Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“But what about the lurkers?”

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

People are weird.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Motown is Joe-Town!

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Cole is on a roll !

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

No Justins, No Peace

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / More ‘Completely Organic’ Protests – Light the On-Beyond-Batsh*t Signal!

More ‘Completely Organic’ Protests – Light the On-Beyond-Batsh*t Signal!

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Yes, that is falling (slushy) snow in the second video clip. Points for endurance on the protestors’ part, but it does kinda bring into question the What about my very essential lawncare!?! demands from the rally two weeks ago….

The nutballs are always waiting. MacNabb (and Pitcavage) are professionals at observing ‘grassroots protestors’ in their natural environment:


Reader Interactions

97Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    ICAM??

    This will be an unpopular opinion, but there is no reason Biden should make any of his records public when Trump won’t release his tax returns, respond to subpoenas, etc. As long as Trump is president, that is the norm, and there can’t be different standards for his challenger. https://t.co/HE1s00Oclu— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) April 30, 2020

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    Now….stay with me boys and girls…

    close your eyes…

    Imagine if the people with rifles at the Michigan CAPITOL BUILDING WERE BLACK…

     

    Yeah, I thought so too.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    I also am really confused about why it matters all that much whether these yahoos are grass roots or billionaire funded.

  5. 5.

    bluehill

    I thought there might be a velvet civil war over the election. Looks like I underestimated.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Extremists love to rally.

    Why aren’t these guys working? Are they on disability or unemployment or something?

    @rikyrah:

    I saw photos of demonstrators angrily yelling  over a line of officers. The officers were wearing masks, but it’s hard to belive the demonstrators’ spittle wasn’t landing on them. Yuck.

  8. 8.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Baud: I also am really confused about why it matters all that much whether these yahoos are grass roots or billionaire funded.

    For the class-action lawsuits once all these duped people get sick.

  9. 9.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @debbie: Why aren’t these guys working? Are they on disability or unemployment or something?

    Well, they are protesting businesses being closed.  Need something to do while you can’t go to work.

  11. 11.

    scott (the other one)

    @rikyrah: 100% agreed. And it’s simple and understandable.

    “For four years, Donald Trump has been promising he’d release his tax returns, among many other documents. As soon as he does, I will too.” Rinse and repeat as many times as necessary.

  12. 12.

    scott (the other one)

    I’m assuming there would be a serious political downside to having the state police defend themselves and the governor and the capitol building from armed insurgents.

  14. 14.

    natem

    @scott (the other one): I wouldn’t even say that because it sounds like he’s got something to hide. Better just to ignore, or if he must speak, give a blanket denial and move on. No one is going to care about this in August if these unemployment numbers keep going up.

  15. 15.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @rikyrah: there is no reason Biden should make any of his records public when Trump won’t release his tax returns, respond to subpoenas, etc.

    Well, I’ve always thought one of the best reasons to support the Democrats is because they take things like governing, disclosure, and accountability seriously.

    Beyond that, don’t lend credibility to “both sides” dipshit argumentation.

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:

    We know how Governor Reagan welcomed the Black Panthers and their guns to Sacramento in the ’70s, when it was legal. Thanks to the reaction, we do not have “open carry” to this day.

    Funny how things work out sometimes.

  18. 18.

    WereBear

    I keep thinking of the fundie churches who flouted lockdown and the choir practice where they misted each other and I see all these people without masks right next to each other yelling.

    I guess they don’t believe in pandemics. But virus don’t care.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    WRT the gun rights (aka gun humper) nuts who showed up at the Virginia Capitol on Martin Luther King holiday:  they did their cosplaying, and a few weeks later the legislature passed and the governor signed a package of common sense gun safety laws.

    I love our new Democratic majority state legislature.

  21. 21.

    planetjanet

    So yesterday, one of the commenters said that Trump was going to incite violence before this election was over.  I nodded along in agreement, but I thought it would take more than 24 hours for it to come true.

  22. 22.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Baud: I couldn’t tell from the Tweet, but is anything being requested of Biden that we don’t ordinarily expect candidates to produce?

