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Thousands jam Copley Square to support Muslims and a country open to refugees

No fear of Muslims

Like the Common last week, Copley Square this afternoon was a sea of people, protesting President Trump's attempt to shut the US to refugees and people with visas and green cards from seven mainly Muslim countries.

"We stand with Muslims in Boston," and against "the betrayal of American values," Mayor Marty Walsh told the rally, organized by the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

"We will protect you," he told Muslims in the crowd - not just in the halls of City Hall itself, but with "the sacred document this country was founded on, called the United States Constitution!"

The rally also featured senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.

"Little girls who flee murderers are not threats to the United States" - any more than the doctors and students who come here and the Iraqi translators who put their lives on the line for American troops, Warren said.

The crowd went wild when Warren praised the lawyers in general, and the ACLU in particular, for dropping everything yesterday to rush to airports to battle what she called an unconstitutional imposition of a religion test.

"They are doing God's work fighting for justice," she said, adding "we will not stop fighting until this executive order is tossed in the dustbin of history. We will not let Donald Trump chip away at the very heart of our democracy. ... We will not turn our backs on refugees and immigrants."

"We will stand for Massachusetts values, we will stand for American values, we will stand for human values," Markey said. Recalling what the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty says, he thundered, "Today, Lady Liberty is weeping at Donald Trump's executive order."

"This is a Muslim ban, no matter what alternative facts Donald Trump tries to peddle," he said. And "it is propaganda for ISIS; it is a recruiting gift for terrorist groups ... President Trum, I say: Rip up this ban."

Conspicuous in his absence, again, was Gov. Charlie Baker. "Where's Charlie Baker?" the crowd chanted.

In addition to elected officials, an imam, a minister and a rabbi also spoke and called for the fight to continue against the ban.

Copley Square protest: We lift our lamps
Copley Square protest: Proud of her Muslim students
Copley Square protest: Kid protests peril to our rights
Copley Square protest: Like dumping tea in the harbor
Copley Square protest: Trump's browser tabs

Trump wasn't the only Washington official to get scorned:

Copley Square protest: Paul Ryan
Copley Square protest: Dumbledore recruiting
Copley Square protest: Kid with sign
Copley Square protest: How dare you?
Copley Square protest: Trump's combover and xenophobia
Copley Square protest: crowd
Copley Square protest: Trump's wives are immigrants
Copley Square protest: Kosovo refugee
Copley Square protest: We are family

Two alternatives for dealing with Trump:

Copley Square protest: Deport Trump
Copley Square protest: Impeach Trump
Copley Square protest: Fuck this
Copley Square protest: Iranian artists
Copley Square protest: Where's Baker?

Jewish members of the crowd had particular messages:

Copley Square protest: Never again
Copley Square protest: No pork

Among those attending: Boston Police Commissioner William Evans (photo by Kris H.):

Copley Square protest: Police Commissioner William Evans

Also in attendance: Some of the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (photo by Deborah Elizabeth Finn):

Copley Square protest: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Oh, yeah, Tom Brady is friends with Trump (photo by Sarah Connors):

Copley Square protest: What about Tom Brady?

At the end of the formal remarks, Muslims in the crowd went to the Boylston Street side of Trinity Church for prayers:

Copley Square protest: Prayers

Warren's speech:

Rev. Laura Everett's speech.

Neighborhoods: 


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Comments

Our own Cybah took a bunch.

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I ask all of you who pray to pray tonight for our soldiers in harms way that make it possible for those who are unhappy with the decisions of our government, no matter what their status as residents of the USA may be to demonstrate. I ask that you especially pray for the Navy Seal who was wounded recently defending our freedom. God bless.

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I pray that soldiers are only deployed when our freedom is actually at stake.

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   IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/flag.gif)

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and don't betray their legacy by letting the US succumb to the same fascism that they fought against.

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Natalia.Radziejewska was there as well.

