Aye, aye, aye…
Americans for Prosperity, which lost a couple of tents during the anti-Right to Work for Less rally in Michigan, is seeking “justice” for those tents, gosh darn it.
Coalition Holds Presser to “Demand Justice” for Endangerment and Assault of Its Members, Activists, Innocent Bystanders
LANSING, Mich.—Grassroots activists, innocent bystanders, and coalition groups will gather on the south Capitol lawn today, Thursday, Dec. 13th, at 2:30 p.m., to denounce the endangerment, assault, and trampling on of their first amendment rights by union protestors. The group is demanding “justice” for the episode, which occurred on Tuesday around noon, in which union protestors tore down a tent even as people under the tent struggled to get out from underneath it.“This goes beyond politics and even the issue of right-to-work,” said Scott Hagerstrom, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Michigan. “It wasn’t our tent; it was our first amendment rights that were trampled on by a mob of angry union protestors. We are calling on union leaders, Mayor Virg Bernero, and others to condemn this sort of violence and intimidation.”
Clint Tarver the Hot Dog Guy will attend, it appears. Apparently, it’s never too late to play newfound political interest into more publicity for your hot dog stand (which, by the way, is safe and sound and was never at the rally much less destroyed by “union thugs”.)
This is all very interesting because, as Marcy Wheeler points out, no charges were filed the day of the “endangerment, assault, and trampling”.
But aside from the obvious editing in the Crowder video–possibly hiding that the punch was not the first event in the altercation–I pointed out that Crowder didn’t report the event to any of the 350 cops who were brought in to make sure something like this didn’t happen.Unlike most of the people engaging in this, I’m a MI taxpayer. Which means I paid my share of the reported $25,000 an hour (which would add up to something like $300,000 for the day) to make sure we had 350 out of town cops on site to prevent violence.
And yet Crowder chose not to report his alleged assault to those 350 cops.
That’s the other reason–aside from the obvious heavy edits–why I don’t immediately accept Crowder’s story. Why, when taxpayers like me paid good money to make sure this event was heavily patrolled, would you go and edit a video (possibly–though I haven’t been able to confirm the time of the alleged attack–for up to 3 hours) rather than tell the cops?
Why would you let the crime scene grow cold?
Why wouldn’t you report the crime immediately to make sure you could prosecute the alleged assailant?
It’s not just Crowder. If AFP folks like Hagerstrom think a crime was committed, why the hell didn’t THEY go to the cops?
If they want justice for their tent, maybe they can get the Hot Dog Guy to share some of the $16,000+ that has been raised on his behalf to replace $500 worth of lost stuff.
Nah. That wouldn’t allow them to keep their false narrative in the news.
[Image credit: Facepalm CC image credit: Alex Proimos | Flickr]
