On Saturday, the white supremacists and neo-Nazis met in Boston for a “free speech” rally. Apparently, about 100 of them showed up. It would be easy to get confused though, because more than 30.000 people showed up to counter-protest their presence, offering up a lovely little primer on how free speech really works. You want to be a neo-Nazi? Fine, be a neo-Nazi. But everyone else gets to shout about it. Everyone else gets to make fun of you. Everybody else gets to post photos of your sad face online, so you will eventually be identified, and then we’ll try to get you fired and shut down in every possible way. Freedom, America and free speech. I’m including photos from the counter-protest at the end of this post.
Donald Trump must have been so sad that so few “very fine” neo-Nazis came out to Boston. He sat and fumed most of the day, then took to Twitter.
Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017
The 30,000 people (Boston PD said the number could have been as high as 40,000) who came out were overwhelmingly peaceful and non-violent and their main cause was protesting the white supremacists. They were not there as “anti-police agitators.” No one said anything about being against the police. Again, Trump is taking sides AGAINST the anti-Nazi side. After that, Trump tweeted this:
“Heel” not “heal.” He did correct it, but I’m assuming Emperor Foot Fetish was just letting his freak flag fly. God, he’s so f–king stupid. Like, I have my doubts about whether he tweeted that himself, or whether it was his new Communications Director Hope Hicks. WORDS ARE HARD. They are hard for everyone in the Bigly administration.
And finally President Schizophrenia tweeted this:
I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017
So what is it, Baby Fists? Were thousands of protesters there to protest the police, or were they speaking out against bigotry and hate? He doesn’t know. I assume Gen. Kelly wrote this one.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
So proud of my city. No, Orange Voldy, we won’t be joining together with you any time soon.
This is amazing news to wake up to for once!
Congrats to your city.
Again, Toupee Fiasco letting his Nazi flag fly. Was really happy to see so many coming together in a peaceful march against hate. My alma mater also help a peaceful get together this weekend.
Hell yes, Boston.
I’m in Atlanta, and we rose up by the thousands last night, marching in the spirit of love. We ended with an interfaith prayer beside the tomb of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King. I’m crying typing this. It was such a beautiful night. SO proud of my city, and everyone who showed up around the country yesterday.
Shambles
That sounds absolutely beautiful.
When bad things happen. Hateful acts happen. The majority will stand up and show they will act against it. Like the muslim woman that was attacked on the subway. Those 3 men stood up and protected her. Giving their lives because it was just basic decency.
Now with this Nazi junk. People who were silent or indifferent. Standing together. Peacefully.
Your city made me proud to be an American again. Course, the feeling will fade as the day goes on and a new catastrophe arises. But the feeling is great while it lasts, and thank you, thank you for that!
Boston is a beautiful city. Congratulations on your proud moment from Chicago!
Congratulations, Boston!
Beautiful. Been gone for 16 years, but I still call Boston my home town. Made me so proud to watch my home town yesterday all way from Florida. I miss Boston so much
Terrific Boston! The mayor and the police seemed to handle themselves well too. I think trump was very disappointed there wasn’t violence he could point to do a “on the one hand, on the other hand” false equivalence. But fox “news” will have an exclusive on a protestor who threw a used Kleenex on the ground, and another who farted audibly in front of a Nazi.
I think the only remotely violent acts were committed by the usual folks in black who cover their faces. The media needs to just start ignoring them or at least realizing they live on their own planet, just like Trump… and may be paid to disrupt by those who profit from discrediting the protesters.
Do we know if the Nazis were nasty nazis or good decent Nazis?
Very fine Nazis, I’m sure
The best Nazis. With the best advocate. (Sigh.)
In the words of the great David Ortiz, “this is our f*cking city.” I couldn’t march yesterday but several friends were tweeting or posting just that phrase on Facebook , along with many great signs.
Congratulations, Boston!!! I use to love visiting there as a kid. Sending love from Chicago. Nothing made me happier to see the 40,000 protestors.
You should be proud, Lightpurple! It was so up-lifting to see the mass of anti-nazis marching through the streets.
Way to go, Boston. As others have said, seeing all the peaceful marchers was a sight for sore eyes. And seeing the neo-Nazis “trapped” in their little gazebo was pretty funny.
A little gazebo where Barack Obama once made a speech.
My grandpa is from Boston and we still have family on the Cape. I live in the Midwest but we go back to the Cape every summer. The people of Boston (and pretty much all New England) rock!!!! They put up with very little bs. Here in the Midwest, we have a very hard time saying goodbye.
Well done, Boston!! Yesterday I felt a sliver of hope for the first time in a long time.
Well done, beautiful Boston. You showed them all how to do it.
I am so proud of Boston. My parents’ Alma mater is there and my nephew is going to school there among other ties to the wonderful city. I am not surprised that the city was ready for them in huge numbers. It feels good to see so many fighting the fight in a city rich in American history. The signs were hilarious.
where in the world did this man go to school
Once again you are the beacon of freedom to guide our country. Thank you Boston.
How does this man and his followers not drown every time they take a sip of cola?
