Analysis by Letters To The Beast
Michigan militia puts armed protest in the spotlight
Gun-carrying protesters have been a common sight at some demonstrations calling for coronavirus-related restrictions to be lifted. But an armed militia’s involvement in an angry protest in the Michigan statehouse Thursday marked an escalation that drew condemnation and shone a spotlight on the practice of bringing weapons to protest.
The “American Patriot Rally” started on the statehouse steps, where members of the Michigan Liberty Militia stood guard with weapons and tactical gear, their faces partially covered. They later moved inside the Capitol along with several hundred protesters, who demanded to be let onto the House floor, which is prohibited. Some protesters with guns — which are allowed in the statehouse — went to the Senate gallery, where a senator said some armed men shouted at her, and some senators wore bulletproof vests.
“Their faces partially covered.” Yeah, we call those “masks.” You know the things that corporate media has been shaming, bullying and outright forcing many people into wearing? The things that “Doctor” Scarf Lady have been telling us how to make? Clicking on the link details how protesters were allowed into the capitol buildings with their guns, and screen by state police in the process. It also details how masks were required by law. So, in the process of “partially covering their faces,” the protesters were complying with Michigan law, ill-advised as it may be.
For some observers, the images of armed men in tactical gear at a state Capitol were an unsettling symbol of rising tensions in a nation grappling with crisis. Others saw evidence of racial bias in the way the protesters were treated by police.
Those “observers” would be the liberal corporate news media who go into a full blown panic when power is threatened or in any way challenged.
For some politicians, there was fresh evidence of the risk of aligning with a movement with clear ties to far-right groups.
Prominent Michigan Republicans on Friday criticized the showing, with the GOP leader of the state Senate referring to some protesters as “a bunch of jackasses” who “used intimidation and the threat of physical harm to stir up fear and feed rancor.”
Regardless of philosophy, nothing unites politicians more than the spectacle of their club being invaded by the peasants demanding redress of their grievances. While the “prominent Republicans” are not named, conservative Americans’ exasperation with RINOs is what got Donald Trump nominated, then elected, in the first place.
For decades, corporate media has tried to shame conservatives into going along with liberal policies by quoting support from the likes of John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Marco Rubio, John Boehner, and other completely useless RINOs masquerading as conservative Republicans.
President Donald Trump, who has been criticized in the past for condoning extremist views, called the protesters “very good people” and urged Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to “make a deal.”
A stealth attempt at race baiting here. But keep reading. It gets better.
Michigan has been the epicenter of the political showdown over how to contain the spread of the deadly virus without decimating the economy. About a quarter of the state’s workforce has filed for unemployment and nearly 4,000 people have died.
The Centers for Disease Control Company has instructed hospitals to state “COVID-19” as cause of death even for people that died WITH the virus, not of it. A person who clearly died after suffering heart attack or a catastrophic injuries sustained in a car wreck didn’t actually die of those injuries. No. Now, he or shoe died of “COVID-19.” The hospital now gets $13,000 from the federal government and the hospital bills are covered as well.
Rally organizer Ryan Kelley said the event was intended to pressure Republicans to reject Whitmer’s plan to continue restrictions on work and travel. He called the protest a “huge win,” noting the Republican-controlled Senate refused to extend Whitmer’s coronavirus emergency declaration — though she said Friday her stay-at-home order remains in effect.
So those Republicans, whom the typist praised just a few paragraphs earlier, rejected the Governor’s efforts nonetheless. And the governor is now clearly acting outside the law.
Kelley, a 38-year-old real estate broker, said he and other organizers are not part of a formal group but represent people who have been harmed by the stay-home order. He said he invited the Michigan Liberty Militia, which is listed as an anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, to serve as “security.” He suggested anyone who had a problem with their presence should read the Constitution and “live life without fear.”
Now we’re getting to the good part. A growing mass movement of people coming together because of government tyranny. People that, unlike leftists, were too busy working at their jobs in the past. Until governmentS (plural) pulled the rug out from underneath them.
And now, as if on cue, bring in the disgraced and discredited “Southern Poverty Law Center,” a liberal law firm founded by former Klan lawyer and George Wallace campaign worker Morris Dees.
Southern Poverty Law Center is a scam, not an arbiter of justice
Dees, of course, was fired by the SPLC for racism and sexual harassment.
Gun-carrying protesters outside state capitols are a regular occurrence in many states, especially in Republican-leaning ones. But rarely do such protests converge at the same time around the country like they have during the coronavirus pandemic.
Let’s take this one-by-one. If “gun-carrying protesters outside state capitols are a regular occurrence…” Then, what’s the problem? And if these are a “regular occurrence in many states, especially in Republican-leaning ones..” Then there must be many states which are Republican leaning. And if protests are occurring in them, many of us must be governed against our will and our consent.”
“But rarely do such protests converge at the same time around the country like they have during the coronavirus pandemic.” It’s amazing how throwing tens of millions of people out of work based on questionable medical advice which has proved to be wrong, presuming to strip us of our God-given rights, ordering us locked down in our homes, making us endure a failed unemployment system where NOBODY is getting paid will cause some people to start having bad thoughts about our ruling masters.
In Wisconsin, about a dozen men, several wearing camouflage, carried what appeared to be assault rifles and other long guns and stood around a makeshift guillotine at a protest attended by about 1,500 people. In Arizona, a group of men armed with rifles were among hundreds of protesters who demonstrated at the Capitol last month demanding Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lift his stay-home order. Many in the crowd also carried holstered pistols.
Oooh. They were wearing scary cloths. And they, maybe, might have been carrying what sort of looks like, (SCREAM!) “ASSAULT RIFLES and other long guns…” Then again, they could have all been carrying Markmen .177s and Daisys.