    Unless the request is unreasonable, I tend think to disclosure is better than non-disclosure.  And the fact that the worst person in the world (who just happens to be President) is resisting similar disclosures is not a reason to follow suit.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

  25. 25.

    danielx

    @debbie:

    Saw one of those same photos. The cops were very conscious they were on cameras, because usually getting in a cop’s face that way would result in getting hosed down with act-right spray and various injuries sustained during arrest.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: It’s turtles all the way down, isn’t it?  :-/

    JJ’s correct that every rally/protest/etc. is organized by someone.  E.g. A.N.S.W.E.R is happy to show up at anything with a nominal left-wing slant, to try to take advantage of the crowd.  Same on the right.

    But it does matter whether the group protesting is a bunch of genuine local yahoos, or, instead, a bunch of yahoos being given outsized influence by media and political organizations to make it appear that the yahoos represent an important slice of society at large.

    I’m sure we remember when millions marched around the world – and even in the US! – to protest W’s plans to invade Iraq.  Yeah, it was organized, but it’s impossible to argue that it was some sort of fake protest ginned up by George Soros and Bill Gates.  The coverage was perfunctory at best.  It was infuriating, because it was obvious that the news powers that be decided that it wasn’t important…

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    Juju

    Every time I see these morons out protesting being at home too long whaaaaa, I just want to say “how dare you do this”.  I have family and friends who are in medical care and every time these idiots go out and protest, the COVID19 numbers rise in a couple of weeks and the people who treat the disease are obligated to take care of these morons. They endanger the lives of everyone they come in contact with from the law enforcement officers to the healthcare workers, and the support workers to the healthcare workers.  Just do us all a favor and stay at home.

  30. 30.

    germy

    Just got slammed in the head by a protestor’s rifle.

    There is no care for safety or social distancing in the crowd

    — Anna Liz Nichols (@annaliznichols) April 30, 2020

  31. 31.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Baud: Release all of his internal Senate papers.  To my knowledge, that had never been required.

    OK, I’ll agree he shouldn’t have to do that.  I didn’t get that from the context of the Tweet, though.  If I didn’t know he had already released his tax returns, I would have assumed that was what was actually being requested.

    Using Trump’s returns or subpoena non-compliance as a comparison point kinda makes it seem like the author didn’t want Biden to comply with reasonable info requests.

  33. 33.

    germy

    Black people get executed by police for just existing, while white people dressed like militia members carrying assault weapons are allowed to threaten State Legislators and staff.

    ?Our gun laws are so broken. https://t.co/w6Vw97kTV9

    — Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 30, 2020

  35. 35.

    TS (the original)

    @germy:

    There is no care for safety or social distancing in the crowd

    Then it is to be hoped that there are consequences.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    I also am really confused about why it matters all that much whether these yahoos are grass roots or billionaire funded.

    Because people feel that a rally that’s funded by a billionaire doesn’t represent an authentic political movement; it represents a billionaire paying people to amplify his message.

  38. 38.

    Mike in NC

    The local news last night featured a report on there asswipes gathering in North Carolina cities and towns. In every case there were hardly a dozen protesters and the yellow anti-government Tea Party flags were abundant. No visible guns, however.

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    I couldn’t tell from the Tweet, but is anything being requested of Biden that we don’t ordinarily expect candidates to produce?

    AFAIK, people are trying to get Biden to open up all his personal files, using the argument that they need to be able to go through them to find evidence related to Tara Reade’s accusations against him.  It’s total bullshit for a few reasons:

    1. There’s no reason for him to open up absolutely everything when her accusation relates to a particular (if surprisingly broad) time period.
    2. There’s no reason to think opening up his papers would accomplish anything.  People who want to believe will never be convinced; they’ll just claim he removed all the incriminating stuff, ala Hillary’s emails.
    3. Opening up everything will just let people troll through looking for anything that can be blown up into a scandal, regardless of how meaningless it was or how little Biden was actually involved.

    Basically, the requests aren’t being made in good faith, and Biden shouldn’t respond to them as if they were.

  40. 40.

    Duane

    @planetjanet: A group of armed people confronting LEO are a risk to the public. Show me where the Constitution guarantees your right to armed protest. Don’t  wait till someone gets shot. Start arresting them.

