An innocent man was violently arrested and taken to jail after a police officer accused him of leaving his car running while he was in a convenience store.
The post WATCH: Cops Now Kidnapping and Caging People for Leaving Their Cars Running appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
LOS ANGELES (INTELLIHUB) — Kanye West appeared on TMZ Tuesday where he expressed his views on free thought and infinite love, and the majority of the press is focusing to cover only one of his remarks on “slavery” to further the divide proving Kanye’s point.
The outspoken visionary who’s often touted as a genius told a TMZ staffer named Ben that he didn’t mean to say things that hurt him or other blacks when he wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat last week out of the blue, and apologized for causing him pain from his new way of thinking which contradicts the average African-American person’s belief system.
“TMZ is the hospital to fix the world,” Kanye said passionately. “I think that we have to get next to everyone. If we don’t like Trump then we have to talk to them […] because Trump is a human being also, and he is in a very powerful position and he is doing a lot of things to actually help […].”
“We need to speak to people,” Kanye reiterated. “Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result — so if we keep on saying I hate you, I hate you, f**k you, f**k you, f**k you, then how are we going to get a different result out of hate?”
The famed rapper and business mogul then went on to hit a home run out of the proverbial ballpark when he asked a few key questions.
“Why don’t we just try love,” Kanye asked. “Why can’t an influential rapper in the black community go up to the President and talk to him about how we can make a change one-by-one-by-one?”
“We have the resources for a peaceful world,” he said. “I believe that Kim Jong-un didn’t believe that Obama was crazy enough to come at him — you know, sometimes you need so crazy sh*t to change something.”
“They say I’m crazy, they say Trump is crazy but I’m here to show you love […] and I know I disappointed the black community when I wore the hat but like I told J Cole on the phone just now that it’s a bigger plan and I’m just doing what the universe told me.”
We love you Kanye.
#InfinateLove
Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook. Subscribe to Shep’s YouTube channel.The post Kanye West hits proverbial home run out of the ballpark: Why don’t we just try love? appeared first on Intellihub.
The history of the United States serves as a reminder that gun control was already tried in the 1950s, and it was intentionally implemented to suppress minorities.
The post History of Black NRA Groups Exposes that American Gun Control is Rooted in Racism appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
Authored by Thomas Lifson of American Thinker,
The full evil of the anti-cop hysteria pushed by left wing groups like #BlackLivesMatter will take many years to be understood, in no small part because of political and media support for the notion that racism on the part of cops is the sole cause for disproportionate numbers of black perpetrators in our crime statistics.
But every now and then, a statistic appears that cannot be easily dismissed. Jared Sichel of The Daily Signal brings one such figure to our attention.
Murders in the U.S. rose nearly 9% last year, and one-third of that increase came from just a few neighborhoods in Chicago, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the FBI’s annual 2016 publication, Crime in the United States.
While violent crime (homicide, rape, assault, and robbery) also rose nationwide from 2015 to 2016 — over 4% — the data show the increase was not uniform, but rather concentrated in cities like Chicago and Baltimore.
(Chart per HeyJackAss!)
Other big cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, DC, saw meaningful declines in violence. So there is no broad trend, but rather local factors that must be accounted for. For instance:
Interestingly, the paper’s neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis claimed that areas where homicides spiked had a “lighter street presence by police following officers’ high-profile killings of young black men.” (snip)
In Baltimore, violent crime rates were going down until 2015, when police officers “pulled back from a more proactive approach” following widespread city riots after the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a severe spinal injury while being transported in a police van on April 1, 2015, and died one week later.
But for the real statistical weight affecting overall crime stats, one has to look at Chicago, where the police have been under severe restrictions and where gang activity is out of control:
In Chicago last year, homicides jumped to 771, 58% higher than in 2015, and more than the number of murders in Los Angeles and New York combined. Half of that increase, the analysis showed, came from just five neighborhoods, and is largely attributable to gang warfare. In a “roughly four-mile radius of West Garfield Park,” for example, there are at least 30 gangs. (snip)
In Chicago, as in Baltimore, police became less proactive following protests against the fatal 2014 shooting of a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, by a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, who has been charged with first-degree murder.
A FiveThirtyEight analysis found that in Chicago and other cities with high-profile deaths of black men involving police officers, a “pullback in policing was accompanied by a sharp increase in gun violence.”
All the anti-cop self-righteousness in the world won’t save one victim from gang violence. The BLM protestors, along the with hands up-don’t shoot crowd have been enablers of horrific violence that mostly is claiming black lives. Progressive politics often involves sacrificing the powerless for the purported greater good, even as the poseurs claim to be their righteous protectors.
Content originally published at iBankCoin.com
This has got to be some sort of mass social experiment to determine how stupid people are.
CNN is reporting that Russian propagandists used the popular Pokémon Go game, in which players go on a real-world scavenger hunt to find and “train” Pokémon characters, to stoke racial tension by sending players to areas in which police brutality had taken place. Players were then encouraged to name their Pokémon after black victims, such as Eric Garner, who died after a NYPD officer put him in a chokehold.
To be clear, CNN is claiming that Russia tried to trick Americans into taking up a traditionally liberal cause, in alignment with Black Lives Matter (BLM), to divide America through racial tension and somehow drive voters into the arms of Donald Trump. The other logical conclusion which CNN somehow overlooked, is that said propaganda would have encouraged left-wing political activism – bringing sympathetic social justice warriors to the polls – ostensibly voting for Hillary Clinton.
CNN reports:
The campaign, titled “Don’t Shoot Us,” offers new insights into how Russian agents created a broad online ecosystem where divisive political messages were reinforced across multiple platforms, amplifying a campaign that appears to have been run from one source — the shadowy, Kremlin-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN that the Don’t Shoot Us Facebook page was one of the 470 accounts taken down after the company determined they were linked to the IRA. CNN has separately established the links between the Facebook page and the other Don’t Shoot Us accounts.
The Don’t Shoot Us campaign — the title of which may have referenced the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” slogan that became popular in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown — used these platforms to highlight incidents of alleged police brutality, with what may have been the dual goal of galvanizing African Americans to protest and encouraging other Americans to view black activism as a rising threat.