And there I was thinking that he likes to wait on the facts before making a statement. “Anti-police agitators” indeed…
There were a few dozen who tried to cause trouble HOURS after everything else was over. They were quickly dispersed. The police commissioner praised the, as he put it, 99.9% who turned out for the right reasons.
I’m surprised he didn’t come out and thank the “many thousands of fine Americans who came out to support [me and] free speech”. There’s still time for him to create a few fake photos as is his wont. God, he really is a blithering idiot.
Um so Trumpy is equating anti-Nazi with anti-police. Good job, you dumbass.
Can’t spell heal. Unreal. Truly chilling though, that he’s this stupid on every front.
Yeah he’s all about the Nazis and their rights. He actually didn’t mean to tweet heel, he meant heil. Asshat.
I thought he meant the command for dogs. Still not sure that he did not.
Yesterday I visited a beautiful, small SW VA town that is home to a U-VA satellite campus (U-VA’s main campus is in Charlottesville). There were at least 20 people gathered with signs to peacefully appeal for love vs. hate. One elderly gentleman sat in the hot sun, with a sign stating he didn’t fight Nazis for this.
Proud of everyone, from Boston to Wise (VA) and everywhere else, who is coming forward to stand for basic human decency.
Vancouver and a town in Prince Edward Island held rallies too : )
Well done, Canadian friends!
What. An. Ass. I doubt it but the GOP had better be moving to take him out. He was never qualified for this job, but he is clearly unstable as well.
While watching cable news the other night, I was amazed at how many “establishment Republican” pundits were calling Trump unhinged, unfit for office, etc. And to the one they all said it was time for GOP leadership (Ryan, McConnell) to stop being afraid and do what’s right for the country before there’s no country left.
They’re all very good at posturing, but none have the cajones to do a damned thing about it. They LIKE the status-quo. Our only hope is to make OUR voices heard through our votes, and take those b@ll-less wonders out with our ballots!
@Imqrious2: but nothing on their agenda is getting done. I think they’d basically made a pact for with the devil thinking they’d pass all kinds of legislation. That’s not happening. So now they’re panicking-they have nothing to show for this, and poll numbers are dropping.
I hop the nuclear kodes consist of korectrky spelled wordz only
Snort!
Skares mee two deth that sumwon gave him the nukliar kodes!
Their could’nt be enything worser…..lol. As it would say very sad!
Beth, Beth, Beth: don’t u no it’s Nuk-you-lear?
Me two SM, me to.
And sometimes, Mr. Trump, you need to pick up a dictionary to learn to spell!!
I hurd nukleeur codz bin skrambulld sew he kant git et rite. Wee wil b sayf.
Hey celebitches! Maybe you agree: this site has always been an oasis of celebrity gossip, helping to distract us from the jizz-filled jacuzzi that is our current ass backwards governments. As a favor, could we get less Cheetolini posts? I know it’s the dead of summer, but I’d rather hear about ANYTHING but the Orange Asshole! Best, Emgee <3
I respectfully disagree. Lately I’ve been coming to celebitchy to get my daily serving of sanity and to vent. Plus, Baby Fists is a celebrity, albeit a Z- list one.
Don’t read the Trump posts. There is plenty of other celebrity gossip posted here. I enjoy reading and learning from other commentators regarding what’s happening in our government. It’s almost like a civics lesson for adults.
Sorry I disagree as well. Seeing the responses from celebitches makes me feel like there is some hope in this world. You don’t have to click on the posts if you don’t want to read them.
I know that it can be overwhelming and we all need a break from the madness now and then. But this is one of my go-to sites for political coverage, along with CNN, msnbc, PBS, fivethirtyeight, and assorted newspapers and magazines. Celebitchy fills a niche that the rest don’t fill. It lets me know that there are people out there, beyond my circle—way beyond my circle in that a lot of them are overseas—who are committed to the fight against racism, sexism, fascism, and nationalism. People who are sending love and support our way. I need that to get through the day.
Well said, Nona.
You guys make a valid point, and this site does give that international perspective we all need to see that the whole world thinks T-rump is as crazy as we do. I just hate seeing his face everywhere! Keep resisting, and we’ll see him walk out in handcuffs soon! That, and I hope for royal wedding news 🙂
I come here to speak freely as I have been surprised by people I thought were sane who voted for this excuse for a man.
On Friday there were seventeen different threads and that’s not even including the links. Only two of the threads dealt with politics. There were fourteen threads that I didn’t bother to look at. I prefer the political threads since most of the “celebrities” covered aren’t worth much notice. Just ignore the Moron-in-Chief posts, there’s still plenty of fluff.
I agree with you, Emgee.
No. I don’t agree with you at all. It’s the only place that’s 99% on my side and I’m not harassed by dumbass Trumpsters. The commenters here keep me from going crazy with the scary situation our country’s going through. I hope these Trump articles don’t stop on here. Plenty of articles here for you to read that aren’t about Trump
I’m with you. I need this site for its solidarity amongst commenters. There is no one in the world who could change my opinion on Trump and I don’t care to hear or read what his lunatic supporters have to say.
