No, of course they aren't actually signing these. But they should be!

Pity the dilemma of the organizers who are planning to bring thousands of freedom-loving COVID-skeptics to congregate and swap droplets at the Wisconsin Capitol this Friday.



Governor Evers won’t respond to their demands to open the Capitol building so they can use the bathroom facilities! And he won’t give them a permit for their #REOPEN WISCONSIN rally! And, without a permit, they can’t get anyone to rent them PortaPotties!

Oh, the humanity.

The following text and screenshot is from the #REOPEN WISCONSIN Liberty, Community, Rally & Action page on Facebook. As of this writing, they’re approaching 8,000 members. In order to join the private group, you must first take a multiple choice test, in which the “right” answers involve affirming that you believe Wisconsin should never have been shut down, and that you value liberty over safety.



Madison Marie (Admin)



UPDATE on bathroom situation: I NEED IDEAS!!!! The Capitol building is currently closed. I’ve been trying to get a hold of our Governor, via phone, to ask him to open up the Madison Capitol building so we can use the hand washing & Bathroom facilities. His voicemail inbox is constantly full at the Madison office. The Milwaukee office rings for eternity with no voicemail. I have also Emailed our Governor but I understand that he is probably receiving thousands of emails right now and I have not received a reply. It looks as if our permit to assemble on the State Capitol grounds might be denied (I’m going to call and check Monday).

We’ve called a couple different porta potty places for hand washing stations and porta potties and none will deliver without a permit.

Lose-lose situation. Currently, only Walgreens and a few other businesses are open on and near the square. We don’t want to overwhelm them with bathroom requests.

I’ve debated asking if the other small businesses around the square and down the adjoining streets would like to open up but that is a lot of foot work and time to get ahold of each individual business.

On the flip-side, the food establishments might make great money. We want to respect our Capitol and keep it clean. Give me ideas!

As much as it feels good to laugh at this bumbling… well, the term that comes to mind is sh!t-show…



It’s unfortunately deadly serious. As I said about the in-person elections, forced by Wisconsin Republicans earlier this month… they’re condemning people to death. They just don’t know who yet.



And could one possibly do anything any more demoralizing to our first responders?

The following was written this weekend by Michelle Watkins, a friend of mine in Madison:

"Y'all, as a nurse working in a COVID unit, these protests are the most demoralizing thing to happen throughout this whole damn experience. Yes, it's been gut-wrenching watching patients struggle for breath while unable to see their loved ones. Yes, it's been scary wondering if our dwindling supply of protective gear will last, and if the flimsy barrier masks are even adequate to protect us. Yes, it's been hard knowing that, because of my work, I will have to self-isolate for pretty much as long as I continue caring for COVID patients (which I guarantee will be WAY longer than any state order) to ensure I don't asymptomatically spread this seriously terrible virus to people I care about. All of that sucks. But through it all, I've felt hopeful about the incredible solidarity and self-sacrifice and ingenuity and creativity I've seen in people's response to this situation. But these protests are corrosive to that hope. Not only would their demands lead to a spike in deaths, but the protesters are actively putting themselves in harm's way by gathering like this. And by putting themselves in harm's way, they are thoughtlessly dragging ME and my fellow front-line workers into harm's way, too. They are creating further strain on our healthcare system when we can least afford it, and they are risking the lives of people I love. Just STOP already. I know this whole thing sucks, but pull on your big-kid pants and join the rest of us in working together to fight the virus, not each other. THAT is what patriotism looks like."

I don’t have a pithy conclusion for this, nor anything uplifting.

But — just STOP already.