The evidence…
CNN reports that the “Don’t Shoot Us” campaign Facebook page was linked to one of 470 Facebook accounts deemed to be linked to a Russian propaganda effort. The campaign’s YouTube videos lead people to donotshoot.us, which links to a Tumbler account. In July 2016, the Tumbler account announced the Pokémon Go contest to go find areas with reported police brutality
Their evidence that “Don’t Shoot Us” is Russian? A guy named Daniel Reed, who described himself as the “Chief Editor” of DoNotShoot.us, emailed interview answers for an article to student-journalist Arpita Mitra of the website IPF (International Press Foundation) in a Word document, which Mitra forwarded to CNN. Upon analyzing the document’s metadata, CNN claims the Russian word for "name" was found in the document’s properties.
From that, CNN says two cybersecurity experts who reviewed the document said it was likely created on a computer or program running Russian as its primary language.
Not quite a smoking gun - but CNN has decided to run with it.
The motive…
CNN can’t really figure out why the Russians would take up primarily liberal social justice causes, writing “It’s unclear what the people behind the contest hoped to accomplish, though it may have been to remind people living near places where these incidents had taken place of what had happened and to upset or anger them.”
Who participated?
Nobody, apparently.
CNN has not found any evidence that any Pokémon Go users attempted to enter the contest, or whether any of the Amazon Gift Cards that were promised were ever awarded — or, indeed, whether the people who designed the contest ever had any intention of awarding the prizes.
There you have it – Russians influenced US politics by taking up liberal social justice activism in alignment with Black Lives Matter, their endgame being to stoke racial tensions and somehow, some way, influence the election in favor of Donald Trump.
I wonder if Comrade Silverman is in on it too?
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A group of hard-left agitators affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement disrupted a free speech event put on by the American Civil Liberties Union at the College of William & Mary, rushing the stage and preventing the guest from even speaking while chanting Antifa like slogans about how bad the country is and the need to shut down free speech once and for all.
The ACLU’s Claire Gastañaga was at the college to speak on the subject of “Students and the First Amendment” but shortly after taking the stage she was overrun with BLM protesters who made it clear they were there to do one thing – shut down free speech completely.
As Reason Magazine reported, the disruption was livestreamed and documented a variety of different shocking statements made by the group that paint a clear picture of who the people on the hard-left really are as well as what they seem to be willing to do to achieve their goals.
The agitators began to chant “ACLU, you protect Hitler too,” in apparent reference to the ACLU’s continued stance on protecting all Americans right to free speech, including idiot white supremacists.
“Shame, shame, shame,” they continued before then making a series of chants that should shock any decent American who supports our system of government.
In what could easily be interpreted as meaning that the protesters were willing to break other Americans Constitutional rights as long as it achieved their own goals, the group shouted, “the revolution will not uphold the Constitution.”
This went on for nearly 20 minutes. Eventually, according to the campus’s Flat Hat News, one of the college’s co-organizers of the event handed a microphone to the protest’s leader, who delivered a prepared statement. The disruption was apparently payback for the ACLU’s principled First Amendment defense of the Charlottesville alt-right’s civil liberties.
Organizers then canceled the event; some members of the audience approached the podium in an attempt to speak with Gastañaga, but the protesters would not permit it. They surrounded Gastañaga, raised their voices even louder, and drove everybody else away.
After news of the disruption began to gain traction on social media, the college issued a statement that amazingly stood up for free speech but in a very “tepid” manner.
William & Mary has a powerful commitment to the free play of ideas. We have a campus where respectful dialogue, especially in disagreement, is encouraged so that we can listen and learn from views that differ from our own, so that we can freely express our own views, and so that debate can occur. Unfortunately, that type of exchange was unable to take place Wednesday night when an event to discuss a very important matter – the meaning of the First Amendment — could not be held as planned. …
Silencing certain voices in order to advance the cause of others is not acceptable in our community. This stifles debate and prevents those who’ve come to hear a speaker, our students in particular, from asking questions, often hard questions, and from engaging in debate where the strength of ideas, not the power of shouting, is the currency. William & Mary must be a campus that welcomes difficult conversations, honest debate and civil dialogue.
That’s right, Black Lives Matter, which is supported by Antifa groups across the country (as well as the mainstream media for that matter), has openly admitted that they are fighting AGAINST free speech and other Constitutionally protected rights, even if it means targeting groups they would normally ally with.
Amazingly, the agitators even claimed that liberalism itself is white supremacy which seems to indicate that these hard-left groups that have popped up across the country are truly against any American who supports the current capitalist system, regardless of political stance.
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Washington, D.C. — Over the weekend, in Washington, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered for the Mother of All Rallies event to praise their leader in the white house. Naturally, there were some folks there to counter-protest — nine Black Lives Matter activists to be exact.
This counter-protest began just like all the counter-protests before, people gathered around and began shouting in faces. “You don’t like this country, you leave!” shouted one man, repeating the ill-thought-out, yet often repeated, asinine talking point — implying that people who criticize the government, should leave instead.
The Black Lives Matter members remained militant and did not stand down as they chanted “black lives matter!” over and over, while Trump supporters encircled them.
As the hostile crowd began to surround the small group of Black Lives Matter protesters, event organizers on stage told them to back off and come back to the stage — albeit they did it in the most offensive way — saying, “don’t give them the spotlight. They don’t exist.”
But, like every other human on this planet, they do exist. And in order for all of us to coexist, we must be at peace. We don’t have to like each other, we just have to not be violent toward one another.
Shortly after reigning in the Trump supporters back to the stage, instead of simply insulting the Black Lives Matter activists further, the organizers did something entirely unexpected — they invited them to speak.
Rally lead organizer Tommy Gunn told the Trump fans that the BLMers would have two minutes to speak.
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READ MORE: Cops Told To Boycott Business Because "Black Lives Matter" Sign Displayed in Nearby Home
“What we are going to do is something you’re not used to,” Gunn told the BLM activists. “We’re going to give you two minutes of our platform to put your message out. Whether [people in the crowd] disagree or agree with your message is irrelevant. It’s the fact that you have the right to have the message,” he said as the crowd cheered.
Hawk Newsome, the man at the forefront of the small BLM outfit acknowledged this respect and then took the mic and proceeded to mend a growing violent rift that has been forming in this country far before the divisive Trump came into office. Despite the occasional outburst from the obstinate peanut gallery, Newsome was allowed to explain the Black Lives Matter point of view to the Trump supporters.
“I am an American!” Newsome said after introducing himself. “And the beauty of America is that when you see something broke in your country, you can mobilize to fix it!”
