Tag: protests

Posted on

Fox News: Pence Dodges Questions On Trump Inciting Protests

Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday defended President Donald Trump for inciting protests in the middle of a pandemic. During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Pence about the demonstrations in certain states calling for the economy to reopen where people were seen violating social distancing guidelines. Instead of answering the question, Pence dodged and went on a lengthy praise of his boss. “We continue to see encouraging results, declining cases, declining hospitalizations because of what the American people have done, because of the president’s leadership,” the vice president said. “We are slowing the spread, we are hastening the day when we can put the coronavirus in the past and reopen the American economy.” As you can see – nothing about the question at hand. So, Wallace went back to his question about federal guidelines on social distancing. “But Mr. Vice President,” Wallace said. “In a number of these cases, these protesters – who are not social distancing – are saying they don’t want to wait. In many cases, they’re protesting your own guidelines to stop the spread.” Wallace also brought up Trump’s tweets on Friday that called for citizens to “Liberate Minnesota, liberate Michigan and liberate Virginia.”

“So what does the president mean because you’ve got guidelines that are calling for social distancing and staying at home?” asked the host. “Even your guidelines to reopen the country are very phased and gradual. What does the president mean when he says liberate these states?” “The American people know that no one in this country wants to reopen this country more than President Donald Trump,” said Pence again ignoring the question. “And on Thursday that president asked us to lay out guidelines for how the states can responsibly do that.” “And in the president’s tweets and public statements, I can assure you he’s going to continue to encourage governors to find ways to safely and responsibly let America go back to work,” added the vice president.

Posted on

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Puerto Ricans Continue Protests Against Gov. Rosselló

The protests against Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo A. Rosselló have now last more than a week with an estimated 500,000 residents of the U.S. territory coming together to demand Rosselló's resignation.
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith interviews Gov. Ricardo Rosselló

The protests against Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo A. Rosselló have now lasted for more than a week with an estimated 500,000 residents of the U.S. territory coming together to demand Rosselló’s resignation.

From the New York Times:

Hundreds of thousands of people swept through the capital of Puerto Rico on Monday, shutting down a major highway and paralyzing much of the city in the latest in a series of furious protests over the island’s embattled governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló.

The protest was one of the largest ever seen on the island, as Puerto Ricans streamed into the capital on buses — and some on planes from the mainland — in a spontaneous eruption of fury over the years of recession, mismanagement, natural disaster and corruption that have fueled a recent exodus.

Ignoring sporadic deluges, demonstrators launched impromptu line dances, paraded on horseback, banged pots and carried banners along several miles of highway, many shouting: “Ricky, renuncia, el pueblo te repudia!” — Ricky, resign, the people reject you.

Mr. Rosselló said on Sunday that he would step down from the leadership of his party and pledged not to run for re-election in 2020. But the governor, a 40-year-old former biomedical scientist and businessman, is growing increasingly isolated as a series of influential political leaders, some from his own party, have called on him to accede to public demands for an immediate resignation.

After years of mounting frustrations due to austerity measures and a slow moving recovery after Hurricane Maria, news of hundreds of mocking homophobic/sexist text messages between Rosselló and his advisors, appearing as a kind of ‘bro’ culture, appears to have been the tipping point.

International pop star Ricky Martin, who was a target of homophobic and sexist comments in the leaked text messages, has been helping to lead the protests for days now.

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith spoke with the governor today and asked him who in Puerto Rico still supports him. The governor was pretty much at a loss to come up with a name.

This is brutal.

Posted on

London Protests Donald Trump Bigly

(screen capture)

Londoners took to the streets of their city to protest the visit of Donald Trump to their country.

Trump says the English love him.

This is all taking place as Trump meets with Prime Minister Theresa May and plans to have tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle.

Earlier today, Trump created a firestorm as he criticized the Prime Minister’s approach to handling Brexit to the UK newspaper, The Sun.

I could go into detail, but let’s let the video and photos tell the story.

Posted on

St. Louis: Felony Charge For Man Who Drove Through Transgender Vigil

The St. Louis man, Mark Coloa, who drove his car through a throng of protesters Wednesday night has been arrested and charged with a felony count of resisting arrest by fleeing and two misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner.

From the St. Louis Dispatch:

Colao pushed his car through the protesters, he gave the middle finger to a police officer who pulled alongside his car, and “accelerated aggressively” as he left the scene, according to charging documents.

He initially refused to stop for officers, police say. They caught up to him after he “violently applied his brakes” to avoid striking traffic several blocks away, at Chouteau Avenue and Grand Boulevard, where he was arrested, according to police.

Three protesters suffered minor injuries.

The protesters had come from an evening vigil remembering Kiwi Herring, a transgender woman who was shot and killed by police after she allegedly cut a police officer with a knife.

Watch the surveillance video below.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

Posted on

More Than Half Of Portland Anti-Trump Protesters Didn’t Vote In Oregon

This is of no help to anyone.

In the wake of the recent anti-Trump protests in Portland, Oregon, the local NBC affiliate dug into voting records and found most of those arrested at the protest had not voted in Oregon in the presidential campaign.

At least sixty-nine demonstrators either didn’t turn in a ballot or weren’t registered to vote in the state.

KGW compiled a list of the 112 people arrested by the Portland Police Bureau during recent protests. Those names and ages, provided by police, were then compared to state voter logs by Multnomah County Elections officials.

Records show 34 of the protesters arrested didn’t return a ballot for the November 8 election. Thirty-five of the demonstrators taken into custody weren’t registered to vote in Oregon.

Twenty-five protesters who were arrested did vote.

I should note the report says 35 protesters weren’t registered to vote in Oregon. That doesn’t mean they didn’t vote in the election. Perhaps they traveled from out of state to join the protest effort.

Posted on

Anti-Trump Protesters March In Cities Across The Nation

From USA Today:

Protesters took to the streets Wednesday in at least 10 cities to march against president-elect Donald Trump – and numerous college students and faculty leaders took to social media to announce support groups and even postponed exams.

Protests were underway in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., St. Paul, Minn. and several other cities. An estimated 2,000 protesters shouted angrily in downtown Seattle, expressing their frustration at the Trump victory over Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won 228 electoral votes to Trump’s 279.

Police in riot gear struggled to hold back scores of protesters in some of the cities as protesters chanted “Not My President” and “No Racist USA.” The protests were mostly peaceful. Seattle police said they were investigating a report of a shooting near the site of the protest in that city, but it may not have involved protesters.