Yep, You’re Doing Just Great

The No Kings protest can indeed be described, to reference the Bard as “All sound and fury signifying nothing”.

We will note that America has not had a king since 1776, and still does not. So I suppose the progressives can go home and congratulate themselves on a job well done today.

After all, with the close of their latest tantrum, we still have no king. Nor do we have an Ayatollah nor dictators for that matter — but these same protesters rather support the ayatollahs and the dictatorship in Cuba now don’t they?

Anyway job well done yelling that we do not have a king. A great success, I’m sure, as we did not have a king before the protest nor during the protest, nor after. 

 

Same Players, Different Protest

Michigan has quite the crop of professional and enthusiastic amateur left-wing protesters.

So much so, the Detroit Free Press unironically juxtaposed this headline with the accompanying picture: 

Apparently this batch of protestors didn't have time to switch from Venezuelan that they had just got to anti-ICE flags.

It is rather hard for them to keep up with the cause du jour, after all. 

Great Success, That

So The No Kings "protest" really got results.

No Kings in America before the protest, and none after.

Very well done, really. 

Some Great Places To Avoid Saturday

The Detroit News:  Metro Detroit police preparing for Saturday protests against Trump immigration policy

Since there's always a chance these Democrat/Progressive grievance fests may become, as the media is wont to describe them, "peaceful", its best to stay away from the areas where the grievance-fests will be held. With 30 of them being organized in this state, that's a decent amount of areas to avoid.

The basic theme of the rather inaptly named "No Kings" organized protests seems to be:

 

This is along with a smattering of all other leftist grievances as per the usual. 

Remember, the issue is never the issue.

It's best to be away from such children when they're having tantrums.

So, This Means The University of Michigan Will Likely Do Nothing

The Detroit News:  UM weighs policy to halt protests, disruptions at school events

The University of Michigan is asking Ann Arbor campus students, faculty and staff for input on a proposed policy to halt school event disruption, four days after a group of students interrupted one its most important academic ceremonies and was protesting again outside the building where the Board of Regents met Thursday.

When they announce they're looking for a policy to deal with disruptive protestors - it probably means they're not going to do anything to the pro-terrorist protesters  that disrupted the honors ceremony.

Even better, the policy would, in fine progressive ivory tower fashion, begin with a strongly worded letter.

No kidding:

 Under the proposed policy, the university would issue written notices to students who violate the policy. They would then be able to meet with school officials to either ask for a formal hearing or accept responsibility and a sanction. Students could face either suspension or expulsion.

We will note that the current student disciplinary policy that already exists can already punish disruption of University events (See Section IV.N)  so they don't need a new policy to handle this incident.   So this announcement is just pretending to do something, while not actually doing anything and sheltering the progressive pro-terrorist students.

Oh Canada Indeed

And now we get to watch what happens in a democratic country when the full weight of government, armed with a law for essentially wartime emergencies, is turned upon peaceful demonstrators:

MSN:

Police in Ottawa have begun to arrest truckers who have occupied the centre of the Canadian capital for three weeks in protest at Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.

The move comes after two of the protest leaders were taken in custody on Thursday night and much of downtown was designated a secure area behind 100 checkpoints. A third protest organiser was arrested on Friday during a Facebook livestream.

Canada’s parliament has shutdown and cancelled plans for a debate about the implementation of the Emergencies Act amid the ongoing police operation.

. . .

Police moved in on Friday morning and have been slowly, but steadily advancing, pushing protesters back towards the centre of the convoy. By lunchtime there had been 21 arrests and 21 vehicles towed — other trucks have reportedly left after officers threatened to smash their windows.

Charming, that.  Nothing says law and order like the Police openly threatening to performing acts of malicious destruction of property to peaceful demonstrators.

Also read that section again - Canada's Parliament - which should have met today to debate and decide on whether Trudeau's invocation of the Emergencies Act is lawful was ordered shut down.  Nice trick to extend these extra-ordinary powers without having any debate or vote on it.  It both spares Liberal Party members form having to vote for or against, and let's Trudeau run wild with it for longer, likely to make cracking down on the truckers a done deal before anything can be done about its invocation.

Meanwhile, as reported in the New York Post: Justin Trudeau sparks outrage after accusing Jewish conservatives of supporting swastikas.

Yes, he actually did that and has yet to apologize.  Schmuck.

