Hey, there! Log in / Register
Planned Parenthood in Allston gets a new escort thanks to the gross protesters
By adamg on Sat, 07/21/2018 - 10:41am
Mike Mennonno checks in from his usual Saturday-morning coffee spot - the Caffe Nero on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston, next to the Planned Parenthood clinic, where the scrum of protesters have been allowed into the usual no-protest zone because of ongoing roadwork:
So they shuffle around with their signs. One is taking snaps of people coming and going. They laugh and chat. Old friends. This is their Saturday morning coffee klatsch.
It’s a cast of mostly shriveled old men in wrinkled old clothes who look like they fell out of a cardboard box under a bridge after a 37-year bender, smoked a pack of Pal Mals and thought “well, got nothing better to do today than wear a sandwich board with someone’s miscarriage slathered all over it and harass the ladies!”
They all look like child molesters. Every. Last. One.
So to make a long story short: I just signed up to be a clinic escort.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
MA actually eliminated the
MA actually eliminated the buffer zone as we used to know it — people can be as close as they want as long as they’re not “harassing” other people. They’ve always been too damn close at this PP. a lot of them will even bug you and try to shove flyers in your hands if you’re going to star market. It’s never enough to make you want to tell somebody, but just enough to piss you off
Actually, the Supreme Court
Actually, the Supreme Court eliminated it because it was unconstitutional (8-0).
https://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/massachusetts_pays_1...
They ruled one thing
My reading of the Constitution says another. It was a very flawed ruling.
There are several Supreme Court decisions people find flawed
Which, in my reading of society, is why we're talking about this.
Why we're talking about this...
AG has to figure out a way to tie the President's nomination to the Supreme Court to Boston, somehow.
So, a guy that I don't know personally, who might be a very nice person, but looks. Exactly. Like. An. Extra. On. The. Sons of Anarchy. (see what I did there?) is looking out the window of a chain coffee shop and sees...PP protesters.
So, as the Handmaid's Tale is becoming reality...
I think Kavanaugh might make a fine Justice. And, I think we will find out.
I don't blame Adam
It's a Boston based story. How the comments run on a story is up to the commentors. In the end, it's all opinion and personal biases at work. Heck, there are even people here who cannot figure out the difference between being anti-abortion and being pro-life. What's more, they probably don't care, because it doesn't fit their world view.
"My reading of the Constitution..."
"My reading of the Constitution says another. It was a very flawed ruling."
Interesting. It went all the way up the ladder until the SCOTUS ruled unanimously.
Unanimously.
**It was a very flawed ruling
**It was a very flawed ruling.**
And your credentials are better that the SJC?
It's enough if you're a woman
It's enough if you're a woman who wants to access care there.
Thumbs Up!
We need more heroes like this!
So this douche bag is sitting
So this douche bag is sitting at some coffee shop making fun of the protestors who are making fun of planned parenthood? Also, has he seen what all the other protestors look like who protest various things in Boston? Not exactly the sharpest dressed either.. What a hypocritical hipster
No, you don't understand
See, these rent-a-mobs are being rented by the "wrong" side. So it's OK to make fun of them and to suggest they're pedos-in-waiting. Especially if they're fresh-faced and well dressed types.
Rent-a-mobs on the "right" side, however can do no wrong.
Pointing out double standards is racist.
Ignorance is strength.
The older I get, the more I appreciate Orwell's work.
No one is less racist that
No one is less racist than Michael Mennnnonnno. He is a hero in the modest and fair Boston community. He also has a wicked kewl beard.
Oh, so you know Mike?
I've known him for at least a decade, and so can say that in your lame-ass attempt to mock him, you actually portrayed him quite accurately.
That is impressive. You are
That is impressive. You are the man, Adam.
"They all look like child molesters. Every. Last. One."
"They all look like child molesters. Every. Last. One."
