Free Speech

I went – very, very briefly – to the rally at the Planned Parenthood in Saint Paul over the lunch hour yesterday.   It was hot and clammy – so humid the air seemed to congeal into little clumps of atmospheric sweat.

I didn’t even try to count the crowd; it was in the hundreds:

More below the jump.

The crowd was jammed onto a one-lane “free speech zone” (my term) on one lane of Charles Avenue.

The cops were very diligent about shooing people off the grass and out of the shade, loudly threatening to cite anyone who tried to get out of the sun. They exhibited a concern for what they called “private property” that I don’t recall during, say, the RNC in 2008.  In the one-party city that is Saint Paul, Planned Parenthood may be the only private property that the government actually does respect.  

Of course, the cops kept the different factions – such as they were – apart.   Planned Parenthood had its own little demonstration out front:

“Mr. Orwell? You have a call on Line 4”

The crowd was very mixed.  There were all sorts of people from the burbs and out of town – but also more African-Americans and Latinos than I’ve seen at every Planned Parenthood or MPR event, ever, combined:

Speakers spoke through a plucky little portable PA. Somehow they got their message across. I didn’t catch this guy’s name, but he’s one of the MN Family Council guys who found the 13 “fetuses” dumped behind an abortion mill in Robbinsdale about a decade back. His testimony was pretty intense.

I had to get back to work, so I didn’t hang out long.

The left’s usual tactic in these sorts of things is to claim the crowd was belligerent and threatening.  They weren’t, of course – they were motivated and alert, but they stayed, literally, in the lines, and the only real noise besides the speakers was a group that stood and prayed, pretty much, whenever nothing else was going on.

Which is, I suppose, a trigger warning for some.  Whatever.

The speakers at the event noted that there should be more videos coming out soon – so I’m sure we’ll be back.

   T

If the people who released the “sting” videos wanted to use them to create more pro-life activists, I think it’s worked.  I can name one guy who just got a lot less accomodationist.

10 thoughts on “Free Speech

  1. “Mr. Orwell? You have a call on Line 4″

    Come on, Mitch, you know full well Dr. Mengele provided “Health Care” in exactly the same manner as Planned Parenthood.

    He just did it post-natal.

  2. I’m proud of you Mitch. I would have been there too.

    I noticed, like mom, that the Strib has several in-depth stories about that lion killing dentist, but not a single word about this protest.

    Not that I’m a fan of trophy hunting, but the Pavlovian response to a dead lion set next to the utter silence for millions of butchered babies makes me ill.

  3. BTW. It would have been cool to get someone down there from the Patriot to record interviews.

  4. Oh jeeze, how could I have missed it. The most glaring and important item!

    Planned Parenthood only managed to rally 6 supporters? In St. Paul Minnesota? After weeks of the Mothership (pun intended) pleading with the tribe for help? After Fauxcahontas Warren threw her support in? After Governor Jim Beam stuck his neck out?

    And where was Governor Flint-Smith???

    It looks like for some Democrats, there really might be a line they wont cross…or join.

  5. Planned Parenthood only managed to rally 6 supporters?

    They looked like employees.

  6. “They looked like employees.”

    “Chrystal, stop sorting heads and come hold this sign”

  7. Think Mpls Mayor Betsy Hodges will discuss PP with Pope Francis this September?

  8. Pingback: Alinski For We, But Not For Thee | Shot in the Dark

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