More than 500 cops to patrol Common tomorrow; Walsh urges people to stay away and not give Nazis the attention they crave

My understanding is the march from the Reggie Lewis Arena will go along Tremont to the Common, did security for the route get discussed at the press conference?

In an attempt for Trump to deflect from the wide spread criticism he has incurred for his equating the reaction of Charlottesville counter-protesters to the Nazi, White Nationalists and Alt-right demonstrators, after having blamed them for causing the violence, he now strives to change the subject from his lack of moral convictions to the controversy being really about the removal of confederate statues and political correctness run amok.

Predictably his supporters are quick to jump on this alternative reality by embracing this new narrative. Adding to this mental masturbation are those who now complain about the restrictions being placed on the neo-Nazi rights. Others are joining in with their objections following a similar spectrum of artificial reasons - free speech, counter-demonstrators being the real problem, ad nauseum. I even read a post from young man (who obviously has never has been required or motivated to do anything meaningful or principled in his life) complaining that vendors, as a result of BPD security restrictions, were being denied their ability to earn a living.

We also have the musings of those who insist that we should just ignore these public demonstrators and they will go away. Really? Pretending that about a third of the electorate’s goal is to cleanse the country of anyone who is not white and Christian is not a threat? Cowardliness and fear to confront bigotry has never worked before and is not going to work now.

Thinking about all of this, I am reminded of a particular incident of shape shifting dialog from the 2016 campaign. In October of 2015, then Presidential candidate, Ben Carson caused a stir by asserting that gun control laws were responsible for the Holocaust, a patently absurd myth that enjoys surprisingly widespread acceptance in some quarters of the American right. In defense of Carson, Dr. Keith Ablow, a Fox News medical contributor and Caron fundraiser, offered a slightly different spin on the thesis.

Ablow argued, in summary: "If Jews in Germany had more actively resisted the Nazi party or the Nazi regime and had diagnosed it as a malignant and deadly cancer from the start, there would, indeed, have been a chance for the people of that country and the world to be moved to action by their bold refusal to be enslaved.”

Beyond the offensive victim-blaming aspect to this characterization, it is simply false to say that Jews did not resist Hitler's rise to power, his attempted conquest of Europe, or his attempted genocide of the Jewish people. Now we have many of those same conservatives (who always seem to champion or ignore the existence of the hate and division) telling us that counter-demonstrators are really the problem, don’t violate the Nazis and Skinheads rights, don’t get involved because it only makes things worst.

What the hell is happening to America’s historical sense of what is right and what is wrong? Have we become so afraid or so jaded that have forgot what we were given by those that came before us. Are we so mentally paralyzed that we are no longer willing to fight for what really made our country great in the first place.

I am in my 60s…I have more time behind me than I have going forward. From an socio-economic point-of-view, I suppose I could say my life is relatively comfortable - . I don’t need to get involved…I did my military service…I pay my taxes…I always treated folks correctly and, besides, they aren’t demonstrating against me, not my problem, right?

Let the next generation step up. Isn’t this the way things are suppose to work? You reach a certain age or achieve a certain stage in life and it okay to just abdicate your civil and moral responsibilities to others and ignore the things that don’t effect you directly - leave it to others to deal with injustice or bigotry.

Well, this is not the right way to act or think. This is not who we were, are or should be…we are, after all is said and done, Americans - when push comes to shove, we always do the right thing.

As I posted the other day: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” (Edmund Burke).

The Common garage will also be shut, but all downtown T stations will remain open (except Bowdoin, but that's because it's normally closed on weekends).

I was under the impression that Bowdoin is open on weekends now, as they got rid of its reduced hours during the Government Center closure and never reverted back. So will it be open tomorrow or what?

https://youtu.be/SlKao_Pox5A

Parks and Recreation have already set up the crowd control barriers, but with gaps so folks can still walk through.

And a NBC Boston live cam truck pulled up on Boylston, presumably to begin its "Countdown to Nazipocalypse 2017" coverage.