Michigan Legislature Closes to Avoid Gathering of Lockdown Protesters

Michigan Legislature Closes to Avoid Gathering of Lockdown Protesters

Michigan is a hot mess. See here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Thursday, Mary blogged about a lockdown protest, which by all appearances, seemed perfectly rational and understandable, given the circumstances.

From MLive:

We are not the “rednecks” the media portray us to be, said an organizer of Lansing protest against Michigan’s coronavirus-prompted stay-home orders told the crowd.

“We’re still showing up, we’re not going away,” ‚34-year-old Wendy Darling of Ann Arbor, who identified herself as the founder of Michigan United for Liberty, the group behind the rally. “We won’t be bullied, we won’t be harassed … We’re not going away until Gov. Whitmer resigns from office, gets impeached gets recalled — that’s what we want. We want Michigan open.”

One person held a sign that said, “Whitmer is the virus.”

Mike Gibson told MLive.com that “he would have been standing in the same spot had former Gov. Rick Snyder” issued the same lockdown restrictions:

“The Constitution is meant to put shackles on government,” he said. “That is an American concept. It shouldn’t matter what party you belong to.”

He’s not expecting the rally to impact Whitmer’s decision making.

Whitmer “will most likely extend everything,” Gibson said. “That was her intent from the beginning. I don’t think this will stop or dissuade her.”

He equated his attendance to a 150-pound woman fighting off a 300-pound assailant in a back alley.

“The 150-pound woman doesn’t just lay there and get beat; she needs to defend herself,” he said. “That’s pretty much the extent of it, for why you have to speak up. Because you have illegal actions from a politician that violate natural law.”

We’re the 150-pound woman and the assailant is the government, Gibson said.

Because of the protests, Michigan’s legislature called an early end to their session. From Bloomberg (which explains the skewed language):

Michigan closed down its capitol in Lansing on Thursday and canceled its legislative session rather than face the possibility of an armed protest and death threats against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The gathering, meant to advocate opening the state for business despite the coronavirus pandemic, followed one April 30 that resulted in pictures of protesters clad in military-style gear and carrying long guns crowding the statehouse. They confronted police and taunted lawmakers.

“Taunted lawmakers.” Gee, if only lawmakers worked for us… if only… Bloomberg ctd:

The shutdown was done with little fanfare at the end of Wednesday’s State Senate session. About 4:30 p.m., lawmakers in the Republican-majority chamber simply adjourned until Tuesday rather than call the next previously scheduled meeting for Thursday morning at 10 a.m. The Michigan State Police are closing the buildings due to the coronavirus, said spokesman Lieutenant Brian Oleksyk.

For the past week, lawmakers have been debating how to safely enable lawmakers to work and vote in session while the state’s laws allow people to bring firearms into the capitol building. The debate grew more tense in recent days as some lawmakers read about threats to the governor’s life on social media, which were published in the Detroit Metro Times.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an opinion on May 11 saying that the State Capitol Commission — a body of six lawmakers who oversee the building and its grounds — could ban firearms. The commission voted to study a ban this week, but took no action.

Thursday’s protest, billed as “Judgment Day,” was organized by the right-wing group Michigan United for Liberty, which is protesting the state’s extended stay-at-home order. Whitmer pushed the order to the end of May while giving automakers, their suppliers and other manufacturers the green light to go back to work. On its Facebook page, the group posted a memo asking that protesters remain peaceful.

“The group posted a memo asking protesters remain peaceful.” Talk about a buried lede, but anyway. Michigan needs to get their ish together.

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