Let’s Go For Overkill!
In a honest to goodness case of You Can Beat the Rap but You Can’t Beat the Ride,” 12 protestors at the Texas State Capitol during the Wendy Davis filibuster are facing criminal charges.
A dozen abortion rights supporters who were arrested last month at the Texas Capitol are facing new charges.
Twelve members of the group “Rise Up Texas” are now charged with disrupting a public meeting.
They were arrested on the day thousands flocked to the Texas Capitol for a final vote on the controversial abortion legislation.All 12 were initially released without charges, now they say they’re being targeted for retaliation.
The maximum punishment is a two thousand dollar fine and 180 days in jail.
Is that your best shot, David Dewhurst? Is that the best you got?
Hey Dewhurst, when they charge you with falsifying a governmental document, which the whole damn world saw you do, then this will not be viewed as a bag of feces. But until then, what a load of crap.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
OH, this is so transparent! Now it will be up to a judge as to whether or not this is frivolous! In the meantime, what can we do to help?
1Disrupting a public meeting? I seem to recall they arrested a little old lady for sitting too quietly. That’s disruptive but carrying a loaded firearm in a church isn’t?
I guess in RepublicanLand, the First Amendment has less importance than the Second.
At least you don’t have Art Robinson.
2Reminds me of the arrests of those minorities that decided to sit at Woolworth lunch counters.
3Everyone arrested should demand a jury trial.
4Sounds like bait and switch. Dewhurst is embarrassed that they can’t prove the bottled effluent ever happened, so now they have to distract everyone’s attention:
5“Oh look over here! 12 people were disruptive! See, we told you bad people did bad things, and we’re going to try to prove this one, so you’ll be more likely to remember that I might have been right about somthing.”
A jury of their PEERS? There’ll be lot of peers to pick from, considering the number of protesters, all of whom apparently believe in free speech. Good grief. Well, at least Texas doesn’t have anything else to spend money on, so they might as well go for frivolous prosecutions — you know, just to get rid of all that extra cash.
6So exercising your first amendment rights can get you 6 months in jail. We are right back where Civil Rights started in the 1960’s. Time to get the buses and marches going again.
7Think Greg Abbott will file a suit on their behalf since their rights were violated? Oh, that’s right, wannabe gov Greg only files suits to take away people’s rights.
8I’ve been thinking much the same thoughts. At first I thought it was terribly presumptuous to compare present-day struggles to those of the 60’s but then I saw all the ways the behaviors of those in power today mirrored those in power in the 60s: demonizing the opposition, escalating use of force, flagrant abuse of the law….
9Well at least we can vote. Yes, that’s being endangered and undermined but it’s still possible for most of us.
Thank you 60s activists.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/abortion-rights-protesters-head-to-court-to-face-n/nZhMd/
The comments after the article show how much attention nutters pay to the actual facts before they condemn the victims.
10So hey, JJ — when’s the hearing? How much room do you think they have at the courthouse? How ’bout the courtroom itself? Should we pack it? I mean all those folks who are proud to pack their guns everywhere they go, how about we pack our beliefs and ideals in the rightness of our cause and make sure we’re present on the day those poor folks are forced to do some kind of perp walk by these wall-eyed prosecutors?
11Bait and switch, agree…
12OK, so I just looked up my little “pocket” copy of the Constitution. I could quote the whole First Amendment here, but the definition of “peaceably” assembling to petition the government isn’t exactly defined. Maybe the Founding Fathers thought we would all have an ounce of sense. Maybe they were wrong. My money’s on Eric Holder. He has more than an ounce of sense.
13Is there a legal fund set up?
14I think what the article said was, the guys were sitting on the floor with their arms linked and wouldn’t get up when asked by the police. And another photo showed one on his tummy with blood coming off his face. They picked on THESE TWELVE when (I wasn’t there but…) thousands of women were screaming at the end? And the old lady was bending over to pick up her purse.
15Meanwhile, this diversion is keeping folks from reading and discussing the proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution about making sure we have enough water even if it’s not raining and the reservoirs they dig won’t have any water coming in and lots of small towns and farms will be adversely affected. Tell you what; half of you go to the courthouse and the other half will keep researching and making noise. Which courthouse will it be at, JJ? Or maybe we’ll all be there. Who knows.
We are definitely back in the “60’s”! The hatred oozes from the skin and mouths of republicans like tar sands oil from Canada through these faulty pipelines that keep breaking.
16Dewhurst, Abbott and their ilk are punitive people, judgemental and cruel. They don’t deserve to hold the offices they hold, but they were put there by people who are terrified of change and want to drive this country back to the Civil War, back to Jim Crow, back to racism, sexism, segregation, poll taxes, no voting rights for anyone except white males ( WASP males ). These people vote their fear and their hatred, and they are causing the rest of us untold trouble, pain, consternation, frustration, and outright anger. Why put up with them? There are enough of us to outvote them in every election. But we have to turn our anger and outrage into cold determination and march to the polls. Beat them at their own game. Serve as election judges and poll watchers. Help recruit strong candidates for every office. We can’t sit back and point fingers at them and laugh at their wrong ideas. We have to get in the game or they will win again and again and we can then watch our nation go down the drain.
What democrat or independent in Texas has any hope of representation from the likes of Ted Cruz or John Cornyn? Cruz is building a career out of rabble rousing among those who are the most bitter, the most afraid, the most likely to try to overthrow the government. He is fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry everywhere he goes. Is this how we want the future to unfold?
Yeah Ellen Childress! Now what event are you hosting wherever you live? Let’s see. Right now the Taylor County Democrats are tabling at the West Texas State Fair. The Travis County Democrats have a bunch of regular meetings going on every month (look up Travis County Democratic Party calendar). What other events are popping up around the state? And re: water, there is going to be a huge meeting in Bastrop at their big civic center or whatever it’s called on September 21 to talk about Texas and water. It costs $10 for the day. Do go! and take your candidate friends to shake hands with country folk.
17I was curious why there is not more interest in the person that falsified the document about the vote.
There seems to be a great disconnect with the republicans.
Here is an outstanding example of voter fraud of legislation type.
is this not as bad as individual voter fraud.
Where is True the Vote when ya need them?
18Ellen Childress: excellent roundup. I may have to steal a couple of points in a letter to the editor of our local rag. Does anyone know if the ACLU and/or Southern Poverty Law Center have expressed an interest yet?
19I am not from Texas so don’t know how your laws work, or are supposed to work. Shouldn’t the process be that you are observed breaking a specific law, arrested and charged?
Is it usual for people to be arrested, released without charge and then charged a couple of weeks later when the authorities have found a charge to suit?
20Democracy is disruptive.
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