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Maybe he was busy at work doing his job. Not everyone has time to be a professional protestor.

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Son, please.

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On every day of the week. You think he became a major healthcare CEO by working 9-5 M-F?

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Do you work everyday of the week? Are you a major healthcare CEO? If not, is it because you didn't work everyday of the week? Why won't you work everyday of the week?

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Try doing that in real life and see what happens.

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Yes, I was at the rally today. As a reporter. Hey, pays the bills.

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Calling some random person "son" - try that at a bar and see what happens.

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The next time I'm in a bar, toots.

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I'll make sure not to do anything to rile you up when we're out drankin', buttercup.

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Anonymous internet tough stuff ! Lol! Never not funny

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Baker is ignoring Trump. Taking sides for/against Trump won't help Baker get reelected.

Walsh, on the other hand, improves his reelection chances by speaking out against Trump.

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Replacing as many Republican State Committee members with moderates that he can. Denying support to candidates that are hostile to moderation. This necessarily needs to be done behind the scenes. Attending a protest is detrimental to what he is trying to achieve, espicially when it is de facto partisan.

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such as Karyn Polito. So far, he hasn't done so.

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Run Polito against Schilling for Senate.

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IMAGE(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZAAFcbCJL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

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People cross the road, Swirly. Means they gotta be in the middle at some point.

I was in the middle of the road today, and a week ago, with thousands and hundreds of thousands of other folks, if you want to compare it to a real road.

Also, you're being stupidly divisive. I welcome our GOP allies: I don't have to agree with someone on everything to appreciate their moderating influence on their more radical friends.

(Not a Baker endorsement: I have no clue what he's been doing specifically)

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Baker is not being an ally. Not in any way, shape, or form.

You can be an ally sitting on the bench if you bring water or cheer. Baker is hiding in the locker room.

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N/t

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Pay is lousy, though.

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Not everyone has time to be a professional protestor.

Setting aside the fact that the claim that these are professional protestors is ridiculous, if they were pros then they'd be busy at work doing their jobs, no?

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Or do you even have a job?

Get back to work!

Oh, wait ... last weekend we had a march, this weekend a demonstration ... could it be that people with jobs are taking one of their weekend days?

The twenty odd folks that I know that went were mostly in that category.

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When should I expect my check?

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you're saying I can get PAID for this?

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Great to see people unite like this for their cause, I just wish people shouldn't carry signs with swears on them.

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IMAGE(http://cdn2.btrstatic.com/pics/showpics/large/183197_HwxxnL4U.jpg)

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Strong language is called for in certain situations. This is one of them. There will be more.

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I took my six year old to the women's march. He's a very good reader. That march kept the salty language to a minimum -- lots of puns and clever, not much crude.

Yesterday, however, had more crude. Not a lot, but noticeably more. I was glad I left my six year old at home this time.

In my opinion, we as a movement are better off with more kids at these events than with more curse words on signs. And, fact is, there is a direct, albeit imperfect, trade off.

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I can think of worse ways for my own kids to learn those words than language on a protest sign. Heaven forfend they wind up in a room with the President.

Words on signs aren't gonna hurt my kids. Pervasive injustice, on the other hand, can kill us.

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...that this bastard is doing so much horrible shit that we need to make fucking signs about.

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for keeping this event safe by closing surrounding streets once it became evident that the assembled crowd could no longer fit into Copley Square.

Also, the MBTA seemed to anticipate the crowd by running more frequent trains than the usual Sunday schedule, and by lining up express buses on Boylston Street to take protesters directly to Riverside Station after the event was over.

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I'm glad that Commissioner Evans and crew have learned from the Islamic terrorist vehicle attacks in Nice, Berlin and at Ohio State University, not to mention the IEDs and car bombs. Streets and sidewalks anywhere near these large gatherings should be blocked by huge trucks or immovable objects. I mention sidewalks because of the frequent use of motorcycles by Islamic Jihad.

