Friday, February 7, 2025

Oak Barrel & Vine to open at Wheaton Plaza


Oak Barrel & Vine
is coming soon to Westfield's Wheaton Plaza mall, according to signage posted across its future storefront. The store is the recent concept developed by the Montgomery County government monopoly on liquor sales, to create a government store that more closely resembles a private liquor store. Each store has some location-specific design touches. When it opens, look for Oak Barrel & Vine on Level 2 of the mall in the Costco wing, across from Nando's Peri-Peri.



Thursday, February 6, 2025

Proposed Maryland law would jail social media users for posting deepfake, AI, or altered media of political candidates


A new law proposed in the Maryland legislature would impinge on the 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech, and result in potential fines and jail sentences of up to 5 years for posting "deepfake," AI-created, or otherwise-altered media featuring candidates during elections. The text of MD House Bill 525 does not even distinguish between official posts or advertising by political campaigns against opponents, and social media posts by individuals. As currently written, the law would expose all citizens to a threat of fines up to $5000, and jail terms of up to 5 years. 

Censorship on social media was a significant issue in the 2024 election. It's surprising that the sponsors of this bill believe this is an opportune time to propose new restrictions on freedom of speech. The vague and broad language in the bill would have a chilling effect on negative political speech, and is clearly unconstitutional. If passed during the current legislative session, the new law would take effect on June 1, 2025.

Maryland Comptroller owes taxpayers a fine - with interest - for 1099-G data breach


Has an apology even gotten you out of paying your taxes, or fines, to the Internal Revenue Service or the Comptroller of Maryland? It's thought-provoking, then, that Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman believes that an apology is sufficient to cover a shocking data breach by her agency. "On February 4th, The Office of the Comptroller identified a printing malfunction that led to a limited batch of roughly 6,000 1099-G forms going to incorrect addresses," the Office of the Comptroller posted on its website yesterday. "The printing error did not impact other tax forms produced by the agency. There was no external data breach; this was an internal issue. Individuals who mistakenly received another person’s information should destroy the document immediately."

In other words, personal identification data and financial information of "roughly 6000" Maryland taxpayers was exposed to identity theft by the Office of the Comptroller. What is going to happen in terms of accountability? "We sincerely apologize for not catching the error and for any distress this incident may cause the affected individuals," the statement concluded. "We will be altering our process in the future on printing jobs to ensure this type of incident does not ever happen again." That's it?

Has that kind of response ever worked for you with federal or state tax authorities? Of course not. Has the Maryland legislature taken steps to hold Lierman accountable for the data breach in the last 48 hours? Negative on that front, as well.

Who does "public servant" refer to? Do our elected officials serve the public? Or is it the other way around? The latter seems to be the case virtually 100% of the time. Government believes it is entitled to an ever-increasing amount of the income you generate through your own labor and enterprise. Government cannot be held accountable, but it will bankrupt you, and throw you in prison for the same behavior.

The fact is, the Comptroller's office owes all Maryland taxpayers whose data was exposed a check. A fine, with interest added for each day that passes since February 4, 2025. Not surprisingly, the local lapdog media, and the Comptroller's elected friends in Annapolis, are not calling for this.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Wheaton Dunkin' Donuts temporarily closed for renovations (Photos)


The Dunkin' Donuts store at 2405 Reedie Drive in Wheaton has temporarily closed for renovations. This is an ongoing series of renovations to the franchisee's Dunkin' Donuts locations across Montgomery County. In addition to the remodeling, expect signage to be updated with the new, shorter "Dunkin'" branding that drops the "Donuts" half of the name. This store was a popular stop for drivers of the Metrobus L6 route during the 1980s, and with good reason.






Tuesday, February 4, 2025

New Maryland regulation will raise cost of buying a home, agency warns



A new directive issued by the Maryland Office of Financial Regulation last month will raise the cost of buying a home, and make financing harder to obtain, credit rating agency KBRA warned yesterday. The January 10, 2025 licensing rule update requires mortgage trusts and their assignees to obtain licenses under Maryland’s Installment Loan Licensing Law and Mortgage Lender Law. MOFR clarified that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, all other federal, state, and local governmental loan purchase programs, as well as any trusts created by these entities, are exempt from the rule. However, as KBRA noted, $3.7 billion in Maryland loan balances are currently financed by the U.S. non-Agency securitization market.

