Hope you all are enjoying your free trial of communism. Here’s the latest in Michigan, where the governor is trying to extort people into giving up their rights or face more time under house arrest. “The beatings will continue until the morale improves,” apparently:

Effective leaders know how to lead without making ridiculous threats in response to public outcry over ridiculous state orders. Whitmer isn’t handling her duties well, which is why her name is no longer hanging from the lips of cable news pundits as a potential Biden VP option. This is after Whitmer stripped a 77 year-old barber of his licenses because he had to reopen his barber shop to earn a living. I say “Whitmer” and not the regulatory department beneath her in state government hierarchy because it is for her order that Karl Manke was penalized.

Here’s Michigan’s AG arguing that Manke isn’t a patriotic American because he wants to [checks notes] generate his own income to survive:

The left is trying to accomplish more than they’ll admit through these pandemic practices and penalties: It’s not just about health (and in Michigan, where local officials are hell bent on antagonizing their constituents, it seems more like control), it’s about control.  People who need to feed their families won’t be shamed out of hunger. They won’t be shamed from trying to keep up with mortgage payments. Heavy-handed approaches like this will only invoke opposition from rational people.

I spoke with salon owner Shelley Luther about this earlier today on my radio program: