Things keep getting stranger in Michigan.
As I have written about during the past couple of days here at RedState, we in the Great Lakes State have been under lockdown since mid-March. The Governor has told us we need to stay in our rooms until the end of May based on data and science which she has so far not shared with the rest of the class.
Last Monday, a 77-year-old barber decided he needed to open his doors to feed his family. I wrote about that right here Standing up to Big Gretch: 77-Year-Old Michigan Barber Defies Governor Whitmer and Opens His Shop, then about the local police showing up to give him some fines Michigan Barber Who Has Defied Gov Whitmer Gets Fined for Opening.
Well, now the Michigan Attorney General has sent in the Michigan State Police to tell the barber to shut down.
This is really getting icky.
According to Channel 7 in Detroit…
Michigan State Police paid a visit to an Owosso barbershop that opened up against the governor’s orders.
Troopers served paperwork from the Attorney General’s Office ordering Owosso barber Karl Manke to shut down his shop again.
Manke had reopened for business on Monday, May 4 in violation of Michigan’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. Under the executive order, now extended until May 28, barbershops and hair salons are deemed non-essential, meaning they cannot open.
This has all the optics of a really bad 80’s movie where, at some point, people start screaming “WOLVERINES” (pun intended) and it won’t end well for the state officials on all fronts. Sending in the State Police after the local authorities have already issued Karl Manke two citations is just overkill.
The Governor and A.G., I’m sure, don’t want to top the Shelley Luther incident down in Texas, where she was arrested for opening her beauty salon. Having a 77-year-old man who has cut hair in the area since 1961 being hauled away in handcuffs for trying to earn a living is not a great look for any elected official no matter the reason.
If you say it is about SAFETY, then it is about time the Governor releases all the science and data she is relying on to make these decisions. Michigan has become a laughing stock for the rest of the country while all these whacky rules are placed upon us. You can buy gardening supplies at one store and not another and, of course, the latest silly thing is you can golf but not with golf carts.
This latest incident of sending in the state’s top law enforcement officials to serve notice on a 77-year-old man is now showing that this is not about safety but intimidation. This is exactly how all sides of this will view it.
Also, forget about the election two years from now for the Guv and the A.G. — what about the one coming up this November? Actions like these are going to ensure that Donald Trump has a better thana 50/50 chance of winning this state in just six months and we know how POTUS and the Guv don’t get along now. Imagine if she has to deal with him for the next two years while Michigan tries to clean up from the COVID-19 mess.
Big Gretch should slow her roll on this. Show the data and make us all believers.
Otherwise, stop picking on the 77-year-olds who still want to work. These actions taken by our elected officials make the state look like a less well-run banana republic with crappier weather.