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South Boston pols want the T to help keep Nazis away from this year's St. Patrick's parade
By adamg on Sun, 03/05/2023 - 1:34pm
WCVB reports US Rep. Steve Lynch, state Sen. Nick Collins, state Rep. David Biele and City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty have asked Transit Police to figure out how to prevent a repeat of last year's "Keep Boston Irish" display by area Nazis, on the assumption none of them live in Southie and took the T there.
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Comments
The T has a plan
The Nazis rode the orange line from Oak Grove and switched to the red line at Downtown Crossing riding to their final destination Andrew station. On Saint Patrick day do to delays on the red and orange line the Nazis will not arrive in South Boston until the parade is already over.
Should've kept this quiet
Now they'll just drive in and park where they can walk to it (you know that they are all suburb/exurb pussies anyway).
Or they won't "look like Nazis"
I mean, is there some way that police can pick Nazis out of a crowd (such as on a train or bus) if they aren't wearing or doing or carrying anything unusual, and don't have outstanding arrest warrants?
the easiest way for on-duty
the easiest way for on-duty cops to pick neo-Nazis out of a crowd is to find the guys that look like off-duty cops.
Ba Dum Tsss...
Your schtick is older than Henny Youngman.
Got any "visit" elected officials jokes that go against your line of thinking in there Mr. Vaudeville?
The real joke
is that it's been over a century and the cops still haven't figured out how to keep wannabe fascists out of their ranks (not that they're trying very hard).
Easy
They will all be wearing masks!! Because NOW they want to wear masks!! I guess they realize what they are doing isn't super nice and popular
I disagree. The city should
I disagree. The city should be telling the press that Boston won't be intimidated by these right-wing assholes and will be prepared this year. Anytime the community knows about twenty of these punks showing up, they cowardly run away or often don't show up at all. It'll remind all of us to be on the lookout and report them, if sighted.
That's fine
More likely to get their license plates and then their names that way.
On a side note I generally
On a side note I generally roll my eyes at "Bostonians" pretending like cultural Boston stops at the Boston city limits. Many of these people are also people that moved in thirty seconds ago. Boston as it were goes out to 495 unless you are literally talking about straight up governance.
That being said, you make it sound like it is easy to simply park and walk in. Have you tried parking in that area on Saint Patricks Day? You need to get in very early.
This message they are sending is the equivalent of putting up a sign warning you a cop is up ahead. They don't want to arrest these people. They don't want an encounter or to give out tickets. This whole thing is a way of projecting out there that this is not a smart place to try to pull that stunt again. The same way that sign is hoping by warning you , that you will slow down before the cop has to give you the ticket.
I suspect they will not show up because now that everyone is expecting them they will be exposed if they attempt to do something. I would start looking at other cultural events or parades. The Dot Day parade comes to mind as a place where they could set up shop in one of the areas where there are not big crowds and they could easily drive into and get back out. It is almost like dealing with terrorists. They rarely strike in the same place twice , you have to think about what other gaps are open.
Dot Day?
already happened, in a sense... last year some anti-vaxxers came right into the street / parade route (where they had no permit) and were pretty aggressive. Politically were they neo-Nazis? Of course not. But similar threat level in terms of potential physical harm to the electeds and others in the parade.
Stations where the Commuter
Stations where the Commuter Rail drops them off is a start .
Something must be missing
How can they legally be stopped from using the T (assuming the Red line is running)?
Agreed, aside from lynch mob
Agreed, aside from lynch mob tactics, how is anyone supposed to stop these folks from attending the parade? What law were they breaking last year?
What is the plan?
Obviously, Nazi scum fuck off! But also, what is the plan (and legality of the plan) to keep people off public transportation because... they look like they might hold objectively wrong opinions?
Looks like some politicians
Looks like some politicians need an education in the constitution they allegedly swore to uphold. Or the state and the T will have an expensive lawsuit on their hands.
We need angels
The solution to the hate mongering of the church of the hating Jesus, Westboro Baptist, was to surround the folks with "angels." A soft and very Jesus like I think barrier hiding their signs from the sights of others. Everyone knew they were present. But the Westboro cultists could not get the rise they wanted since they were effectively invisible to everyone else.
i recall seeing a story where
i recall seeing a story where the westboro bapist church were planning to protest a military funeral, and all the local bike gangs grouped together to block off access to the cemetery for anyone not invited. even groups which normal fight one another on site, agreed to help out.
i realize that is an extreme example, but it did restore a little faith in humanity. as someone who has had exposure to outlaw bike groups, i know that was a really big thing for them to do.