Emgee
Disagree as well. Not only is a Trump a celebrity. He’s also a hotbutton topic.
There’s lots of things or people this site covers that I’m annoyed with or not in agreement about. I don’t read those or the comments. And some days they overtake the site. Happens. Those days you’ll just have less to read here.
No, please. This is where I come first – to get the horrible news tempered with intelligent , funny comments that give me hope.
It’s easy to ignore posts you’re not interested in, I do it all the time. Meanwhile, the writers and fellow commenters here give me hope and help me stay sane. Until Bigly is gone I will continue to be thankful for the thoughtful writing I find here.
Sorry sweetie, but I strongly have to disagree, too. It is exactly this attitude of the American people that got you into this mess in the first place.
It’s 1933 all over again and this time, we have to stand up BEFORE it’s too late to do so. Since The Clueless One grabbed power, I don’t care for celebritiy gossip anymore. When you are old, do you want to tell your grandchildren about how you fought fascists or kept up with the Kardashians?
Have you guys seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest video yet? He’s old enough to have met the real Nazis and included footage of corpses, which was probably nescessary. I am wondering how much the white supremacists really know about the crimes of Hitler’s helpers. Probably called in sick the day they taught history.
Well said, Heidi. Nothing else f@cking matters right now. We are in crisis mode. We need to stand up and speak out or we are doomed. The enemy is not only knocking at the door but it is in the process of breaking it down.
Anyone who chooses to ignore what is happening, in favor of more celeb / K clan stories needs a history lesson.
This would be like wanting to only watch Garbo and Gable in the 1930s, instead of understanding what was truly happening in the world.
All that is strange coming from Arnold, who can be found in image searches heiling Hitler and also wearing an SS belt buckle.
Good to hear there was little (if any) violence in Boston. Which should make more people demand to know why the Charlottesville police were given stand-down orders. After all, a woman died because of it.
Arnold’s father was a Nazi. Maybe he finally learned from that.
Charlottesville police are a much smaller, less well armed force than Boston police and they were outgunned by neo-Nazis with paramilitary weapons. It was bad, and it could have been worse. This is a problem – Americans allowed to buy military-grade weapons, more than many small police forces have, and we don’t want American police armed like the military. It’s bad enough as it is.
Response to WATP: I, too, am not crazy about the increasing militarization of police forces.
However, I thought there were state police and National Guardsmen there, so there had to have been some sort of a stand-down.
Sadly disagree. And frankly we cannot afford to ignore the Cheeto. CBers have been a source of strength since forever but mostly post-election. I come here daily for some good discourse and debate. And there’s a lot of celeb fluff to round it out
Exactly. I used to come for the gossip but I stayed for the political coverage. It’s a perfect, sanity-maintaining balance of political perspective and fluff (and even the “fluff” is still more insightful than most gossip blogs).
Just skip the posts. There’s gossip posts every single day. And also consider the Trump posts Celebitchy’s contribution to the resistance.
I enjoy the political posts as much as the gossip posts. Even if I am not posting, I like reading the comments.
I also disagree. There are many posts here I’m not interested in (and I’m British, so quite a few about people I’ve never even heard of!) – so I just don’t read them.
No! Totally disagree with you. This is the first site I go to every morning to be reminded that I’m not the only one who has the same opinion about Trump. He’s been a celebrity for decades. It was actually him, that said he can grab women genitals because he’s such a famous star.
Please don’t stop writing about Trump while this crisis is still going on
Respectfully disagree. If I couldn’t chuckle at our comments with our commentators, I might could have a total eclipse in my mind. I need to leak out my rage, fear and anger, cause if it all came tumbling out at the same time I might could lose everything and go completely insane. This site is my mental health need for release
This is my daily dose of sanity (reading posts & comments about this mess). I’ve learned so much about the broader world (beyond the US cloud of orange) from people here.
Respectfully disagree. If I couldn’t chuckle at our comments with our commentators, I might could have a total eclipse in my mind. I need to leak out my rage, fear and anger, cause if it all came tumbling out at the same time I might could lose everything and go completely insane. This site is my mental health need for release
I don’t agree. There are enough celebrity news for those who would rather be entertained by glitz and glamour, I like to see pretty people and fake people like anyone else. I for one welcome the REAL NEWS that deals with my future, my children’s and grandchildren’s future, our health care, where the country is heading. Are we to ignore where 45 the bumbling idiot is trying to take our country, NO. I for one wants to know how much of a klansman 45 is, I know he’s a conman and a racist. I want to be informed when it’s time to vote next year and I Love ❤️ THIS site, it’s the only site I leave a comment on. Kaiser is the best.
Kaiser IS the best! I love her writing voice so much.
I agree w you guys, “the only thing it takes for evil to prevail is for good (wo)men to do nothing.”
I talk abt this site w my best friend every day, and when i talk to people abt it, and they’re like, “oh, you love celebrity gossip?” and i have to explain that it becomes a bigger discussion abt humanism, feminism, and politics – it’s never just about celebrity, tho that’s frothy fun. These are all bigger discussions we need to have, and that’s okay.
