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Two rallies in Boston, one was kind of low energy
By adamg on Sat, 03/04/2017 - 1:14pm
A rally to support Planned Parenthood on the Common that attracted several hundred people this morning was winding down when a rally to support President Trump that attracted several dozen people was starting up on the steps of the State House:
At the Planned Parenthood rally, US reps. Seth Moulton, Katherine Clark, Mike Capuano and Joe Kennedy joined Mayor Marty Walsh and City Councilor Ayanna Pressley in pledging to support Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act.
The Trump rally started with a recording of Whitney Houston singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl.
Two people flew American flags at the Planned Parenthood Rally. Three people flew American flags at the Trump rally, one on a pole from which also flew a "Don't Tread on Me" flag and a flag showing the UN seal under a red circle and stripe. Another person flew a US flag with the stars replaced with a 3-Percenter logo.
At the Planned Parenthood rally:
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Comments
O wow
Another protest, what will they think of next!
Well ...
If you think it will be "go away and not make me think about our inexorable slide into fascism", you clearly aren't a betting man.
"Another protest, what will
--General The Hon. Thomas Gage
Are you planning on seceding?
Like California?
"They" who? Your lazy knee-jerk cynicism isn't clear enough.
Are you trying to throw shade on the supporters of Planned Parenthood, supporters of Trump, or just people exercising their First Amendment rights in general?
Planned Parenthood/ACA
Fun fact: Lawrence, the MA community with the highest teen pregnancy rate, saw that rate decline by 37% since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Just one local example of why Planned Parenthood supports the fight to preserve the ACA.
Isn't there a law...
...that prohibits people from using curse words on signs in public? I'd love to take my 6 year old to these things but she spells everything now. Maybe I should have her ask those people what their sign says and see how proud of themselves they are then.
Not in this country
You've heard of the First Amendment, no?
generally covered under the first amendment.
...although here in mass we do technically have laws against blasphemy, so that's always interesting. can curse, but can't curse god. also, it's illegal to curse at a sports official. but otherwise, it all generally falls under protected speech.
middleborough does have an anti-cussing law, but you have to direct it at another person, and the fine is a whopping $20.00. so maybe expose your child to some protests there. or take them anyway, explain what all the bad words mean, and explain why people are angry enough to use them.
Try to explain to your 6 year old
that the President says he likes to grab women right in the pussy. As long as he is in office, anything goes.
Well that's the thing
Perhaps people don't want to have said conversations with 6 year olds.
Perhaps the base of trying to explain that situation to a 6 year old would be to simply say "he does bad things to women" or "he doesn't respect women" rather than trying to discuss slang for genitalia, or just talking about genitalia at all with a 6 year old.
if you don't want to discuss genitalia with your child...
then you might consider that a planned parenthood rally probably isn't really the best place to take them?
i am not saying that you need to have a full-on vagina conversation with your child. but one of the many great things that pp does is take care of vaginas, so it seems likely that it may come up.
I can't argue
Since PP and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but let's assume I support their world view and I want my kid to see my thirst for social justice. Some of those signs ( not all by a long shot) are pretty vulgar.
I suppose commented "A" could just stay home instead. I mean, it's not like turnout at these things are important or anything.
Here's a suggestion
Consider the possibility that what you consider "vulgar" and "shameful" is a huge reflection of your belief that women and women's bodies are vulgar and shameful?
You don't need to respond - just think about it.
Um
If the discussion were about men's genitalia, it would also be vulgar, so don't project that shaming BS on me.
Nope
The description of any part of anatomy as "vulgar" is ridiculous.
Now go cover your elbows (eek - I said the word!). They offend me.
Wait...
"PP and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things..."
Give me a break, dude. Planned Parenthood isn't a political organization, it's a doctor's office. Basically what the other guy said; you don't see eye to eye on the importance of women's health as those who promote properly funding PP.
What is Planned Parenthood known for?
I'll give you a hint, it starts with an A and rhymes with smarshmorsion. And being pro-life, I'm not really down with that aspect of their mission.
Look, I parsed my words carefully, to keep the results of their new PR work ("we're just a women's health center") from factoring into why my take on them should be taken with a grain of salt.
