Althouse: "Here’s hoping the lock down governors who’ve enjoyed exercising their emergency powers will actually take measure to protect public safety. Any bets?"

June 1, 2020

"Here’s hoping the lock down governors who’ve enjoyed exercising their emergency powers will actually take measure to protect public safety. Any bets?"

Randy Barnett tweets.

37 comments:

Jeff Brokaw said...: Not taking that bet. It’s beyond obvious now that the very same governors and mayors who were so SO worried about keeping people safe now have no plan to establish control over chaos caused by idiots who want to destroy people and property just for the sake of destroying it.

It’s stunning to me, what is going on lately, and the message could not be clearer. The rule of law and property rights are being dismantled before our eyes.; 6/1/20, 7:36 AM
Gusty Winds said...: Before coming back to Wisconsin I grew up in a DuPage County Suburb that borders Cook County; Elmhurst IL. Yesterday the protestors fanned out to the Chicago Suburbs…Oak Brook, Lombard, Elmhurst, etc… The DuPage County Sherriff and local police were head of the game monitoring the coordination on social media. Before too much damage was done, they closed off ramps to I-88 all the way west to Farnsworth exit in Aurora to protect the outlet mall.

Chicago’s lockdown Mayor Lightfoot FAILED. Dane County official FAILED. Minnesota FAILED. Milwaukee did a little better. Like the Suburbs of Chicago yesterday, there is a protest in Waukesha today at 11am. They are encouraging people from out of town to go. It was fully promoted by the Waukesha Freeman yesterday leaving the organizers unidentified. We’ll see how Waukesha handles things differently that blue areas. Hopefully it remains peaceful for all, because there are A LOT of deer hunters in Waukesha County.

But the recipe for disaster has already been laid by our liberal educators. I am having a hell of a time this morning trying to get my ex to take my 20-year-old daughter’s car keys. They live in Waukesha. She is 5’0”, 100lbs. Not good.

I don’t know the events where my parents live, but there was heavy police presence throughout the neighborhoods and threats were made to hit residential areas. Perhaps the next step in the plan. If there is a shot fired it will be like Lexington and Concord. No one will know who fired first. But it will be hard to stop.; 6/1/20, 7:37 AM
bagoh20 said...: I think it's a new phenomenon, but I'm not sure. There's this propensity with one of the political parties to punish law-abiding citizens and to ignore, forgive, even protect the people who break the laws with things like sanctuary cities, and gun control, open borders, government corruption, lying to congress or the FBI, and on and on. It's seems like some kind of obsession with doing exactly the wrong thing.; 6/1/20, 7:46 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: David Reaboi
✔
@davereaboi

"[We're] living for the moment between Democrat talking points, when riots are both (a) totally righteous and justified, and (b) the dastardly work of Trump, Russians, white nationalists, etc."; 6/1/20, 7:52 AM
MayBee said...: Is COVID still a thing?

I hate to think it's come and gone and my governor spent the whole time unable to get the unemployment system working properly.; 6/1/20, 7:55 AM
gspencer said...: "I'll take 'They'll Side With the Rioters" for a million dollars, Alex"; 6/1/20, 7:56 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "Like the Suburbs of Chicago yesterday, there is a protest in Waukesha today at 11am. They are encouraging people from out of town to go. It was fully promoted by the Waukesha Freeman yesterday leaving the organizers unidentified."

Inga's in Waukesha County. Will she prance and virtue-signal in her cute little homemade mask? Or maybe she'll be out there with binoculars, searching for boogaloos! She'd better be careful. Some moronic Inga who was all down with The Struggle yesterday was outraged when he left the march and found out his own car had been smashed. It's tough for these white lefties who want to Fight Oppression when they find out that their own stuff has been vandalized. "No! I'm a Good White Person! Smash someone else's stuff!"; 6/1/20, 8:07 AM
stevew said...: Governors, and mayors, are elected officials. They are good at campaigning and winning election. Some have previous executive experience in the private and public sector. Some have training and education in political science, public policy, and law. Few, if any, are trained in crisis management. As we saw with the reaction to Covid and now the rioting, they are not competent to make decisions about these crises that will have a positive impact. To the extent they do do something that has a positive impact, it is just a coincidence.; 6/1/20, 8:09 AM
rehajm said...: A thread about how protesting during a pandemic was described when conservatives were doing it; 6/1/20, 8:19 AM
Dave Begley said...: The Omaha Mayor set the curfew last night at 8 pm. The Nebraska State Patrol helped the Omaha police from Day one. The National Guard is ready. Tear gas was used appropriately and early. Many people arrested. That didn't happen in Dem cities as far as I could see. The worst was the video from Philly. It was a helicopter shot. Rioters were destroying police cars and the police did nothing! They were 100 yards away. They have guns, Mace and handcuffs. WTF?; 6/1/20, 8:22 AM
Sebastian said...: "Here’s hoping the lock down governors who’ve enjoyed exercising their emergency powers will actually take measure to protect public safety. Any bets?"