Canadian Forces Say No To Trudeau Request To Crack Down On Truck Protest

Apparently Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Canadian Forces to help him get rid of the troublesome truck protestors and the Canadian Forces told him NO.

Good thing the Canadian Armed Forces have upheld their reputation as the Canadian Armed Forces and not tarnished it to become the Liberal Party's Armed Forces and interfere with peaceful protests.

On The Canadian Trucker Protest

In case you didn't know, and the MSM is doing their damnedest to make sure you don't.  For example, both the Detroit News and Free Press fail to mention what is going on with our neighbors to the South (and north - Michigan is funny that way) on the front pages of their websites, nor in the news section at all. You'd think news of this nature would be important to a main border state with Canada with close trade ties and dependence on Canadian parts for the automotive industry, but nary a peep.  Interesting, that.

The story -  thousands of truckers - 50,000 truckers or more - and trucks are descending on Ottawa to protest the Canadian government's mandate that  thy must be vaccinated in order to ship goods across the border and come back to Canada.  The US has announced a similar mandate. 

Both mandates are rather inane. 

The Canadian government under Justin Trudeau is in essence is busily shouting "Respect my authoritay" and the truckers are shouting back:  "No."

Justin Trudeau then bravely ran away from Ottawa tand fled to a secret location avoid the protesters. This is what happens when you make a substitute teacher a prime minister based solely on name recognition because of who his father was.

After all what do truckers do?  

They're driving their trucks in their cabs alone for hours, drop off their loads and come back, not exactly hotbeds of exposure or spread.

As much as they claim to be "following the science": in passing these inane regs that will further snarl the supply chain in both countries, the science actually indicates:

1. You can still catch Covid and variants if you're vacinated

2. You can still spread Covid and variants if you're vaccinated

3.  At best Vaccination does seem to offer some protection from Covid and variants, and you'll likely get having less severe symptoms as a result. 

4.  Unless you're over 70 (and much worse if you're over 80). As an aside, the average life expectancy in Canada is 79.9 for men and 84 for women, and US is 77 for men and 81 for Women pre-covid.  So unless youre of advanced age  close to your life expectancy average, and/or have serious comorbidities, the chance of death form Covid is darn low.

As such, there's really no longer a public health argument to be made for mandatory vaccination to stop the disease from spreading as works with other vaccinations.

The only remaining public health argument is that allegedly being vaccinated means with less severe symptoms you're less likely to need to go to a hospital and use public health resources - but we're seeing vaccinated people also having to be hospitalized so the data is rather unclear.

In short its a personal choice to have the shot and thus a shot at less severe symptomsor not, especially if you're in a low risk group.

Making truckers, who tend to be pretty active and in  lower risk groups in terms of age and comorbidity be required to get the shot is rather inane.

After all, this mandate only happened in January 2022 - truckers have been delivering goods across the border unvaccinated throughout this pandemic now for years with no reported mass outbreaks due to truckers, or any other outbreaks by them for that matter.

This more and more seems to be governments  being desperate to be seen to be "doing something" and flexing their authority without any real scientific basis for doing so - and with a further worsening of shipment delays be damned.

In short, they've had enough with government over-reaction and control over the past few years. You know its bad when you've managed to get Canadians of all people ticked off enough to get up and mount a serious protest:

 

 

Today's Heart -Warming Story

A rally against Anti-Semitism and with a pro-Israel focus was held in El Cajon California.

Antifa showed up along with the Palestinian Youth Movement to attempt to shut down Zionism and of course white supremacy (anyone not Antifa is by definition a white supremacist to them, natch), and to show former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo  that he wasn't welcome there.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not dissuaded and addressed the peaceful crowd that included both Jews and Christian Zionists.

So Antifa and the Palis attacked the rally.

And Antifa and the Palis then got their asses kicked.

A nice happy turn of events.

From The Play Stupid Games Department

The protestors in Detroit are getting bolder and more aggressive.

They're now openly confronting police, especially when the police presence is small.

A couple protestors learned that surrounding a police car, then breaking out a window and jumping up on the hood repeatedly are not conducive to avoidance of injury.

Stories complete with video of stupid in action:

The Detroit News: Chaotic scene as police SUV pushed through crowd after protesters climb on hood

The Detroit Free Press: Protesters thrown from Detroit police SUV after climbing on hood

Of course the protestor's line is they dindu nothin' -- but the video tells a rather different story. This is specially when you see them repeatedly jumping on the vehicle.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and it looks more and more like the protestors want to amp up the stupid games this summer,

BLM: Erase, Remove, And Rename All The Things!

