The right to abortion has triggered protests nationwide. Mostly peaceful pro-abortion protesters are now raging with Friday's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. At the Arizona Senate building, a mob of angry protesters pounded forcefully on glass doors resulting in the evacuation of the Senate floor to a "more secure room so they could continue business and sine die last night," according to House Rep. Mark Finchem (R-AZ) who spoke with UncoverDC on Saturday. It makes one yearn for the more dangerous days when those pesky "domestic terrorists" attended school board meetings to argue against CRT and mandated masks. But I digress.
A press release from Kim Quintero, the Director of Communications for the Arizona Republican Caucus, called it an "insurrection." Former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes disagreed. However, he had better brush up on the Constitution before he seals the deal to become the new Secretary of State because he was heard outside the state Capitol with the protesters saying, "The United States Supreme Court has removed a fundamental right from Americans." No, Adrian.
Anyway, law enforcement called for backup, dispersing the crowd with tear gas before the protesters made entry. However, the ventilation system dispersed teargas throughout the building, making it difficult for Senators to return. Hence, the Senators were "moved to another room in the building."
Protesters were triggered by the AZ Senate, which announced it is now able to "enforce a law already on the books." The criminal statute, ARS 13-3603, allows enforcement of "pre-Roe law." Another law, SB-1164, will become effective 90 days after sine die of the legislature. The law "bans all abortion after 15 weeks gestation" except in the case of a medical emergency that would threaten the life of a mother.
In New York, a police officer estimated there were 17,000 people marching in the streets toward Washington Square at around 9 p.m. Friday, resulting in the arrests of at least 25. Aerial photos show the Square "brimming" with protesters. Many protesters stated they were caught off-guard because they didn't believe the Court would rule the way it did.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, protesters ran alongside and/or tried to stop a pickup truck as it moved through the crowd. Protesters were allegedly chanting "disparaging things about Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds." And some reported the truck rammed through the crowd. However, a look at multiple videos on Twitter may more accurately show a driver trying to make his way through the crowd. One protester complained the truck ran over her toe. She "got mad and tried to stop the truck." It may have been more a case of "You play stupid games; you win stupid prizes." One Twitter user observed, stating, "They misspelled rioters who fought an oncoming truck." You be the judge.
Meanwhile, in D.C., AOC is "explaining things slowly," and Rep. Lauren Boebert is wondering why 20 pallets of bricks are stacked "one block from the House buildings." Video footage also shows the mobilization of fully armored law enforcement heading toward the Supreme Court on Friday. The National Press Club has also boarded up its building in anticipation of violence.
The DHS is gearing up too. A June 24 DHS memo obtained by CNN warns that Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs) "will likely exploit the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to intensify violence against a wide range of targets." The memo names Jane's Revenge "a network of loosely affiliated suspected violent extremists" who unleashed their fury at various pro-life resource centers and, in one case, a campaign office. The group threatened a "night of rage" beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday. They are real planners. The DHS warns that clinics and churches had better gird their loins and stock up on sandbags in the coming weeks.
Jane's Revenge/ProLife Pregnancy Center Buffalo/Fox News
Jane's Revenge/ProLife Pregnancy Center Buffalo/Fox News
The DHS memo also states that religious institutions have been threatened with "bombs" and "burn[ing]," citing at least 11 incidents thus far over the past months. The DHS and Merrick Garland's DOJ have been prioritizing DVES attending school board meetings and white militia J-sixers over the past couple of years, so this may be a welcome change of pace for the agency. Nevertheless, going forward, Garland says he plans to "encourage Congress to codify Americans' reproductive rights." In plain language, he's got abortion workarounds up his sleeve, and he'll use the full weight of his position to "protect and preserve access to reproductive care." Predictably, the financial burden of abortion will be eased too if New York State AG Letitia James has anything to do with it. She told the hosts at MSNBC on Saturday that she has already "established a fund in the state of New York to pay for individuals traveling to the state for abortions, for lodging and daycare."
Garland has back up too. Rumblings coming from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin lll indicate his policies may not be in line with the ruling. Austin is also "examining this decision closely to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care as permitted by federal law." Maybe he was prompted by the letter Austin received in May from Senator Gillibrand & Co. She threatened him with "recruitment and retention" issues if he, as "the leader of our military services," doesn't "preserve the health and welfare of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardians." That's "airpeople," Senator Gillibrand. Get with the program.
With the egregious and unprecedented leak of Alito's Draft Decision on May 2, several Supreme Court Justices spent the weeks before the final opinion worried sick about protecting their families and not without reason. In early June, Justice Kavanaugh was threatened with his life by a man with a gun and a knife. The police later detained the suspect. It is unlawful activity, by the way. People should have been arrested for intimidating Supreme Court Justices at their homes during the period of an official decision or proceeding. It only took the powers that be in D.C. 45 days to take the threats seriously. Hey, better late than never with that high-stakes game you're playing in D.C.
One more remarkable but not surprising reaction has been the hyperbole surrounding the Court's opinion. Shockingly, said Jude Green on Twitter, "167 million women" now have "NO Constitutional rights," all while "Psycho Trump Celebrates." Even our appointed President now believes the Court "didn't limit it (abortion). It simply took it away. The Court has done what has never done before, expressly take away a constitutional right." Perhaps dementia has set in because earlier in his career, Biden lobbied against abortions. In 1974, he stated, Roe "went too far." And in 1982, he voted to overturn it. Those distant memories aside, Biden and Green need to fix their peepers because the opinion says nothing of the sort. The decision merely sent the debate about the right to abortion back to the States, near the people, where it belongs. Twisting the language of the Court will do a lot to gin up the rage, though. The Left is good at that.