Well stated, Randy. Of course, the inaction now also confirms that the enjoyment of emergency powers had more to do with the exercise of power than with solving the problem.

For progs, everything is a tool, including, as we now know, a pandemic.; 6/1/20, 8:28 AM
Birkel said...: Althouse:
Are you taking the bet?
Have events penetrated the bubble?; 6/1/20, 8:28 AM
AlbertAnonymous said...: Anyone in California seen Gavin Newsome lately? He put himself in front of cameras all the time during his Covid - 19 curfew. Now... crickets.

And what the hell is Kamala Harris doing at a “protest” outside the White House? She’s a United States Senator for goodness sake. You don’t GET anymore “establishment” than that. She’s sticking it to “the man” but she IS the man.

Useless pieces of shit, both of them.; 6/1/20, 8:36 AM
wild chicken said...: Can't Trump activate the national guards? Didn't Ike send troops to Little Rock?

He needs to step in because the governors are all hogtied by their own PC pieties.; 6/1/20, 8:36 AM
Jeff Brokaw said...: @GustyWinds — I too live in Dupage and seeing looting here is a real shock. Avoiding that stupidity is *exactly* why people choose to raise families here (plus good schools and quality of life). It’s been cultivated over decades, quite intentionally, and what we do NOT want or need is importing dysfunctional Chicago bullshit.; 6/1/20, 8:37 AM
ga6 said...: Chicago led by leftist lawyer and Illinois led by a spoiled brat billionaire who will say/do what ever gets him admiration from the left...result.. body count this past weekend (not Memorial day)is at 21 dead 46 wounded pending a newly discovered body or three. Five homicides in ten hours in Englewood the 7t Police District. None by Police.

Can the NYT, the New Yorker, or The Atlantic parse some trenchent thoughts about these numbers and what they represent?; 6/1/20, 8:37 AM
Professional lady said...: So far Detroit's mayor, Mike Duggan (D), seems pretty serious about keeping law and order. Last night 100+ people were arrested and tear gas was used. I think he has worked too hard to turn Detroit around to have it all go up in smoke (again). Hope he and the police chief, James Craig, keep it up.; 6/1/20, 8:53 AM
Temujin said...: That they were even still in lockdown mode this late tells me all I need to know about their weighing the public interest vs their own power interest. In Michigan, Whitmer thinks about how Whitmer looks to the press and the Biden team before she does anything. Whitmer is concerned with the people who are concerned about Whitmer. To those who are not concerned with how Whitmer looks or feels, she waves them off with her left hand as if they are not to be heard.

Wolf in Pennsylvania has a similar view. We have friends who just had their younger family members from Pennsylvania join them down here in Florida. They describe their lives up in Pennsylvania as terrifying with a huge dose of psychological stress. They have not been out of the house for 2 months (with kids) outside of going out to their backyard. They have not been to a store in that time (deliveries, I guess). They drove down with no stops aside from frantically quick rest stops, followed by body disinfectant. They were truly psychologically damaged. They told me that they are amazed being down here. Everyone is going about their business, doing things. Yes, some wear masks, some do not. But we're going about our lives. We're fine. We're not frantic. They are dumbfouded.

I hear the same psychological warfare from radio people up in Detroit. The people in the Northeast and Upper Midwest have been betrayed by their Governors. Mislead at best. And now looking to them to keep law and order during these Antifa Riots? RU kidding me? These riots blew up the control they had on people's lives. I'll bet Whitmer is furious about the riots. Not because of public safety, but because it removes her stupid shelter in place rules and removes her as a topic of conversation for anyone.; 6/1/20, 8:57 AM
Francisco D said...: Dave Begley said...The Omaha Mayor set the curfew last night at 8 pm.

On Sunday afternoon, the AZ Governor set a curfew from 8PM to 5AM. My wife found out because her running buddies were all atwitter about getting arrested for running at 4 AM. (Runners have to avoid the heat here).

