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Clowning on forced-birth supporters on the Common
By adamg on Sat, 11/16/2024 - 8:56pm
A couple hundred men, mostly Catholic, mostly from out of town, marched from the Packards Corner Planned Parenthood to the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common today to try to impose their will on a state where abortion remains a right and part of women's health care.
At Kenmore Square, they were met by counter-protesters, with whom police briefly scuffled, knocking some of then - and a Globe reporter - to the ground.
This brought the forced-birth parade to a halt before participants resumed walking to the Common, where they entered a cattle chute made of metal police barriers to get to the bandstand, which was ringed about 40 feet out by two rings of barriers and large numbers of BPD officers and state troopers in body armor, holding long wooden batons.
Walking the chute:
As in Kenmore Square, the men (and three women) were also met there by serious protesters, who booed them, yelled "Shame!" and "Go home, fascists!" and gave them the finger.
But the forced-birth men were also greeted by clowns, from Clown March Boston, attempting to show the ridiculousness of their march through Boston:
Once all the men, mostly in suits, some in clerical garb, were assembled, the men (and a token woman) up on the bandstand began piously calling for all fetuses to be carried to term, although it was hard to hear them past the police barricades because of all the band music, the yelling, the booing, the banging of the outer ring of barriers by protesters.
Forced-birth advocates:
One suited forced birther, carrying a large poster showing what was supposed to be an aborted fetus chopped into pieces, briefly turned towards the protesters. He would clutch his chest, whether because he was experiencing heartburn or to show he was "speaking" from the heart was unclear, then would do a weird sort of wave, possibly of forgiveness towards the demonstrators. Another more obviously prayed at them:
Robby Roadsteamer, who had earlier confronted the marchers at the Planned Parenthood, though, was having none of it. Through his bullhorn, pointed at the men looking his way, he'd adapt songs for the moment, such as "My body, my choice" to the tune of "Sweet Caroline" and "I'm shipping up to Planned Parenthood" to the tune of the Dropkick Murphys song. And then he'd recite a commercial for 1-800-54-Giant and thank people for listening to Oldies 103.3.
When the men and the three women and the three boys had had enough, police lined the cattle shute so they could leave, some towards the intersection of Tremont and Boylston, others back onto the Common along Boylston.
One of the forced birthers, armed with his own loudspeaker, decided to scream back at the protesters standing along the chute, even as police were telling him enough, time to leave. One protester tried to toss some water on him, but the guy evaded getting wet:
Not long after that, police detained two women protesters and led them off the Common, their arms behind their backs in plastic ties.
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Comments
Terrorist enablers
I bet they all cheered when their heavily armed hellspawn gunned my neighbor down in cold blood.
The little shit was living their dream, after all - control the lives of women and kill them if they don't comply.
I attended
Because of those attacks. The Planned Parenthood is now in my neighborhood because of that other out of town man who wanted to control women - attacked two clinics, killed both receptionists, and wounded five. Never again. So sorry that it affected you directly, although it's now affecting all women and for at least the next 2 years, if not 4 or forever.
. “Mostly catholic”. Imagine
. “Mostly catholic”. Imagine somebody says “mostly Jews”.
This site and commenters are the reason why people can’t stand “bostonians”. Bunch of out of state, out of city morons.
So go somewhere else
I mean, it's not really hard to establish the group as Catholic, given they say so themselves. Their About page lists two founders, one of whom is "the host of The Simple Truth which airs M-F at 4pm on The Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network, which includes the iCatholicRadio mobile app" and the other of whom is "an anti-abortion activist and retired priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico who now lives full time in Florida."
Illiterate whiners who can't be bothered to spend roughly 15 seconds Googling simple facts are the real morons here.
It’s ok to be believe in the
It’s ok to be believe in the sanctity of life. Why can’t they express their opinion?
They can, and they did
It's also OK to believe in abortion as a part of women's healthcare, and people expressed their opinion on that.
Opinions are fine
Crafting laws that ignore medicine, science, and fundamental civil rights are not acceptable.
I could say that it was my opinion that all these men should be gelded and their mouths sewn shut so as to prevent abortions (example for discussion, only), but I would bet you would find that to be unacceptable. And yet these assholes support laws that are forcibly preventing women from exercising autonomy over their bodies and are killing women because they have an opinion that is divorced from reality.
because they have an opinion
They think babies are being murdered. What's divorced from reality is not acknowledging that it's possible to view abortion that way.
Reasonably people disagree over the issue. Some people (like you) are extremists who cannot agree to disagree. That's the big problem today.
Oh, you know
If you're anti-abortion, that's fine. No one is making you have one. You can even tell people you don't think they should have an abortion if it's a decision they face.
But if you want to take away the right for people to have an abortion, don't be surprised when people become angry and vocally push back.
Except….
