Whole article found here at The Spectator.
The Canadian wildfire is a reboot of Covid panic mode. They will only stop with the fearmongering when Americans start to ignore them.
I was skeptical when my children arrived home from school Wednesday and informed me they could not play outside, irritated when they used the faculty fearmongering to demand screen time, irate when we pulled into the drop-off line Thursday morning. There was the crossing guard in an N95, a teacher in the same. A small boy was wrapped in useless cloth, dragged to the front steps by a mother sporting a surgical mask and a smart business suit. Evidently, cartoonish shoulder pads are making a comeback after a three-decade slumber, but mass panic barely had time to take a nap here in Washington before bureaucrats roused it in the name of public safety.
The situation alarmed transportation secretary Peter Buttigieg, who warned that the smoke may lead to flight delays in New York City and throughout the Acela corridor. The press will no doubt point to his brave tweet as an example of stalwart leadership — the better for the voters to forget the toxic train derailment in East Palestine under his watch. The explosion and black plumes filled with actual poison happened way out in the Rust Belt— that’s nothing compared to the havoc of extended wait times into JFK, or Gaia forbid, helipad logjams in the Hamptons.
All of this has occurred just two months after President Biden officially lifted the Covid emergency order that enabled the government to hand-deliver millions of relief dollars without a shred of accountability. You get the sense the fearmongers were itching for any excuse to intrude upon the lives of the public. The bureaucracy is only human; they respond to incentives. And after witnessing Americans turn against their neighbors and families and unmasked toddlers, why wouldn’t the power-mad try their hand at getting the average American to be fearful of the sky itself?
They will only stop with the fearmongering when Americans start to ignore them, no matter how many times they flash their credentials.