I am not aware of any violence here in Tucson, but I do not watch the local leftist news. I suspect that the Governor is helping Tucson and Phoenix area mayors by allowing their cops to break up rioters as they congregate.; 6/1/20, 9:22 AM
Michael K said...: ild chicken said...
Can't Trump activate the national guards? Didn't Ike send troops to Little Rock?

He needs to step in because the governors are all hogtied by their own PC pieties.

There is a strategy here (I think) to avoid what the rioters want, which is Kent State. Trump is more media savvy than Nixon was in a similar situation. Those rioters were kids and not as organized as this is. These people are the ones who took over the ICE offices in Portland and who killed that black federal officer guarding the federal building in Oakland. These are pros and Barr needs to track down their funding and organizing.; 6/1/20, 9:26 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Doc K,

"There is a strategy here (I think) to avoid what the rioters want, which is Kent State."

I think this is the play. The Left doesn't give a shit about George Floyd, or black lives, they want to tear down the USA, capitalism, it's symbols, and the middle class folks, who think, on the whole, it's pretty good here, despite some flaws and warts.

Trump is a major obstacle to this end. They have a 50-50 shot at defeating him with an demented figurehead, Slow Joe Biden. Trump worked his ass off to win 2016, but politically surviving the Access Hollywood tape is nothing compared to what these assholes will throw at him this time.

Trump supporters better brace themselves, take a deep breath, focus and get committed to the long haul of these next 6 months.; 6/1/20, 9:49 AM
Jeff Brokaw said...: @Mike K — I would like to see public officials stake out the sensible middle ground between Kent State and cops/National Guard doing essentially nothing while they watch passively as buildings burn and people’s lives are destroyed ...

That level of passivity is vacating their duty to protect the public. I cannot take seriously any talk from any public official about “public safety” if they have no political will to actually protect us right now.; 6/1/20, 9:54 AM
Big Mike said...: I liked this tweet by Andrew Beck:

Barr: It is Antifa.
Cops: It is Antifa.
Protestors: It is Antifa.
Antifa: It is us.
Blue checks: It is something else.; 6/1/20, 9:55 AM
Lurker21 said...: If you want a crackdown, a virus is a great enemy. It can't riot and can't vote you out, so measures taken against a virus will be easier to impose than measures taken directly against groups of humans. The implications of that may sound paranoid, but it's less paranoid than always saying "They want to kill us and take our stuff." If one assumes that some group wants power above all, considering that they can get that power most easily by focusing on an inanimate enemy, rather than on oneself personally, may be a step back from the edge.; 6/1/20, 9:59 AM
ga6 said...: -commerce giant Amazon published a statement on Sunday stating that the company is “standing in solidarity with the Black community” in the “fight against systemic racism and injustice.”

Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce and tech giiant Amazon posted a statement recently in which the firm states: “The inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people in our country must stop.” The statement further goes on to say that the company stands with the Black community in the fight against “systemic racism and injustice,” as protests over the death of George Floyd rage across the United States.; 6/1/20, 10:17 AM
Calypso Facto said...: "#GeorgeFloyd lost his job at Conga Latin Bistro when @GovTimWalz locked down the Minnesota economy. Later, attempting to use a fake $20 at a market, he was murdered by a cop with monopoly power and sovereign immunity. Be outraged by both, they're related." @MKibbe on Twitter; 6/1/20, 10:42 AM
Anonymous said...: It's all about psychology. The Government needs to go firm enough, early enough to maintain control. The weak spot in the fabric of civilization has always been blue cities, with blue mayors and blue governors. e.g. No adults in the room. In those places, it will take bullets at this point to get peoples attention. Just look at deBlasio wobble; 6/1/20, 10:44 AM
Wince said...: Unquestionably, the "lock down governors" view law abiding citizens as pushovers.; 6/1/20, 10:49 AM
PhilD said...: "And what the hell is Kamala Harris doing at a “protest” outside the White House?"

True, you would expect her protesting outside the DNC seeing how it is Democrat ruled Minneapolis/Minnesota which is at fault.; 6/1/20, 10:51 AM
MayBee said...: Calypso Facto said...
"#GeorgeFloyd lost his job at Conga Latin Bistro when @GovTimWalz locked down the Minnesota economy. Later, attempting to use a fake $20 at a market, he was murdered by a cop with monopoly power and sovereign immunity. Be outraged by both, they're related." @MKibbe on Twitter

Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell people who think the anti-shutdown protests were just about being able to get a haircut.
A government that tells you you can't do your legal job and doesn't get pushback is a government who sees you as something to control. Not as a citizen, and not as a human.; 6/1/20, 10:55 AM
Sam L. said...: I'd bet against it.; 6/1/20, 11:05 AM
RobinGoodfellow said...: "It is already evident that Trump, who can no longer run for reëlection trumpeting economic achievement ...”

