September 21st, 2015
This story is amazing: There’s a big candle-light vigil scheduled to be held in Lafayette Park over the weekend for a group of kids with cancer and their families. And the Park Service and Secret Service decide to shut the park down and clear everyone out.
And not just for a few minutes. For hours.
So who’s to blame for this insanity? The Park Service and the Secret Service can usually be counted on to over-react and treat citizens as badly as they want to. In general, both organizations tend to view the public as a nuisance, if not an outright menace. (See here and here, just for starters.)
But then you get to this part of the story:
The candlelight vigil came about partly because of the group’s inability to persuade the White House to light up the mansion in gold as a symbol of support for the cause, as it has done for other causes, organizers said. So they decided to hold a candlelight vigil of their own. Last year was the first.
The group had a permit to stage an event from 7 to 9 p.m., Stoddard said. They had already set up a stage for speakers and an acoustic musical performance, and welcoming music had started to play, when authorities ejected them.
Kids with cancer < Gay marriage. Message received, loud and clear. Fair’s fair, I guess. It’s not like kids with cancer are a big Democratic constituency.
Funeralguy September 22, 2015 at 1:40 am
In a sane, competent and (let’s be honest) Republican administration, heads would be seriously rolling over this. Obama just puts his nose in the air and heads out for golf.