After a protestor was arrested for bringing her children to a closed park and disobeying social distancing regulations, far right protestors further exacerbated the issue by gathering to protest outside the arresting officer's home.
Looks like "blue lives matter" only when people of a... different complexion are involved.
On Tuesday, April 21, a video of 40-year-old Sara Walton Brady being arrested went viral among far-right Facebook users.
The video, however, failed to capture many key elements of Brady's story. She was not a random, innocent woman simply looking for a place her kids could play.
Brady is an anti-vaccination activist with well known ties to Idaho's far right.
Brady's presence at the playground was part of a staged protest designed to provoke law enforcement.
Prior to the police's arrival, a group of people had to tear down police caution tape to gain entrance. Before arresting her, the officers requested she leave multiple times.
When she repeatedly refused, they arrested her.
Brady, who knew exactly what she was doing when she participated in the staged event, told her supporters after her release:
"I didn't wake up today thinking, I'm taking my kids to the park to get arrested — but when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty! We have a duty to stand up to tyranny, or we're gonna lose our republic."
Though Brady was only charged with misdemeanor trespassing and released later that same day, many far-right organizations have rallied behind her.
InfoWars picked up her story and it quickly spread among extremists on social media. Before long, another protest was organized outside the home of the police officer who arrested Brady.
Four armed officers had to stand watch outside their colleagues home.
Brady has also compared stay-at-home orders to Nazi Germany, saying online:
"That's no different than Nazi Germany where you had government telling people, 'You are an essential worker or a nonessential worker,' and the nonessential workers got put on a train."
This comparison is, of course, ridiculous and intentionally controversial.
Brady has a long history of distorting facts and manipulating the media to get attention.
In 2017, she was part of a lengthy public battle with the state over her son's "right" to attend public school without vaccinations.
In that case, her local school was prepared to let her son attend classes if she would simply fill out the form claiming he was exempt from vaccinations for religious reasons.
Brady would not fill it out, however, because she claimed she had moral qualms with two of the forms optional questions.
Brady seems more intent on getting camera time than accomplishing her supposed goals.
Meanwhile, as Brady and her supporters continue gathering to protest, their county, Blaine, has one of the highest mortality rates in the country.
With testing incredibly difficult to secure in the area, it's likely there are even more cases than officials are aware of.
Though cases seem to be declining, another outbreak could be on the horizon if the state follows Brady's advice and reopens early.
The book The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution is available here.
"The Federalist Papers are a collection of eighty-five articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in favor of ratifying the United States Constitution. First appearing in 1787 as a series of letters to New York newspapers, this collective body of work is widely considered to be among the most important historical collections of all time."
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