Mr. Pro Life
Abortion is only a small part of PP's mission. And a VERY necessary one.
But, hey, you would prefer that women die for YOUR religious views?
And while we are the subject of DYING, what, exactly,, have you done lately to make sure that already BORN children are fed, housed, and loved?
What have you done, specifically, to stem the horrific US rates of infant mortality?
C'mon - tell us. Are you truly pro-life? Or just another moralizing hypocrite who waves fetuses around but who really just wants to control and punish women who don't follow YOUR religion?
What do I know about Planned Parenthood?
A heck of a lot more than you know about me!
Other medical facilities
Also perform abortions. Do you think of them with a similar mentality? I'll say it again, PP is not a political organization. It's a doctor's office. If you're going to take such a stance like that it should extend to any doctor's office beyond PP.
The pro-choice/life views of politicians make funding PP a political topic, but the organization itself is not political. Medical professionals there provide medical services.
I think we've gotten off topic
And given the bizarre attempt of the anon above to change my views (cute, and thanks for not going that route, by the way), we should get back to the meat of the matter. The signs. My views on any issue shouldn't really matter anyway, and in that vein most of the placards in the photograph are decent enough, but a few are pretty over the top. To take in from the other side, its like when Operation Rescue comes out with photographs of aborted fetuses. No one wants to see that, and it makes you look like someone who wants to shock rather than wanting to get people to rethink their views. Why would A (the poster who began all of this), if she agreed that Planned Parenthood should be supported, want to have to explain to her daughter what "If I want the government up my vagina I'd fuck a Senator" (emphasis in original) meant?
"I'll explain it when you're older, honey."
Sorry, I just think this comes off as both pearl clutching and concern trolling.
looking at the signs above...
i see exactly one cuss word, on the sign that you mentioned. you say "a few are pretty over the top". i am curious which other ones do you find objectionable?
the comparison to operation rescue is not a bad one. they use graphic photos because they find the concept of abortion immoral and untenable. and they do it because it works. keep in mind, i don't agree with them, but i understand why they do what they do, and i support their right to protest. many people are using strong language at these protests because they find the governments recent actions to be immoral and untenable. there is nothing wrong with being angry and letting others know it.
if A, above, doesn't want to explain to their child what a vagina is, what ovaries are, and why a bunch of men and women are screaming at the top of their lungs to protect their basic health rights, then i reiterate that this is maybe not the place for them to bring their child. but keep in mind that plenty of kids come to these protests and don't appear to be scarred for life.
"i am curious which other ones do you find objectionable?"
Any of the ones that advocate for a woman's right to choose a legal medical procedure. That's what he finds objectionable.
"I think we've gotten off topic"
Waquoit-speak for "you people are refusing to let me hijack this thread in exactly the way I want to".
I'll put it to you very simply. Those people were demonstrating for the right to a legal medical procedure that has been consistently eroded since at least the Reagan administration, They are put into the position of needing to demonstrate in order to secure this right. You, Waquoit, with your penis, do not face any such abridgment of your rights. You are anti-choice. You would never in a million years take your child to such a demonstration -- and yet you feel entitled to use your hypothetical child's hypothetical presence at such a demonstration as an excuse tut-tut about the language on the signs.
No, no, we really shouldn't. That isn't "the meat of the matter". Your dishonesty is the meat of the matter, and if you don't like being exposed as a dishonest, disingenuous agenda-driven anti-choice concern troll, you shouldn't have gone there.
Ah, the "tolerance" of the left
I mention in passing my views on one of the thing Planned Parenthood does, but the whole time I attempt to point out that the main thing is the signage, but no, it becomes all about abortion to you.
Bandit called me out well. Yes, that was the shocker of the signs. Look at the large photograph- most of the signs, perhaps all save one, spell out concerns in good language, but then there's the one that is, well, in poor taste.
Sometimes some people can have a decent discussion on things. I've been taken to task rightly by several posters on this. You, on the other hand, have a hangup deeper than mine.
Pro-tip
The moment you play that oldest of canards, "your intolerance of my intolerance is the REAL intolerance," every person reading immediately cedes the argument to your opponent. It is the dumbest, most jejune argument you can possibly make. Nobody owes you an unwavering belief in your own delusions.