I also disagree. I come to this site everyday to keep my sanity in these dark times.
Nope. Strength in numbers. It’s healthy to vent.
Respectfully disagree. I don’t know what I would do without the CB take on Drumpf and current events. I am comforted by the posts and the comments.
I disagree as well. I come here first thing every morning specifically for the political posts. They are intelligent, thoughtful and darkly funny. Even before CNN and politico. Nothing else matters right now. Keep it up, celebitchy! And solidarity, my friends!
I come here first too. 🙂
i come here first too
(1) up till recently he had a long running tv show so he is a reality star, like it or not
(2) this is my sane place where not too many trump supporters jump in with “racism is obamas fault” and “hillary’s emails”
@Emgee: I hear ya. But it’s important to be relentless in our opposition to Trump. We have to see it through.
I love these posts and if I had my way I would kidnap Kaiser and crew and make them post on Saturdays too. I am greedy that way. It is the one place to discuss without the troll bots and paid 4 chan idiots infiltrating the comments.
The celeb gossip is fun and adds much needed levity to the situation.
lol I want them to post on Saturdays too!
Strongly disagree, like the others! Celebitchy is doing an awesome and very necessary job with the political stuff!!! Helping us stay sane!
From Europe, I also, respectfully but strongly disagree. Mostly, what one can read about the US theses days, is how moronic, inept, racist, etc, the US president, the elected us president is. How dangerous. How pathetic. I like to read the comments on theses posts to remind me that it wouldn’t be fair to reduce all americans to this. It might to be the right way to say it, but it’s sort of redeeming?
Yesterday numbers made me cry, 100 as*hols /15000 to 40000 human beings. They gave me hope. But you don’t /can’t have protestations and marchs everyday (unless you’re French, we soooo like to protest) so the comments give me hope.
Orange Voldy!! Awesome, I’m going to have to steal that one, sorry. Right up there with Emporer Baby Hands. This situation is terrifying, a President who can’t spell or comprehend the simplest things.
I saw a Youtube commenter call him Mango Mussolini and now I can’t see a picture of the Donald without imagining him wearing a hat full of fruits! It’s awesome he looks so stupid and it distracts from all the upsetting nonsense he sprouts when I’m too tired to take it in 🙂
I don’t follow him on twitter, but I do lurk. Can’t help myself. The old be close to your enemies, thing……which in of itself is sad, that I have to say that about the president. But I knew he would be pissed at the size of the crowds in Boston. So there it was “heel.” It was a smh/lol moment. What a moron. I was proud of the people of Boston, who is going to mess with you guys man…#BostonStrong
So basically, Tweet One – all 45.
Second tweet – something hastily written by a staffer and then posted to do damage control.
Does anyone think that if it looks as though he’ll be impeached or Mueller is close to indicting him, then Trump will resign to save face? Or do you think he’ll just dig his heels in and fight to the bitter end?
I do believe that he is pathetically logically incapable of admitting he’s ever wrong, at fault, anything but awesome and correct. I don’t think his maniacal ego would ever let him resign. I think he will fight it to the bitter, bitter end and still be full of paranoid conspiracy theory and never admit fault or guilt.
This is why I’m scared. He will go down kicking and screaming and inciting a LOT of violence from his insane, heavily armed base.
I used to worry about his base and potential, mass-scale violence a lot more. Yesterday’s turnout in Boston and the few videos I’ve seen of crying, scared neo-Nazis are starting to tell me they are more talk than action. We can only hope.
I hear what you are saying Esmom and somewhat agree. I just think we all need to continue to proceed with caution. Some of these nuts are heavily armed.
@Esmom that crying Nazi had me laughing my butt off. Big scary bald baby bigot. Waaaah. Loved it almost as much as the Spencer punch.
Supposedly he likes to fight. Taxpayer dollars are paying his properties as long as he keeps going with this charade. He’s likely more legally exposed once he leaves office.
Therefore, I think he’ll dig in.
At least, some of our charity dollars are not going to MAL:
http://twitter.com/fahrenthold/status/898603796409995265
More have dropped out since this list was made.
I think very serious crimes have been committed by Trump over the course of years and Mueller is hot on the trail. I don’t expect him to give up the Presidency easily. But if there’s indictments he will be pressured from all sides to give up the ghost and get out. It’s gonna be messy for sure because that’s the Trump way. And he’ll want to “punish” his enemies which is one reason I think he’s stirring up far right anger. He seriously wouldn’t mind leaving office with a body count.
Indictments, should they happen, are far off. The investigation is going to be a long process, please don’t buy into every “impeachment/indictment is imminent” conspiracy theory put on Twitter. There are a lot of fabulists out there, stirring the pot to make the resistance look willing to buy into *anything*. Be judicious with your follows, don’t re-tweet or regurgitate stuff just because it makes you feel better (i.e., “He might resign! Indictments are near!”).
If he can find some way to blame Hillary, Obama, Democrats, or the alt-left (whatever they are) then he’ll resign. I think he’ll cut a deal and resign instead of being prosecuted by Mueller.