The crowd cheered.
“So you ask, why there’s a Black Lives Matter?” he said. “Because you can watch a black man die and be choked to death on television, and nothing happens! We need to address that!”
Some folks in the crowd didn’t take to kindly to that statement. Referring to the murder of Eric Garner by the NYPD, some of the pro-Trump crowd began calling him a “criminal,” as they attempt to justify a father’s killing. However, Garner was merely accused of selling loose cigarettes. Those who would justify a man’s execution over untaxed cigarettes are no friend of a free society — luckily there were only a few of them.
READ MORE: Attackers Open Fire on Black Lives Matter Protesters in Front of Police and Get Away With It
“I am a Christian!” Newsome said, before destroying the hypocrisy of hatred toward people from other countries. “I don’t think my Bible is any different from yours when it says, ‘Love thy neighbor!’ It didn’t say that neighbor had to be from the continental United States!”
Despite making some of their heads explode with his stand based on logic, Newsome continued and the crowd became even more supportive.
“The reason why we fight is to draw attention to issues and to fix it!” he yelled. “We are not anti-cop! We are anti-bad-cop! We say, if a cop is bad, he needs to get fired! Like a bad plumber! Like a bad lawyer! Like a bad fuckin’ politician!”
The crowd cheered again.
Newsome then caused more heads to explode by shattering another stereotype that surrounds Black Live Matter supporters.
All of the sudden a heckler in the crowd then began to chant “All Lives Matter!” But Newsome remained unphased answering back. “I’m going to leave you with this and I’m gone,” he said. “All lives matter, right? But when a black life is lost, we get no justice. That’s why we say, ‘Black Lives Matter.’”
At the end of the speech, Newsome was approached by many open-minded Trump supporters who offered their praise. Some of them even wanted their kids to take pictures with Newsome. As of this morning, the video below had over 30 million views, proving that this is what people want — peace.
READ MORE: Black Libertarian Calls Out Black Lives Matter"s Culture of Divisive Politics & Victimhood
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how progress is made when people are not assholes to each other.
Once the Trump supporter saw that Newsome and his crew wanted the same things as them, “freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” they had no reason to shout in each other’s faces. Peace was achieved.
Sadly, however, there are still folks out there who buy into the establishment’s divide and conquer propaganda and shortly after this video of Newsome went viral, some people felt the need to decry his peaceful actions.
Both BLM New York and BLM DC disavowed Newsome for doing what he did.
FYI: The group "BLM NY" aka "BLM Greater NY" is not affiliated with our chapter or the #BlackLivesMatter Global Network.
— BlackLivesMatterNYC (@BLMNYC) September 17, 2017
@BLMGreaterNY is NOT part of @Blklivesmatter and does NOT share our principles, politics, or values. https://t.co/y0lsH62sAS
— BlackLivesMatter DC (@DMVBlackLives) September 17, 2017
Fortunately, however, judging from the complete lack of engagement in their tweets, not very many people share their sentiment.
The establishment’s program of divide and conquer is powerful, but peace and love are even stronger. So, as corporate media blasts photos and videos of Antifa battling white supremacists and Trump supporters, telling you that there is a race war brewing — remember that they are the ones brewing it — all to keep you from looking up at the real war taking place on humanity, 24 hours a day, across the globe, carried out by sick people who loathe the fact citizens are refusing to hate each other.
For the second consecutive night, peaceful daytime protests descended into late-night violence with broken windows and thrown rocks, water bottles and garbage can lids following Friday"s acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting death of a black suspect. A small group of demonstrators refused to disperse, breaking windows at dozens of businesses and throwing objects at police, who moved in with hundreds of officers in riot gear to make arrests.
According to the Asociated Press, the confrontation took place late Saturday night in the Delmar Loop area of University City, a suburb about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of St. Louis near Washington University. The area is known for concert venues, restaurants, shops and bars, and includes the Blueberry Hill club where rock legend Chuck Berry played for many years.
A pocket of protesters threw bricks, rocks and projectiles with paint at police as officers tried to disperse the crowds. Nine people were arrested Saturday night during the protests, two police departments in the area said.
Shortly before 11 p.m. at Leland and Delmar, a small group of protesters threw chunks of concrete at police and broke windows at numerous Delmar Loop businesses. A chair was thrown through the window of a Starbucks.
One protester was seen hitting a police SUV with a hammer. Police made more than a half-dozen arrests witnessed by reporters, including a protester who was carried away by officers by his arms and legs.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters marched through the Delmar Loop near nightfall Saturday, as Mayor Lyda Krewson appealed to residents for calm and normalcy going into the second night of protests.
"These are not the images we want to see of our city," Krewson told reporters at an early evening news conference, referring to violence in the Central West End the night before that included damage to her house. "We have some work to do here."
She implored residents to "go about their lives" amid canceled events and uncertainty about how long the unrest would continue. "I know our small-business owners would appreciate seeing you again," she said. "Of course, go to work, of course go out to eat. We shouldn"t be so fearful here."
By shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, more than a thousand protesters carrying "Black Lives Matter" signs and chanting things like "No Justice, No Profits" were blocking the major intersection at Skinker and Forest Park Parkway near Washington University. Police later closed Delmar for the marchers, who were relatively peaceful going into the evening. Some yelled "F--- the police!" while others shook officers" hands.
As the chaos escalated, scores of police officers in riot gear pushed forward against the demonstrators just after 11 p.m. — about two hours after daytime protest organizers had congratulated their followers on keeping their demonstrations peaceful. By 11:30, about 200 police officers had pushed most of the protesters out of the area and the violence and vandalism appeared to be dissipating. The sidewalks along the vibrant area of restaurants and shops were strewn with glass from broken windows.
University City had been the scene of a peaceful march earlier in the evening to protest the previously discussed ruling on Friday which cleared ex-officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. That march ended with organizers calling for people to leave and reconvene Sunday afternoon.
But a few dozen protesters refused to go. Police ordered them to disperse, saying the protest was illegal. Hundreds of police in riot gear eventually moved in with armored vehicles. The demonstrators retreated down a street, breaking windows with trash cans and throwing objects at police.
Among property damage Friday night, police said in a statement, were broken windows and thrown red paint at Krewson"s home near Lake and Waterman; shattered windows at various locations in the area including a Subway sandwich shop, a Walgreen"s, the St. Louis Public Library"s Schlafly Branch, and several local businesses; broken vehicle windows including those on two police vehicles; and 18 fires.