You might be right
But it don't make me wrong.
What PP is known for
Pregnancy prevention (resulting in fewer smarshmorshions
)
STD testing, treatment and counseling for men and women
Cancer screenings
and other services that help living humans lead healthier lives.
Known
No, that's what _you_ know them for. And that's because you're dimly aware of the reality of the organization.
It's true that PP fights to keep abortion legal. But it's also true that PP has prevented vastly more abortions than it has enabled. Fully 80 percent of PP's patients receive services to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Only three percent of the services PP provides are abortion-related. So that's not what PP is known for by people who are aware of reality.
You know what the number one cause of abortions is? Unwanted pregnancy. Roughly half of the six million pregnancies in the US each year are unintended. Reducing unwanted pregnancies is the number one best way to reduce abortions. And that is what Planned Parenthood does. That's why it's called "Planned." And thanks to their hard work, the rates of pregnant teenagers and abortions are both at their lowest in forty years. The rate of abortions in teenagers has fallen by two thirds since 1988. If the ghouls of the "right-to-life" movement succeed in damaging Planned Parenthood, they will succeed in reversing those gains, and the abortion rate will skyrocket again.
Religious dogma is singularly ineffective in preventing unwanted pregnancy. Evangelical Christians have unwanted pregnancies and abortions at the same rate as everybody else, and Catholics have _more._ What is effective is education and birth control. The best example of an institution that provides those is Planned Parenthood.
The so-called "right-to-life" movement is full of people with blood on their hands, both of mothers and of fetuses, because the ultimate effect they have on our society by fighting to reduce the access of young and poor women to birth control is to increase the likelihood, and decrease the safety, of abortion.
there is not a law prohibiting profanity
but I agree- it shouldn't be on the sign. The idea that politicians would cut health care for the poor is profane enough.
Then...
By all means, then, don't put it on your sign.
My goodness
Your knuckles must be as white as those pearls you're clutching.
Great idea
I would not support a law banning swear words (or any other) on signs.
But the idea of having your 6 year old asking this woman exactly what her sign means is really clever. I hope you follow through.
Awwww, come on!
No word or words are unclean unless one thinks of them as being that way!
My kids are 7 and 9, and they
My kids are 7 and 9, and they surely encountered the F word before they were 6. I have a vivid recollection of apologizing to a daycare about it.
My kids know the word, and very likely so do yours. My kids also know that I won't be deterred from standing up for what I believe in just because someone might use bad words, and that they shouldn't be either.
I can think of plenty of practical approaches to cussing, but avoiding all possibility that the kids might encounter isn't one of them.
Any sales of human organs or tissue at Four Seasons afterward?
Did the Planned Parenthood crowd negotiate the sale of any infant organs or human tissue at the Four Seasons or Ritz over wine and canapes afterward or do they only do this in California? The "progressive" Planned Parenthood protestor with the obscenity-laced sign, worried about a Senator having sex with her should rest easy. I don't even think Sen. Dianne Feinstein or Sen. Chuck Grassley (both 83) would give a second look.
Comprehension.
#1) A Planned Parenthood crowd has never negotiated the sale of any infant organs or human tissue at the Four Seasons or Ritz anytime before, so why would one start now?
#2) Why are you putting the word "progressive" in quotes? Do you not actually mean progressive, but something else entirely and are simply being sarcastic?
#3) Why did you put a comma after the word "sign" and before the word "worried"? That makes no grammatical sense.
#4) How do you know she is worried about a Senator having sex with her? Have you spoken with her about such things? There is nothing within that photo that expresses any worries she has about a Senator having sex with her.
#5) Why wouldn't Sen. Dianne Feinstein give her a second look? They both support Planned Parenthood, so I'm sure they would notice a fellow supporter of a cause. As for Sen. Chuck Grassley, he is married - why would he be giving women a second look? Sen. Chuck Grassley isn't a supporter of Planned Parenthood either, so I doubt he'd seek out a Planned Parenthood supporter.
Basically your post raises more questions than answers. I wish you better luck in the future! Have a great day!