At least anything tied to the history of this country.

First Columbus, now activists want to erase history in Michigan, because our current leftist moral judgment must replace the morals of the times and everyone must be judged by present standards.

Quick history lesson - it wasn't just the South that had slaves both the French and British had slavery in Michigan.

Since slavery is bad, anything accomplished by anyone even remotely related to slavery or even completely unrelated to slavery but done by people with any connection to slavery must be condemned and their memorials and names removed everywhere.

The Detroit News: Monuments to Detroit area’s past seen in new, troubling light: Slavery

Throughout Metro Detroit, slaveholders' names are immortalized on roads, schools and businesses. Some of their images are preserved in bronze or marble. Cass, Macomb, Livernois. Groesbeck and Dequindre, Woodward and Woodbridge. Beaubien, Brush, Beaufait.

Activists want to not just rename all these roads and schools but also Wayne County as its named after General Anthony Wayne, who wasn't nice to the Indians.

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” - 1984 by George Orwell

Orwell was not supposed to be a how-to guide.

Defund The Police, Let The Criminals Out Of Jail, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The progressive left seem determined to reverse the progress Detroit has made with reducing its (still really high) crime rate.

First they want to "Defund the Police" whatever that may mean and they carefully shift the definition depending on the response they receive, as they make ridiculous comparisons between the City's Department of Health budget and the police budget. Quick tip - most healthcare in this state and country doesn't come from the city level, whereas police protection does come form the city budget.

They want to do away with Project Greenlight as it's been rather too effective in reducing criminal activity in areas - criminals get caught on camera and facial rec identifies them. They don't like that so they've literally had car caravans block traffic near City Counsel members homes - and even the wokest city council member ain't havin' none o' that.

Then they want to simultaneously spring criminals out of jail without bail or any promise that they will show up for their hearings for offenses like, well, unarmed robbery: The Detroit Free Press: How nonprofits are getting people out of metro Detroit jails during COVID-19 pandemic - Do note that it takes until the bottom of the fifth paragraph before their poster child for no bail, who was worried about family members with cancer and catching the Wu-Flu in jail herself, was in jail for unarmed robbery. 

 Maybe she shouldn't have done the crime in the first place had she been so concerned about the consequences, right? The article of course sets her out as a sympathetic and of course discriminated against because she's Black. The victim of her unarmed robbery was apparently not available for comment.

So the mob in Detroit is calling for defunding the police, eliminating cameras in high crime areas, and allowing offenders to stay out of jail after committing crimes.

What could possibly go wrong?

This Is Gonna Get Gud: Detroit Protesters Threatent to Put The Mayor On "Trial"

Get your popcorn and marshmallows ready folks, the more progressive left is about to smack the lesser progressive left.

At least they're sticking with the classics and threatening a "People's Tribunal". Not very original, but a classic is a classic.

The Detroit News: Protesters say they plan public tribunal against mayor, police

Protesters say they plan to put Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Police Department on trial next Saturday over actions by officers during the first days of protests in the city two weeks ago.
Detroit Will Breathe, an organization formed from the outrage over the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, will hold a public tribunal 4 p.m. on June 20 at a location to be determined, featuring protesters who were arrested, ticketed or "brutalized" by police to hold city leaders accountable.

Yep, that's go to go over real well.

Will the Mayor and Police Chief kow-tow to the mob? Will they ignore the trial? Will he instead send juice boxes and binkies, and maybe cartoon instructions on how to wear a mask properly (see the pics ion the linked Detroit News article)?

Stay tuned.

Gov Half-Whit Even Lied About Always Wearing A Mask At The Protest

It is good to know that the Coronavirus has a sense of social justice and lack of social distancing is not a problem at a BLM protest, as that's socially importanter than the spread of the Coronavirus.

In other news, remember how Gov Half-Whit violated her own social distancing rule at the protest?

Remember how she claimed she didn't violate it because she was wearing a mask for the protest and not hugging or high-fiving anyone, even as she violated the 6-foot rule of her executive order?

Turns out she in fact did not wear a mask the whole time and it's caught on video.

Who ya gonna believe, Governor Half-Whit or your own lying eyes?

