On Thursday, hundreds of “Liberate Michigan” protesters showed up in Lansing at the State Capitol to show their continued displeasure with Governor Gretchen “Half” Whitmer’s tyrannical edicts. Some of the protestors brought their long guns, which caused a stir.
Whitmer, who’s been campaigning to be Joe Biden’s vice presidential candidate, gained the coveted title as “Worst Governor in America” during the Wuhan flu pandemic the old fashioned way: she earned it.
With emergency orders ranging from a ban on motorized watercraft to a prohibition on the sale of infant and child car seats (both are apparently non-essential), the Wolverine State’s chief executive has ticked off plenty of everyday people who don’t normally concern themselves with politics.
Per order from @GovWhitmer, people in Michigan are now banned from purchasing a new baby car seat in stores.
This is dangerous and this order needs clarification immediately. #migov #mileg pic.twitter.com/hlWNab6OTY
— Tori Sachs (@Tori_Sachs) April 11, 2020
As Whitmer sought to extend her powers, everyday people showed up to protest. And the fact that some brought their long guns caused some legislators to piddle themselves.
Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #mileg pic.twitter.com/voOZpPYWOs
— Senator Dayna Polehanki (@SenPolehanki) April 30, 2020
Someone queue up Chicken Little for Senator Polehanki.
Don’t tell Polehanki that soft body armor doesn’t stop rifle fire.
Plenty of news outlets covered the protest including ABC News:
Hundreds of protesters entered the Michigan State Capitol building Thursday and crowded its halls and staircases demanding that the state legislature not extend Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s coronavirus stay-at-home order.
Numerous protesters, some not wearing masks, got into the faces of state police officers stationed inside the building and shouted to be let into the chambers, which are closed to visitors due to health precautions.
State legislators were meeting to discuss extending Michigan’s state of emergency, which was issued on March 10 and was slated to end on Thursday.
Protesters, some armed, spill into Michigan Capitol building demanding end to stay-at-home order https://t.co/3bE3oDW7qX via @YahooNews
— tweetybird (@tweetyb10072338) April 30, 2020
Not surprisingly, Al-Jazeera was a little more sensationalistic with their reporting.
Hundreds of angry protesters, some carrying firearms, gathered at Michigan’s State Capitol in Lansing on Thursday to protest against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s request to extend the state of emergency to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The protests came as state legislators debated a measure refusing the governor’s request and voted to authorise a lawsuit challenging her authority and actions to combat the pandemic.
At one point during the legislative deliberations, dozens of protesters – many without face coverings and some with rifles slung around their chests – entered the Capitol and demanded to be let into the House chamber, which was closed to the public to allow room for representatives and reporters to spread apart. The crowd shouted, “Let us in” while mask-wearing sergeants and state police blocked them.
Americans continue to resist increasingly corrosive and authoritarian edicts from power-mad local and state officials. After all, the Bill of Rights doesn’t have a “flu exemption.”
Plenty more protests are scheduled for various other states today, May 1, as well as this coming weekend to protest lockdown orders viewed by many as unnecessary and burdensome.
