by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
When I get to feeling sorry for myself because I am adrift in a cultural backwater with only the sketchiest memories of what life back in civilization looked and felt like, an outrage flares up in another part of the country that jolts me into the realization that things here in the Ozarks could be a lot worse than they are.
Yesterday the "national crazy" descended on Lansing, Michigan, when hundreds of protesters - many of them armed and all of them ugly - descended on Michigan's capital city and shoved their way into the state's capitol building. And while they tried to gain access to the floor of the legislative chambers and were rebuffed the by the building's sergeant-at-arms and Michigan state troopers, the armed activists did make it up into the galleries where they could peer down and shout threats at the legislators as they tried to do their work.
Some of the legislators were wearing bulletproof vests. Some were filming the protestors with their cell phones and live-blogging the event.
Michigan is an open-carry state, and there are, at present, no restrictions regarding the carrying of firearms inside of the state capitol building.
The protestors called their action the "American Patriot Rally" and were sanctioned and organized by a Facebook group called "Michigan United for Liberty." They were demanding that Michigan end its stay-at-home policies and let the people "get back to work." Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has recently extended her stay-at-home order through May 15th. The Michigan House is controlled by the Republican Party and is apparently not in agreement with the governor on her policy.
Governor Whitmer has said that Republicans are treating the virus like a political problem rather than a public health crisis. Michigan currently has over 41,000 known coronavirus infections, and 3,789 people in the state have died from the COVID-19 disease. On this Wednesday alone, the day before the gun-toting protest in the Capitol Building, the state had 980 new cases and 119 additional deaths.
In addition to the safety issues created by morons with guns, for the legislators to social distance properly they need the space afforded by the visitor galleries, and with the armed protestors occupying the galleries, legislators were denied the space they need to safely do the people's business.
Donald Trump, a person who can never pass up an opportunity to stir the pot of public dissent, tweeted his encouragement of the on-going protests in Michigan two weeks ago with a political taunt of "Liberate Michigan!" At that time it was widely assumed that the organized protesters were being agitated not only by Trump, but by the national and state GOP as well as by "Michigan United for Liberty," a dark money group thought to be funded in large part by the family of US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband Dick, an heir to the Amway fortune.
Early this morning Trump was tweeting again:
It used to be that we did not want our leaders dealing with terrorists, but now the President of the United States is encouraging that very thing!
Lawsuits are flying, and at some point bullets may fly as well, but hey, isn't that what freedom is all about in Donald Trump's America? Any of these "very good people" have the God-given right to carry their guns wherever they damn well please, and point them at anyone who gets in their way or offers a differing opinion on anything, and squeeze the triggers if the spirit moves them.
As long as they are godly, and patriotic, and white, of course.
Citizen Journalist
When I get to feeling sorry for myself because I am adrift in a cultural backwater with only the sketchiest memories of what life back in civilization looked and felt like, an outrage flares up in another part of the country that jolts me into the realization that things here in the Ozarks could be a lot worse than they are.
Yesterday the "national crazy" descended on Lansing, Michigan, when hundreds of protesters - many of them armed and all of them ugly - descended on Michigan's capital city and shoved their way into the state's capitol building. And while they tried to gain access to the floor of the legislative chambers and were rebuffed the by the building's sergeant-at-arms and Michigan state troopers, the armed activists did make it up into the galleries where they could peer down and shout threats at the legislators as they tried to do their work.
Some of the legislators were wearing bulletproof vests. Some were filming the protestors with their cell phones and live-blogging the event.
Michigan is an open-carry state, and there are, at present, no restrictions regarding the carrying of firearms inside of the state capitol building.
The protestors called their action the "American Patriot Rally" and were sanctioned and organized by a Facebook group called "Michigan United for Liberty." They were demanding that Michigan end its stay-at-home policies and let the people "get back to work." Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has recently extended her stay-at-home order through May 15th. The Michigan House is controlled by the Republican Party and is apparently not in agreement with the governor on her policy.
Governor Whitmer has said that Republicans are treating the virus like a political problem rather than a public health crisis. Michigan currently has over 41,000 known coronavirus infections, and 3,789 people in the state have died from the COVID-19 disease. On this Wednesday alone, the day before the gun-toting protest in the Capitol Building, the state had 980 new cases and 119 additional deaths.
In addition to the safety issues created by morons with guns, for the legislators to social distance properly they need the space afforded by the visitor galleries, and with the armed protestors occupying the galleries, legislators were denied the space they need to safely do the people's business.
Donald Trump, a person who can never pass up an opportunity to stir the pot of public dissent, tweeted his encouragement of the on-going protests in Michigan two weeks ago with a political taunt of "Liberate Michigan!" At that time it was widely assumed that the organized protesters were being agitated not only by Trump, but by the national and state GOP as well as by "Michigan United for Liberty," a dark money group thought to be funded in large part by the family of US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her husband Dick, an heir to the Amway fortune.
Early this morning Trump was tweeting again:
"The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal."
It used to be that we did not want our leaders dealing with terrorists, but now the President of the United States is encouraging that very thing!
Lawsuits are flying, and at some point bullets may fly as well, but hey, isn't that what freedom is all about in Donald Trump's America? Any of these "very good people" have the God-given right to carry their guns wherever they damn well please, and point them at anyone who gets in their way or offers a differing opinion on anything, and squeeze the triggers if the spirit moves them.
As long as they are godly, and patriotic, and white, of course.
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