Armed militia helped a Michigan barbershop open, a coronavirus defiance that puts Republican lawmake
Source: Washington Post
An Owosso, Mich., police officer speaks with Karl Manke about his defiance of state orders to keep his barber shop closed. (Nick King/AP)
By
Moriah Balingit
May 12, 2020 at 5:46 p.m. CDT
OWOSSO, Mich. Armed members of the Michigan Home Guard stood outside Karl Manke's barber shop, ready to blockade the door if police arrived. They were determined to help Manke, 77, reopen his shop Monday, in defiance of state orders, and dozens joined them, wearing Trump sweatshirts and Trump cowboy hats and waving Trump flags.
They gathered not because they desperately needed haircuts but to rail against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)s approach to fighting the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan, one of the nations worst hotspots. They were channeling President Trumps support of such protests, but some also were taking aim at the states Republicans, who they say have not done enough to liberate the state from safety measures that have ground life to a halt.
Michelle Gregoire, a 29-year-old school bus driver from Battle Creek who is running as a Republican for a seat in the state House, waved a yellow Dont tread on me flag at passing traffic. She derided Whitmer as a tyrant. But she also urged Republicans to get in line and get it together.
The protest and others like it including two at the state house last month that included demonstrators with swastikas, Confederate flags and some with long guns inside the capitol have alarmed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. But after Trump appeared to urge the militia members on, tweeting that they are very good people who want their lives back again, they have forced Michigans Republican lawmakers to strike a delicate balance, managing a deadly virus while also being careful not to contradict Trump or alienate their conservative supporters.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/coronavirus-michigan-republicans-whitmer/2020/05/12/54975e1a-9466-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html
Srkdqltr
(6,128 posts)If one goes to that barber shop and gets the virus can the barber be sued? Seems if he goes against the order it would open him up to liability.
vanamonde
(160 posts)"my brain hurts!"
Srkdqltr
(6,128 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)Google "python gumby".
There's a 24 second clip that will show you the absurdist humor behind it.
eppur_se_muova
(36,227 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)Alacritous Crier
(3,805 posts)LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,539 posts)Unfortunately for them -- and their families -- if they keep it up many of them won't be alive when November rolls around, and they will have just ... died.
I'm assuming the bottom photo is of Monty Python.
pecosbob
(7,510 posts)Even state Rs are on record denouncing these stunts.
gristy
(10,667 posts)Granted, there are several differences in the details, but that event did not end well for the nitwits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)MichMan
(11,789 posts)They should have plenty of space to lock up an 77 yr old man for cutting hair.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Much more than just "cutting hair"
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)predictable end ?
What in the Hell happened to Michigan ?
dubyadiprecession
(5,620 posts)They are the ones, getting all these tin foil hat wearing, nut jobs worked up!
Midnight Writer
(21,547 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,368 posts)Are meat plant workers welcome to come in and get haircuts?