Day: April 15, 2020

That’s interesting!

I got a video taken by a guy wandering around in a Michigan Walmart.

The gardening supplies, seeds, plants, painting supplies, and BBQ stuff were all yellow taped. It wasn’t that the shelves were empty, they were full, just taped off.

His commentary was interesting because he’s muttering to himself about being stuck at home and not being able to do home projects.

I thought it was one single instance of a store misunderstanding lockdown instructions. When I saw the video I didn’t think much of it other than, “Boy someone is dumb.”

This morning, while catching up on the news. (I’m only taking the news in small doses every couple of days) I saw a headline on Breitbart that said; “Over 200,000 Michiganders Sign Petition to oust Governor Whitmer“

It turns out that the Walmart hadn’t misunderstood. They were complying with Michigan’s governor’s order.

Which leads to WTF?

I’m uploading the executive order Here.

The relevant part of the order reads:

For stores of more than 50,000 square feet:

(1)  Limit the number of customers in the store at one time (excluding
employees) to 4 people per 1,000 square feet of customer floor space.
The amount of customer floor space must be calculated to exclude
store areas that are closed under subprovision (2) of this subsection.

(2)  Close areas of the store—by cordoning them off, placing signs in aisles,
posting prominent signs, removing goods from shelves, or other
appropriate means—that are dedicated to the following classes of
goods:

(A)  Carpet or flooring.

(B)  Furniture.

(C)  Garden centers and plant nurseries.

(D)  Paint.

WTF? I could see maybe carpeting and flooring, possibly furniture because folks take their time deciding what they want.

But if you walk in and say I want paint in color X, a flat of Pansies, 1 package each of cucumber, carrot, and watermelon seeds. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to buy them.

The executive order seems somewhat random in its constraints about what will and will not be allowed. 

For example, you can be outside running, walking, biking, kayaking, and participating in other outdoor activities as long as you maintain social distancing requirements. 

But there was a report, I have yet to confirm, saying that a man had been arrested for being in a boat alone, out on a lake fishing. This activity does not conflict with the executive order so someone may have been arrested, but there may be more to the story.

The petition is on Change.org here 

A lot of comments in both the Breitbart piece and on the Change.org site appear to be disgruntled MI residents who feel that their Governor has over-reached her authority and is unnecessarily restricting their freedom. Another thread of comments say that she’s a possibility for the VP slot in Biden’s campaign, and is posturing for that position.

Given that MI has one of the higher rates of COVID-19 I’m not sure that the freedom allegation holds water. But the VP slot could cause her to be remotely interviewing.