Among numerous canceled St. Louis events for the weekend were planned concerts by U2 and Ed Sheeran, because police couldn"t guarantee security.
* * *
Cori Bush, a social worker and activist who is running for Congress in Missouri"s St. Louis-based 1st District, helped lead the marchers early Saturday evening. At the intersection of Skinker and Delmar boulevards, she called for a six-minute "die-in" for the six years since the fatal police shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith. Bush said city officials and media focused too much on the vandalism in the Central West End late Friday night.
"None of it could"ve happened at all, had there not been a dead body, had there not been a police officer who did something absolutely horrendous," she said on loud speaker to the crowd. "The message is simple: stop killing us," she said. "Black folks say, stop killing us."
* * *
Several protesters were seen in handcuffs, and city and county police later tweeted that they had arrested at least nine people. Police were seen carrying one handcuffed man away from the scene upside down. At least one demonstrator was treated after he was hit with pepper spray.
After the burst of violence ended, a reporter for The Associated Press found at least half of the businesses on one side of the street with broken windows along a two block area.
Sam Thomas, who was helping his friend clean up the glass from the shattered windows of his clothing and accessories boutique, OSO, said he understood why people were angry. The U.S. justice system is broken and needs to be fixed, Thomas said.
"I"m not saying this is the right way to fix it," he said of the damage. "The window isn"t murdered. Nobody is going to have a funeral for the window. We can replace it."
As reported yesterday, on Friday night, nearly three-dozen people were arrested and 11 police officers suffered injuries, including a broken jaw and dislocated shoulder. Five officers were taken to hospitals. Police said 10 businesses were damaged that night, and protesters broke a window and spattered red paint on the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.
Saturday night"s violence also capped a day of noisy but peaceful demonstrations at suburban shopping malls.
Protesters shouted slogans such as "no justice, no profits", "black lives matter" and "it is our duty to fight for our freedom" as they marched through West County Center mall in the suburb of Des Peres, west of St. Louis.
A group also demonstrated at another suburban shopping center, the Chesterfield Mall, and at a regional food festival. Organizers hoped to spread the impact of the protests beyond predominantly black neighborhoods to those that are mainly white.
Organizers Saturday night said they planned a "die in" on Sunday at 3 p.m. near St. Louis Police headquarters on Olive Street.
* * *
Smith"s death is just one of several high-profile U.S. cases in recent years in which a white officer killed a black suspect, including the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson that sparked months of angry and sometimes violent protests.
Stockley wasn"t charged until May of last year, which was three years after he left the force a moved to Houston and more than four years after his December 2011 confrontation with Smith. The former police officer shot Smith after Smith fled from Stockley and his partner, who were trying to arrest him for a suspected drug deal. Stockley, 36, testified that he felt he was in danger because he saw Smith holding a silver revolver when Smith backed his car toward the officers and sped away.
Following last night"s "massive protests" in St. Louis which saw at least 32 people arrested demonstrating the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white ex-cop who was found not guilty in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man on Friday, protests spilled over on Sunday with a decidedly anti-capitalist bent. As we reported this morning, video from Friday night"s protests showed demonstrators marching while chanting phrases including “no justice, no peace” and "if you kill our kids, we’ll kill your economy."
That sentiment continued on Saturday, when hundreds of demonstrators stormed West County Center Mall in St. Louis to carry on their demonstration for a second night.
Protesters descended on West County Mall in St Louis, Missouri, on Saturday
Fox News Correspondent Griff Jenkins reported, “Protesters take to a local mall chanting ‘No Justice, No Profits." The protesters said they wanted to shut down the mall to harm the city"s economy as payback for acquitting the white cop.
The local Macy"s shut its doors in fear of the crowd and there was an increased police presence at the mall.
Protesters take to a local mall chanting "No Justice, No Profits" #STLVerdict @FoxNews @foxandfriends #stockleyprotests pic.twitter.com/HgWfpqDZNU
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) September 16, 2017
Protesters were non-violent and marched through the mall chanting various slogans. Friday night"s protests were decidedly more threatening according to media reports.
Increased police presence at the mall kept the demonstration peaceful
At the same time, U2 which was scheduled to perform a concert in St. Louis on Saturday, issued a statement on Saturday announcing it had cancelled its concert.
"We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size. "We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.
"In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment," the band said in a statement. Ticketholders will be able to claim a refund online or at their place of purchase, they added.
Protesters in St. Louis Friday night blocked highways, damaged public and private property, broke windows, threw rocks at the mayor"s house and threw bricks at police officers who in turn responded by firing tear gas, after Jason Stockley, a white ex-cop was acquitted in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man earlier on Friday. At least 32 people were arrested, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said. Ten officers were injured - 9 St. Louis Police Department officers and one Missouri Highway Patrol officer - two of whom were transported to a hospital with injuries sustained after being hit by a brick.
A total of 8 officers have sustained injuries throughout the day. #STLVerdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
Some officers were wearing protective gear due to items being thrown at them.
Rocks & water bottles have been thrown at our officers throughout the day. Officers used great restraint. #STLVerdict pic.twitter.com/LIl2OxKhcO
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 2017
As reported on Friday, the protests were expected after St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson found 36-year-old Jason Stockley not guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. On Dec. 20, 2011, the then-police officer shot 24-year-old Lamar Smith five times after a high-speed chase and crash.
Protesters march in St. Louis, after a judge found a white former police officer,
Jason Stockley, not guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a black man
Stockley and his partner at the time, Brian Bianchi, were trying to apprehend Smith for a suspected drug deal at a Church"s Chicken restaurant, according to court documents. Stockley was facing up to life in prison without parole had he been convicted of both charges.
Crowds of people gathered today near the courthouse in downtown St. Louis to protest the ruling. Police blocked streets nearby so demonstrators could march. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, anticipating protests in response to the controversial ruling, released a statement saying he understood the verdict is painful for many St. Louisans.
Police guard on-ramps to Interstate 64 as protesters gather, Sept. 15, 2017.
According to ABC St. Louis affiliate KDNL, "hundreds of people were part of the massive protest."
Just after 10 p.m. local time, police declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly," tweeting, "those refusing to leave are subject to arrest."
