time of conflict, or in a proscribed theatre. You don’t have to do anything more than wear a uniform within the parameters of the award. National Defense – no big deal, everyone gets one, even a supply clerk in Albany, GA. Afghan Campaign Medal – anyone who ever did a pump there from Oct ’01 to Aug ’21 gets one. See how this works?

If I was calling myself a “combat veteran” the first damn thing I’d list in the age of Blumenthal fabulists would be my combat infantryman badge or combat action ribbon. Quite frankly, the Army hands out Bronze stars for admin duty, too, so they don’t necessarily denote heroics.

The combat badge and ribbon mean you got shot AT and, more importantly, had to shoot back. That’s “combat.” That’s the only way you get them, and the only way you earn being called a “combat veteran.” Period.

I dug and dug, and found one video from a fellow Army officer who served with him who talks about “outside the wire” (not one word about “combat” – weird again), and several references to being in Khost with the 82d’s 1st Brigade.

There are no specifics – it just feels so weird. For such a well known guy – in fact, touted as quite possibly the “second black president” – I can find TWO pictures of him in Afghanistan (Shoot. Hubs came back from the First Gulf War with a boatload and that was FILM, for crying out loud.).

Just weird.

Put that combat action/infantryman out there if you have it, dude. Just sayin’. The others mean bupkiss for what you’re claiming and if you earned it, for crying out loud, be proud of it.

So, yeah. There are problems already with Gov. Moore. Conflicts with image and his stories shifting and his public persona should really be worth a second and thrid look.

When the Fox Baltimore station dug into the bronze star issue and a few of the other, reported inconsistencies in his narratives, they were accused of perpetuating racist dogwhistles and smears from a rival campaign. Always how it rolls when you start questioning a rising Democratic star.

…A spokesperson for Wes Moore’s campaign issued a statement, doubling down on the intent behind the request for the investigation into who put the dossier together and the allegations included.

“This attempt to put Wes Moore’s childhood trauma under a microscope neatly aligns with blatant dog whistles and other mischaracterizations of Wes’ childhood that have been circulating for months and that are now the subject of a criminal investigation by the State Prosecutor’s Office,” the spokesperson said via statement.

Maryland elected him anyway.

The scrutiny, such as it was, hasn’t slowed him down a whit, though. Gov. Moore’s inconsistencies have continued apace, even as his love affair with high falutin’ rhetoric and the camera is emboldened by his new status.

He wants to make “bigotry” expensive.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says rhetoric & efforts by the right-wing to limit how U.S. history is taught is personal.

“You cannot condemn my history and you cannot minimize it without thinking that you are making a direct attack on my present and my future" https://t.co/XcYhiNkuLt

— Susan Bordson (@susanbordson) June 18, 2023

Slapping at Gov DeSantis with lies as he does so.

…MOORE: The challenge I think that we’ve seen from DeSantis is these stunts are not new. Listen, he’s running on the idea of, well, look at the Florida model of success. The Florida model of success is doing things like going after your largest employers, right? And make your largest employers pull billion-dollar projects, because you have decided that this is something that works for you politically.

The Florida model of success is telling women that the decision about your reproductive health is not between you and a doctor. Actually, this [state house representative] and this senator and this governor should have a say in that. The Florida model of success is telling people that books about Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente should not be read because it makes people feel bad.

Another soaring bit of rhetoric from the governor about those banned Florida books?

Not letting children read about sexual depravities at tender young ages is “CASTRATING them.”

Maryland Democrat Gov. Wes Moore says restricting certain highly sexualized and racist books from school libraries is "telling other kids that they shouldn't understand their own power. It's castrating them." pic.twitter.com/FnJmMn1i7w

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 19, 2023

And the governor would know all about child castration, having signed a bill at the beginning of May to allow just that. He’s a peach of a guy, no?

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday signed a bill that requires the state’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment.

The Trans Health Equity Act is one of the more than 100 measures that Moore signed during a ceremony that took place at the State Capitol. Some of the other bills the governor signed focused on reproductive rights and marijuana.

And, yes – it specifically allows children to be chemically castrated. What a world these Dem pols live in.

Human Rights Watch is over the moon with Gov. Moore’s signature.

…Gender-affirming care is age-appropriate care that is medically necessary for the well-being of many transgender and non-binary people who experience symptoms of gender dysphoria, or distress that results from having one’s gender identity not match their sex assigned at birth. Gender-affirming care is the integration of medical, mental health and social services. For transgender children, transition is an entirely social process which may include a new name or pronouns, wearing different clothes or styling one’s hair differently. At puberty, doctors may – in consultation with and having the informed con

ent of the transgender youth and their parents – prescribe reversible medication known as puberty-blockers, which allow a young person to safely reach an age in which they’re truly able to consent to further treatment.

See the lies in that? “Reversible”? “Safely”?

“The U.S. sex reassignment surgery market size was valued at USD 1.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.23% from 2022 to 2030.”https://t.co/oq6nWgrdde pic.twitter.com/eSNYGcqnE2

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 19, 2023

It’s all a Potemkin Village of love and affection for these trans kids, no?

In Democratic politician’s mouths, like Gov Moore’s, withholding a book until it’s age appropriate is “castration,” but the irreversible damage of puberty blockers is “affirming.”

Evil. Mendacity. Hypocrisy..

A Democratic day ending in “Y.”