Except that people have abortions for lots of reason. Some of them have nothing to do with choosing to parent a child, nummy.
Except
you never see these guys protesting at an execution. They only believe in the sanctity of life when it suits their purpose, which is to control women.
They only believe in the
They only believe in the sanctity of life while the fetus is still in utero. After they're cutting welfare, childcare programs, Department of Education. ;) None care about said life brought into this world by someone who might abandon them at birth, bring them home and abuse and/or kill them.
So hypocritical.
That doesn't substantiate your
"mostly Catholic" claim, at all. And yes, I'm sure you'd love it if anybody ever said that the Pro-Israeli supporters at a demonstration were "Mostly Jewish."
Oh?
You mean like this?
I can imagine a bunch of people
wearing Jewish cultural garb and talking about how Jewish they are being called Jews.
Get over yourself. You don't have a right to thinner skin than anyone else.
Bostonian & Roman Catholic here
Non-practicing of course, but they always tell us that once we're in, we're in for life. Nevertheless, it's just an elaborate volunteer organization; we can (and should) quit if we disagree with beliefs and policies. But first I had twelve years of Catholic school, drank all the Kool-Aid and won the prize for graduating senior who most embodied Catholic ideals. So I have some credentials when I say:
Call them Catholics and please tell them to get their heads out of women's uteruses.
The march included monks and
The march included monks and priests, and the men were holding up their rosaries. "Mostly Catholic" is descriptive, not derogatory.
Jews vs. Jewish
If someone said "mostly Jewish" in a similar context (protesters wearing identifiably Jewish garb, showing stars of David, and talking about how the issue at hand relates to Judaism), no one would have an issue. Using "Jews" rather than "Jewish" could raise some eyebrows, yes, because it matches how antisemites use language. But Adam didn't say "Catholics", he said "Catholic", a benign adjective, and the equivalent of "Jewish", also a benign adjective.
Are you being deliberately obtuse?
Context provided since you seem to find it inconvenient:
Seems pretty obvious that this means that of the couple hundred meign, most were Catholic. Care to explain what flavor of damage you're suffering from that causes you to take issue with that simple descriptor?
used because that's what they called themselves
A CATHOLIC group organized this so Adam was being.... accurate? Go somewhere else for your victimhood.
Thank you for calling them what they are
.
There were 2 groups of counter-protesters
The Clown March + marching band clowned the forced-birthers all the way from Packards Corner. The Stonewall Liberation Org + DSA etc were the ones who blocked the march at Kenmore Square. Both groups then escorted the forced-birthers along the rest of their route, clowning or shouting at them as they went.
A bunch were arrested
For pushing cops like bozos.
or didn't move
when cops pushed them
How would you know that they
How would you know that they were "mostly Catholic"? Did you ask enough of them to report this?
Even aside from ...
The guys carrying big-ass Catholic-style crosses (the type with realistic, anguished Jesuses on them, OK, they could've been Lutherans, I guess) and the men in clerical garb, well, see my answer above.
"Cattle chutes?" Really?
Adam I get that you have scorn for these protestors and don't agree with their position, but the references to "cattle chutes" and the way you describe some of the speakers is pretty gratuitous. You can report factually without the catty editorializing and still paint an accurate picture.
I have no love for fundamentalists or the pro-life movement, but after reading this I felt sympathy for them, and disdain for you. You can write better than this, I've seen it in the past. Stop letting your emotions dominate your reporting, it's bad.
The cattle chute
Go after me for scorning these people all you want, but it was BPD who set up this long, narrow pathway thing lined with metal barriers through which to funnel marchers to the bandstand (and keep the protesters away). It looked like a cattle chute, which is why I called it that.
Pearl clutchers
are gonna clutch pearls. It was very much a cattle chute to get the Their Right To Your Life marchers to the bandstand and back out through the throng of protesters.
Mealy-mouthed excuse for bad reporting
You made that word choice, Adam! Don't blame the police for something you did.
It's bad reporting and disappointing because you are capable of much better. You could have been descriptive, but you editorialized to signal that you're a Very Good Boy who has the right views on things, and hates the right people.
You can do much better than this.
Wow
Don't tire yourself out too much in your quest to manufacture objections.
Crucifixes vs. crosses
Today I Learned: Crucifixes are the things that have Jesus hanging in agony, while crosses are just, well, crosses. And crucifixes are very much a Catholic thing (although, yes, Lutherans use them as well).
I now have learned this.
I now have learned this. Thank you!
Priests are Catholic right?
Because one of them kept leaving the group of marchers to photograph the protesters. Seemed ominous to me but unless they were priest cosplayers in full vestments who got lost, they were Catholics for the most part - just like the website organizing this called ti too.
So they came “to try to
So they came “to try to impose their will on a state”, but they were prevented by having others impose their will on them. Yeah, that’s healthy.