Assumes facts not in evidence. Thinking voters recognize that (a) Trump’s economy was booming before Flu Manchu, and (b) Flu Manchu is not Trump’s fault.; 6/1/20, 12:37 PM
Kai Akker said...: I have zero confidence that our big-city leaders will do anything to protect us. Storefronts on the main artery one block away are boarding up right now. Guess we're going to find out tonight.; 6/1/20, 1:54 PM
hstad said...: "...take measure to protect public safety..." LOL - Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown held a press conference on Sunday morning after the mass violence and looting by leftist protesters overnight. Deck-Brown called the mass destruction “disgusting and unacceptable," and "Anarchy". Chief Brown then lectured on white supremacy in front of the looting buildings and said “I will not put an officer in harms way to protect the property inside of a building...” So I guess the anti gun people are wrong. The police will run away when we are in danger. We need to arm ourselves to protect ourselves. The authorities are worthless.; 6/1/20, 2:40 PM
KellyM said...: Last night a curfew was set for the county as a result of some nasty looting downtown over the weekend. It will remain in place for the forseeable future. Our mayor had already decided to extend the virus lockdown before all this stuff happened. That means I can't get a haircut until at least July 15, or a pedicure until Aug 15. I am so tired of all this political theater.

This George Floyd guy was not the "Gentle Giant" his supporters say he was. (where else have we heard that phrase before??) No one seems to bring up the fact that he did 5 years in the pen for a violent home invasion in Houston.; 6/1/20, 4:14 PM
Nichevo said...: Kelly, I'm happy for Chauvin to use the sumbitch-had-it-coming defense if he wishes. I don't inherently want one verdict or the other, what I personally want is to understand what actually happened and why. What if it had been someone whom you like under Officer Chauvin's knee?

My questions are threefold.

1) Sequence of events

2) What if anything would Chauvin and his team/gang have done differently if the prisoner was a friend, or else, if he were who he was, but had vital information and must be brought in alive to talk?

3) What relationship truly existed between Chauvin and Floyd? Chauvin was a fixture at this bar for 16 years. Floyd worked there for a year. A connection is denied but so is a fart in an elevator. Was there animosity? Had Chauvin seen or known of evil deeds or thoughts of Floyd's? Had Floyd likewise had info on Chauvin?

Meanwhile, justice could have hardly operated faster in this case. The riots, whatever they are, are not about justice.; 6/1/20, 5:03 PM
KellyM said...: @Nichevo – There's too much of the video/witness statements that don't make sense, and I certainly don't believe the official narrative.

1) Floyd was high - very high, in fact. He had no money, as the club where he worked had been closed since March. He had this crappy counterfeit $20 bill and decides he'll go to the Cub Foods and try to pass it off to get cigarettes. He gets nabbed in the store and the call goes out. Floyd, being high as a kite, starts to get overexcited when the cops roll up. Chauvin shoves him into the back seat of the cruiser to try to calm him down. He starts thrashing around so they haul him back out of the cruiser and lean him up against it. He starts the "I can't breathe" bit there, when he's still upright. He's possibly ODing right there so they get him on the ground to keep him from thrashing and falling over. Things go south.

Including this link because it’s really weird… pic.twitter.com/GLGm950onL

2) I don’t know enough about what training is used when dealing with a suspect who begins to exhibit signs of overdosing; anything I would state here is speculative, at best.

3) While it is true that Chauvin and Floyd knew each other, there is an apparent rabbit hole here with respect to the back story on Floyd, Chauvin, and the club:
• Speculation that the club as a semi-legitimate front for a possible money laundering operation, and this might include counterfeit currency operations;
• In January there had been a CBP bust of $900,000 in counterfeit bills in International Falls, MN. Not out of the question that some loose change might still have been floating around on the streets of Minneapolis;
• Chauvin worked at the club longer than he was a police officer;
• Neighbors of Chauvin didn’t even know he was a cop;
• The Precinct house gets torched – evidence of said counterfeiting is now toast;
• George Floyd was a loose end.

Regardless of all of the above, a man lost his life and that’s tragic.; 6/2/20, 2:08 PM