  41. 41.

    Another Scott

    I just happened to glance at the Worldometers.info page – https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

    Spain is at 525 deaths per million and rising.  US Equivalent = 173,000 dead

    Italy is at 463 deaths per million.  USE = 153,000 dead.

    The UK is at 394 deaths per million.  USE = 130,000 dead.

    The USA is at 193 deaths per million at the moment.  Still ~ 30,000 new cases and ~ 2,000+ new deaths per day.

    It’s hard for me to see the US not having numbers similar to Spain and the UK within a couple of months (at most) – and this is still just the first wave.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    Basically, knowing that a rally was paid for by some kind of outside, big-money force gives people who want to blow it off an easy excuse for doing so.  That’s especially true if there’s evidence that the run-of-the-mill participants were compensated in any way, rather than just the organizers.

  43. 43.

    Kent

    @Baud:I also am really confused about why it matters all that much whether these yahoos are grass roots or billionaire funded.

    Depends on how you cover in in the NYT.   Are they pawns of billionaires or “salt of the earth” white working class folks.

  44. 44.

    Kent

    @Another Scott:I’m sure we remember when millions marched around the world – and even in the US! – to protest W’s plans to invade Iraq.  Yeah, it was organized, but it’s impossible to argue that it was some sort of fake protest ginned up by George Soros and Bill Gates.  The coverage was perfunctory at best.  It was infuriating, because it was obvious that the news powers that be decided that it wasn’t important…

    Maybe we should have carried AR-15s and worn cammo.

  45. 45.

    Cacti

    Said it yesterday and I’ll say it again.

    Our opponents in this election are fascists in the literal, not pejorative sense.

    If your right to vote is physically challenged, are you ready to fight for it?  They will be.

  46. 46.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: it hasn’t.  I know more about this from the Supreme Court side where there is a traditional 30 or 50! year waiting period.  (Marshall’s slipped through early).  Here is what the Senate says about personal papers:

    The records created and maintained within a senator’s office are the property of the member. Most senators donate their collections to a research repository in their home state when they leave office. At the repository, they are made available to researchers after an appropriate amount of time has passed. Senatorial collections are valued by research libraries because they are rich sources for the study of local history, regional issues, national affairs, political science theory, foreign affairs, and public policy.

    If I can find this stuff….

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Kent:

    Maybe we should have carried AR-15s and worn cammo.

    That’s not it.  The media will report favorably on messages that its ownership views favorably.  The media in 2003 didn’t want to stop the war, so they weren’t going to give favorable coverage to anti-war protests no matter how they were dressed up.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Thursday that thousands of coronavirus tests obtained by the state from South Korea are currently protected in an undisclosed location by the Maryland National Guard.

     

    Asked in a Washington Post Live interview whether he was concerned the federal government would seize the tests, Hogan acknowledged “it was a little bit of a concern.”

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    Everybody with more than two functioning brain cells knows that.

    Worse, I’m willing to bet that the cops went against their own written policies and procedures by not using deadly force.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Cacti: These are not random protests, they are meant to probe for a response, and also serve as dress rehearsals for more serious actions come fall.  These aren’t clueless rednecks, they are an existential threat.

  56. 56.

    Kent

    @Baud: They don’t just want his Senate records to try to find some mention of Reade.  They will comb through every line using OCR and text search tools to find any vague reference to Social Security or Medicare in some memo or email somewere from 25 years ago to blow it up into a massive fake scandal about how Biden wants to cut your Social Security or Medicare.  And then Fox will drum beat the hell out of it to scare seniors back to Trump.

    Don’t fall for it.

  57. 57.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    The most pervasive conspiracy theory I’m seeing is that Gates created the coronavirus so that everyone would voluntarily get the vaccine for it. That vaccine would 1) reduce the human population and 2) include a microchip to track the humans that survive. https://t.co/WAG1jXzkW2

    Replace the “vaccine” bit with hopes for herd immunity, and you’ve just given a complete, reasonable, working, hypothesis for Republican (in)action on Covid-19.

    Of course, the good(?) news is, no, there is no such plan because the GOP is so far off the rails, they *can’t* plan any more. Trump can’t heroically ride to the rescue for Covid-19 because the GOP is no longer capable of sensible governance.