In fact on this date in 2011, the Deputy Governor of Kandahar, Afghanistan was murdered and five others critically injured by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle. Al-Qaeda proudly claimed responsibility.

It was nice at the inaugural in DC, to see massive National Guard vehicles from many states and a large number of troops protecting the crowd. The anti-Trump people deserve the same protection, regardless of their views.

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Especially when you consider the protest was against Trumpski's un-American policies, and the majority of terrorist acts committed in America have been from homegrown right-wing terrorists. It is practically inevitable that a terrorist act will be committed against an anti-Trump protest somewhere in America.

Blocking off the streets to protect the good Americans who are standing up against Trumpski's push to fascism shows good thinking on the part of Boston's Finest.

We in Boston will keep the flame of freedom burning. Lift our lamp beside the golden door!

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What have "home grown right wing terrorists" done lately? I'd love some examples... Forgot the Marathon bombings, San Bernardino, Chelsea/NYC bombings, Orlando shooting?

Mean while in Canada... the article neglects to mention the genetleman was shooting "allah akbar" while carrying out his attack. You cannot deny what has been happening world wide with radical Islamic attacks.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/30/quebec-mosque-shooting-can...

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Dylann Roof's terrorist attack on a Charleston SC church happened in June, 2015.

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America suffers several attacks from homegrown right-wing extremist terrorists every year, and hundreds more are foiled or don't result in deaths. Those don't typically make the national papers.

2015 was a particularly bad year - at least 52 Americans were killed by domestic extremist movements.

Here's a partial list of deaths from right-wing extremism from the past few years:

2015: Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, 3 killed
2015: Charlestown church shooting, 9 killed
2014: Ambush attack on Las Vegas PD, 5 killed
2014: Overland Park JCC shooting, 3 killed
2014: Pennsylvania State Police barracks attack, 1 killed
2012: Tri-state killing spree by white supremacists, 4 killed
2012: St. John the Baptist Parish, LA PD attack, 2 killed
2012: Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, 6 killed
...

74 percent of law enforcement agencies in the US list anti-government extremism as one of the top three terrorist threats in their jurisdiction, more than twice as many as listed Islamic extremism. This is in part because police are likely to be among the groups directly attacked by such terrorists.

Here is a good source of information to learn more about the threats we face as Americans.

As for the Quebec shooting, yes it was reported that a gunman yelled "Allahu Akbar" as he murdered worshippers. It was also reported he did so in a Quebecois accent. It's the same mosque where a pig's head was left on the doorstep during Ramadan. Insinuating that the attack was performed by Muslims is unsupported by facts at this time.

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Masked men with Quebecois accents attack a mosque that has previously been the target of anti-Islamic harassment. Another mosque trying to settle a beef? Sunni vs. Shia violence?

Let's see who is responsible before blaming it on Islam.

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So two of the (three?) perps are Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir, both students at Université Laval in Quebec City (the oldest French-language university in the Americas). No word yet on whether there were any political motives or affiliations, or on whether Khadir was born in Quebec or in Morocco.

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Yep. Hard to know what it's all about from a distance. The religious shouts may have been a red herring or possible a intra-Islamic beef (which is really unusual in North America).

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Latest report says Alexandre Bissonnette is the suspect and the other gent is a witness. Certainly happens in these chaotic situations.

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Yes, that's correct. Mohamed Khadir is now considered to be a witness, not a suspect. That leaves Alexandre Bissonnette, whose social media affections were bestowed on Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen.

So I guess we can chalk this one up on the list of right-wing terrorist attacks.

As Richard Spencer said, "It's almost as if French Canada has the same problem as France with Muslims." The same problem: right-wing fuckwits trying to kill them all the time.

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Khadir is not a suspect. He was sought as a witness. Bissonnette is the sole suspect at this time.