This is now an unlawful assembly at Lake and Waterman. Those refusing to leave are subject to arrest. #STLVerdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
Less than 20 minutes after tweeting that the protest was an unlawful assembly, police announced tear gas had been dispersed, tweeting, "Tear gas was deployed because agitators became violent towards officers and destroyed property at Kingshighway & Waterman #stlverdict."
Tear gas was deployed because agitators became violent towards officers and destroyed property at Kingshighway & Waterman #stlverdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
Police then took to Twitter documenting the violent aspects of the protest, including the blocking by protesters of highways and other thoroughfares and other acts of civil disobedience.
Police line up as protesters gather, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in St. Louis
"Agitators have converged on Mayor Krewson"s house," police tweeted at 9:47 p.m. "Throwing rocks and breaking windows, despite being instructed not to."
Agitators refuse to disperse causing property damage near Mayor"s home. Those who don"t comply w/police orders subject to arrest #stlverdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
A subsequent tweet read, "Agitators refuse to disperse causing property damage near Mayor"s home. Those who don"t comply w/police orders subject to arrest #stlverdict."
Agitators have converged on Mayor Krewson"s house. Throwing rocks and breaking windows, despite being instructed not to. #STLVerdict
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
According to ABCNews, the violence continued past 11 p.m., with police tweeting at 10:29 p.m., "Destruction of public and private property continues in the #CWE neighborhood. We are doing everything we can to keep you safe #stlverdict." Then at 11:30 p.m. police tweeted, "Agitators are being warned that this is no longer a lawful assembly. If they do not disperse, they will be subject to arrest. #stlverdict."
Earlier, officials also tweeted a video of protesters stomping on the hood of a police car.
Agitators damaging a police car. Those causing destruction distract from the mission of peaceful protesters. #STLVerdict pic.twitter.com/Rbtpo1gAxc
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 15, 2017
Video from the protests showed demonstrators marching while chanting phrases including “no justice, no peace” and "if you kill our kids, we’ll kill your economy."
Damone Smith, a 52-year-old electrician who was among the motorists re-routed away from the area, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he believed the verdict to be “disgusting.” “I’m proud of these people protesting,” Smith, who is black, told the Post-Dispatch. “If you look like me, then you feel like there is no other way to express yourself in this kind of verdict. Time and time again, African-American men are killed by police, and nobody is held accountable.”
Meanwhile, some demonstrators were seen openly carrying rifles on the streets, which is legal in Missouri, according to The Associated Press, but there have been no reports of weapons being fired.
This firearm was recovered from the Central West End during tonight"s demonstrations. #STLVerdict pic.twitter.com/io9HXP8TAr
— St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017
Earlier in the evening, police said the protests have been "for the most part" nonviolent, adding "there have been some tense moments where agitators became destructive."
Protesters march down, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in downtown St. Louis
Several companies -- including Wells Fargo, Stifel and Nestle Purina Petcare -- sent thousands of employees home as protests grew Friday morning, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Stockley told the Post-Dispatch on Friday that he “can feel for” and “understand” what Smith’s family is going through. “I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I’m just not the guy,” Stockley told the local newspaper. Stockley"s acquittal also elicited outrage from several local officials, condemning the anxiously awaited bench verdict.
"This not-guilty verdict of a police officer who violently killed a citizen is another slap in the face to the black community in St. Louis,” Missouri state Rep. Michael Butler said in a statement. “And a shot in the heart to the family of the victim,” he said of Smith.
A protester runs from the police, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in St. Louis, as protesters
rally around the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson
“This system and all the politicians calling for peace are ignoring the pain this verdict causes our communities,” Butler added. “We will be nonviolent but we will not settle on peace. No justice. No peace.”
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson offered a more measured response, though equally emotional.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Anthony Lamar Smith, our police, judge, prosecutor, our citizens who find no comfort or justice, and everyone involved in this difficult case," she said in a statement. "I am appalled at what happened to Anthony Lamar Smith. I am sobered by this outcome. Frustration, anger, hurt, pain, hope and love all intermingle."
"We know this verdict causes pain for many people," Gov. Greitens said. "I"m committed to protecting everyone"s constitutional right to protest peacefully, while also protecting people"s lives, homes and communities. For anyone who protests, please do so peacefully."
Stockley"s defense attorneys argued that the then-officer acted "reasonably" in self-defense in killing a drug suspect he believed was reaching for a hidden gun. Prosecutors alleged that Stockley planted a .38-caliber revolver in Smith"s Buick after he shot him.
In his verdict, Wilson wrote that the court "is simply not firmly convinced of [Stockley"s] guilt." And because prosecutors "failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [Stockley"s] use of deadly force was not justified in self-defense," Wilson wrote that he could not address lesser charges of homicide, including involuntary manslaughter.
Setting up a potential repeat of the Ferguson unrest from the summer of 2015, St. Louis is bracing for another round of violent protests after an ex-cop was acquitted for the alleged murder of a black man.
As Reuters reports, on Friday, a Missouri judge found a white former St. Louis police officer not guilty of murder in the shooting death of a black man, "stirring feelings of anger and frustration in the black community." Ex-cop Jason Stockley, 36, was acquitted of first-degree murder for killing Anthony Lamar Smith, 24. Stockley, who was arrested in May 2016 and accused of planting a gun in Smith’s car, testified he acted in self-defense.
Judge Timothy Wilson’s highly anticipated ruling was announced Friday, more than five weeks after the bench trial ended. “This court, as a trier of fact, is simply not firmly convinced of defendant’s guilt,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
Wilson said prosecutors also asked the court to consider a lesser degree of homicide but they did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stockley’s use of deadly force was not justified in self defense.
As a result, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens has placed the National Guard on standby with officials fearing the verdict could set off violent protests, as in similar incidents involving police and minorities around the United States in recent years. As Reuters adds, "St. Louis and state officials were braced for violent protests and racial tensions similar to those that followed the 2014 fatal shooting by police of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, near St. Louis."
This is how the shooting went down according to Reuters:
Smith tried to flee from Stockley on Dec. 20, 2011, following an alleged drug deal, authorities said. During the pursuit, Stockley could be heard saying on an internal police car video he was going to kill Smith, prosecutors said.
Stockley, riding in the passenger seat of a patrol vehicle with his personal AK-47 in one hand and department-issued weapon in the other, shot at Smith’s car, according to St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Susan Ryan and charging documents.