    That so few Republicans are running around like their hair is on fire is a demonstration that they still don’t realize this.

    Fact of the day that Republicans won’t admit: sanctuary cities are far more safe from Covid-19 than cities that will deport any undocumented non-citizen who comes to the department of health for a Covid-19 test, because, *duh*, in sanctuary cities, undocumented folks aren’t afraid that getting tested (and even quarantined) won’t get them auto-deported.

    It’s really amazing how many ways Republican governance has made the pandemic worse. A lack of universal health care, an eagerness to throw people off medicaid, policies that encourage people to live in fear, and never come to government attention, and, of course, poverty.

    (Oh, evangelicals? Jesus didn’t ask us to create *more* poor – it’s *help* the poor, not “help make them poor”. Yes, really. And before you say something unkind in response, your favorite stone tablets suggest that one shouldn’t bear false witness against a neighbor.)

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    Anyone not see this coming?

    Trump […] also wants a new round of tax cuts. Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser, says the economic team is studying “long-term growth incentives” at Trump’s direction.

    They include a 100 percent tax deduction for businesses on meals, entertainment and sports events and an extension of a provision that would allow businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of their investments.
    [snip]
    Mark Mazur, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, told McClatchy the administration is using a familiar tax playbook, even though “the economy is in uncharted territory.”

    Mazur was skeptical about the effectiveness, in the current situation, of a broad-based business tax cut. “It’s not that a restaurant is closing because taxes are too high,” he said. Source

  59. 59.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @NotMax:

    Dumbest fucking coterie of oligarchs ever. Tax cuts mean nothing to the person or entity that is running a genuine loss to start with.

  61. 61.

    Frankensteinbeck

    In the latest Rose Twitter buffoonery, #FireChrisHayes is trending… because of Bernie Bros complaining that it trending means liberals are trying to get Hayes fired.

  65. 65.

    kindness

    I think Biden should just point out how Reade’s story has changed and leave it at that.  He will never be able to satisfy people who professionally don’t want to be satisfied.  That includes Republicans, the MSM & BernieBros.  I am really offended at people who say they are Democrats and are doing their best 2016 they can muster.

  67. 67.

    Procopius

    @Duane:

    Don’t  wait till someone gets shot. Start arresting them.

    The problem is some (many?) states have passed laws permitting the open carrying of guns in public. I know these laws are not always respected, but when the cops are on-camera like this they usually are. Therefore the cops have no cause to arrest. I know that because we do not live in a nation of laws cops can arrest people without cause, and do, but in this case I think the corporate media are on the side of the protesters.

  68. 68.

    Doug R

    Reade won’t even pin down what MONTH she allegedly got assaulted and she only worked for Biden’s office for 6 months FFS.

    You guys do recognize a fishing expedition, right?

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @Procopius

    I could be wrong but I doubt that firearms are permitted inside the building.

    Heck, the NRA headquarters (in Texas) doesn’t allow firearms to be carried inside.

  78. 78.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: I don’t see what Biden releasing his papers achieves one way or another in relation to the allegations as I seriously doubt anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together is going to write down that, on this or that date, they tried to sexually assault a staffer in a corridor.

  79. 79.

    khead

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Anything that doesn’t de facto deputize Karen or involve $1000 tickets would be fine with me. I didn’t know I needed to provide the exact solution when making a bit of a Karen joke while pointing out the flaws in Kevin’s plan.

    Having said that, Wildwood, NJ parked cops on the boardwalk last weekend to insure that folks getting takeout couldn’t indulge themselves and walk the entire boardwalk since it’s closed.  It appears to have worked pretty well. I’m guessing CA could do something like that.

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I had the Hayes show and the Maddow show on, multitasking and half paying attention. I don’t think Hayes mentioned Michigan at all, Maddow is just covering it now

  81. 81.

    Dan B

    @NotMax: People who would benefit from new tax cuts:  Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, etc.

    Shhhhhh.  Don’t tell Trump!

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Another Scott: Do keep in mind that the hospital system in the countries broke down and added to the death toll as people who could have otherwise been saved by medical intervention couldn’t.  Getting to those awful numbers slowly is better.