Breitbart: Gretchen Whitmer Falsely Tells MSNBC She ‘Wore a Mask the Whole Time’ During George Floyd Protest

Her speech with her mask off was rather trite and insipid. She really shouldn't have unmasked and potentially exposed herself for such a lousy speech.

Anyone able to keep track of the sheer number of lies Gov Half-Whit has made these past few months?

Detroit Protestors Make 11 Demands. None Will Shock You.

Unsurprisingly, the protestors have now proffered a list of demands to the City of Detroit, many of which have little to do with BLM and more with the overall leftist agenda.

The Detroit Free Press: Protesters pose 11 demands of city as rift erupts before Tuesday march

The demands are mostly vague, ethereal, and a cornucopia of leftist cant:

►Defund and demilitarize the police; - the cause du jour that really hasn't been thought through at all. Defund apparently doesn't mean what the word means but some other ethereal feel-good solution. Its apparently shorthand for letting criminals run free.

►End Project Greenlight, a public-private community partnership that uses real-time camera surveillance throughout the city, and facial recognition software to identify suspects; - Get rid of a solid means to catch criminals doing robberies and assaults because that's a crowd-pleaser among those committing said robberies and assaults and their supporters. Again making ti harder to catch criminals in the act does nothign for the citizenry and protects the criminal class in Detroit.
►Drop all charges and citations against protestors; - Red rioters for protestors. Yep we ought to just call this movement Black Criminals Matter at this stage. If they cave to this demand, the rule of law in Detroit is over.
►Do not carry out eviction orders; -Because who wouldn't want to live rent free without paying the rent, right?
►Drop citations received by Detroiters during the stay-at-home order; - Again, its amnesty for the criminal class in Detroit. Because partying at the gas station in defiance of the stay at home order is ok if you're from Detroit, neh? What happened to Black Lives Matter and preventing the spread of the disease killing Black folks disproportionately?
►End “consensual” sex between police officers and those under custody; - Ok, this one I fully support and that one should be the case already, really.
►Prosecute and fire any police officer involved in police brutality; - Sounds nice but lacking specifics and knowing Detroiters, police brutality means any force used when a Detroit is resisting arrest at all, so that's gonna be a pass.
►Do not criminalize homelessness; - It's another lovely idea lacking any specifics, and homelessness right now is not criminalized in any case. Likely it means allowing vagrants to take over the city, aggressively panhandle, crap in the streets a la San Francisco, and harass people unhindered by the police.
►Make Detroit a sanctuary city, a municipal jurisdiction that limits cooperation with the national government’s effort to enforce immigration law; - Detroit already is a sanctuary city in all but name, with the current exception that when illegal criminals are arrested when committing a crime, the Police will may ICE, and one would think getting rid of illegal criminals would be a good thing, but not to these folks.
►Create an independent office for disabled citizens, - What this has to do with BLM is anyone's guess, probably someone's favorite interest got a vote, just creating an other bureaucracy to staff with favored people here.
►Restore and maintain running water for all Detroiters. - Yay, free water paid for by others.

I'm a tad surprised they didn't demand a free pony as well. After all, who doesn't love a free pony?

In short it's the standard leftist wish-list of a multitude of desires and foremost the coddling and protecting criminals and the demanding of free stuff.

Meanwhile, the protesters are starting to squabble over who is leading the movement: Protester meets mayor, but others question legitimacy as leader - revolutions tend to eat their own.

Gov Half-Whit: I Was For Defund The Police Before I Was Against It, But I'm For It

Also Gov Half-Whit: I'm for defunding the police, but defund the Police doesn't mean defund the Police.

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer says she supports 'the spirit' of 'defund the police,' then clarifies

The Detroit News: Whitmer supports 'spirit' of efforts to 'defund the police'

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday she supported the “spirit” of efforts to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd’s death last month at the hands of Minneapolis police, a statement that her office later clarified did not indicate support for eliminating funding for law enforcement.

How very sophisticated, the word Defund means "to stop providing the money to pay for something". Now we're being told that when the progs say it, it doesn't mean that.

Verily our dear Gov Half-Whit has gotten so woke she's gone through the looking glass and is taking a page from Humpty-Dumpty:

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

The Left has been toying with language and the meaning of words for years, to suit whatever their cause of the day happened to be. Just don't ask them how it is that the Democrats were the ones in charge of the police in these cities all this time. They'll probably tell you that Democrat doesn't mean Democrat.

Gov Half-Whit: 6 Feet Social Distance? Meh.