Do all "pro lifers"
Do all "pro-lifers" degrade women, or just the old male ones? I get that sexism is second nature to you, but why the sudden hatred for canapes?
Just go away
Seriously Fish.. go away.
gaffin
You should organize a fish vs uhub cage match, it'll make you rich!
Planned parenthood PREVENTS abortions
In fact, they have prevented vastly more abortions than any pro-life group ever has.
Considering how much prenatal care they provide, they have saved vastly more babies, too.
Planned Parenthood can prevent abortion, yes,
but it also cuts down on the number of abortions, because it enables girls and women to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place.
Camps anyone?
I heard (don't know where, maybe from where DT gets his communications) that camps are planned as a way to provide "medical treatment" to people who can't get it once the new health plan for the nation is implemented. Medical services provided will depend on what the
victimspatients can provide.General medical services in exchange for cleaning. More extensive medical services, such as surgery, would require donating an extra organ. Fair exchange.Sarcasm if anyone is wondering. But seemed to be the equivalent of the Fish's reference to infant organs and human tissue sales.
"When Fish speaks, people listen.
Then point and laugh, as one does at a dog humping an inanimate object. Or turn away in head-shaking disgust, as one does upon seeing a drunkard defecating in the street."
Props
To anyone there at any rally, it's SO cold out.
Not getting the point, other
Not getting the point, other than: Adam's bitter. We're there lots of huge spontaneous pro-Obama rallies when he was president?
Possibly not
My mind is going and I'm too lazy to reach for the Googles. But, y'know, traditionally, American presidents haven't needed rallies to remind themselves they won an election.
Then again, there haven't been a lot of large, spontaneous pro-Trump rallies since his election, either - not even on Inauguration day. Sad, bigly.
Reminders
This need for constant reminder is likely a big reason Trump spends every weekend in Florida, where rallies of the non-spontaneous kind are easy to arrange.
So you've got reasons ready
So you've got reasons ready to go to mock the size of the rally regardless of whether it was big or small.
Dear...
...they're all small. Seriously.
Language and mores
Within the time of walking past the narrow end of two tennis courts I heard the word nigger yelled at least 10 times. It was a group of either older teens or early 20s who were doing - well it was hard to figure what they were doing besides yelling a lot at each other. What bothers me was the free use of a word that is freighted with more hatred than the devil can raise in a day. To these kids the word was fine.
Seems to me that the word fuck on a sign at a rally to defend against a defunding medical clinics that are largely about helping people with sexual health matters (and non-sexual health) is appropriate. Crude yea. But as a word it does not have the terror embedded in the word the kids were bandying about.
So what's with the pearl clutching over one four letter word when a far worse 6 letter word is frequently yelled on the street?
If a six year old asked about the word wouldn't a useful thing to say be that there are words which are icky and that this word is an icky word and usually nice people don't use that word but sometimes like this time it was used because people are very upset about what some people are trying to do to other people?
I agree however that improving the general tone of language would benefit everyone. But since our economically driven social standards tend to be directed toward the lowest common denominator as the measure of all things I don't see much in the way of general social standards (i.e., how we treat each other on a day to day basis) rising among the majority of the population anytime soon. I watched a few bits of I think The Batchelor during the commercial breaks of another show. Boggles me that, pardon the term, skankiness is on television. Or what about the current occupant of the White House? When the main occupant of that building acts like, again pardon the term, white trash, what can be expected from everyone else?
Language is always.....
....either evolving or devolving. The same word changes meaning over time
Schilling got out too early.
Look at those crowds...
and Katherine "Crickets" Clark bringing more people to their feet.
The weather was frigid and the protest ended early
It was supposed to go until 1 pm, but given the weather, everyone made short speeches and the event broke up around 12:20 pm. I suspect that a 44-degree day would have brought out more people.
It was so cold that I did not venture up the hill afterwards to see what those people in front of the State House were doing. Now I know.
What did Clark say about crickets? I am not familiar with this quote, and I did not hear her speech (as I arrived late).
Congresswoman Clark has put more to sleep than a
Miami vet.
Classy swear words on this
Classy swear words on this signs per usual. Tough guys, eh.