Well, to characterize a bunch of people like that is wrong. But he's in the valley of the righteous, so it's cool. Anyway, 'Pall Mall' is spelled wrong by him. Just another clue for the clueless.
Other than that, he's a wonderful, non-judgemental man.
As are you..."Planned Parenthood in Allston gets a new escort thanks to the gross protesters"
To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee, "That's not gross, here's gross': https://www.dailywire.com/news/33300/leftist-mob-hurls-feces-pro-trump-k...
Apparently a couple of days ago, some of the righteous lefties in LA decided it would be fun to try to destroy a business opening by flinging bags of shit at it, like monkeys. Warning...there are pics.
Mike Mennonno Boston Escort ?
doesn’t sound like he’d be the ideal candidate for one of these security positions at the allston facility.
Why?
Do you know Mike? I do. He would make for an excellent escort. He is polite and respectful.
OMG!!
THE WYMMINS ARE GETTING HEALTH CARE FOR THEY WYMMMIN PARTS!!!!
WE MUST STOP ANYONE WHO WANTS TO STOP PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL THEM!
THE NERVE OF THE WYMMINS THINKING THEY ACTUALLY OWN AND CONTROL THEIR OWN WYMMIN PARTS. KILLLL!
Take a deep breath.
Calm down. So, I guess it's OK for a group of idiots (Planned Parenthood specifically) to come out with a short...which they quickly took down because it's so fucking idiotic.
Stay classy PP! I guess it's not enough to take half a billion dollars from the American taxpayer to do zero (yes, zero) mammograms, a diagnostic for a predominately female problem. They just want to rut like pigs and when they get pregnant, just have us all pay thousands of dollars to 'make it all go away'. I guess...'planned'...that word...
No, I don't really care about their problems. let them get the $$$$ from the Pew Foundation, or the Ford Foundation. I don't give a shit. But...
Why should your lack of any moral sense directly depend on my, as a taxpayer, largesse?
PP themselves really know how to cross over into never-never land..."Reaction to Protect Our Freedom to F*ck: Donate to Planned Parenthood of New York City "
They pulled the video, but the internet is forever... here's a link to the video taken down...watch it just for the sheer LULZ of it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLp07CFZZ94&featur...
A mob of one?
We're talking about one guy here volunteering to help women get into a clinic for the healthcare they are entitled to by law (reminder: Planned Parenthood provides a lot more care than abortion services; double reminder: Women shopping at the neighboring supermarket don't need any heckling, either, it's still legal for women to buy produce in this state).
These protestors are almost
These protestors are almost as off putting as the protestors like that old lady holding up the vulgar dick sign at the woman’s march. Or the F Trump signs. Can’t have it both ways
Apples and oranges
The 2 examples you just gave are of people at political rallies. The PP protesters are harassing people trying to see their doctor.
Big, big difference in the vulgarity and scumbaggery factors.
The anti-abortion crowd should change their tactics and they might get more support.
I have an idea.
Like most of my ideas, it ain't good. But, I'm evolving, studying my lefty betters and learning. I think the PP protesters should put on masks and throw bags of shit at them.
Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLp07CFZZ94&featur...
Can't even get a kosher coffee in LA anymore...
It's not "both ways"
False equivalency. The difference is between, on the one hand, protesting and, on the other, harassing and intimidating specific individuals.
Anti-abortionists kill.
Repubbie Pubby: Anti-abortionists are on record for killing doctors and threatening to destroy the lives of people who provide health services to women if they are associated with Planned Parenthood.
Now if you don't like abortions then don't have one. Better if you're so concerned about human lives have your trained in the profession of mental health services? Are you trying to help gang bangers live moral and safe lives?
I don't know since I don't walk in your shoes (although you clearly you know what is best for any woman who walks into a Planned Parenthood clinic). But if you are like most strident anti-abortionists you are only concerned about controlling a woman's body when she is pregnant. Yet when it comes to human beings who are alive and are loosing the struggle to be good and decent your response to living people is that they should spend their lives rotting in prison or die early.