It is still a potential $1,000 fine for violating the 6 foot social distancing requirement in Michigan right now.

The Detroit News: With little social distancing, Whitmer marches with protesters

You know, the one she castigated protestors against the lockdown for violating .

For our dear governor Half-Whit those rules of course don't apply. And of course she lies about violating her own rules:

Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown told the Detroit News that Whitmer wasn't in violation of her executive order.

Note that her own FAQ states:

"Q: Does Executive Order 2020-110 prohibit persons from engaging in outdoor activities that are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
A: No. Persons may engage in expressive activities protected by the First Amendment within the State of Michigan, but must adhere to social distancing measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including remaining at least six feet from people from outside the person’s household."

Who you gonna believe, Gov Half-Whit or your lyin' eyes?

Note she's not even close to a half-foot of social distance, much less her demanded 6 feet.

Rules for thee indeed.

NY Times Conveniently Decides Protests Are Now Patriotic Again.

Not very long ago, the NY Times Opinion page was chock full of how protesting against the government was dangerous, un-American, and downright unpatriotic if not unconstitutional (yes, really).

Anti-Lockdown Rebels Don’t Get to Choose Their Own Constitution

and

The Anti-Lockdown Protesters Have a Twisted Conception of Liberty

In short, protests against the government according to the NY Times was bad, and racist too.

It had been so written.

But now - Hooray! Protests are Patriotic once again!

New York Times: In America, Protest Is Patriotic.

The NY York Times, it be a changin'.

So protests with looting and arson in the name of a politically favorable cause = good.

Peaceful protests against arbitrary and capricious lockdown decisions, with no violence, looting, vandalism, or rioting, not to mention leaving the protest grounds cleaner than how the anti-lockdown protstors found them = bad.

Got it.

Michigan Protests: Dulan's Maxim Strikes Again

Dulan's Maxim, by Steve Dulan is a rather simple one as far as maxims go, and verily is all sorts of true:

Dulan's Maxim: No matter what side of any debate you are on, there will always be someone on your side you wish wasn't on your side.

Yes it sadly is true. The recent protest in Lansing provides some sterling examples of the maxim in action.

The protest in Lansing was about Governor Half-Whit's excessive and arbitrary executive orders shutting down this state.

So, of course, some people have to get off message, not to mention out of their cars, and allow the leftists to point them out and make the entire protest appear to be a partisan, alt-right, noisemaking event.

Newsflash there bub:

1. Michigan was never part of the confederacy.

I realize the guy likely went to a public school here, so that ignorance is perhaps understandable, but not excused.

2. The protest is not about firearms as her executive orders (almost surprisingly) actually haven't touched firearms sales nor rights in this state.

But, good job giving the media an excuse to ignore the multiple signs about the nature of the shut down and its harm on small businesses and their owners and employees throughout this state.

Second, the Nazi related signs are going a tad overboard. Whitmer ain't Hitler, not even close. It made you look like a bunch of clownfish to compare her as such. Again, this is detracting from the very valid points the protest was making regarding the lock-down.

Note how the media makes sure to get the swastika signs full play and downplays the majority of signs demanding an end to the lockdown and allowing people to work? Nice playing into their hands guys.

The media will go out of their way to distract from the valid points of the protest that this arbitrary and economy-destroying lockdown cannot be tolerated. The media will work to portray you as a bunch of cousin-humpin' redneck ignoramuses and will deliberately choose the most inflammatory images to portray you in the worst possible light. Don't make it easier for them. Those signs and confederate flags are not helping.

I will, however, set one allegation straight that has been made by the leftists about this protest: They (Governor WEhitmer among them) claimed the protestors blocked access to Sparrow Hospital for ambulances. The protestors did not block access to Sparrow Hospital beyond normal traffic: Lansing State Journal: Sparrow, Lansing Fire Department: Protest did not cause any major issues with patient care. So at least there's that.

Overall, the protest even while marred by some idiots in the spotlight, seems to have gotten the message across that this shutdown is excessive and causing massive harm. We will see whether Gov Half-Whit chooses to double down or not.

While it sounds like she may use the protest as an excuse to double down:

"The sad irony here is that the protest was that they don't like being in this stay-home order, and they may have just created a need to lengthen it," Whitmer said. "...Just by congregating, they've made that a real possibility."

But, latest news shows that she may have gotten the point and is suggesting restrictions may be loosened May 1.