Attorney General Bill Barr compared coronavirus lockdowns around the country to house arrest and said that, "other than slavery," the restrictions are the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history," during an appearance Wednesday at Hillsdale College.

"You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest," Barr told a friendly audience at the conservative Michigan school during a question and answer session. "Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history." [...]

During the same appearance where he insisted that coronavirus lockdowns rank right behind slavery in terms of injustice, Barr also took the opportunity to again attack the Black Lives Matter movement.

"They're not interested in Black lives," Barr said. "They're interested in props, a small number of Blacks who are killed by police during conflicts with police -- usually less than a dozen a year -- who they can use as props to achieve a much broader political agenda."

In 2019, 250 Black people were shot and killed, according to the Washington Post's police shootings database, and that's not counting non-shootings such as George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May or Daniel Prude's killing in Rochester in March.