“…stood around a makeshift guillotine at a protest attended by about 1,500 people” So…this wasn’t a REAL guillotine? It didn’t actually REALLY cut anybody’s head off? So if Marie Antoinette were standing nearby, perhaps eating $20-a-pint gourmet ice cream out of a $40,000 freezer, she would be safe?
How about leftist protests where they “appear to be burning” conservative public figures? Do you get as worked up about that, A.P.? How about Anti-F.A. protesters – wearing masks of course – swinging what appear to be bike locks and smashing what appear to be store windows and looting what appears to be merchandise and attacking what appear to be elderly people? What’s your take on that, Corporate Media?
Gun groups have been involved in organizing several of these protests — which drew activists from a range of conservative causes. Gun rights advocates believe the restrictions on some businesses and closure of government offices are a threat to their right to own a gun, said Michael Hammond, legislative counsel for Gun Owners of America, a group that bills itself as the “no compromise” gun lobby.
Hammond said he routinely gets messages and emails from people around the country, complaining that authorities are making it impossible to exercise their Second Amendment rights. In some cases, that has meant orders closing gun shops or gun ranges or offices shutting down that process permits.
Well, if the gun stores and pawn shops are being ordered closed, and offices where state background checks and permitting are required (which, thank heavens, doesn’t include us here in Florida), and the act of buying weapons and ammunition legally is made impossible because those stores and offices are deemed “non-essential,” that does present a problem, doesn’t it?
But Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-control group, considers these protests organized by the ultra-right and not necessarily reflective of most gun owners.
Your humble correspondent was wondering when they were going to get around to telling us what Michael Bloomberg thought. Notice how the typist refers to these protests as “ultra-right,” though an opposing label (ie “far-left,” “ultra-left” or “alt-left”) has never been applied by corporate media to the myriad of protests since Donald Trump became President.
While it’s legal to openly carry firearms inside some state capitols, Watts called it “dangerous to normalize this.
As the government crack down on us continues, get used to it honey. It’s only going to get worse (for your side) from here on in.
Armed intimidation has no place in our political debate.”
What do you call your police enforcers?
She said those carrying guns at protests are almost always white men, and are “a vocal minority of the country” that opposes the stay-at-home orders.
Ohh, not only wearing scary clothes, they were WHITE, too. And, of course, this is just a MINORITY of gun owners. The rest of you are good, reasonable, compromising people. You go along with what we say. It’s just a few of you kooks. Some of our best friends are gun owners!
Your humble correspondent was wondering when they were going to get around to telling us what Michael Bloomberg thought. Notice how the typist refers to these protests as “ultra-right,” though an opposing label (ie “far-left,” “ultra-left” or “alt-left”) has never been applied by corporate media to the myriad of protests since Donald Trump became President.
An overwhelming majority of Americans support stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus, according to a recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
In other polling news, Hillary Clinton has a 98 per cent chance of being elected President on November 8, 2016. Liberal polling firms paid by liberal media push-polling liberal respondents are certain of it.
The visual of heavily armed protesters, mostly white men, occupying a government building to a measured response by law enforcement is a particularly jarring one for many African Americans.
As we didn’t get the point earlier, it’s those pesky white folk again. The protesters got off easy because the Michigan State Police didn’t kill everybody in sight.
But now, here comes the good part. “particularly jarring…for many African Americans.” (No mention, of course, of how it appeared to Americans born in the United States.”
It draws a stark contrast to the images that emerged from Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, when crowds of unarmed, mostly black men, women and children took to the streets in protest after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown. Then, National Guardsmen mounted on military vehicles shot tear gas indiscriminately to disperse the crowds, further flaring tensions between the predominantly black community and law enforcement.
Oh, look. They brought the gentle giant who was mowed down whilst his hands were up back to life. Were the National Guard and Missouri state police before or after the locals attacked other people, burned down homes, business, cars, smashed windows and broke into homes and businesses and looted everything in sight?
“Systemically, blackness is treated like a more dangerous weapon than a white man’s gun ever will, while whiteness is the greatest shield of safety,” said Brittany Packnett, a prominent national activist who protested in Ferguson.
Had the militia protesters in Michigan behaved the way the “hands up” rioters in Missouri did, the response from the Michigan State Police likely would not have been as “measured.”
The Michigan demonstrators, she added, “are what happens when people of racial privilege confuse oppression with inconvenience. No one is treading on their rights. We’re all just trying to live.”
No, honey. The Michigan demonstrations are what happens when good people gather together peacefully to demand redress of their grievances, make their statements, and then leave and go home. Had the protesters been black, or any other race, the result would not have been any different. The A.P. typists failed to mention if any of the Michigan State Police officers were black.
Of course, it’s equally possible that the very presence of guns amongst the Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona protesters is what helped keep them safe from a police riot in the first place.
Trump, meanwhile, suggested it was Whitmer who should be moved to action.
“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” the president tweeted Friday. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
Whitmer should take the advice of another Democrat…
In reading the Associated Press’s tale of the Michigan Protests, one might almost get the idea the Michigan State Police weren’t ready to kick off a civil war with the American people, by whom police are outnumbered 300 to 1. They probably decided, since everybody was behaving themselves and acting within the law, better to save that honor for California, Illinois or New York.
Associated Press reporters David Eggert and Mike Householder in Lansing, Michigan, Lisa Marie Pane in Boise, Idaho, Aaron Morrison in New York and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Hey, guys. If I were you, I would have posted this story anonymously. “By A.P. Staff”
A word to our ruling masters: If we all got back to work, those of us who actually do the work wouldn’t have the time nor the inclination to go out and protest the loss of our livelihoods. Maybe government throwing millions of us out of work wasn’t exactly the wisest course of action. Especially when we own hundreds of millions of guns.
DMCA: Editorial Response
Letters To The Beast 