At Stockley’s direction, the driver of the police car slammed into Smith’s vehicle and they came to a stop, court documents said. Stockley then approached Smith’s car and shot him five times with his service weapon.
Stockley’s lawyers said he fired in self-defense because he believed Smith was reaching for a gun but prosecutors said the only gun recovered from the scene had only Stockley’s DNA on it.
Stockley waived his right to a jury trial, allowing the judge to decide. He left the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 2013 and was arrested last year.
“I’m sad, I’m hurt, I’m mad,” the Reverend Clinton Stancil of the Wayman AME Church in St. Louis said by telephone. “But this was expected. We haven’t made any progress since Ferguson, that’s clear. Cops can still kill us with impunity.”
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson appealed for calm. ”Frustration, anger, hurt, pain, hope and love all intermingle,“ she said in a statement. I encourage St. Louisans to show each other compassion.”
Echoing the appeal for calm, Christina Wilson, Smith’s fiancée, pleaded at a news conference on Thursday evening for protesters to avoid violence if they demonstrate.
BRAVE Fiancé of Victim Asks BLM To Protest “In A Peaceful Way” After Accused St. Louis Cop Found NOT GUILTY In Death Of Man Fleeing From Co… pic.twitter.com/hlsjJqQ0Ap
— republocratist (@republocratist) September 15, 2017
The Stockley case is the latest in a series of recent grand jury decisions which have declined to charge officers involved in the deaths of black people: the most vivid recent examples include the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson and the choking death of Eric Garner, 43, in New York. Baltimore police officers also were not convicted in the death of Freddie Gray, who died from a broken neck suffered in a police van in 2015.
* * *
After the verdict, Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., voiced his frustration with the outcome: “You all know this ain’t right and you all continue to do this to us,” he told a St. Louis Fox television station. “Like we don’t mean nothing, like we’re rats, trash, dogs in the streets. Right now, I‘m praying for my city because my people are tired of this.” Smith’s family in 2013 settled a lawsuit filed against the city for $900,000, the family’s lawyer, Albert Watkins, said.
Micheal Brown Sr. reacts to Stockley not guilty ruling https://t.co/DTGvA9g95L pic.twitter.com/q9BM0ERLSD
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) September 15, 2017
Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, in a statement listed the names of several black people fatally shot by police in different cities and said little has changed. “It is past time for Missouri and the country to say in one voice: ‘This cannot continue,"” Mittman said.
Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner said in a statement she was disappointed with the verdict and believed she had presented proof that Stockley intended to kill Smith. “However, in this case it was the judge’s duty to evaluate the evidence and deliver his findings,” she said. “That’s how our system works.”
Meanwhile, the local protests are already starting to form:
BREAKING: protesters headed to Busch stadium downtown #stl. @kmoxnews @CBSNews @CBSNewsRadio #Stockley pic.twitter.com/W5GYxbUUEd
— Michael Calhoun (@michaelcalhoun) September 15, 2017
St. Louis-Demonstrators have shut down intersection in front of City Hall following Not Guilty Jason Stockley verdict pic.twitter.com/dYYB2sbkFO
— Ray Preston (@PrestonKMOV) September 15, 2017
#Stockley protest crowd has grown to about 75 in downtown St. Louis. Blocking intersection by courthouse after lap of downtown. pic.twitter.com/yZB4xRm7A7
— Ryan P. Delaney (@rpatrickdelaney) September 15, 2017
(POPEYE) “Conspiracy – an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons; plot.” A word that has become quite a regular staple to the vocabulary of listeners of The Malliard report, and this week’s guest is certainly no stranger to this rule. Awakened, red-pilled, truther, or whatever moniker you want to give this week’s guest, one thing for sure is that he is no stranger to venturing “down the rabbit hole”. On this episode Jim welcomes the one that helped push him into the realm of the shadowy cabal, and that is none other than Popeye of “Down the Rabbit Hole Radio” and Federaljack.com. Popeye joins up with the report to discuss geo-engineering, 9/11/, the right/left paradigm, unrest in the US, the bastardization of the word “conspiracy” and much more. So go ahead and press play, and take a step through the looking glass and venture down that hole…
Just try and scroll through a news website, or turn on a channel without seeing something about the mass unrest that is transpiring not only in the south eastern states, but across the nation. Alt-Right, ANTIFA, Neo-Nazis, Far Left, social justice, (insert group here) lives matter, us-vs-them. As it was once stated: “In times of trouble, everyone joins a team. No one waves a flag for all human beings. No one’s excited unless they are divided. Someone’s going to have to give in…” While the perceived chaos seems to be spreading at an exponential rate, one can’t help but to stop and ponder at the possibility of this being a contrived “epidemic.”
When the idea of induced civil unrest is brought up, the first notion is to question why such a thing would even happen in the first place. While a simple answer may appear difficult to convey at first, four little words may be able to explain everything: order out of chaos. It is far simpler to gain control of a situation or a people when things are completely out of order. The authoritative figure almost appears as a savior of sorts. By turning people against each other in an asymmetrical warfare fashion, this allows the powers that be to ratchet up their control methods. And they have been. A Lot. It starts off small; you can protest, but you have to do it during this time frame or only at this location. But soon the levels quickly increase to near Orwellian levels. YouTube has been stripping content from their site under the guise of “hate speech” or “misinformation” when the videos contain nothing of the sort. There have even been articles mentioning the restriction of, or the outright removal of the First Amendment. Where does the line get drawn?
There is certainly a lot to think about with the topics that are covered within this episode. Jim and Popeye cover a wide ground in a short amount of time. (Hey, they don’t call it “The Fastest Hour in Paranormal Talk Radio” for nothing) Take some time to research some of or all of them and make a decision for yourself. And remember, we are all people trying to just survive in this crazy world. We may not have the same opinions, but we’re still all people, fighting the struggles of life. Why make it harder by fighting with each other. We may not be able to fix the broken system right away, but we can start by coming together. Make sure to check out all of the great work that Popeye does by heading over to www.popeyeradio.com www.federaljack.com or searching YouTube user DTRHradioarchives. And as always, for all things Malliard, Twitter @Malliard.
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A petition calling for the White House to officially brand the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization has reached the threshold of signatures necessary to compel the Trump administration to reply, according to the Washington Times. The petition received its 100,000th signature around 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday. Though it had 30 days to reach that goal, the petition did so in less than a week.
