It’s always “fun” when North Carolina makes the national papers for the very worst reasons imaginable, something I expect to happen near-constantly as long as Madison Cawthorn is serving in Congress.

That’s right, he’s at it again.

Today, The Washington Post chronicles how the 26-year-old congressman from western North Carolina, who was home schooled, is rallying behind Buncombe County parents in their efforts to depose the county’s school board for instating a mask mandate for unvaccinated students and teachers as the fall semester approaches.

From the story:

“Coronavirus cases are on the rise among children in North Carolina, where Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn slammed a county’s new school mask mandate, calling the measure ‘psychological child abuse.’

“The greatest threat to our children today does not come from COVID-19. It comes from woke, liberal government officials like you who think they are all-knowing and all-wise,” Cawthorn told members of the school board in Buncombe County, which sits on the western side of the state and includes Asheville.

The first-term congressman was one of the dozens who railed against the board’s decision on Thursday night. The board had voted earlier that day to require unvaccinated students and teachers to wear masks while inside or on buses when school starts later this month. The conservative firebrand’s comments were met with applause.”

Glad to see he’s getting back to the district to do the real important work.

As the story notes, in North Carolina, cases among children totaled more than 15 percent of new infections in early July, the Carolina Public Press reported. Children under age 12, of course, are not yet eligible for coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, experts say the answer to reducing spread of COVID-19 in public schools is clear: just wear the damn masks, and tell your kids to, as well.

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Follow Editor-in-Chief Jane Porter on Twitter or send an email to jporter@indyweek.com.