All in the name of Jeeeeesus!
Yes....they are very much the
Yes....they are very much the same. Getting screamed at, called a murderer, slut and whore while trying to get private medical needs (whatever they are b/c PP isn't an abortion factory no matter how hard you try and convince yourselves that) and holding up a dick sign. So much of the same.
Fucking women....amiright?
Those protesters are
Those protesters are protesting reproductive services allowed by law. They could go protest at the state house or head to DC, but instead they are doing it outside a clinic. They do this solely to present a barrier to care. Their need to stick their faces into other people's personal choices is gross and uncivilized.
I'm a man, and I've used planned parenthood for healthcare services. I found the protesters disturbing and all I needed were some tests done. I can't imagine what it would be like to be specifically targeted by healthcare protesters.
The people who work and volunteer at Planned Parenthood are putting themselves out there to be targeted for harassment by the worst kinds of people, and they get plenty of it. Siding with their harassers is not a good look.
Yup
And the protests are allowed by law, too. In fact, the freedoms of speech and assembly are explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.
Yes, we know
All kinds of scummy behavior is constitutionally protected.
Jr. High reasonsing
The Constitution does not give anyone the right to harass anyone else. As with the deformed interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, the Supreme Court applied their personal biases and contempt for lessor people in deciding that a state may not create a zone for walking so that people can enter the clinic free of threats of violence. The Supreme Court is not God. The Court manages to make the same mistakes as anyone else (e.g., Dred Scott). This is another ocassion with the Court passed a giant puff of stinky gas.
Political convention planners and police demand that protestors stay within a corral; just like keeping pigs in a pen. If a zone where anti-women are to stay where Planned Parenthood clinics are concerned then pens for protestors is also unConstitutional.
Anti-abortionists engage in mob behavior. Their goal is to terrify people, not help.
"This is another ocassion...
... with the Court passed a giant puff of stinky gas."
Yes, but it was unanimous and cost the taxpayers over a million dollars.
One person's read of "personal biases"
Is still the opinion of the court, and I do believe these particular folk scored a 9-0 decision, meaning Ginsburg and Sotomayor were okay with the reasoning. Roe didn't get a perfect score, if you didn't know, nor did Dred Scott.
But again, there are court decisions people think are sound, and others that mobilize movements that last decades.
"are putting themselves out
"are putting themselves out there to be targeted for harassment by the worst kinds of people, and they get plenty of it"
I don't disagree, but as a tiny white female I would not call the protesters outside "the worst kinds of people." It's a mix or old fogeys chanting hymns or middle-aged women holding signs advertising "crisis pregnancy centers"
I find it upsetting and frustrating when I go to PP, but I don't equate them with the creepy guy who walked up to me, tried to strike up a conversation, and kept following me while shouting when I was at the Bremen St Park in Eastie earlier today.
John Salvi was the worst kind of people
Terrorist murderer.
What he did was horrible.
Wiki, because I'm lazy:
"Then-Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Massachusetts, Bernard Law, called for a moratorium on clinic protests following the shooting."
Most people complied with his wishes. No sane person wanted a Salvi repeat. Salvi rattled a lot of cages, not just the PP clinics, but also, on both sides, those who were genuinely afraid of a violent escalation.
"What he did was horrible."
No denying that.
But, 'Terrorist murderer.' is actually technically incorrect. One interesting part of the Salvi case was the fact that after his, um, suicide by trash bag in prison, his conviction was vacated by the courts because he had not exhausted his appeals, not unlike the Hernandez case.
Such reasonableness.
"It's a mix or old fogeys chanting hymns or middle-aged women holding signs advertising "crisis pregnancy centers""
Perhaps they should carry signs advertising clinics that do mammograms, because PP sure as hell doesn't.
