Update at the end… Video of late night comedians having a say on all of this. Enjoy!
You know it’s bad when the Republican-loving Wisconsin media have had enough. An editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says it all:
Make no mistake. An election that made people wait three hours to vote during a pandemic in Green Bay and Milwaukee was ridiculous, as the now-famous sign said.
And it is ridiculous that Wisconsin is the first state in the union to be opened by court order — and not a unanimous order with clear legal precedent, but one based on the whims and political ideologies of just four Supreme Court justices: Patience Roggensack, Rebecca Bradley, Annette Ziegler and Daniel Kelly.
One of those four, Kelly, was soundly defeated as an incumbent in the April 7 election and will be off the court by July. We can safely assume the decision would have been 4-3 in the opposite direction had the candidate who voters chose over Kelly taken her seat on the court.
The decision is one of momentary legal authority and zero moral authority.
(bolding is mine)
The editorial goes on to note that all 4 of the Justices that ruled on favor of overturning the Governors Stay at Home order campaigned against judicial activism. Hypocrisy at it’s worst.
And the last straw:
State law gives the administrative branch authority to order closures for medical emergencies — as does the law in other states. The powers granted to the governor and his administration are rooted in legislation crafted in 1887, long before the flu pandemic of 1918, the closest antecedent to what is happening now. In 1981, as HIV and AIDS swept across the country, the Legislature gave the state Department of Health Services the power to issue emergency orders. If the Republicans who run the state Legislature don’t like those laws, they should rewrite them.
But that would have required negotiating with Gov. Tony Evers who has veto power. Since before he even took office, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald have proved absolutely unwilling to negotiate with the Democrat who voters elected governor. Again and again, they sue, running to the aid of a Supreme Court where a majority of justices won their seats with the help of the exact same special interests who support Vos and Fitzgerald.
After the decision was announced, Vos and Fitzgerald offered no guidance on how to keep Wisconsin safe from a virus that has killed more than 400 people statewide.
Holy shit! Even I can’t say it better than they did. It’s about time, too, since they’ve so enabled the RW by their lack of holding them accountable that this was inevitable. They just kept moving the lines every time Wisconsin Republicans crossed it and served as their apologists.
They’re right, though. This is nothing other than a political decision made by politicians in black robes, These RW “Justice” politicians are dependent on the same corporate donors and dark money groups that elects Republicans so successfully with their tens of millions of dollars and lying attack ads.
And this gave one last opportunity for Scott Walker appointee Justice Daniel Kelly, defeated last month by double digits, to give Wisconsinites the middle finger on his way out the door.
Governor Tony Evers (D) had this to say:
“Republican legislators convinced four members of the Supreme Court to throw the state into chaos,” Evers said. “Republicans own that chaos.”
There’s more below the fold about the clowns that decided to run to the nearest bar or restaurant as soon as the order became news.
And then there are those yahoos who flooded into bars and restaurants after the decision. Sad to say that most of the video you may have seen came from my little burg, West Allis, right on the edge of the city of Milwaukee. Trust me, they have been loud and in the open, but they don’t represent the majority of us here who stay hunkered down like our lives depend on it (because they do).
This was from Platteville. Sorry I couldn’t find the West Allis videos, but it was all pretty much the same. No masks, heavy crowds, and every one interviewed unconcerned with anything other than getting their the next round. Plenty of high fives and back slaps accompanied the stupidity.
While the City of Milwaukee has come forward with stay-at-home plans, there’s nothing yet from our new County Executive, Chris Abeles hand-picked and Abele funded successor. I suspect that he’s like Abele, a guy who likes to make Republicans happy, so I don’t expect much. If his opponent, Chris Larson, had been elected, the story would have a better ending.
I’m staying home as most sensible people who don’t have to go to work. We’ve been home for over 2 months and more time to prevent infection, spread, and misuse of medical resources continues to make sense. We order delivery from local restaurants to keep them running. I, however, will not order from restaurants that decide to open fully.
We have just topped 10,000 cases and nearly 500 deaths. Our numbers have been low because our Democratic Governor instituted Stay At Home orders quickly. We’ve seen cases increase due to our GOP insisting on in-person voting last month. I now expect those numbers to increase in the next week or two because of this nonsense. The GOP owns all of those deaths.
So, stay tuned and don’t think badly of Wisconsinites. You’ve seen the bad behavior of a few of us, but not the concern of the rest of us.
UPDATE:
Late night comedians have chimed in. Enjoy:
More:
Even more: