ATTORNEY GENERAL DESCRIBES STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS AS 'DISTURBINGLY CLOSE' TO HOUSE ARREST

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newsweek


BY MEGHAN ROOS ON 4/21/20 AT 2:42 PM EDT

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said the coronavirus pandemic was placing "unprecedented burdens" on Americans' civil liberties during a Tuesday radio interview with broadcast journalist Hugh Hewitt.

Though Barr said the stay-at-home orders that states issued to contain the outbreak were necessary as the virus began spreading across the U.S., he described them as "disturbingly close to house arrest" and said states must soon begin replacing the orders with more targeted restrictions.

"These are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty," Barr told Hewitt. "We adopted them, we have to remember, for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread. That is, bending the curve. We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease."



Barr's statements came as governors across the country were discussing how best to reopen their state economies after shutdowns that began in March resulted in business closures and skyrocketing unemployment numbers.


Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/attorney-general-describes-stay-home-orders-disturbingly-close-house-arrest-1499292?piano_t=1

[elleng]

1. Let's put HIM on House arrest,

and see what he thinks.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. Yes. Lodge him in the House of Representatives jail cell . . . nt

[DEbluedude]

2. " We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease."

This administration hasn't adopted anything positive in a comprehensive way.

[Canoe52]

66. So many things wrong with that sentence from Barr, I don't even know where to start.

[ashredux]

3. Fuck You!

[Faux pas]

4. Eat

shit billy boy.

[CatMor]

5. What a stupid remark ....

he is a total asshole. Why isn't he and his cohorts out walking around in public shaking hands and interacting with people.

[Danmel]

6. I just found out, 10 minutes ago, that a friend lost her brother to COVID-19

He had CP. Her mother died 3 weeks ago

And no one can comfort her.

Fuck you Bill Barr. Just Fuck You.

[cp]

7. Hey, you're dangerously close to Cardinal Richlieu

And we don't need no stinking absolute monarchy.
Three Musketeers

[Roy Rolling]

8. Crybaby

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. Lol! I'm using that!

Thanks!

[Marthe48]

76. lol

Maybe for the first time

[sakabatou]

9. Someone get Barr to shut his fat mouth

[Marthe48]

10. No one makes me stay in and no one makes me go out

When these a**holes die, will their graves be protected? Because I want to pour a beer on whereever they get buried. And run it through my kidneys first.

POS killers

[47of74]

23. Probably like Timothy McVeigh or the Nazis at Nuremberg

They'll be cremated and their ashes buried or spread at an undisclosed location in order to keep their graves from becoming shrines for the Kluxers and other Branch Trumpvidians.

[ProfessorGAC]

41. If I Leave The House...

...there's nobody questioning my destination or making me return home immediately.
I'm staying home because it's the best thing to do, but not because the government is making me.
So, what civil liberties is he talking about?

[oldsoftie]

53. Well, SOME cities are taking liberties with the "questioning" part.

And of course, using it as they see fit.
You know how it is; give cops an inch and they hit you over the head

[ProfessorGAC]

54. Nothing Like That Around Here

People were slow to adopt, but more & more masks, people wearing gloves, stores all added shields between cashier and customers, etc.
But, people are coming & going as they please when they need to. Traffic is way lighter than normal. Small town, but on a river so that one bridge means lots of traffic on the busiest road. Not now, though.

[Marthe48]

77. I went out today

I just got my car back from the dealership, needed a new battery. I had them do some other things too and wanted to do a test drive. I went to the atm, the walk-up pharmacy window and the drive through to play Power ball for 10 plays. I wasn't going to, but I ended up going to my local Dollar Tree. I haven't been in any place since 3/13, and I was double-masked and gloved, had hand saniziter and was set up at home to decontaminate. Before I leave the house, I set up the bathroom for a shower and the washer for the clothes, so minimal touvhing when I come home. I take hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial spray with me. Even for the trips to atm or drive-thru, I go through a decon. routine that includes changing shoes outside, discarding the gloves outside after I am done sanitizing the money, and the debit card. When I get in the house, I take off the clothes I'm wearing and get them in the washer, then get right in the shower. After the shower, I dab around my nose and mouth with 70% alcohol and put on fresh clothes. The shoes I switched to get washed and I switch to yet another pair. After the first load of clothes is done, I wash anything I used in the bath. I sanitize all door knobs and light switches. And I finishing by having a shot of vodka, jic. Today, I had a shot of vodka before I had breakfast, what a world. My purchases are sprayed and sitting in the sunshine for awhile. When I bring them in, they'll sit in my staging area for 3 days or longer. I curse the traitor every time I go through this routine, because it is a lot of extra work, no matter what I have.

When I went in to town, traffic was minimal, and parking lots were empty. The clerk at the pharmacy window was masked. I saw people donning masks as they went in to Kroger, where I get my meds, and when I went in to Dollar Tree, most of the customers were wearing masks and the cashier was wearing a mask. The card reader was covered with plastic.

I won't go out again until I play Power Ball again. I was less stressed today than the last time I went out (Power ball and gas) on 4/7). Since the car broke down, I have a full tank of gas again, jic.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Says Nazi Henchman

[canetoad]

12. It would be a tragedy

If those lumps on his face were cancerous.

[OAITW r.2.0]

13. Just wondering what this toad thinks of 40,000 Americans dying because of administration malfeasance

Has this fake AGhad have anything to say about that?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

69. If it wasn't Barr or his family who get infected and dies, he couldn't give a shit.

And he's not so sure about his family.

[bluestarone]

15. You mean unless

tRUMP calls for it?

[Newest Reality]

16. Every...

Every time Barr crawls out of General Trumps huge chin, he seems to look bigger.

What has he been eating in there?

He is very burdensome on everything that has to do with our benefit as a people, so there! A corrupt, dictator loving DOJ? Please. That's a deselection of duty, to say the least. Send him to the sycophant's sandbox to play or something.

[underpants]

17. The Attorney General of the United States was on the Hugh Hewitt radio show

As I posted before- let that sink in

[Xipe Totec]

18. AG's comments sound disturbingly like sedition. nt

[rurallib]

19. What Trump is doing is disturbingly close to premeditated murder.

[bdamomma]

59. I would

call it Genocide.

[rurallib]

62. much better

[COLGATE4]

20. Let me give you my considered legal opinion on Barr

He's an asshole.

[scarletwoman]

21. "We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease."

The trump administration didn't adopt anything as a "comprehensive way of dealing with this disease."

Had the Federal government acted when the first warnings came in January, consulted the Pandemic Handbook left to them, and federalized the provision of PPE and other supplies immediately, we wouldn't have needed such widespread stay-at-home orders.

So stick that up your ass, you pile of useless garbage in a suit.

[niyad]

22. Are we absolutely certain that this ****-kissing cretin actually graduated from law school??

And, if he did, is he now suffering from dementia? Because I am guessing that "house arrest". Does not include going to the store, walking in the neighborhood, gardening, or, depending on where one lives, going to the herb pharmacy, the convenience store, the hardware store. Ohhhhh, the humanity!

[Raven123]

24. Sent from his bunker, I bet

[Botany]

25. They want to kill us ... end of story.

Barr is pissed off that he was born 35 years too late and not in Germany. He would have made
a great Nazi. The only things we have that work are stay @ home, social distancing, shut downs,
and testing* for and tracing of the C-19 virus (and not that bullshit of looking for antibodies) and
Trump, Vlad, Kush-turd, Barr, Hannity, Fox, Pence, and so on want to get rid of all those programs.
And why?


* I might be wrong but I think Trump is blocking testing for C-19 because he knows it will show a
much bigger and wide spread problem.

[Initech]

32. You know, I think it's time we stop comparing Trump to Hitler.

I think comparing him to Josef Stalin is a more accurate comparison. Stalin favored pro-Russia policies and industrialization, purged his enemies, and enacted labor camps that were essentially death camps. That seems to be where we are headed.

[johnnyfins]

34. Why? RE-ELECTION

[rocktivity]

52. Trump is blocking testing for C-19 because

if he can kick it down the road until summertime AND succeed in defunding the postal service, there could conceivably not BE an election this November.

Fortunately, the FDA has approved a way to test everyone in the US cost-effectively -- which we must do, because without an antidote, cure, or vaccine, finding and quarantining the asymptomatic and the newly infected is the only way to "flatten the curve."

https://yourhhrsnews.com/mass-coronavirus-testing-debuts-in-edison-the-rest-of-the-us-next/


rocktivity

[Loubee]

26. Am I alone in wondering why none of the walking pre-existing conditions in the White House,

despite repeated exposures and risky behavior, have come down with the virus?

[Chemisse]

27. I agree AND disagree.

When this all started, the shutdowns were for the purpose of "flattening the curve" so that our medical resources were not overwhelmed all at once. Now it seems to be about preventing people from ever getting the disease at all, which may not be feasible, given the lack of available testing, the apparent unreliability of antibody tests, the reports of those testing negative who go on to test positive, the uncertainty as to how long immunity will last, and the chance that the virus will mutate by the time a vaccine is ready.

So I have mixed feelings about a shutdown that goes well beyond the peak of the curve.

I disagree with the absurd comparison to 'house arrest' because people are free to come and go as they please. Nobody has to stay in their homes; they just can't go into closed stores or parks. Heck, in China they welded some people into the buildings they were in!! Barr is predictably reprehensible for throwing more fuel on the flames.

I do think the parks and beaches should be opened, with limits as to how many people can be admitted at any one time, and how many can be clustered together. People really need to be able to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of nature.

[renate]

28. is there any comparison between making people return to work and indentured servitude?

I know, it's a reach. But there ought to be a legal justification for people who want to keep themselves and their families safe away from the people who want to risk their lives. It sounds like they'll be forced to choose between keeping their jobs, in wildly uncertain times, and keeping their health and safety.

I'm fine with letting people who truly want to take their chances go back to TJ Maxx (only if staffed by people who feel the same way) and beaches and parties. Not because they're mostly Republican or because I don't care about them, but because if they have been given multiple opportunities to learn the risk they're taking and want to do it anyway, that should be their prerogative as long as everybody who's unwilling to take on that risk is harmed (including their children or anybody else they come in contact with). Just like I totally support people who truly want to go hang gliding, but I wouldn't be in favor of forcing people to go hang gliding in order to put food on their family's table.

I can actually see why the comparison with house arrest is being made (not really, since we're free to leave as long as we stay 6 feet away from each other, but there are limitations on what we can do when we leave, so... okay, house arrest-ish). But he's ignoring the consequences for people who don't have a choice about being surrounded by people who are willing to roll the dice. It's like making drunk driving legal--encouraging it, really--while knowing that millions of non-drunk people don't have any choice other than to drive to work.

[paleotn]

29. Then tale it to court, Barr...

Go right ahead....I dare you.

[revmclaren]

30. I think of it more as witness protection.

The authorities (Democratic Governor's) trying to keep you alive.

If you go outside, you could get wacked.


No matter what the administration says to do, I'm going to do what I can to keep myself and my family alive.

[C_U_L8R]

33. This AG should concern himself with magats threatening the well-being of every citizen

How many will become horribly sick and possibly die because of these stupid selfish assholes????
How about a real investigation into the Liberate conspiracy that's organizing these germy death mobs ????

[progree]

35. Isn't being on a ventilator, and in most of those cases, dying, a "very very

burdensome impingement on liberty"?

"We adopted them, we have to remember, for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread. That is, bending the curve. We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease."

Fine, tell us how you will handle the second wave. And no, "slowing down the spread" (a little) is not a good reason for going back to crowded bars and beaches.

And as far as "house arrest" - those people are lucky to be able to self-quarantine at home without any monitoring. China tried that early on, but found that they just infected family and household members, who in turn went on out to infect others, so they quickly went to isolating infected people for real in makeshift hospitals and camps.

[wendyb-NC]

36. He is so shockingly ignorant, and cavalier.

He needs to get lost.

[displacedtexan]

37. General George Washington quarantined his troops in 1775, damn it!

WTF is wrong with Bill F*cking Barr? Does he know anything about US history? Washington was more concerned about Smallpox than Barr is about COVID19.

[DBoon]

48. This would make an excellent OP

Maybe also look at the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and how quarantine was used.

[riversedge]

38. Barb McQuade: The Federalists have completely jumped the shark. So much for states' rights to act u

Barb McQuade
@BarbMcQuade
·
5h
The Federalists have completely jumped the shark. So much for states’ rights to act under their own police powers. The Constitution permits orders that are narrowly tailored to achieve compelling interests. Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact.