Such perspective on human behavior. Seriously, it's attitudes like yours that would produce more rational discussion and less all caps ranting.
But, I'm not holding my breath.
Kind of puts the whole 'Boyle Heights feces flinging monkey at a kosher coffee shop' thing into perspective.
You took time out of your day
You took time out of your day to defend creepy old men who spend their Saturdays telling young women what to do with their bodies.
Nobody cares what people do with their own bodies
What many people oppose (including betwen 40 and 50 percent of women) is the intentional killing of those other people currently residing inside the bodies of some women. The history of liberalism has generally been a story of augmenting compasion, expanding rights, recognizing the dignity and worthiness of ever-widening circles of people, and even animals. Except with abortion, where it is the liberals who seem committed to making sure that a certain group is never regarded as fully human. In this spirit, Mennono also attempts to dehumanize those who oppose abortion as "child molesters", emphasizing their physical appearance and age in a distinctly un-liberal way. Such superficial nastiness would never be allowed otherwise. It's odd. In any event, there are plenty of child molesters who look like Mike Mennono as well. Turns out you can't always tell if someone is evil or not just by looking at them.
You know as well as I do
that many people in fact do care very much what others do with their own bodies, especially when it comes to sex. That is why they oppose sex education outside of "abstinence," why they oppose birth control no matter what women are using it for, why they refuse to distribute the morning after pill, etc. etc. etc. There are many evangelical fundamentalists out there who view pregnancy as a punishment for having sex. You know, the same people who say "God" is punishing people for being gay with AIDS or hurricanes.
People
Those who refer to human embryos as "people" think they are augmenting compassion by extending personhood even to those embryos in the earliest stage of development, but are they augmenting it, or diffusing it into meaninglessness? When exactly do these people become people? Is a blastocyst of a hundred cells really more of a person than a Blue Whale? What about a chimpanzee? A dog? A parrot? Those whose opposition to abortion is fundamentally religious usually say that "personhood' begins at conception, but this is doctrine, not compassion. Those who consider that a single-cell zygote is every bit as much of a person as a fully-formed human being, and should have rights equal to such a human, may think they are showing maximum compassion towards the zygote. It appears to me that they are merely lacking in compassion towards other humans.
Proof is in action
The most virulent anti-abortionists support judicial murder (aka, the death penalty) and refuse to demand the funding needed to provide the mental health services and support that can turn the lives of law breakers from breaking more laws to being people who do good for society.
Abortion hysteria is one of the tools that the nascent fascists have used since the 50s to maintain a standing in the world of politics. In the 19th century not even Catholics were very concerned about abortion; by banning contraception they could be sure of a constant flow of live bodies to prey, I mean pray upon.
American Fundamentalists realized that the issue of abortion has just the right ingredients to be used as one of the tools for making themselves look like angels and any who disagreed look like devils.
It is hypocrisy that Jesus, even in his most non-judgemental moments, would throw chicken dung at.
Sometimes
I've considered going down there - unoficially, as I don't think I'd have the temperament to be an official escort - and heckling these guys, but I haven't once thought up an insult more damning and cruel than "you're a guy spending one of his finite remaining sunny Saturday mornings screaming at women on their way to see a doctor". That's worse than any heckle I could come up with in a thousand years.
Sick burn, bro
You'd cause Commonwealth Avenue to flood with all the tears they'd shed.
I work near there
and have to walk past those ghouls every time I go to the market. I always have a big smile for the escorts because they're awesome.
There's one regular who loves to try to intercept you with a pamphlet and quavers at you "Will you be a voice for the unborn?" That's her shtick.
One morning I was deep in thought about something at work and was walking past PP on autopilot and when she came up to me with her usual "Will you be a voice for the unborn?" I said sure, and in a squeeky, unborn baby voice said "Fuck off, lady. Mind your own business."
I felt a little sorry afterwards.
Humor is good medicine.
Bravo for having the courage to tell the silly person to mind their own business (and their own uterus).