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More Americans were killed by toddlers with guns than by terrorists in 2015. You cannot deny what has been happening worldwide with radical toddler attacks.

http://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/

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Did you forget that the San Bernardino shooting took place in 2015? Did you needed to reminded of that event and how its great example of the failure of DHS and vetting folks? What about the attack on the recruiting center in Chattanooga in 2015? Just the San Bernardino attack resulted in more deaths than that snopes article...

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That particular shooter's ties were to Pakistan, which isn't on the list of countries that Herr Bannon Riefenstahl put forth in the grade F homework assignment that Trump paid him to write for him?

Or that the Marathon Bombers came from Russia originally?

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Apparently you didn't actually read the Snopes article, as it includes San Bernardino attacks. It concludes: ". . . the total of toddler-involved shooting deaths in the United States in 2015 [was] 21.

"By contrast, if we counted both the Chattanooga shootings and San Bernardino as instances of Islamic terrorism, that would mean 19 Americans were killed in instances of suspected, reported, or potential Islamic terrorism in 2015. Counting American victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks brought that number up to 20."

As for whether vetting folks would have made any difference, the Chattanooga shooter and one of the San Bernardino shooters were American citizens by birth. The other shooter in San Bernardino was from Pakistan, a country not included on Trump's list.

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Nope, I didn't forget the San Bernardino shooting. Maybe try reading the full article before commenting next time.

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Mean while in Canada... the article neglects to mention the genetleman was shooting "allah akbar" while carrying out his attack.

That may or may not have happened, but the suspect -- the sole suspect -- is reported to be a white Christian male and a fan of right-wing extremists such as Marine Le Pen.

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Its not a "Muslim" ban people! Christian and Yazidis also live in the 7 countries listed in Trump's EO. Calling it a Muslim ban is not only dishonest but false.

In 2011, Obama put a temporary hold on the Iraqi refugee program for 4 months! I don't recall massive protests or people slamming Obama for a "Muslim ban." I get that people despise Trump, I don't like him either but this is not only hypocritical but disturbing. This country is going down the tubes fast. Facts or civil discourse don't matter, mob rule is taking over...

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Excuse me, did Obama's REFUGEE program suspension put a blanket ban on LEGAL residents - with visas and green cards, preventing them from entering the country?

"State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011"
"While Obama did halt the refugee program, it did not impact green card holders, or anyone with a visa."

Is your brain too small to comprehend the difference?

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-kentucky-us-dozens-terrorists-cou...
http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/barack-obama-ban-refugees-did-iraq-iraqi-m...

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I see this same "but it started with Obama! It's not Trump's fault" from many Trump apologists.

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And could you figure out a way to screw up an implementation (more) than the way that this administration handled the roll-out? Nobody knew what they were doing when it all happened late Friday afternoon.

Minor edit (in parens)

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"However, there are reports that the ban is being applied even to green-card holders. This is madness. The plain language of the order doesn’t apply to legal permanent residents of the U.S., and green-card holders have been through round after round of vetting and security checks. The administration should intervene, immediately, to stop misapplication. If, however, the Trump administration continues to apply the order to legal permanent residents, it should indeed be condemned."

No I can comprehend that and not saying I agree with everything in the EO, it was rolled out in an incompetent fashion. However, the selective outrage is pretty ridiculous. Obama rolled out the policy before quietly and media silence ensued.

"According to the draft copy of Trump's executive order, the countries whose citizens are barred entirely from entering the United States is based on a bill that Obama signed into law in December 2015.

Obama signed the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act as part of an omnibus spending bill. The legislation restricted access to the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens from 38 countries who are visiting the United States for less than 90 days to enter without a visa.

At the initial signing of the restrictions, foreigners who would normally be deemed eligible for a visa waiver were denied if they had visited Iran, Syria, Sudan or Iraq in the past five years or held dual citizenship from one of those countries.
In February 2016, the Obama administration added Libya, Somali and Yemen to the list of countries one could not have visited — but allowed dual citizens of those countries who had not traveled there access to the Visa Waiver Program. Dual citizens of Syria, Sudan, Iraq and Iran are still ineligible, however.

