Michigan and lockdown politics
(Dan here…simultaneous and probably related is the declining testing being done currently, and the federal lack of keeping track of nursing home and other long term care facilities deaths, as this group double downs on the “re-0pening” without precaution.)
Washington Post reports:
If all roads in Michigan lead to the state capitol, conservative protesters on Wednesday made sure they were closed.
For miles, thousands of drivers clogged the streets to demand Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) ease restrictions and allow them to go back to work. They drowned downtown Lansing, Mich., in a cacophony of honking. They blared patriotic songs from car radios, waving all sorts of flags from the windows — President Trump flags, American flags and the occasional Confederate flag.
…
As The Washington Post reported earlier this week, conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation and American Legislative Exchange Council are urging GOP lawmakers and the White House to push back against public health experts in a bid to reopen the economy as quickly as possible.
…
Elsewhere, protests similar to the one in Michigan played out in North Carolina and Ohio, as conservative protesters swarmed the capitol grounds to urge Govs. Roy Cooper (D) and Mike DeWine (R), respectively, to ease restrictions and reopen the economy. In Ohio, some in MAGA gear pressed themselves up against the windows of the Capitol building, photos in the Columbus Dispatch show.
When did it become acceptable to wave the CSA battle flag in Michigan?
I am not a historian, but I am pretty sure that Michigan was a strong Union state.
Apparently residents of gated communities in the Upper Midwest feel that they are securely insulated from the spread of Covid-19.
…and I really doubt that many of those protesters in Michigan live in gated communities, but I would guess that people that own their local media companies do.
davebarnes:
Michigan was definitely a union state flying a false flag. I live where the CSA battle flag is real. Around here most people just ignore the governor’s orders outside of the capital and major metro areas. Sit down restaurants are closed, but we are mostly a carry-out class here anyway. In behavior there is no apparent distinction by race, but in risk there is since most of the nursing homes have majority black staff. Being 71 years old and 25 years a smoker (quit the second time about 8 years ago) then I will be ecstatic to live another year.
If you just look at proven cases of and deaths attributed solely to COVID19, there is an ~5% death. The former is only an estimate in Michigan as they have had an aggressive testing program. The death rate probably does not include those who died of another cause after contracting COVID19 and those who were delivered dead to the hospital and not tested.
We have some pretty stupid people here in Michigan who by protesting without protection may have contracted COVID 19 and will not come down with it till 7-14 days pass. By being with other people as carriers, they will infect them.
First Amendment note:
A constitutionally protected exception to social distance rules is political demonstrations — think Chicago Teachers Union style. So, ironically, the one thing anti-lock down demonstrators have in their favor is that they cannot be locked down.
I would seriously like to get this concept widely understood everywhere with the Donald about to attempt to starve the Post Office of all funds as of September — possibly losing all the mail in votes down the drain in November — or enough of the right votes to reverse the results of the election — with the rigged Supreme Court ready to back him up.
Then he tries to use lock down to prevent demonstrations against the takeover move (democracy’s last ditch way to send a message). Banana republic time? No; Moscow time. Wonder if the Donald is getting secret instructions from Putin on how to cave in democracy in US — he did it in Russia.
Ignorance and denial + Money.
Run,
“…We have some pretty stupid people here in Michigan who by protesting without protection may have contracted COVID 19…”
[Definitely so. Our urban dumb rednecks have demonstrated similar behavior, but our rural dumb rednecks are not so dumb. It is far less risky to just ignore the rules than it is to participate in public demonstrations at the state capital to protest the rules. So, our rural dumb rednecks are just quietly going about their business as usual, except that about half are wearing face coverings to maintain a façade of compliance. ]
Ron:
They were both kinds in Lansing, MI. Defiant dumb ones.