@IlsaLund – “Or do you think he’ll just dig his heels in…”
Heals, surely?
😂😂😂😂😂
I hope he is more than impeached. He could still stay in office with impeachment. He needs to be charged with obstruction of justice criminal activity (money laundering and treason come to mind).
I know a lot of people like to speculate and predict but I try not to get into that because it will unfold the way it will unfold. We can help it along through daily protest – in the streets, on the phone, by fax etc. I find the whole Trump v Pence thing a waste of time. They both suck.
Here’s a snowflake for you. Big, blubbering baby. Boo hoo hoo.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-intersect/we/2017/08/18/the-rise-and-humiliating-fall-of-charlottesvilles-starring-fascist/
Great article. I loved the part about his OK Cupid account:
“He described himself not as a fascist, but a podcaster “specializing in controversial political satire.”
“It’s great because I have a very flexible schedule,” he wrote. A typical Friday night would find him not, say, screaming about Jews at a white nationalist march, but rather “doing date nights. Bowling, live shows, movies, travel, all types of things.”
I was happy to see OK Cupid and Tinder both banned him, and he’s been taken off YouTube and Twitter. He’s going to have trouble getting the message out from MySpace! Chris has just learnt that free speech comes with consequences.
Emma33, LMAO at “A typical Friday night would find him not, say, screaming about Jews at a white nationalist march, but rather ‘doing date nights. Bowling, live shows, movies, travel, all types of things.'” Spot on. So funny/sad that he thought being a white supremacist wasn’t all anyone needed to know about him.
And you’re right, he learned the hard way about the consequences of free speech. F him.
I liked this line, “Depending on who you listen to, I’m either a hero, a terrorist, or a crybaby, ” he wrote, “ Well buddy, we saw picture evidence of your terrorism and crying, so two outta three.
There were some press outlets and reporters(Alex Witt and Garret H) who specifically tried to focus on any bad behavior from the counter-protesters. Alex Witt’s entire show was dedicated on this. That is where The King of Lies and Fake News got the “anti-police agitators” from.
The King of Lies and Fake News tweets are still doing the “many sides, many sides” thing. He doesn’t state which protesters he is supporting. Free speech protesters(WS) and the anti-free speech protesters(counter-protesters:BLM, anti F, and many other groups). Every time he says bigotry and hate, he is talking about BLM and Anfi F, not WS.
The King of Lies and Fake News and his wife have decided not to attend the Kennedy Center Honors. He claims it’s because he doesn’t want to distract. But in reality it’s because celebrities were boycotting the Kennedy Center Honors because of his response to Charlottesville.
Our country is divided because of him. His entire campaign was hate and division. Now that he is in the WH he is still fostering hate and division with the Muslim Ban, refugee ban, the wall, Affirmative Action lawsuits, civil rights deregulations, Transgender Ban, Voter Suppression Committee lead by WS Chris Kobach, Legal immigration ban lead by WS Stephen Miller, disbanding the council for women and girls, getting rid of the bathroom bill that protected Transgender teens, using Neil G’s position on the Supreme Court to further his hatred and division, all of the policies that Sessions has created, removing regulations that prevent employers from discriminating, removing equal pay regulations, defunding groups aimed at countering WS lead by Gorka’s wife, and throwing a tantrum over the removal of statues.
Yeah, I saw the whole anti-police narrative on both FB and Twitter and was enraged. Their ability to spin something peaceful into something ugly just kills me. Those who were mindlessly eating it up and spewing it back out as fact had me reading in horror and, frankly, fear about people can still refuse to see what is right in front of their f&cking faces.
Yeah, a grand total of 3 small incidents, no injuries or property damage, that were contained immediately. Arrests were equal to the number at an average Red Sox game with a crowd of comparable size that was moving through city streets instead of being in one place. Mayor, Police Commissioner and Deputy Police Commissioner all had positive things to say about the event. Which drove some right- wingers to insist they were lying. Because police commissioners whose department had just successfully dealt with tens of thousands marching through the streets tend to lie about it. Yankees played the Sox at Fenway yesterday too – BPD had a very busy day
I know, sigh. But thousands — tens of thousands! — on this one FB post (“Blue Lives Matter,” I think, I only saw it because an acquaintance commented on it) seem refuse to admit that it was anything other than a day of violence, with “the violent left” going after police and “people who just wanted to support free speech.”
I just can’t anymore.
Also, lots of old pictures of protester bad behavior being circulated, claiming it was yesterday in Boston. Push back on the lies. The right is desperate because they have nothing to complain about yesterday, other than the massive show of force against bigots.
Yes, and the pictures themselves give them away. I saw one of a woman wearing a winter coat with an overcast sky – it was hot and sunny here yesterday. Another from a Breitbart article five years ago. Others with recognizable buildings from other places or plants that don’t grow here. Boston doesn’t have palm trees.
My favorite was the people playing tubas who marched behind the nazis, playing either: Star Wars darth Vader theme music or sad clown music. Completely drowned out the nazi yells. Genius.
