Riots continued for a second night in Louisville on Thursday after a  grand jury’s decision not to charge any of the police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. Riots of course piled atop other riots, which have continued since the death of George Floyd in May.

In addition, “protesters” showed up outside the homes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, after McConnell announced in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death that a nominee from Donald Trump would receive a confirmation hearing prior to the election, followed by a vote on the Senate floor.

It’s against this backdrop that conservative political activist and talk show host Steve Deace wrote a commentary for The Blaze, titled “The COVID mandates are about power, not science. It’s time we all stop cowering.” Given the BLM riots and RBG “protests,” Deace asked:

“Under what absurd constellation of civic consciousness could it be deemed just with such a backdrop to arrest a man, merely for singing psalms outside in a town square with his fellow churchgoers?”

“Well, when the national religion is the mask,” he said, “my country tis of thee, sweet land of tyranny. Signed, Moscow, Idaho.”

Via The Blaze:

“That’s where Gabe Rench was handcuffed and hauled to jail this week for protesting the city’s mask mandate, which requires them to be worn in all public spaces — inside or out — where no social distancing is possible until January.

“Rench, who is running for county commissioner and also hosts a podcast called CrossPolitic, said he emailed the police chief earlier in the week to remind him that his duty was to the citizens — the vast majority of whom spoke out against the mask mandate at a recent city council meeting — and their liberties above all else.”

The Babylon Bee’s Matt Carobini tweeted video of the arrest. While The Bee is a satire site, the arrest, unfortunately, was real.

Apparently we’re arresting people for singing hymns in America. pic.twitter.com/rR5oTmsrMI

— Matt Carobini (@carobini) September 24, 2020

Carobini also tweeted the email addresses of Moscow city council members.

Email the Moscow, Idaho city council members:

📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]

— Matt Carobini (@carobini) September 24, 2020

“Anahn E. Moo” made the same observation that conservatives have made for more than four months.

“Screaming at the top of your lungs, inches away from complete strangers for hours on end: no worry of being arrested.

Singing hymns with, by comparison, a few of your local church members: arrested.

Remember, kids, Covid 19 is only dangerous for conservatives and Christians.”

Screaming at the top of your lungs, inches away from complete strangers for hours on end: no worry of being arrested.

Singing hymns with, by comparison, a few of your local church members: arrested.

Remember, kids, Covid 19 is only dangerous for conservatives and Christians. pic.twitter.com/8ePNiR80fW

— Anahn E. Moo® (@anahnemoo) September 24, 2020

Of his arrest, Rench said:

“They kept telling me ‘I don’t want to arrest you.’ I told them ‘You don’t have to.’ I can’t believe how they are blindly going along with this. They know how dumb this is but they care more about their job and their status and their security than doing what is right.”

As has often been the case with the mask police — literal police officers or the Karens of the world — Deace noted the hypocrisy that followed Rench’s arrest.

And just to put an exclamation point on the preposterous frivolousness of all this, the very same deputies who arrested Rench for not wearing a mask were seen by him after his two-hour stint in jail hanging out in the police station — with no concern for social distancing and not a mask worn in sight.

Example 666 that the mask isn’t fundamentally about public health or science, but raw power and craven idolatry.

How can you not love that last line?

“In the face of that,” Deace wrote, “Rench sees a powerful Old Testament story of deliverance playing out. Sure, the feeble sheep are everywhere, but amidst that Gideon’s army of 300 is forming. There is no place to hide now. There is no simple box-checking or lip service about what it means to be a Christian or an American.”

“God is exposing our cowardice,” Rench said. “As a nation and as individuals. But we can see the 300 now. We can see who will fight. We can see who is faithful. Our police chief needs to be shaken by them. Our city council is obtuse and stubborn and stuck and doesn’t fear the people. But it should.”

Author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Todd Starnes compared the arrest of Rench and others…

WATCH: Christians Arrested While Singing Hymns in Idaho – https://t.co/vwTC58jC1k pic.twitter.com/JFCE3AH87r

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) September 25, 2020

…with the “jackasses” who heckled Donald and Melania Trump as they paid their respects to Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court.

Hundreds of liberals disrespect RBG by heckling @realDonaldTrump at the Supreme Court. Just because you are a liberal is no excuse to act like a jackass.

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) September 24, 2020

As for the arrest of Rench, Deace admonished: “Here you must stand, like Gabe and the brethren refusing to cower. You can do no other.”

Personally, I’d be less afraid of being arrested standing in front of Mitch McConnell’s house late at night screaming my guts out.

Incidentally, the feature image at the top?

That’s embattled Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as she arrived at Wrigley Field in Chicago, in April. The Chicago Cubs facility — God’s mecca among baseball parks — was used as a food distribution hub to help support COVID-19 relief efforts. Why wasn’t she “staying home”?

Check out my related piece from Thursday — unbelievable: Watch: Mother Tased & Arrested for Not Wearing a Mask at Son’s Middle School Football Game