So, in a nutshell, Obama restricted visa waivers for those seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen — and now, Trump is looking to bar immigration and visitors from the same list of countries."

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...when you consider that his order exempts Christians in those countries, so, yeah, it's kind of a "Muslim" ban.

And please don't equate a temporary hold from five years ago on one country's refugee status to a general ban on re-entering from all these countries EVEN IF THEY ARE LEGAL PERMANENT US RESIDENTS. It's not the same in real life, even if your alternative facts universe helps you think that it is.

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That is false:

"...there is a puzzling amount of outrage over Trump’s directive to “prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.” In other words, once refugee admissions resume, members of minority religions may well go to the front of the line. In some countries, this means Christians and Yazidis. In others, it can well mean Muslims."

"Sadly, during the Obama administration it seems that Christians and other minorities may well have ended up in the back of the line."

"For example, when Obama dramatically expanded Syrian refugee admissions in 2016, few Christians made the cut: The Obama administration has resettled 13,210 Syrian refugees into the United States since the beginning of 2016 — an increase of 675 percent over the same 10-month period in 2015."

As a point of reference, in 2015 Christians represented roughly 10 percent of Syria’s population. Perhaps there’s an innocent explanation for the disparity. Perhaps not. But one thing is clear — federal asylum and refugee law already require a religious test. As my colleague Andy McCarthy has repeatedly pointed out, an alien seeking asylum “must establish that . . . religion [among other things] . . . was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant.”

Similarly, the term “refugee” means “(A) any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality . . . and who is unable or unwilling to return to . . . that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of . . . religion [among other things] . . . [.]”

Religious considerations are by law part of refugee policy. And it is entirely reasonable to give preference (though not exclusivity) to members of minority religions.

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sweetie.

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Thin rationalization? You meaning the efffing law????? The same law that applied to your savior Obama.

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Especially when the administration is declaring itself above the law.

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It's a pretty high bar, getting called "worst person in the thread" when FISH has oozed through in a comment upthread, but I think you've just about managed to do it. I'd take your argument apart piece by piece, but someone else has already done most of the heavy lifting, and I don't have the time or the crayons it would take to explain it to you.

(Also, yes, the mob is indeed coming. Maybe you'd better decide if you want to publicly side with the Fuhrer, in this here People's Republic of Massachusetts)

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Okay, whatever.

It comes from doing research and knowing that we are right.

You can always decamp to one of those shitwater hellholes of the red states if you don't like employment, affluence, good health, low crime rates and all of the benefits that come with rationality and a fact-based existence.

I grew up with no-nothings and uneducated people who would lose their savings because they "believed" that pyramid scheme would make them rich or that some form of Daddy - sky, president, or sugar - gave two shits about them and would make their lives easy if only they didn't question.

And kept on handing over the cash.

As a trailer trash kid by birth, I'll take living amongst the "smug" any fucking time, dear.

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Some great signs in there

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Adam, and everyone,

Have you seen any estimates for the number of people at yesterday's protest? I haven't and am curious. It's already off the Globe homepage.

I've seen an aerial photo and it looked huge. (And awesome, which it was.)

Thanks!

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(near the bottom left, under "Metro")

Here. The story is on the printed front page.

but all it says is "Thousands"

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But "Thousands" we already knew....

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I was at the Mayor's presentation at the Boston Public Library tonight and he said "20,000" people.

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Special bonus UHub Mobile Action News Unit sighting: The shot zooms in on some people holding a large white #NoMuslimBan sign on the steps of Trinty Church. I'm the guy in the brown jacket and red hat above the last N.

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Glad to see so many coming out to make a differnce.

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...to battle what [Warren] called an unconstitutional imposition of a religion test.
"They are doing God's work fighting for justice,"...

So God's work is not religious?

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