Oh that’s awesome!
Going to go look for video right now!
That’s so perfect. Expressive, passive, creative protesting. Diminishing them down to a joke. When… they’re not a joke, but it does them more damage to their egos to be laughed at and treated as such.
I love this! Drown them out! Let the beautiful sound of tubas overwhelm the hateful rhetoric.
That is wrong and against everything this country stands for. let everyone, however despicable have their say, then debate then.Its anti free speech and says less about you if you drown out others voices.
No, I disagree. Everyone has the right to have their ssy. And they did. A captive, listening audience is not guaranteed. The tuba players just happened to exercise their right at the same time.
No, counter protesting and mocking and drowning out is not against everything this country stands for.
And do we really need to debate about whether or not racism is wrong?
Free speech and unchallenged speech are two different things. I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t understand the difference.
Everyone has a right to free speech. No one had a right to unchallenged speech. If you can’t deal with being challenged, maybe you should just be quiet. It’s a package deal.
Siding with the tuba players on this one.
The free speech amendment states that the THE GOVERNMENT cannot intervene with your right to speak. Private citizens are entirely within their rights to respond however they like within certain legal limits. JFC, I seriously cannot believe that people banter the Constitution around without actually reading the damn thing.
I’m with the band…
Everything this country stands for…..
Is this in reference to the First Amendment? If that is where you’re going, not so fast. The government cannot restrict the content of your speech, however you have no constitutional protection from fellow citizens.
Free Speech doesn’t mean there is no response. It doesn’t give anyone the right to silence someone else’s free speech. You can say whatever you want and I can say what I think of what you said.
Yeah no. A college classmate of mine died and the Westboro Baptist Church came to picket her funeral. A bunch of people formed a human wall and sang to drown them out. People have the right to counter Nazis, anti abortion protesters, Westboro Baptist Church and so on.
That mentality is a big part of what got us in this situation. Racists (and other varieties of Deplorable) are spoiled- they’re fed this idea that if every thought of theirs and they way they choose to express it isn’t politely accepted and listened to, something oppressive and anti-American is happening to them and society is just one step away from imprisoning and executing citizens for criticizing the government. No wonder they feel entitled to bring out the weapons when people respond negatively to their ‘beliefs’ beliefs that are already violent and destructive to begin with.
A comedy show in the UK has done this with several politicians. Here’s the video of them following around our very unpopular Health Secretary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lExnBadkFZg
Ha, so great. It’s been done here in the US before, too, I think during the GOP primaries. As the mom of two band kids, I love the idea of them putting their instruments and talents to good use in the resistance!
My dad just said “funny is better than fist”. And I know fist is tempting when you’ve got Nazis up in your face, but he’s right.
I saw that yesterday! Hysterical!! Sorry Oprah, this is my new favorite thing 😂
There he goes tweeting before he gets all of the facts. He was probably watching this on his phone while on the golf course and got a little confused. I didn’t notice his misspellings. Ha!
Question for the legal minds here. How can they demonstrate under the guise of free speech when they are spewing hate, white supremacy and bigotry? What’s the threshold that crosses line?
free speech is free speech. exactly for opinion that is reviled and disapprove by majority. there is no limit. Remember, free speech protected the quakers and people fighting various causes. why do you need to protect accepted speech? It’s not that hard to accept once you agree the alternative becomes violence, like in countries that ban free speech.
Free speech is not an unlimited right, and a quick google search of SC cases regarding the issue could have told you that. Plenty of speech isn’t covered by the amendment, and that includes hate speech or inciteful rhetoric, slander or harassment. For Christ’s sake, if you’re going to defend Nazis, don’t come in here assuming the rest of us are idiots who haven’t taken a basic high school civics class.
Yes, people have a right to free speech, no matter how hateful. It is tough to decipher when it crosses the line. Generally, I think, free speech crosses the line when it incites people to cause harm. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a civil rights organization that has had some success in suing (on behalf of victims) hate groups that incited people to cause harm to others.
A lot of these people have no idea what free speech means. Free speech does not mean that other people have to agree with you or even listen to you. It also does not mean freedom from consequences, which is why some people lost their jobs, website hosting, etc.
There can be no prior restraint on speech. However, a city can allow the speech but restrict other elements. And the group yesterday actually, probably unintentionally, aided the city in doing so. The group itself asked for the Bandstand, which is a section of the park that can be easily cordoned off and cordon off the City did because while the City has to allow you to speak, it doesn’t have to guarantee an audience. Nobody outside the bandstand area could hear what they were saying given the distance and chants of the larger crowd outside the area. When they were done, the police directed them into vans and drove them away so they didn’t have the chance to antagonize others, which this group tried to do at its last gathering. Nothing that could be used as a weapon, like a flagpole, was allowed and all bags were searched. You wanted to bring the Stars & Bars? You had to pretty much wear it. And Massachusetts has very strict gun laws. We are not an open carry state, we have no reciprocity for a license from other states, and the City barred concealed weapons from the event
not a lawyer or a legal scholar, but i do remember some stuff from ap poli sci. free speech is not absolute. there’s the famous you can’t falsely yell fire in a movie theater thing. and then we have the bradenburg test – free speech is punishable if directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to produce such action. correct me if i’m wrong, but the tricky part is to define what is imminent.
