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JIM SHARPE

Please, politically distance from the COVID crazies

The people who protest Arizona’s stay-at-home order might find themselves stuck inside even longer if they don't keep their wits about social distancing, writes KTAR News host Jim Sharpe.

Boy! Phase 3 of President Trump’s COVID-19 back-to-work plan can’t get here soon enough for me – just ask my wife. 

But one group of Arizonans plans to let everybody know about their impatience. 

A protest of Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order that closed businesses is planned for Monday outside the Arizona Capitol. And this so-called “Patriots Day Rally” is scheduled to begin (in their words) “at high noon.” 

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HIGH NOON?! 

That sounds like a showdown! 

I just hope it’s not a face-to-face showdown. 

Or it’s, at least, a 6-feet-apart-from-each-others-masked-face showdown.  

Not physically distancing will not only risk the protestors’ and their families’ and neighbors’ health but also the health of their cause … which I think is to get Arizona opened NOW! 

In all fairness, I’ll bet most of them don’t think all restrictions should be lifted tomorrow, but if they were going along with the pace at which we are moving along, why would they be protesting? 

One person who plans on attending the rally told AZ Mirror it’s not an organized event and that individual patriots will be responsible for making sure they are practicing physical distancing. 

I just hope it doesn’t devolve into what we saw in Michigan: people reasonably protesting what they feel is an unreasonably restrictive stay-at-home order by staying in their car — and then some unreasonable people getting out of their car and standing inches apart. 

One guy was seen handing out candy to the kids – with his bare hands

Protests are not only allowed under Gov. Ducey’s order – they are specifically spelled out as being allowed. Constitutionally, they should be – with reasonable restrictions (don’t make me cite case law to back this up — my law library is horribly out of date). 

So the protesters at our state capitol this Monday should BE reasonable, follow the reasonable restrictions and physically distance. 

And one last thing: Even though it’s not their fault that conspiracy-theory nuts are promoting the rally with hashtags like #SCAMdemic2020 (sooo clever) and #CoronaFascism, the legit protesters should still find a way to politically distance themselves from the knuckleheads. 

Jim Sharpe Host of Arizona's Morning News

Jim Sharpe has worked in and around the media since he was an Arizona high school student. He’s been a talk show host; a program director; a media liaison and consultant for political campaigns; and an award-winning journalist (including being… Read more

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