Link to tweet

?s=20



Barr Threatens Legal Action Against Governors Over Lockdowns


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-21/barr-says-doj-may-act-against-governors-with-strict-virus-limits

By Chris Strohm
April 21, 2020, 11:24 AM CDT Updated on April 21, 2020, 12:41 PM CDT

Businesses need ‘more freedom,’ the attorney general says
Trump has undercut his guidance on how states should reopen



The Justice Department will consider taking legal action against governors who continue to impose stringent rules for dealing with the coronavirus that infringe on constitutional rights even after the crisis subsides in their states, Attorney General William Barr said.

Blunt means to deal with the pandemic, such as stay-at-home orders and directives shutting down businesses, are justified up to a point, Barr said in an interview Tuesday on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.” Eventually, though, states should move to more targeted measures, Barr said. He cited the approach laid out by President Donald Trump.

“We have to give businesses more freedom to operate in a way that’s reasonably safe,” Barr said. “To the extent that governors don’t and impinge on either civil rights or on the national commerce -- our common market that we have here -- then we’ll have to address that.”

Barr’s comments come as the Trump administration and states are struggling -- and at times fighting with each other -- over the best strategy to deal with the crisis. Trump has stoked tensions with some Democratic governors who are dealing with protests against stringent social-distancing rules, even as his administration backs guidelines that call for states to open up gradually.

[grumpyduck]

39. Sure, rile up the idiots

while showing your "pretend ignorance" of what house arrest is.

Fucking asshole!!!!!

[catbyte]

40. What a colossal POS. And he's "disturbingly close" to being almost worse than his vile boss.

We no longer have a Justice Department. We have a subsidiary of trump's law firm with barr as his pro bono consiglere. We get to foot his bill. Barr is That Thing Currently Infesting the White House's personal lawyer, bag man, and fixer. He doesn't give a shit about the Constitution or justice. What a clusterfuck.

[bronxiteforever]

42. +1 well said.

[EarthFirst]

43. Oh, so now they are the champion of human rights abuses...

GFYS!

[ananda]

44. Technically he's right.

The stay inside orders do constitute a restriction
of civil liberties.

However, the goal is to protect and save lives.

They wouldn't be necessary if everyone would
take responsibility individually according to
conscience and a concern for the general
welfare of others and the country itself.

However, Republicans and crazy Trumpers
specifically cannot be trusted ever to do the
right thing.

Thus, I can only conclude that Barr is simply
carrying Trump's water and is playing a very
dangerous political game with peoples' lives
at stake.

Basically, those guys have completely lost their
humanity in an effort to retain power and
continue the looting, extortion, and targeting
of immigrants and people of color.

This.. whole.. thing.. stinks!

[Mickju]

45. He is as wretched as Donald Trump.

They are both thoroughly evil.

[BlueIdaho]

46. Barr is disturbingly close to licking Trump's ass on command.

[DBoon]

47. DELIBERATELY SPREADING LETHAL CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IS DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO MANSLAUGHTER

Suck on it Barr.

[WePurrsevere]

49. Oh horsepucky! He's just trying to stir up the gullible idiots...

My husband and I choose to keep away from friends and loved ones and stay home, except for twice a month to get needed supplies (wearing a mask and taking all precautions). If we chose to we could place an order and go get take out from a local restaurant or take the big dog for a walk and play along the river instead of just on our property.

We WILLINGLY do this because we know it's not just about 'us'. I miss my daughter, my grandchildren, my cousins and my friends terribly. This is NOT at all easy mentally or emotionally but dammit it IS necessary for the greater good, and f'you Barr, TrumpliCons and Cult45 twits for trying to push things before they should be.

The fact is that many of us miss our loved ones and their physical hugs. We've missed the recent holidays we normally would spend with family/friends, we've missed birthdays, we've sacrificed and done without and according to polls most Americans seem to get that if we go out and restart to soon we will probably see this COVID-19 beast come back with a vengeance in the Fall.

So to heck with those who put money before human lives. You should all be ashamed of yourselves but that would require a heart, a brain, a conscience and to be truly 'pro-LIFE'.