the thing is. i obviously don’t agree with them (the kkk, white supremacist, nazi, etc) and absolutely hate them, but they have the right to protest and march. just like we have the right to yell at them and them what hateful idiots they are. if we let the government stop them from marching because it might cause violence – wouldn’t that be akin to the thought police arresting someone for thinking something before they actually committed the crime. ideally, every protest is non-violent. but sometimes, that’s not the case and arrests shouldn’t happen until after the crime. and most importantly, do we want to live in a world were the government can stifle a protest because of public safety? imagine all the “anti-police” protest orange mussolini would shut down.
I didn’t interpret I’mScaredAsHell’s question as trying to stifle protest, more like what are the legal parameters?
I feel so happy seeing all those people coming out to protest against the White supremacists. It really saddened me, seeing this supremacists at Charlottesville. I felt I didn’t realize how much hate/racism existed. It made me scared for our country. But seeing all the protesters against it, made me feel better. Like America’s not goin to allow this. Yay, us!!!
I really feel that at this point, it’s not a Republican/Democratic thing. People who support this evil man have been brainwashed on a cult like level and the FBI or CIA or whoever handles this stuff need to start putting out targeted deprogramming facts. Because this country can’t go on three and a half more years of this. He’s destroying this country and needs to go.
The use of the word “heel” with two e’s in that context is as a command to submit, or be in submission. Like a command to a dog, “Heel!” I know he misspells so I’m not trying to suggest it was a purposeful use of the word heel vs heal but I find it very interesting indeed.
One of my FB friends pointed that out last night. Wondered if he did it on purpose
I thought that too. He’s treating them animals for his base, assuming his base is smart enough to see the distinction.
i think you’re giving him too much credit. remember that although he’s “like a smart man” and has “the best words,” he constantly misspells words or uses homonyms. examples: covfefe instead of coverage, tapp instead of tap, council instead of counsel, unpresidented instead of unprecedented, hear by and hearby instead of hereby, honered instead of honored, etc…
And sometimes, Mr. Trump, you need to pick up a dictionary to learn to spell!
@still-Sarah, Oxford dictionary’s twitter account is actively (and timely!) trying to help him out with that. Their account is the best thing about his tweets.
I totally think he spelled it “heel” on purpose; it was a subtweet. It seems especially obvious considering the context & situation he was tweeting about. That so many people discount just how manipulative he is because they think he’s “too dumb” to be that devious is how he got elected, IMO. This is a man that understands media and marketing. He’s a blustering, egotistical buffoon lacking in self awareness, yes. But I don’t think he’s dumb.
He’s a Nazi, but Trump is Tweeting all this to distract from the Russia issue.
Two days after Charlottesville, information came out that proved his campaign was being courted by Russia, were told it was wrong and went ahead and met with the Russian lawyer anyway about a month later. That was when Trump went rogue and blamed “both sides.”
Another reason for the distraction: the news came out yesterday that Christopher Steele may be subpoenaed to testify. #PresidentGoldenShowers
Remember, Trump doesn’t Tweet personally; his staff does that for him. My question: is the spelling mistake a real mistake? Or just another distraction to keep us talking?
Schizophrenia is an actual disease; Trump is just a narcissistic asshole. I feel like insulting the two is insulting to actual schizophrenics. Mood swings are more characteristic of bipolar disorder, anyway.
(I don’t want to hear ya’ll going on about how the Nazi terrorist in Cville was schizophrenic, either. Plenty of mentally ill don’t commit terrorism, and plenty of neurotypical people were supporting it.)
Narcissism is a real thing too. It’s a personality disorder not just a word used to make fun of someone. People who are truly narcissistic, don’t mean to act like that, it’s what the disorder actually causes. Doctor after doctor have been saying Trump shows the signs of really being narcissistic.
My bipolar brother has mood swings also, but sure doesn’t actually anything like the POTUS has been acting. Trump has been like this forever. No offense to anyone with a mental illness, but it’s not safe for a person with any kind of mental disorder to have the most powerful job in the world.
I was using the term more in the adjectival rather than in reference to the actual disorder, but that’s a far enough point. Narcissism tracks higher in upper classes and the ultra-wealthy, which would suggest environment has a significant impact on the attitude of self-entitlement.
Please don’t mistake my aside to suggest he’s bipolar, either – merely that I was pointing out that mood swings are more indicative of that disorder than schizophrenia, which manifests more as a break from perceived reality, which made the reference even less sensible. I find the use of medical terms problematic here without actual diagnosis because it feeds into the idea that the mentally ill are inherently dangerous and incapable of making rational decisions. Most of them are not, and even then, people are still responsible for their actions unless we’re talking of the most severe forms of cerebral degeneration left untreated.
