We previously discussed the controversial threats of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) against those who were raising electoral fraud allegations. She is currently in another controversy involving the arrest of restaurant owner Marlena Pavlos-Hackney. Fox Host Tucker Carlson has alleged that the owner was arrested due to her appearance on his show. (For full disclosure, I am a contributor to Fox News). Nessel can certainly point to a long history of noncompliance to justify the arrest but her statement issued in response to the allegations is, in my view, highly inappropriate and shows raw political bias.
Pavlos-Hackney became a national hero for some in defying the Michigan health orders and what followed were a series of citations and contempt orders.
Those orders were sufficient to secure a bench warrant of arrest, but the timing following her appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show led many to object that Nessel was retaliating against a national critic.
Putting aside the retaliatory accusation, there is ample reason to condemn Nessel’s response to the criticism. Here is the statement:
Marlena Pavlos-Hackney had countless opportunities to comply with even the most basic health and safety protocols to protect her community from the spread of Covid. She defied her local health department and the court at every turn, instead choosing to taunt health inspectors, law enforcement and the courts at every turn- going on Tucker Carlson and setting up a lucrative Go Fund Me account instead of making even the slightest effort to protect her customers, her workers and community. She is no martyr and no hero. One cannot repeat the mantra of “Law & Order” and support the activities of Ms Pavlos-Hackney. But if you cheered Donald Trump when he bragged about the many ways he avoided military service while others complied with their legal obligations, it’s no wonder you revere this woman. Making personal sacrifice for the greater good of our state and nation was once considered admirable. Not anymore.
Michigan AG Dana Nessel
My objections to the statement are two-fold. First, Nessel goes out of her way to taunt Pavlos-Hackney and her supporters. She also makes specific reference to her going on the Tucker Carlson show. Given the free speech issues in such appearances, the reference to a national show (in which Nessel was criticized) shows, at a minimum, terrible judgment by Nessel. This is particularly concerning given Nessel’s prior threats against people who raised electoral fraud claims.
Second, Nessel uses the statement to confirm raw political bias in striking out at Trump and his supporters. She mockingly notes “if you cheered Donald Trump when he bragged about the many ways he avoided military service while others complied with their legal obligations, it’s no wonder you revere this woman.” Ironically, it is the type of gratuitous attack that many of us criticized Trump for using against political opponents. However, this is the Michigan Attorney General engaging in petty digs against Republican critics.
The entire statement reads like a political screed rather than a prosecutorial statement. It is both unprofessional and unwarranted in addressing the arrest of a citizen. What is bizarre is that most officials in such a controversy would strive to maintain an absolutely legally objective and politically neutral position. Nessel could have left the matter by detailing the history of noncompliance as sufficient justification for the arrest. Nessel did precisely the opposite to pander to a political base. She seems to struggle to fulfill every stereotype of a biased political operative exercising criminal enforcement authority.
Trump is a genius at negotiating real estate. He continues to live rent free in their heads.
If he’s such a “genius”, why is the DC Trump Hotel a ghost town, and why did he put it on the market?
So says the one-room studio.
Why do you think? It’s not a hard question.
What else is new. The left are the bullies they blame on everybody else. They claimed Trump was a dictator….he has nothing on these corrupt lefties.
To the corrupt tyrant of Michigan “Gretchen” we signify our defiance with the middle finger!
This summer we were headed for the famous pizzeria “Fricano’s” on River ave–
now we are adding Marlena’s Bistro & Pizzeria to the itinerary!
https://www.facebook.com/MarlenasBistroandPizzeria/
See you at Holland State Park in July! Right down the street from “Ottawa Beach Inn!” another fine dining experience by the Black Lake– aka Lake Macatawa, right off the channel from the big lake.
Sal Sar
I’d like to see AG Nessel duke it out with Chef Gordon Ramsay. Chef Ramsay explains how some people can’t pass any form of normality.
Ruminate on the fact the state is now using force and imprisonment against citizens for (1) the “crime” of attempting to earn an honest living and (2) for voicing the “wrong” political opinions. If this no longer worries the vast majority of Americans, we are on a very dangerous trajectory.
I notice the Good Professor overlooked mentioning how Legal Counsel now has a genuinely good case for filing a Procsecutorial Misconduct Plea in the Case and an Ethics Complaint with the Michigan Bar Association.
I would imagine that a Federal filing for a Criminal Act Under Color of Law might and a Civil Free Speech case would also be an option.
That is the only way to derail such Liberal Democrat conduct….take THEM to Court!
Go after them personally….directly…and make THEM pay for their Legal Counsel and not have it paid for by the Tax Payer.
Tie THEM up in Court.
Prosecutors, in their prosecutorial capacity, have absolute immunity from liability claims. There will be no financial punishment for her. So she will receive no punishment unless the MI leftist Bar or the court punishes her, which is as likely as FDR serving a 5th term as president.
It’s amazing, while this Democrat AG acts like a fascist our Democratic President lets Covid patients into the country and spreads them around. But before that many of the young are kept in tents one on top of another with no social distancing.
Everything in the Democrat party has to do with getting more power without caring for the American public.
https://www.projectveritas.com
Click on the right for pictures of this mess that our leftist friends on the blog approve of.
They need their Bogeyman and Scapegoats to divert attention.
I can recall that some of the things that Trump said made me cringe a bit, but I cannot recall his ever “bragging” about not having to serve in the military. I believe that was part of the Democrat playbook, to separate Trump from the military who he totally supported, and in return he had much of the troop support as well.
This is the type of abuse of power that our leftist friends celebrate. Only they can answer why they consider Nessel a good thing.
Trump has been out of office for months and he still dominates this woman’s thoughts.
Going by some of the posts here, there is still a large segment of the country which lets Trump dominate them.
Pathetic.
AG NESSEL is a RADICAL LEFT WING LIBERAL AG and cares little about the law and Constitution. She is a Trumper hater and a Dictator AG just like her Governor Whitmer another Radical Nut Case. How anybody would vote for Nessel or Whitmer is beyond Logic. Hopefully the Voters will throw both of them out.
Nessel is a frustrated, vengeful lesbian who is a religious bigot, an ideologue with a hatred of conservatives, and law enforcement. Like Whitmer she is incompetent and corrupt and she should be impeached.
Nessel nessels in a best full of vultures.