Protest groups—which have been encouraged to believe that grass roots en masse gatherings like this are perfectly acceptable—have begun anew. This time at the home of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
This from redstate.com.
And, no doubt, a voice at Politico now finds this manner of protest unacceptable. Michael Schaffer writes about how pro-Palestine groups from the left have been gathering and Mr. Schaffer is not happy to see this—at all.
This group has formed an encampment outside of Blinken’s property, and when cars leave or arrive they spring into action from their tents, waving placards, shouting chants, and dumping out blood-red fluids onto the road. It is unseemly to Schaffer that Blinken and his family have to endure this level of peaceful protesting. He almost sounds surprised.
Now, let us review from whence this behavior arose:
Recall the summer of 2022 when the Roe vs. Wade rollback was roiling the country. Ardent abortion supporters were congregating outside of the homes of certain Supreme Court justices, and as many were wondering how this was allowed, there were many in the press and on the communist/globalist side of the political aisle lending understanding if not outright support of this practice.
As some were asking why authorities were not doing something others were declaring these people were on public sidewalks exercising their right to peacefully assemble.Even going as far as the White House we saw words of muted concern for safety, as long as the protestors were peaceful.The undercurrent message behind this tepid addressing of the disruption of the private lives of these justices as well as their neighborhood was, ‘Well, they have it coming.’
Even when one individual was arrested after traveling cross-country with weapons to threaten Brett Kavanaugh, the reaction was notably constrained.
That incident was widely reported, but there was nothing much in the way of accompanying outrage.
Mostly, it was along the lines of:
We condemn this act, but as long as the others are peaceful there is not much to be done.
At Politico, they joined in with this type of shrug-filled coverage, lending a rather neutral at best level of approach to these episodes:
When marchers gathered with bullhorns and drums in the neighborhoods, they were conducting a ‘peaceful grassroots demonstration,‘ according to the outlet.
In another report around these protests in the hearings held concerning what was to be done, DOJ officials were quoted extensively leaning on First Amendment protections.
In still another article, Politico was certain to give quotes from then-White House press secretary Jenn Psaki, voicing how the administration was stepping back and allowing these protests surrounding the private residences.
Recall, Psaki said:
I know that there’s an outrage right now, I guess, about protests that have been peaceful to date—and we certainly continue to encourage that—outside of judges’ homes. And that’s the president’s position.
Contrarily, however, many voices of reason at that time were speaking out about how that type of behavior is unacceptable. To note was the dangerous precedent being set, as well as the danger of influence being placed upon the decisions being pondered by those on the court.
The response: “Well as long as they are peaceful…” merely served to encourage the mobs, which have a history of being anything nut ‘peaceful.’
To catch the situational irony of these acts, note:
– Schaffer called the ‘grass roots’ gathering at Blinken’s home the ‘ugliest protest trend’ as well as ‘a sign of something troubling in our political culture.’
– [But] this week we had those indolent climate protestors vandalizing the display of the founding documents, and security guards [forced to stand] beside them placidly, not taking any action.
And for the encouragement vs. discouragement, note:
– If you dump soup onto a priceless work of art, you will get to sit with Steve Inskeep on NPR and deliver your propaganda to the taxpayer audience.
– [But] camp outside the home of the Secretary of State [and] get [Michael] Schaffer intent on feigning outrage over these tasteless acts around the children of [Regime] officials.
Michael Schaffer’s message about the harassment of family members of government officials is a reasoned one. His presentation of such, however, is entirely contradictory. Schaffer’s hand-wringing about demonstrations at the Blinken home contradicts his praise of ‘grass roots’ ‘peaceful protests’ at the homes of conservative Supreme Court Justices.
If finding a way to stem these unseemly demonstrations and stop them from becoming an ugly trend is a goal of Michael Schaffer and his ilk, perhaps ceasing to lend the kind of media attention they desperately crave would be Step One.