Severely mentally ill people should not be in a position of power, I agree, but frankly, most people suffering from a disorder of that magnitude wouldn’t have been able to make it there in the first place. Most of them lack the planning skills or drive to get there, and in this case, there is an entire Congress worth of Senators who can – and should – be intervening if that’s the actual case. I refuse to excuse Trump’s behavior as purely indicative of illness simply because there is obvious strategy to distract and rile in his speeches. That tells me his ability to plan and act with motive is still more or less intact.
I think there are probably disorders that have no name at this time. I don’t think it is an insult to true schizophrenics at all. He very well could have traits. Often it is mistakenly used in place of multiple personality disorder or disassociative disorder.
Something is wrong with him and it needs to be addressed.
I’m proud of you Boston for shutting down the neo-nazis! We cannot let nazism flourish unchecked again like the way it happened 70 something years ago. I’d like to think that due to the terrible price exacted by WWII, we know better than that now.
Besides, this is exactly what ISIS wants! The neo Nazis are so wrapped up in their own hatred of anyone who isn’t white, that they refuse to see that They’re behaving in exactly the way that ISIS wants them to- every single race and religions turning against the Muslims, persecuting Muslims in Western countries, “othering” Muslims; thus, providing a vast pool of recruits for ISIS in their murderous war for power and give it the “cloak”
Of fighting for Islam to legitimize their murderous impulses.
Protests like these show that all peace loving Muslims are Americans, that they are an integral part of the communities in which they live and contribute in and other people in the community support them and jointly support the fight against racism and xenophobia in all forms.
These kind of peaceful counter protests should tell Nazis and Isis (I see them as 2 sides of the same coin) to go f-off, as their hateful ideology has no room in a free society.
Very well said, thank you.
Ugh. SMDH.
He is not a smart man.
So he gets criticized for his initial lack of response related to Charleston, then his inappropriate response, so now he is grabbing at random positive responses. He has no clue what is going on and is just spouting random things to try to please the masses. Praising people for protesting? YOU’RE a big part of the problem and this is related to the reason they’re protesting, doofus.
This is brilliant! https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-clever-german-town-outsmarted-neo-nazis-made-march-extremism-105530167.html
Sometimes you have to get creative.
This is amazing!! 🙂
Utterly brilliant. We need to start doing this in the US!
Agree, this is v. clever. Someone posted an article about this on another thread a couple of days ago. The white supremacists are supposedly coming to SF – and although I would like to protest them, I think something like this may do more to deflate their stupid nazi marches.
Great link Patty. I love his idea and we need to do this here. We should have water stations to encourage them to keep going., “Stay hydrated so we can collect more money!” We can have soccer moms with orange slices and juice boxes.
Trump theme song ” If I only had a brain”.
Meanwhile back at the whitehouse, Pence plots…..
I do have to wonder if some of the stark differences in how things happened in Charlottesville and Boston may be come down to size, along with other local laws. Boston is much, much larger than Charlottesville. The largest crowds Charlottesville ever sees are probably for college sporting events while Boston has numerous large scale crowd events each year such as First Night, the Marathon, and the Fourth of July concert on the Esplanade and large professional sporting events, which, joyously, have resulted in several championship parades over the past decade and a half that bring hundreds of thousands of people into our city streets each time. 200,000 people are estimated to have attended the women’s march here in January and a similar number or higher watched the Parade of Sail this past June. Police here are accustomed to large, moving, excited crowds and methods to deal with them. They also have dealt with terrorist attacks here. There is also the aspect of guns. Whenever you bring a gun into a situation, you send fear and intimidation up quite a few notches. Charlottesville had people with guns. Boston did not.
And THIS is Boston – wait for the interview. NSFW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOnFYslGlRM&feature=youtu.be
That was AWESOME!
I know so many guys just like him.
Well, that, and I think the events of Charlotttesville was a turning point for a lot of people. They realized that the Nazi movement was very real and very willing to draw blood. It wasn’t just something you read about in history books or heard second-hand from minorities anymore. It was a vicious wake up call for many folks.
This is what I miss when I am in California.
Plain speak and tough grit. I believe he would stay until Thursday. I have no doubt that he means it. We had some people out here in New York singing and gathering but Boston owned it. It feels good to see and hear that so many people are against this. Boston has now set the tone for others to follow.
We have a POTUS who acts and spells like a five year old.SMH
Is anyone getting ads for Trump hotels on the right page?
I’ve commented on it multiple times before because it seems hypocritical for this website to generate ad revenue from Trump Hotels. It drives me crazy but I continue to see the ads almost every time I come here. 🙁
I’d love to “heel” him repeatedly in the face with my foot.
Come on guys. You all know perfectly well what our fuhrer meant.
Did anyone hear about the black cop who was shot in Florida? Was it racism?
I seldom comment, but this is the first site I come to every day for my political news as well as for the fluff. I learn so much from all you fine people, and it is a much–needed oasis of sanity in the ocean of orange bullsh!t that is our country’s political climate these days. PLEASE keep it up, you’re doing such an amazing and important job here!!
Kim
At least it wasn’t “Heil”…😛