The petition contends that Antifa deserves the terrorist designation because of its “violent actions” in cities like Berkeley, Calif, and Charlottesville, Va., as well as its “influence” in the killings of police officers.
The full text of the petition is below:
“Terrorism is defined as “the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims”. This definition is the same definition used to declare ISIS and other groups, as terrorist organizations.
AntiFa has earned this title due to its violent actions in multiple cities and their influence in the killings of multiple police officers throughout the United States.
It is time for the pentagon to be consistent in its actions – and just as they rightfully declared ISIS a terror group, they must declare AntiFa a terror group – on the grounds of principle, integrity, morality, and safety.”
If the petition is successful, Antifa would differ from other terror groups in one unique respect: Antifa isn’t an organization, so much as a blanket term for far-left protesters known for their violent battles with right-wing groups, as the Washington Times explains.
“Antifa is short for anti-fascists, and the people involved are generally extreme leftists known for their face-offs with right-wing activists, including recently in Berkeley, Calif. Antifa counter-protesters made an appearance in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend and clashed with white supremacy and neo-Nazi groups protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue.”
Antifa demonstrators are typically marked by their preference for black sweatshirts, and for wrapping dark bandannas around their faces. However, there"s at least one reason why the White House might de-prioritize the petition: The urgency surrounding the violent clashes that have erupted between demonstrators at various right-wing rallies and events involving conservative speakers has quieted somewhat after Saturday’s gatherings in Boston, which were largely peaceful.
As the Times notes, President Donald Trump has criticized what he calls “alt-left” groups that instigate violence at public demonstrations. Trump’s use of “alt-left” has widely been interpreted as another term for Antifa.
"What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right? Do they have any assemblage of guilt?" Trump told reporters at Trump Tower on Tuesday.
"What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do. That was a horrible, horrible day."
Though the president’s hostility is an encouraging sign, petitions that have taken aim at other protest groups since Trump took office in January have mostly fizzled, like a petition to label Black Lives Matter a terrorist group.
By Tom Trinko August 19, 2017
The first “shots” in our new civil war were fired after Charlottesville when many Democratic leaders claimed that they had the right to use physical force against anyone they didn’t like.
While cowardly leftist leaders are trying to portray themselves as fighting Hitler they are really fighting anyone they don’t agree with. Remember that some Democrats said that Rep. Steve Scalise had it coming since he opposed gun control and that Democrats have been silent when left-wing violence was used to prevent Republicans marching in a parade in Portland.
Facing a continued loss of power because their radical agenda is toxic to most Americans, the Democrat leadership — which includes the MSM — have decided that they have the right to physically attack anyone who stands in their way.
Like their Nazi and Communist forefathers, today’s Democrat leaders are comfortable sending swarms of Brownshirts out to beat into submission anyone who stands between them and power.
Under Obama, Democrats renounced the rule of law by declaring that they could choose to not enforce laws they didn’t like and make up laws that Congress never passed. Now they’re saying that they have the right to attack anyone who dares speak out in disagreement. Rep. Scalise wasn’t a Nazi or white nationalist, nor were the Republicans in Portland, or the speakers that Democrats forcibly prevented from speaking in Berkeley. Yet the Democratic leadership’s condemnation of all of those events has been muted at best.
While the first American Civil War was fought to protect that particularly Democrat institution slavery, the new civil war Democrat elites are starting to wage is about transferring power from the people to the rich white oligarchs, judges, and government bureaucrats.
As then, Republicans stand for freedom and Democrats stand for slavery.
The Democratic elite has issued a call to war by supporting and endorsing violence against people who don’t agree with them.
The left has gone from endorsing Nazis marching in a neighborhood full of Holocaust survivors to endorsing attacks on Nazis wherever they might appear. We all hate Nazis, but as Americans, Republicans believe in freedom of even odious speech, which is why we’re not tearing down the statues of that mass murderer Lenin that exist in America or the statues of Democrat Robert Byrd, who was a senior official in the KKK.
Republicans have uniformly, including President Trump, condemned Nazis and white nationalists. Yet Democrats are attacking us for not being sufficiently “woke.”
The time for pretending that Democrat leadership is patriotic is over. It’s time to shout from the rooftops that the Democratic leadership is a fascist cabal intent on overthrowing democracy.
It’s unclear how many of those who voted for Hillary support the clear fascist policies of the Democratic party. We know that those people tend to be low-information voters who get their “news” from the MSM. Hence, they live in a bubble of lies which make Democrat policies look semi-reasonable.
Even intelligent people fall victim to the Democrat Big Lies. A liberal physicist, for example, was shocked to learn that Osama greenlighted 9/11 because Clinton’s fleeing from Somalia taught Osama that Americans were cowards. He’d never heard that.
Similarly, today many Americans believe that Trump was defending Nazis because the MSM is lying about what he really said.
That’s why we need to be careful and not condemn all Democrats; many of them are honestly unaware of the facts just as the citizens of Nazi Germany didn’t have a clue about how WWII was actually progressing or how the citizens of North Korea thought for decades that though they were starving, they had it better than those poor capitalist South Koreans.
It’s clear that not all of those who voted for Hillary were actually voting for her agenda of taking power from the people and giving it to the elites.
Unlike the average Hillary voter who never heard most of the negative news about her, the Democratic leadership has sinister motives. For decades, they’ve been waging war against America. It started with FDR, a big fan of fascist dictator Mussolini, who began moving this country down the path to socialism with his failed big government policies. Few people remember that those policies didn’t work; it took WWII for the U.S. to recover economically from the Depression.
The next big step was disempowering Americans by giving near absolute power to the unelected Supreme Court. That court overthrew the laws of all 50 states by legalizing abortion for any reason at any time in pregnancy based on a “right to privacy” which is nowhere in the Constitution.
The Supreme Court also created numerous rights for criminals and redefined marriage over the votes of 55,000,000 Americans.
In parallel, the Democrats increased the power of unelected government bureaucrats to the point that they felt empowered to demand that Catholic nuns pay for abortions. To Democrats the 1st Amendment only applies to causes they, the Democrats, support.
Trump’s election was a visceral scream from America saying that we want our power back. That we don’t want to be ruled by pretentious, stupid, elitist fascists like Pelosi and the Clintons, or by RINOs whose first loyalty is to the state, not the people.
