Michiganders with Guns Storm House of Representatives for Their Right to Contract Coronavirus
NewsPolitics
Protests against national stay-at-home orders have spread rapidly in the last week, fueled by rampant misinformation from far-right conspiracies, economic unrest, and the colossal failure of our government, on both federal and state levels, to accurately respond to this pandemic.
Today, in Michigan, WILX reports that armed protesters, swathed in American flags and the occasional Guy Fawkes mask, stormed the state House of Representatives. Multiple protesters WILX spoke with claimed that the virus “wasn’t real,” and that they believe their “constitutional rights are being taken away.” Similar to other protests happening in states like California, Ohio, Texas, and Washington, they demanded a removal of statewide stay-at-home orders as well as guidelines about wearing personal protective equipment. If the virus isn’t real, then it obviously can’t hurt them, right?
Earlier in the day, WILX reported that Michigan’s House of Representatives had “passed a resolution authorizing the Speaker of the House to commence legal action on behalf of the House, challenging the governor’s authority and actions during the coronavirus pandemic.” Alongside this, Michigan Live reports that the House adjourned without extending the local state of emergency. As such, the state of emergency will be lifting at the end of the day, removing Gov. Whitmer’s ability to issue emergency executive orders related to the pandemic.
According to MLive, Gov. Whitmer believes her executive privileges remain, regardless of today’s vote. House Speaker Lee Chatflield, meanwhile, told reporters:
“The idea we want to put an abrupt end to the state of emergency and go back to normal immediately is a lazy political talking point. We all agree Michigan must continue taking strong steps to fight the spread of this disease. But we can both protect the public health and protect the individual people who make up our great state.”
Chatfield claims that the media has pushed “lazy talking points” that the Michigan house wants to immediately re-open the state, but that they intend to do otherwise. Do the armed nu-Tea Party protesters strong-arming the same talking point know that? Something tells me they should be informed before they storm any more government buildings. [WILX]
During a press conference today, congressional ghoul Nancy Pelosi claimed she has “complete respect for the whole #MeToo movement,” but will still press forward in supporting known creep Joe Biden in his bid for the presidency because “there is also due process.” During a subsequent appearance on CNN, while speaking to Alisyn Camerota, Pelosi was asked if she believed Biden should “address [Tara Reade’s allegations] himself.” Instead of answering the question directly, she ducked and dodged in her Donna Karan scarf, claiming she was “satisfied” with Joe Biden.
Camerota asked again: Should Biden address the allegations directly? Pelosi, again slipping her way out of an answer, instead praised Biden’s former staffers who have claimed they didn’t know “one iota” of “such a claim.” She then told Camerota, “We have an important election, one of the most important we’ve had. […] I supported him because he is a person of great values, authenticity, imagination, and connection to the American people.” Is anyone actually sure she’s talking about Joe Biden?
If her talking points sound familiar, it’s because they are. As Buzzfeed News reported earlier in the week, an internal Biden campaign memo urged Democrats to insist that his alleged assault of Tara Reade “never happened.” Seems like Pelosi has been studying up. [CNN]
Truthfully, I have no idea what this means. But godspeed to them!
- Trump has probably chosen his campaign manager as the next blood sacrifice. [CNN]
- Trump is still blaming China. [Washington Post]
- Trump is still blaming China, and has also roped in the “intelligence community” to help him. [New York Times]
- An engineer given $69 million by New York for ventilators failed to deliver, shockingly, despite having no medical experience or first-hand knowledge of medical grade supplies. [Buzzfeed News]