People Suck
OK, I get that the protesters are a pain in the ass. But this guy is a complete douche bag. As a libertarian type I'm not for outlawing first trimester abortion, but only a true asshat would promote it in this way. I mean, ultimately you are killing somebody. I hate this whole thing. People fucking suck.
So ...
Since you're presumably a person, you suck?
Yup
I'm no hypocrite. At times, I too suck.
Like
at 12:53 PM yesterday.
"Promote"?
Seriously? Why only the first term? What happens magically at the end of three months that causes this "killing" to be less objectionable to you?
And what do you have against birth control and cancer screening? That is what the majority of the activity which takes place at Planned Parenthood is, yet escorts are still needed so women can access those services with some protection from the rabel which likes to congregate outside protesting their very existence.
I see right through your so-called Libertarianism.
Wow
Overreact much?
I never said anything about anything magical after 3 months. It's killing at any point. But sometimes people have a right to kill. Soldiers on the battlefield. Cops when required. Individuals under immediate threat. And women who don't want to carry their baby.
See right thru what libertarianism? I used a small l pal. I'm not a member of a party and I have no dog in this fight. I'm OK with birth control and cancer screening. I'm not supportive of the protesters. I'd agree the the woman is free to kill her unborn.
But, yes you suck.
Confusing
You wrote, "As a libertarian type I'm not for outlawing first trimester abortion." So you're at least tacitly with abortions in the first trimester. Followed that was the opinion abortion is killing at any point. Followed by the idea that sometimes people have a right to kill which includes women who don't want to carry the fetus.
By inference I will take it that you're okay with women aborting a fetus in the first trimester. For any reason, including that a woman simply does not want the baby.
How then does the first trimester and a day after the first trimester any difference?
Finally, an actual discussion
Thank you for your intelligence.
All I meant by the first trimester is that it is settled law that early term abortions are permitted by the constitution. At some point viability causes the procedure to be something closer to murder and the protesters come closer to having an argument. That part of law is not settled. Just because I'm libertarian does not mean I'm in favor when killing becomes murder.
No matter what...it is killing. My point is to differentiate killing form murder. One is permissible, the other is not.
I'm ok being seen as the bad guy in this argument against the multitudes who wish to whistle by the graveyard of aborted fetuses. I could get into the racial aspects and suggest that blanket support of all abortion on demand is leading to huge numbers of murdered African Americans in our urban centers. More than 50% of pregnancies by Black women in NYC end in abortion. There are huge disparities between ethnic groups. Is that really what we want as a society? Should we be celebrating our support to the degree we make public posts about our becoming escorts to these unfortunate souls who must kill their child?
My point is still the same. People suck. Bad decisions by people lead to these outcomes. Some of you are so heartless as to celebrate abortion. Others of us see it much like war--a regrettable thing because of the brokenness of mankind. Nonetheless, people suck.
One could just as easily ask you:
what happens magically at the moment of birth that makes it not ok to kill the baby then, but a-ok at all times previous? Or are you "pro-choice" on infanticide as well?
Those going into PP
should hand the protesters paperwork for them to sign that they will financially support for 18 years and pay for any education for any child born to a woman who agrees not to go into PP. Until the protesters are willing to do that they are nothing more than hypocrites.
You do know that crisis
You do know that crisis pregnancy centers offer both financial assistance and adoption referrals, right? I actually think they walk the walk on this one.
ok
then give the protesters forms to fill out to adopt any children born to someone who agrees not to go to PP.
If you read your Bible...
...you'd know that 'Immaculate Conception' is not a common occurrence.
Hand the papers to the goddamn father.
Decrepit protesters
People take these "protesters" too seriously. Although I have nothing but empathy for anyone using the clinic for services of their choice who are confronted by these pests, it looks like a puff of wind could blow them away. They are mostly decrepit, deranged old people who, when they're not doing this, probably wander the streets drooling and muttering. On occasion, for the hell of it, I have tried to talk to them and I am hard pressed to ever get a coherent answer. They will eventually die out.