The Democratic leadership is now following Mao, who said that political power grows from the barrel of a gun, while Americans are being forced to defend the core American belief that power flows from the people.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/08/the_new_civil_war.html#ixzz4qOjJIgAU
Photo: Richmond Times-Dispatch
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In the end, fears that today"s "Free Speech Rally" would devolve into another Charlottesville, proved unfounded.
Boston had braced itself with hundreds of police officers to ensure that the day didn"t have the same deadly outcome of the Charlottesville protests last week. However, opponents of the right-wing took over the rally, chanting anti-Nazi slogans and waving signs condemning white nationalism.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters on Saturday that police had made 27 arrests for disorderly conduct, with some for assault and battery during scuffles between police and counterprotesters, even as the original conservative rallygoers had largely dispersed earlier in the day.
Dozens of conservative rallygoers had gathered on the Boston Common, but then left less than an hour after the event was getting underway as tens of thousands of counterprotesters swarmed the "free speech" rally. Thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-Nazi slogans converged Saturday morning on downtown Boston, dwarfing the smaller group of conservatives staging their own "free speech rally."
The small right-wing group who came for the rally huddled in a circle at the park as barricades fenced them off from the thousands upon thousands of counter-protesters who came to drown out their event. The conservatives left the rally around 1 p.m., shortly after their arrival. One of the planned speakers of a conservative activist rally said the event "fell apart" according to the AP.
This is the first video I"ve seen that really shows the disparity between the "free speech" rally and the thousands of counter-demonstrators pic.twitter.com/Lca2J3vhsc
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) August 19, 2017
Many of the counterprotesters remained in the area late on Saturday afternoon including a few who were among people chanting "Black Lives Matter" who burned a confederate flag.
Meanwhile, the "Free Speech Rally" organizers had issued a press release publicly distanced themselves from the white supremacists in Charlottesville on Aug. 12.
Organizers of the "Free Speech" rally denounced the violence and racist chants of the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" protest.
"We are a coalition of libertarians, progressives, conservatives, and independents and we welcome all individuals and organizations from any political affiliations that are willing to peaceably engage in open dialogue about the threats to, and importance of, free speech and civil liberties," the group said on Facebook. The Boston Free Speech Coalition, which organized the event, said that it"s not affiliated with the Charlottesville rally organizers in any way. "We are not associated with any alt-right or white supremacist groups," it said this week, insisting: "We are strictly about free speech."
Heading into the Saturday rally, Boston authorities and citizens were concerned that it would be another violent day and sent at least 500 police officers to man the streets to keep the peace between thousands of tense people. The police hoped to deter violence at the "free speech" rally, which had right-wing speakers, by closing streets to avert car attacks like the deadly one carried out last week. Boston also outlawed weapons of any kind - including sticks used to hold signs - in the protest area and ordered food vendors out of Boston Common, the nation"s oldest park.
However, tensions began to arise around 12:30pm, when a group of boisterous counter-protesters were filmed chasing a man with a Trump campaign banner and cap, shouting and swearing at him. Other counter-protesters intervened and helped the man safely over a fence to where the conservative rally was to be staged. A black-clad counter-protester also grabbed an American flag out of an elderly woman"s hands, and she stumbled and fell to the ground.
MOMENTS AGO: Woman waving American flag hit, dragged by counter-protester at #FreeSpeechRally in #Boston. - Foxpic.twitter.com/F3CCAIJkqw
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 19, 2017
Some members of the Antifa group spoke out, including member Shane Terry, 22, who says she covers her face so that "Nazis can"t find me on social media". There are uniformed officers from all over the state along with Boston firefighters from the rapid response team standing among the crowd.
Joe Fusco, 43, from New Hampshire says the entire event is ludicrous. "Aren"t we still the United States? So the counter protests are to stop the protest? Doesn"t make sense." Some counter-protesters did throw bottles of urine, rocks and other "hurtful projectiles" at police.
As the counterprotest went on, president Donald Trump complimented the Boston police on Twitter for their handling of the rallies minutes before the police department tweeted asking people to stop throwing items at them. Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon, "Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you." Trump also complimented Boston"s Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh.
Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017
Trump also praised the crowd of up to 40,000 anti-fascist protesters who marched through the streets of Boston in protest against right-wing activists hosting a "free speech" rally on Saturday. The President tweeted: "I want to applaud the many protesters in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one! "Our great country has been divided for decades. Sometimes you need protest in order to heal, & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!"
Our great country has been divided for decades. Sometimes you need protest in order to heal, & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017
Trump quickly deleted two tweets that misspelled the word heal as "heel" and an hour earlier he had tweeted to condemn "anti-police agitators". But the president"s tone was mostly conciliatory after a week of outrage over his response to the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.
Boston Police Department tweeted shortly after Trump"s tweets that out of the thousands in attendance, several dozen people were arrested for throwing bottles of urine and rocks at the police and after some some burned a Confederate flag and pounded on the sides of a police vehicle at Boston Common.
Boston mayor Marty Walsh thanked the thousands of counterprotesters that took over the the city"s streets Saturday in opposition to a conservative rally. "I want to thank all the people that came out to there that message of love, not hate," Mayor Marty Walsh said. "To fight back on racism, to fight back on anti-Semitism, to fight back on the supremacists that were coming to our city, on the Nazis that were coming to our city"
"I want to thank everyone that came here and expressed themselves in such a positive, great manner today," he added.
Boston Mayor @marty_walsh thanks all those who came out to "fight back on the white supremacists that were coming to our city." pic.twitter.com/UM06XX5YT0
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 19, 2017
Some antifa counterprotesters dressed entirely in black and wore bandannas over their faces. They chanted anti-Nazi and anti-fascism slogans, and waved signs that said: "Make Nazis Afraid Again," "Love your neighbor," "Resist fascism" and "Hate never made U.S. great" even as others, ironically, carried a large banner that read: "SMASH WHITE SUPREMACY."
Dating to 1634, Boston Common is the nation"s oldest city park. The leafy downtown park is popular with locals and tourists and has been the scene of numerous rallies and protests for centuries. Beyond the Boston rally and counter-march, protests were held on Saturday in Texas, with the Houston chapter of Black Lives Matter holding a rally to remove a "Spirit of the Confederacy" monument from a park and civil rights activists in Dallas had a rally against white supremacy. Removing Confederate-themed or era statues has recently gained momentum in the aftermath of Charlottesville.