[PupCamo]

50. his ass needs to be in the Hague

for war crimes against the American people!

[Ford_Prefect]

55. Or else on a very small island.....With a rising tide.....And no cell service!

[PupCamo]

79. too good for him

I want to see him suffer as much as he's made everyone else suffer

[DallasNE]

56. Talk To Your Boss Then

He is the one that made this necessary with his incomptenance. The restrictions are there because Trump failed miserably to have testing supplies in storage where he could just break them out. Governors are still screaming about the inadequate testing supplies - the very supplies that will permit the economy to slowly reopen. Without testing we don't know where the hot spots are until after people get sick and die.

[Captain Zero]

57. Would be funny if...

I didn't think Barr is probably just fine with house arrest for Democrats on election day.

[bdamomma]

58. STFU

I didn't know he was a medical expert,

[BamaRefugee]

60. Attorney General William Barf. Fixed.

[Rebl2]

61. I would

be happy to see barr and trump get back out there campaigning with crowds. Then let’s follow those folks and see how many get the virus.

[JohnnyRingo]

63. As opposed to the death sentence by going out.

Why is there always another side to the right thing?

[Sir Normie]

64. Trump & Barr

These are the two people who absolutely, positively MUST be criminally prosecuted after this False Presidency is finally over! Don Jr., Kushner are probables.

[Steelrolled]

65. I was curious how the ACLU would view some of these orders

So far I haven't heard much. Based on previous cases, they do make exceptions to their core principles, and this might be another.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

67. Dr. Barr sez

Opus Dei will pray the virus away.

Hey Kenneth Copeland can't have all the fun.

[appleannie1]

68. Well Mr. Barr, I plan on continuing my "house arrest" even if you declare the country open.

I am not going to get sick or die for you or the clown you answer to.

[Vinca]

70. What a bloody fool. We're free to go to the grocery store, pharmacy and other essential

services. We are not free to get our hair and nails done, shop for sport or crowd the bars on a Saturday night. More important than anything, we're free to live another day. This might have largely been prevented if we'd locked down in February. It could have been over now.

[treestar]

71. That's just stupid

There is a reason for it. A purpose. It's to protect ourselves. Idiot.

[truthisfreedom]

72. Put an ankle bracelet electronic monitor on this shithead

And teach him what the fuck he’s claiming.

[ProfessorGAC]

73. DUer GAC Describes Barr As "Disturbingly Close" to Braindead

When the cops show up the moment I leave my garage, I'll consider he's onto something.
Until then, the only thing I'm considering is how a brain that small manages to keep his heart beating.

[lark]

74. This proves the repug mission is to kill us and have a huge 2nd wave at election time..

They will not rest unless it's raging in the entire country in Nov., they need that total devastation so people are scared and very angry and frustrated. Barr wouldn't risk SCOTUS actually doing their job if this wasn't of primary importance to rw domination. They will close all precincts in big cities except 1 maybe 2 and there will be huge lines and people will be waiting, maybe even all day and mad. That way the ground will be prepared for his paid RW allies like KKK & Proud Boys and other white nationalists to come in and shoot us so he can declare martial law, and stop the elections. If you don't think SCOTUS would totally back this ploy, don't think you have been paying attention to their rw fascist treachery. That is the only explanation for what he's doing now and back to Dec. He's been consistent in trying to kill us, to hide the truth so the infection spreads far and wide, to provide no help and laugh while we die. He knows this will affect the poor and working class the most and our deaths just means more SS money in the pile he will steal immediately after the election - because - FINANCIAL DISASTER - which he created on purpose. PUtin and he have been talking constantly, the master having to tell his dense pupil what he needs to do over and over because he demented fool can't remember the instructions.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

75. The dumbshit is in the high risk group

69 years old and morbidly obese.

[Progressive Jones]

78. Am I missing something in all this whining about "stay at home" orders?

I live in Illinois. We are, as they say, "shut down".
I'm not forced to remain in my home.
I can go out and shop.
I can go get anything I need.
No bars or restaurants, but nearly every restaurant is doing curbside carry out.
Minor inconveniences.

Are there States where you are more "confined" than we are here in Illinois?
There just seems to be a lot of complaining about "tyranny!!!!1111"...