And I'm sorry, but this Mennonno character comes off as nothing but smug.
Before you judge at least know who you're judging
Instead of acting all high minded come down to earth and meet the man. I've have. He's not smug.
Roe plaintiff, "the biggest regret of my life"
If the protesters save just one life, it will have been worth it. The shameless comments about their age, clothing and overall appearance indicate a lack of cogent arguments from the "tolerant" liberal side. Gross indeed Adam.
That's called "datum"
One data point. One person.
One.
Meanwhile, actual factual evidence indicates that "regret" is a MYTH.
You do realize that children are killed by poverty an lack of health care access in the US? Oh, wait - they can't be used to control women like a fetus can, so you don't give a shit about the already born children.
Also, check out how well absolute bans are working in El Salvador - working to KILL mothers due to refusal of treatment for obstetrical complications, kill their unborn children, orphan their children, and destroy families, that is.
Hey, straw lady...
"That's called "datum"
One data point. One person.
One.
I think you just totally missed Fish's point. He was talking about Norma McCorvey, whose viewpoint evolved. You might disagree with her, but Fish is right and Slate is hardly a professional source to cite.
One person. One data point. The Roe in Roe v. Wade.
One relevant person.
If you want to save lives,
If you want to save lives, making family planning easy and children affordable.
Reject abstinence education in favor of comprehensive sexual education, reduce the stigma of sexual activity to allow open conversations about family planning with young adults, make contraception easy to obtain without parental knowledge or expense, and provide protections for working mothers. In short, support Planned Parenthood in their mission: "To empower individuals to make independent, informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives, we provide information and health care, and promote public policies that make those services available to all."
That's how you save these lives you care so deeply about. Cheering on the harassment of people seeking medical services under the guise of eternal "protest" is not how you save these lives, it is just moralizing rooted in puritan fundamentalism.
Sorry, O-FISH-L, but I disagree with you here.
I don't buy Norma McCorvey's changed viewpoint of the Roe v. Wade, or the interruption of people's right to get an abortion or whatever.
When is a fetus ensouled?
That is probably too esoteric for a anyone to consider. Just as the willingness to legally permit abortion in cases of rape or incest. I never understood how a legislator can argue that abortion is evil - unless the fetus is do to rape or incest. If abortion is illegal, and that attribute is based on the assumption that a fetus is a human being, the how is allowing abortion in exceptional circumstances correct?
Should a woman just have to deal with a fetus growing in her regardless of how the ovum was fertilized?
Interesting question.
My two cents...if you believe in a soul, that implies either a belief in religion or something else, like (for instance) some folks at the Deaconess Mind/Body clinic. The implication is that the fetus is a human, benefiting from the protections of the law, no matter the form of conception.
Belief in a soul is essentially a religious thing, there are those who do not believe in a soul. For them, I suppose, it becomes more technical than religious.
Either way, the question could be, 'at what point does the fetus enjoy legal protection as a human?'
The idea of killing a baby that is viable, with the advanced technical support of a NICU, is abhorrent to me. The problem for society is that the viability date is becoming, through advances in medical technology, ever earlier.
So, if a fetus is a viable human being, at what point is the line crossed from 'medical procedure' to murder?
It matters to the fetus. This is why the problem is so intractable. It can't be distilled down to a bumper sticker.
Not in Allston - 02215 zip
Not in Allston - 02215 zip code.
Packards Corner is Allston
Sorry, for once, I'm going to take a stand on a neighborhood line, especially since I once lived basically a block away.
Zip codes are not always contiguous with neighborhood borders.
Okay
Which neighborhood is it in?
And I'll cut you off before and try the "Kenmore Square" answer (02215 is technically Kenmore Station) and say no, it's not in Kenmore Square.