This was the disturbing report from Mark Belling, read on the air by Jerry Bott on The Friday Afternoon Show, 1130 WISN:
EXCLUSIVE: Evers About To Order Wisconsinites To Stay In Homes; Most Businesses Will Be Ordered To Close
By Mark Belling, WISN-AM
According to state government sources, Governor Tony Evers is within hours of issuing an order for Wisconsinites to shelter in place by staying in their homes. The order will shutter virtually all Wisconsin businesses. It could be in effect for a long time.
State government sources tell me people will be allowed to leave their homes only for groceries, pharmacies, exercise, dog walking and travel to employment deemed essential.
The Wisconsin National Guard has been deployed and is basing at State Fair Park to enforce the order. A similar order was issued in Illinois this afternoon.
The order could cause a major disruption in the ongoing spring election and disenfranchise those who live in communities that refuse to start absentee voting this week. Evers' order is coming after Milwaukee and Madison residents were both given a full week to vote in person.
There has been so far no attempt by anybody to try to stop the unprecedented assault on personal freedom.
Mark Belling
March 20
This "exclusive" was also shared on Twitter, @MarkBellingShow. However, the tweet declaring impending martial law in Wisconsin "disappeared" without a trace, like a Chinese doctor or journalist trying to tell the world what was happening in Wuhan, China.
Friday afternoon, shortly after Belling broke the story, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers claimed he's not planning to issue a Shelter in Place order.
From WPR, Friday, March 20, 2020, 3:35pm:
As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to steadily increase in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers says he doesn't plan on issuing a shelter-in-place order, similar to those put forth in Illinois and California.What about the National Guard basing at State Fair Park?
During a statewide call with media Friday afternoon, Evers said as long as people continue practicing good hygiene and social distancing, he believes current procedures can remain intact.
"We believe that what we have in place now works, and will continue to work," Evers said.
From WISN 12 News:
The Wisconsin National Guard says it is mobilizing and "ready to respond to potential requests for assistance from other state agencies or communities," if necessary.
Capt. Joe Travato told WISN 12 News in a release that 300 troops have been mobilized to state active duty and are ready for further support, if needed.
“We are working hand-in-hand with our partners across state government to ensure our forces are postured and ready to respond to anticipated requests for assistance,” Col. Eric Leckel, the director of domestic operations for the Wisconsin National Guard added in the release. “Serving our state during times of emergency is one of our core missions in the National Guard, and we stand ready to assist the state with whatever it may ask of us.”
The Wisconsin National Guard said it has also brought on additional planners, logisticians, and command and control elements to "manage and execute any future missions," which could include assisting state agencies with logistics and planning, specimen collection, providing a source of medical professionals and more.
That report was last updated Thursday 7:05 PM CDT Mar 19, 2020.
Other media outlets also ran stories on the National Guard being prepared to assist with the outbreak, but none reported about basing at State Fair Park to enforce a Shelter in Place order.
Obviously, no Shelter in Place order was issued "within hours" of 3:00 PM Friday.
Clearly, Belling's sources were wrong.
The dissemination of that false story likely caused a great deal of concern if not outright panic among those unfortunate enough to have heard it.
2 comments:
Is it possible Belling's reporting was the result of a trial balloon released by the Governor to gauge public reaction to a shelter-in-place order? If so, I'm glad Belling went public with the story because Evers immediately reacted by saying he had no such plans to issue such an order. I hope the Governor means what he said.
A shelter-in-place order would be foolish. It would surely make the cure worse than the disease in Wisconsin as many small businesses in the state would not survive an extended lockdown, not to mention those individuals living from paycheck to paycheck. It would mean economic chaos in the state which is bound to be more lethal than Covid-19.
It is well-known that Covid-19 fatalities mainly occur in individuals over sixty and others with pre-existing health conditions like diabetes and heart and lung ailments. The highest fatality rate is among individuals over 80 years of age. Is it surprising news to anyone that individuals over 80 with an underlying health issue may die of pneumonia caused by the common cold, let alone Covid-19?
It makes sense for elderly, vulnerable individuals to shelter-in-place and they shouldn't need a Governor's order to do so. Almost all in this age group are retired and are de facto sheltering-in-place as it is. Healthy, young Wisconsinites should be free to go about their business unimpeded by unnecessary government restrictions.
Common sense should be the rule, not medical martial law.
I don't think Belling, with his demand to verify news before reporting, would have put that out there. It would have been terribly irresponsible and counter to his professed standards.
I agree that it could have been a trial balloon. Evers appeared ready to swoop in to deny the report. That was unusual.
I'm sure Evers will join the Shelter in Place bandwagon soon in spite of saying it wasn't needed. It's possible he wanted to have a high profile opportunity to say he was against such an order so he could claim he had no other choice.
When Dems have a chance to take away freedom, they can't resist.
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