  83. 83.

    Dan B

    @lamh36:  Big congratulations!  The best!  Most excellent!  Never better!

    Now switching to post-Trump speak (We can dream!)  Hearty congratulations!  It’s been good to hear about your progress.

  84. 84.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: I also am really confused about why it matters all that much whether these yahoos are grass roots or billionaire funded.

    1) They are, as always with the Conservative they give the game away in their accusations against others.

    2) It far to much fun to throw “So how much did those deVos Bleach drinkers pay you say that?” back in their face’s.

  85. 85.

    J R in WV

    Even in locales where open carry of firearms is legal, it is still illegal to threaten people with them, to brandish them, to hit people with them. You can be arrested for carrying a firearm in a threatening way, brandishing your firearm, if someone is afraid of you because of how you carry your firearm, those are all felonies in most places.

    So, in my book, all of those right-wing bastards were breaking the law, and should have been arrested. If their guns were loaded, I’m sure that would have been more illegal on top of brandishing.

    When I took my concealed carry permit class and test, the LEO who gave the class spent a lot of time on the definitions of brandishing and threatening, and made sure that everyone in his class (which included two next door neighbors of mine) knew that a CC permit didn’t mean you could show your piece in order to threaten someone, which would be brandishing, which is a crime. If you are carrying concealed you have to keep your weapon concealed…

  87. 87.

    Duane

    @Procopius: The right to care in public has requirements not to do so in a threatening manner. A group of armed protesters seems threatening  to me. Warn them to leave or arrest them. Of course, I am not a cop or a lawyer

    ETA: Or what J R in WV said.

  89. 89.

    tokyokie

    Under the common law, the crime of assault turns on how the victim perceives the situation, not how the perpetrator does. As most states’ criminal statutes regarding assault follow the common law (with the exception of Louisiana), carrying an AR-15 to a protest is criminal assault. Charge each of them accordingly, and, if possible, raise it to felony assault, and, upon conviction, bar them from firearm ownership as convicted felons.

  90. 90.

    Patricia Kayden

    Wypipo have been sheltering in place for 8 weeks and are losing their minds.Yet, they’re quick to tell Black people to “GET OVER” 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynching, murder, redlining, racism, & mass incarceration.Y’all couldn’t handle being Black for 1 wk.— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) April 30, 2020

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anya: He did a segment last night with Rebecca Traister, both of them talking as if Joe Biden’s guilt were established beyond a reasonable doubt. Much of that thread is Reade supporters screaming at  “BlueMAGA”

  94. 94.

    Aziz, light!

    I’ll wager that some percentage of the state troopers are themselves RWNJs who are sympathetic to the gun humpers’ cause.

  95. 95.

    Bill Arnold

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    Well, I’ve always thought one of the best reasons to support the Democrats is because they take things like governing, disclosure, and accountability seriously.

    Nope. In WW1, if you poked your head up, you became ex-you when a sniper bullet went through it.
    Forgotten Tricks of Trench Warfare (2020-02-12 by grugq)
    Now, any document disclosure becomes an opposition research trove, to be endlessly dredged for out-of-context what-looks-like-dirt-but-isn’t. Trump knows this, though his documents are also full of actual dirt.

  96. 96.

    Alex

    The Republican legislative majority has been openly cheering these guys on. They voted today to sue the governor over her emergency powers and precipitate a constitutional crisis. Meanwhile we have one dead legislator and one dead staffer already. God knows how many have been killed by today’s super spreading event. They could close the Capitol to the public to protect staff and legislators, but apparently they only want to do that when they are voting on shameful anti union bills.

    Legislative staff in Michigan typically make about $33,000 a year. The man who died was an unpaid intern. The Republicans let these guys in to point semiautomatic rifles at people and scream infectious droplets in their faces. I always knew “pro-life” was a front for something much uglier, but I am still shocked to see how openly pro-death mainstream Republicans have become.

  97. 97.

    Anya

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  The Biden campaign should write a rebuttal. They shouldn’t let it go. If Hayes is going to report on this he has to present all the available facts, unless he has an agenda.

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