They were not ultimately prevented from anything
They planned a march from Allston to the Common and, after police cleared the way for them in Kenmore Square, they did what they wanted to.
What a collection of noxious people
except for the police separating them, they all deserve each other.
Yeah
Fascists and anti-fascists. They're the same. So sage you are.
Thanks for that link to “mostly Carholic”
I was curious about how anti lifers and drivers might have common cause. Of course, it was just a typo but reading their propaganda was an education. Very slick stuff.
Carholic
That's really gonna piss off Kinopio.
I wouldn't trust Guy In Suit with any underage child.
And I can only imagine what's in his web browser history.
Where are teh FooFighters?
This owuld have been another golden oppourtinuty to Rockroll the alt right here. Even better if the Foo Fighters were in clown outfits lol. Ok, I'm almost 2 decades late but still lol
Any relation to Jon Voight?/Keffiyeh irony
1) Is James Havens the son of Jon Voight?
2) What are their motives beyond their strategy of pushing the unreasoned narrative of “personhood” as an end-run around the unanswerable question of when life/personhood begins?
3) Counter protesters are right to contest “personhood” narrative. I believe the right to an abortion and bodily autonomy is a right protected in Bill of Rights/ Constitution many times over. And as important as it is for supporters of women’s liberty to “represent” it is also important for to also engage in reason-based argumentation. When life begins and when personhood begins is not a man can answer and therefore is in the realm of philosophy, belief and religion and as such can never trump women’s right to an abortion whenever necessary. (I considered, …whenever necessary and otherwise moral, because that’s a lot to get into.)
And, yes it is important to shout the loudest and represent, but it’s also important to fill and push the contours of the so-called “bro-space” with reason. CNN? BBC? showed a clip of Hegseth in a slick-haired, dark and leathery private cigar-bar type salon complete with lighted liquor bar behind him sympathizing with Putin’s “take shit back” feelings with no indication he sees the bigger picture that Putin is attempting to take back shit that was stolen by the USSR in the first place.
4) The ironical:
“ Numerous counter-protesters wore keffiyehs, a traditional Palestinian headscarf that’s become a common sight at protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
When the rally was stopped, several counter-protesters stood with their arms locked calling the cops “pigs” and “fascists.” They wore shirts that read “Our lives, our futures,” and held signs with varying messages including, “Alpha males support women’s rights.”
Paige Adams, 52, wearing a keffiyeh, shook with outrage that she said was at the “men marching against my rights to have abortion as health care.” -Bo. Globe
"The Men's March is not welcome here, and we will not allow their narrative to go uncontested," the counterprotesters said in their own flyer. -Axios
Yes, on the Common, there were some people ...
Wearing those scarves. Most did not (source: I was there).
Thanks. And, thanks for being
Thanks. And, thanks for being there.
AI sez ...
Blah blah blah
Amazing to see these forced-birther anons
coming out of the woodwork. Or are they out-of-staters looking for coverage of the event so they can try to stir the pot even more?
Bravo to Clown March Boston!
Love this city.
Haha
Look at was arrested. Rep Clark’s daughter isn’t going to be let off that easy this time.
Where's the funny part?
Sometimes when protests happen, people get arrested. It happens, sometimes for completely bullshit reasons and sometimes for legitimate reasons. I don't have any strong opinion on this piece of the story but arguably being offered community service is being "let off easy" so your claim sorta falls flat here.
From The Globe:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/11/18/metro/mens-march-boston-abortion-...
Again? Interesting.
Again? Interesting.
At yesterday’s House Democrat Leadership News Conference Rep. Clark doubled down on my Party’s repudiated demagoguery by pointing to the action of two GOP Reps. and Rep. Clark points her finger dramatically and paints the entire GOP as hateful. That same day the Speaker of the House said in no uncertain terms that all are welcome and any bad behavior will not be tolerated.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?540101-1/house-democratic-leadership-news-...
You are not a democrat, you're a shill
Anyone who's read your posts knows you're what you are, so why continue the dishonest ruse?
The fact that you would praise the Speaker of the House for his "welcome", the weird zealot who is currently leading an inhuman campaign against the newly elected transgender representative from Delaware, really puts the capper on your dishonesty.
I'm no fan of Rep. Clark, but the GOP is objectively hateful. The party ran a whole campaign based on demonizing immigrants and transgender people and is proudly supported by nazi and fascists groups everywhere, and has become just a tool of a racist, anti-semitic sexual predator.
In my class yesterday
A young lady was talking about how she was a cheerleader as a girl, and how parents made sure she wore T-shirts over her uniform when walking around the mall.
I didn't get the chance to tell her "I know a guy who started a pageant, and would walk into their dressing room because he could. He was in the news a couple of weeks ago. He got 76 million votes for President of the United States."
Well said.
.