"Non-agency" means private mortgage securities not backed by the aforementioned government and quasi-government agencies or entities. KBRA said the new licensing requirement will likely reduce the number of financing sources available to homebuyers in Maryland. For those who can still obtain financing, KBRA warned, the reduced competition and higher licensing costs will be passed on to homebuyers in the form of higher monthly payments. A new Washington Post/University of Maryland poll found the already-high cost of housing is now the top concern of Maryland voters.

Monday, February 3, 2025

Physical media DVDs, CDs vanish at Target in Wheaton


DVDs and CDs have vanished at local Target stores, like this one at Westfield's Wheaton Plaza mall. Gone are shelves of movies, TV shows, and music CDs. In their place are just books and vinyl records. Many of the latter are Target-exclusive editions. A few CDs remain available, primarily by Taylor Swift and K-pop artists. The flop of Joker 2 continues to resonate, as Lady Gaga's companion album to that box office bomb is now on clearance. Remember: whatever you buy, you only own it forever if it's on physical media.




Friday, January 31, 2025

Virginia created twice as many jobs as Maryland in 2024


The year-end job creation numbers from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics are a total humiliation again for the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County. Our rival across the Potomac River, Virginia, created twice as many jobs as Maryland in 2024. Virginia added 76,900 jobs last year, while Maryland created a paltry 38,400 jobs by comparison. In the closing month of December 2024, Virginia added 4,900 new jobs, while Maryland added a laughable 200. That's a 2 with only two zeros after it.

“Virginia’s labor market continues to demonstrate resilience and growth, with a strong increase in nonfarm payrolls, a growing labor force, and low unemployment,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said in a statement. “Our commitment to business-friendly policies, reducing costs, and fostering innovation has created an environment where both Virginia companies and Virginians can thrive.” 


Virginia was named America's top state for business in 2024 by both CNBC and Business Facilities magazine. The latter is a professional journal covering the topic of corporate headquarters relocation. While the Old Dominion has added multiple major and Fortune 500 corporate HQs this century, Maryland was a loser in all of those competitions. Among those choosing Virginia over Maryland were Northrop Grumman, Nestle, Intelsat, Lidl, Gerber, Volkswagen, Amazon, and Hilton Hotels. Here in Montgomery County alone, our elected officials have failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. 

Who can forget the Montgomery County Council laser-focusing on a bill to ban circus animals on the very day that Discovery Communications was sealing the deal with two other states to move their HQ from MoCo to their cities? Or the Council canceling the biggest transportation project in White Flint on the very day that Amazon representatives were touring that area during their HQ2 search, which we lost to...Virginia? Scrapping your biggest transportation project the same day that a logistics-obsessed firm like Amazon is visiting: Sheer genius! Heckuva job, Brownie!

While Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) is promising higher taxes and fees, and a 75-cent charge on every Amazon and food delivery order, Youngkin is asking the Virginia legislature to cut taxes on his constituents and businesses. Virginia has made major investments in new transportation infrastructure and site development, all while keeping taxes lower than Maryland. 


Maryland elected officials, by contrast, have blocked every meaningful congestion relief project, and have directed Maryland State Highway Administration officials to increase congestion by placing absurdly-low speed limits on major commuting state highways. They've even ordered MDSHA to remove vehicle lanes from many of those highways, including Old Georgetown Road, Georgia Avenue, and University Boulevard in Montgomery County alone. 

Rather than invest in site development for corporate campuses, and high-wage research and manufacturing facilities, MoCo and Maryland leaders have instead turned such valuable land over to their developer sugar daddies for new stack-and-pack residential housing. Taxes? Nobody in the region pays more than Montgomery County taxpayers.


Given the history of Virginia decimating Maryland in job creation this century, the only surprising thing about the 2024 numbers is that yet another historic drubbing of Montgomery County and Maryland officials is not being covered by the local media. Failure and incompetence are never brought to busy voters' attention. We can still enjoy the irony that Montgomery County's international business trips are - bizarrely - most often to Communist countries like China and Cuba, but that failures in policy and economic growth of the magnitude we find in Maryland often result in removal, or even jail, in those nations.