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Protesting is a time-honored First Amendment activity in America. This right is a constitutionally protected guaranteed that should never be exploited. How soon we forget that under the British Crown the colonists did not have this right. Thus, the Framers of the Constitution saw it as necessary to limit a tyrannical new government from infringing upon it. The Framers got it right.
Without protest, numerous periods of American history would not have effectuated change. Take for example, in the 1960s blacks used protest to peacefully petition for more equal justice under the law and fairer voting rights. All across America in small towns, counties, and cities, when the government, police, politicians, and corporations, etc. infringe upon the populace, demonstrators gather and stand in defiance against the injustices. Protest is good. But some of the protests we are witnessing today are not in the name of justice or an exercise of our constitutional rights. They’re not even protest, but outright political violence disguised as such.
Everybody knows it, yet many people in the liberal media are not calling it out for what it is. For example, they call ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter protest groups. Really? These groups are more gang-like than anything else. The media provides them cover by calling their looting and throwing rocks and bottles while holding signs that say kill the police a demonstration, as if it’s akin to students on a college campus protesting increases in tuition fees for heaven’s sake. The liberal media also calls hiding your identity by wearing a mask and engaging in takeovers of public buildings, shutting down retail areas, and closing sections of the interstate roadway system during rush hour peaceful protest. No, it’s not, and they know it. These subversive groups are not protestors. Instead, they are socialist agitators, troublemakers whose tactics are unacceptable, have no place in an orderly society, and whose actions infringe upon other people’s rights to these spaces. Has anybody ever thought about that?
It is crucial to identify these groups and call out their tactics so that effective countermeasures can occur. If we misidentify a problem, the wrong intervention will be applied. While everyone is afraid to call out these groups for exploiting a First Amendment guarantee, these disruptors continue to push the envelope and are becoming more dangerous.
Last week ANTIFA staged a demonstration inside New York City’s subway system. They masked it as an event to call out the police, demand that they are removed from patrolling the subway, and to demand free transit rides. This is not your grandfather’s era protest. I have identified it for what it is. It is a move by these anarchists to mirror terror group behavior.
A Newsday story described these domestic terrorists as activist protestors. The story went on to describe threatened disruption and sabotage of the New York subway system. Signs stating, “NYPD: Keep Your [expletive] Hands Off Black Kids, Cops out of schools and subways” and “Transit is a Right” were carried. Picketers, as they were called, wore masks, even though it is unlawful in New York to congregate masked in public spaces. The story continued that social media posts showed graffitied buses and subway walls, sabotaged fare collections devices like turnstiles, and other vandalism. Chants of, “whose train, our train”, and “this is a liberated train” were shouted.
This behavior is what anarchy looks like. It is domestic terror designed to incite fear and intimidation. Millions of people use the subway as their only means of transportation to get to jobs, school, and other vital activities. Shutting down the subway system would cause mass pandemonium in New York City, forcing pedestrians above ground to interact with dense vehicular traffic, creating a volatile mix.
ANTIFA is making demands of New York City to change its policies on the subway or else expect chaos. The definition of terror is the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims. Sounds familiar? Therefore, call it what it is so we can apply appropriate countermeasures. The FBI and Department of Justice prosecutors should be dispatched to assist with identifying these goons, and if federal statutes are violated, federal indictments should be obtained.
Recently Democrat Virginia Governor Ralph Blackface/KKK Northam declared a state of emergency activating the national guard in a “sky is falling” overreaction when supporters of the Second Amendment gathered for what was an actual peaceful protest at the state capital. No trouble, no vandalism, no threats made, no taking over of the capitol building occurred. In fact, reports said protestors cleaned up the area before they left. Yet, when ANTIFA gathers to riot, the same Democrat leaders look the other way. Shame on them.
Law-abiding residents deserve to be protected from lunatics like ANTIFA, like when walking to a Trump rally wearing a MAGA hat. When there is a conflict of rights in the public square, the government i.e., the police, should step in to officiate and keep the peace, not be ordered by superiors to stand down. That is an abdication of their duty to keep the peace, and if need be, all reasonable force should be used to protect life and property.
It is time to take the gloves off to stop and deter anarchy. Sticking our heads in the sand and running while criminals pervert and exploit the First Amendment is not an effective remedy to deal with this. If we do not confront it now, it will get worse, especially if President Trump is re-elected. The left may see no other means to get their way using our democratic process and will resort to more rioting. Appeasement and inaction will only encourage these thugs and hoodlums. Tolerating bad behavior breeds criminality. Our liberal political and police leaders who allow chaos and disorder are failing us. We deserve better.