Jake Lang was arrested for assaulting cops with a baseball bat at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but was pardoned by Donald Trump before his case went to trial. On Tuesday, he got a bunch of fellow rightwing bigots to join him for what he billed as a “Christian Crusader March” outside a City Council meeting in Dearborn, Michigan — which as you probably know is a very Arab-American and Muslim city next door to Detroit.
Michigan Advance estimated the crowd of bigoted freaks, counterprotesters, and onlookers outside the Henry Ford Library (the council meeting had been moved in advance for safety) peaked at about 2,000 people; police made 22 arrests of people from both Michigan and from around the country, mostly on misdemeanor charges like breach of peace or disorderly conduct. Being a racist fuckwad remains legal under the First Amendment, not that it’s anything to brag about. For the most part, police lines kept the bigot assholes separated from counterprotesters, although there were moments when scuffles nearly broke out.
Here’s our favorite observation from the Michigan Advance story:
A significant portion of the crowd was uninterested in violence. The Advance observed several women urging their male partners to “shut the f**k up,” and stay calm out of concern that “you’re going to get arrested.”
The report didn’t indicate whether the women were with bigot protesters or with counterprotesters, but either way, blessed be the shut the fuck upmakers.
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In the days before the rally and the council meeting, Dearborn and Michigan faith leaders condemned the bigotry and reminded Christians that their Lord is not down with hatred, OK? Chaplain Rick Neveu of Dearborn’s St. Kateri Church pointed out that Jesus simply said “love your neighbor,” not “love your neighbor if he's the same race you are or the same religion you are.” They urged residents not to give Lang and his shit-stirrers the attention or confrontation they craved. Pastor Nathan Hayes of Solid Rock Church said the community should “ignore the outside voices and just pay attention to the person who lives next to you because they care about you way more than these people who are driving in from other places.”
Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, whose archdiocese includes Dearborn, issued a statement saying “I join with local and state civic and religious leaders in calling for peace and restraint as outside groups come into our community this evening in an attempt to provoke division and discord.” He added, as did many other civic leaders, that Dearborn is “home to people of many different faiths and backgrounds who live, work, and worship alongside each other.”
Police limited attendance at the council meeting, but Lang and several anti-Muslim bigots were able to get in to speak during the public comment period. Lang expounded on his favorite racist grievances, claiming that “The Muslims are being used by the Democrats to instill socialism in America,” and pretending to give a shit about LGBTQ people, saying “Once the Muslims have power in this country, then they will start throwing homosexuals off the roofs.”
He also blathered about how Muslims refuse to assimilate and are in the USA to “steal the wealth of this land to rape our women,” which is our cue to remind you that pardoned January 6 rioters keep being arrested for sex crimes and domestic violence.
And earlier this year, Lang himself was caught by one of those online “To Catch a Predator” imitators trying to chat up a decoy posing as a 15-year-old girl. Instead of immediately leaving the chat, Lang asked her when she would turn 16 and asked what state she lived in, adding “I can’t see you til your 16.” The conversation apparently ended there, and Lang later claimed the conversation was actually a “phishing scam” by “groypers” trying to smear him, but thank goodness his “team” caught it right away so he’s the hero.
Anyway, at the Dearborn City Council meeting, Lang tried to bring a copy of the Quran to the podium so he could dramatically rip it to shreds, but was stopped by a council member who told him “there’s no books or props allowed.” After spouting some crap about how the “crusade has begun” and telling Dearborn residents “Your time in this country is running short,” Lang stepped away from the podium and tore a few pages out of the book before being escorted out of the hall by police.
Lang was joined in the City Council meeting by Lorenzo Sewell, a rightwing Detroit preacher who helped organize the bigot protest. Sewell’s big claims to fame are that he spoke at Donald Trump’s second inaugural and then launched a memecoin whose value immediately collapsed. Sewell claimed to the council that Dearborn was “under Sharia law,” lamented that “America, we have lost this city. This is a city that is no longer under American laws,” and demanded the council renounce the Sharia takeover that had not in fact actually occurred.
Shawarma law, maybe.
We wouldn’t mention this shitbird Sewell at all, but as Michigan Advance points out, said shitbird “is also a member of the Faith Coalition Leadership Team of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers,” who has already been pushing bigoted hatred against Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. (The dipshit has mocked El-Sayed’s full name, and accused El-Sayed of wanting to ban football, fireworks, and the Fourth of July. El-Sayed responded by challenging Rogers to play one-on-one football against him, without pads.)
We think Rogers has some ‘splaining to do about having a lying bigot like Sewell on his “faith coalition” team. So does Craig Wozniak, a spokesperson for el-Sayed’s campaign, who said in a statement shortly before Tuesday’s rally, “Michigan families deserve a Senator who will stand up to hate rather than enable it.” Wozniak added that Rogers “must immediately disavow this rally, his affiliation with Jake Lang and January 6th terrorists, and explain why his campaign’s faith advisor is rallying alongside out of state agitators against Michigan faith communities.”
Well, Mike Rogers, why do you have a bigoted shitbird on your team? Go ahead and tell us, will ya?
[Michigan Advance / Click On Detroit / Detroit Free Press / Letters from Leo (paywalled) / CBS News / Michigan Public Media / Abdul el-Sayed campaign]
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I know this isn’t the OT, so I’ll keep this brief. But I am just SO FREAKING EXCITED.
I HAVE FOUND A NEW APARTMENT!!!! And it comes with all utilities! I’ll write more in the appropriate thread.
"Shut the fuck up!"
The 2026 factual statement of the year!!!