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Arrest of anti-Obama protesters on St. Charles overpass sparks controversy
St. Louis Post Dispatch ^ | 8/19/13 | Mark Schlinkmann

Posted on 08/20/2013 2:28:37 PM PDT by grumpygresh

"Citizens have a right to peaceably assemble," said Messmer, who was part of a series of overpass demonstrations around the country seeking the president's impeachment. "We were simply doing that. There were no laws broken." Sgt. Al Nothum, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said the potential for a traffic hazard was why the two and 10 or so other protesters were told by officers to leave the Fairgrounds Road overpass about 2 p.m. The two were arrested, he said, for failing to obey. Nothum said the patrol wants charges filed but prosecutors have yet to decide. The patrol also wants Messmer to be charged with resisting arrest.

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: benghazi; benghazibarry; fastandfurious; impeachbenghazibarry; impeachment; impeachnow; irs; missouri; obama; overpasses; stcharles
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The soft tyranny is getting harder.
1 posted on 08/20/2013 2:28:37 PM PDT by grumpygresh
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To: grumpygresh

Jackboots thugs cars blocked traffic on the overpass while they arrested people on the sidewalk for being traffic hazards. lolz


2 posted on 08/20/2013 2:30:59 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: grumpygresh

Yep.


3 posted on 08/20/2013 2:32:06 PM PDT by Ronin (Dumb, dependent and Democrat is no way to go through life - Rep. L. Gohmert, Tex)
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To: grumpygresh

Fundamentally, I do not have a problem with the police trying to mitigate a traffic hazard. What bothers me is the double standard: if these folks had been protesting the Trayvon verdict, they’d have gotten a pass.


4 posted on 08/20/2013 2:34:07 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: grumpygresh

Only thing they messed-up was having the wrong President’s name on the sign. If it were ‘Bush’, they’d have had a police escort and protection while they hung up the banner.


5 posted on 08/20/2013 2:34:53 PM PDT by DJ Frisat ((optional, printed after my name on post))
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To: grumpygresh

I know I’m going to be in the minority here, but as much as I support the message and wish them success spreading it, I have some reservations about the technique. Although they may not have been blocking traffic on the overpass, they were likely impacting it on the freeway below. If the worst that could happen was a slowdown, no big deal, but the potential exists for a driver distracted by reading the banner or by the act of it being hung to trigger a pile-up in which someone could be hurt or killed.

We’re kind of conditioned to be able to ignore billboards while driving, but they’re generally placed to the side rather than directly in the driver’s line of sight.

I’m just saying that I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that this was political suppression, even though we know what the trend has been in Missouri. At least in this case, there is a legitimate argument that can be made for the cops’ actions.


6 posted on 08/20/2013 2:39:47 PM PDT by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: william clark

They never arrest leftist groups for the same thing


7 posted on 08/20/2013 2:41:49 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL

Well, I’d have to do some apples-to-apples research. I know that occasionally you read about some environmental wackos getting arrested to hanging a banner on something.

Still, presumably we conservatives want to be a little more thoughtful of our actions and their potential consequences, whether law enforcement becomes involved or not.


8 posted on 08/20/2013 2:45:12 PM PDT by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: grumpygresh

I just don’t think they need to go on an over pass and protest. If it were me, I’d go check in the line at unemployment, file for foodstamps, and get organized in a community, like gay, or skin color, or Muslim, and start chanting that my rights are being violated and then I’d have something to protest. More people need to join the Obama club.


9 posted on 08/20/2013 2:45:28 PM PDT by rovenstinez
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To: william clark

make that “arrested FOR...”


10 posted on 08/20/2013 2:45:43 PM PDT by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: william clark

“I’m just saying that I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that this was political suppression, even though we know what the trend has been in Missouri....”

My last name is the same as yours. Glad we are not related. What I got out of the video is that Nazism is alive and well in Missouri! If you can’t recognize it for what it was, I feel sorry for you.


11 posted on 08/20/2013 2:47:53 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: grumpygresh

You can’t challenge Dear Leader.


12 posted on 08/20/2013 2:48:13 PM PDT by SkyDancer (Awhite woman would be accused of racism if she gave birth to a white baby.)
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To: grumpygresh

Heading into the Wisconsin recall elections, a bunch of lefties would gather on a footbridge over I-43 in Milwaukee with a lighted sign, in favor of recalling Walker.

This is in direct violation of Wisconsin state statute 86.19, and I’d call the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s office each time I’d see them on the bridge with their sign.

http://statutes.laws.com/wisconsin/86/86.19

Oh yea, I’m an a**hole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0fUixs


13 posted on 08/20/2013 2:49:05 PM PDT by Monitor ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-front for the urge to rule it." - H. L. Mencken)
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To: william clark

If they hang a banner off private property like a building or break onto a military base they can be arrested


14 posted on 08/20/2013 3:05:42 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: grumpygresh

LEOtards.....


15 posted on 08/20/2013 3:08:06 PM PDT by clintonh8r (white Caucasian)
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To: grumpygresh

Just a matter of time ...

16 posted on 08/20/2013 3:09:19 PM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim (Palin was right (again)!)
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To: eCSMaster

FYI
as you may know, those Kent “protesters” were hurling baseballs with tacks sticking out of them at the troops, hitting many in the face, etc. Serious wounds.

Did some over-react by firing weapons? Perhaps. It could have been worse. The protestors were not protestors. They were rioters.


17 posted on 08/20/2013 3:16:37 PM PDT by campaignPete R-CT (we're the Beatniks now)
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To: GeronL
If they hang a banner off private property like a building or break onto a military base they can be arrested

They did neither, yet they were arrested anyway.

As far as being a distraction, tbey were easily ignored and probably only slowed traffic down by 1%.

What slows traffic down, EVERY TIME, and cause more WRECKS is when cops are somewhere with the flashing lights, their cars obstructing traffic, and everyone gawks at any police activity on the road. Every has to slow down and see if they can determine what happened, and if everyone is ok, or if there's a dead body.

And the cops show absolutely no desire to move their vehicles to keep from blocking two lanes or three, or doing anything else to help the traffic flow.

18 posted on 08/20/2013 3:17:59 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: grumpygresh; SpinnerWebb
arrested for failing to obey

so, their very words are law now. This is NOT going to end well.

19 posted on 08/20/2013 3:23:10 PM PDT by tx_eggman (Liberalism is only possible in that moment when a man chooses Barabas over Christ.)
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To: UCANSEE2

I totally agree with you


20 posted on 08/20/2013 3:23:45 PM PDT by GeronL
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