Obviously these reps haven't
Obviously these reps haven't taken the T in a long time. Based on my most recent red line weekend rides, the best way to keep nazis out of the parade may be to encourage them to take the T. They are almost guaranteed to arrive too late to the party.
Blame the organizers not the T.
The organizers opened the doors to Nazis when they attempted to ban OutVet from marching in the parade back in 2017. Granted that ban was reversed but just think about the message their previous action sent.
No No No
This goes back to the mid-90's when a precursor of Out Vets tried to march.
The Supreme Court sided with the parade organizers.
In response a group of Cambridge Irish bars including the owners of The Druid, The Field, The Cellar, The Plough and Stars, and the Phoenix Landing got together and held an inclusive parade with a strong St. Patrick's Day theme. It was a mix of regular St. Patrick's Day stuff along with elements from Macnas, the Galway organization that puts on a Celtic themed parade at Halloween every year.
I lived in South Boston at the time and went to Cambridge parade. F those dads of the School Bus rock throwers who were trying to regulate who walks down the street.
These Nazis think Jump Around is the word of God. Just remember, when they "marched" last year, they walked down one sidewalk on A Street as far as Doughboy and then back up A Street. They filmed it to make it look like they were some early Weimar Republic opposition group but what they really did was march where they wouldn't get beat up because no one was there to tell them to Fuck Off.
What about....
the ones that live there or are in walking distance???
Bad idea
This eerily mirrors the effort to keep LGB marchers out of the St Patrick's Day Parade a generation ago.
Obviously respecting the Freedom of Assembly is more important than blocking obnoxious groups away from a parade, no matter what their message.
It really doesn't
It really doesn't, not even a little bit.
Tell that to your grandpa who fought the bastards.
All "freedoms" have limits, and the reason why often has a lot to do with their message, which, when we're talking about Nazis, may be that certain people are subhuman and should be eradicated.
Well, SCOTUS and the ACLU
Well, SCOTUS and the ACLU disagree with you. Ever hear of 1977's National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie case?
Try again
They disagree with me that there are limits on freedoms? Do tell. The case you cite is not an example.
From drag to Nazis
Tennessee leads the way in state governments' defining drag shows as adult entertainment, aka, overtly sexual entertainment. Which would include topless dancers (chuckling about a previous discussion on UHub), exotic dancers (I remain fascinated by this euphemism), go-go dancers (so 60s) and strippers. The next step is to legislate that any sexually provocative entertainment should be shut down arguing the there is no redeeming social value. Despite wearing tasteful black gowns I can see the Roberts court canceling the redeeming social value definition of what is not pornographic. Ultimate result being to ban drag performances and - really important here I think - legislating drag as sexually provocative, pornographic and therefore giving police carte blanche to arrest any man on woman's clothing and any woman in man's clothing.
This is not a new idea. Laws regulating clothing according to gender are as American as apple pie.
Where can this go? To harassing any person who wears clothing that not gender appropriate according to government policies. Any person who is trans and wears clothing that the state considers inappropriate to how the state defines the person's gender could be arrested just for wearing clothing.
What has this to do with the MBTA figuring out who is a Nazi and stopping them from using the T? Government defining acceptable belief and using government resources to impose those definitions.
But since comedy is one of the best methods of opposing hate it occurs to me that images from the big number of Springtime for Hitler paraded in front of these folks could be fun. Assuming there was not objection to the mixing of ethnic symbols, there could be leprechaun lassies wearing giant pretzels or haberdasheries of wieners and rolls. Or offer the boys (and girls?) swastikas schnitzel flavored strudel for the enjoyment of their schnozes. And a pint of green beer in a Bavarian tankard.
Nazis want to cause fear. They hate it when they generate laughter.
I am not against this but is
I am not against this but is it possible you are giving these bozos a little too much credit in assuming they would piece together the layers and meaning of the display you describe at the end? The think the Producers is a wonderful movie bitter satire used against fascist dolts. Yet , dolts they are. It would most likely land more if you organized a group that took a cue from the infamous "Yankees Suck" chant and come up with a creative but simple chant to direct at these little goose steppers.
Is it really?
Is it really? Citation very much needed.
This reminds me of the people who always say, when hate comes rolling into town, that the appropriate response is to cede the public space to hate groups and go do something "positive" somewhere else. This kind of take is most comfortable to those who aren't targeted, and we all know what comes of letting these people drive the bus.
Keep Boston Irish hardly
Keep Boston Irish hardly sounds like a Nazi slogan. Real Nazis hated the Irish and only tried to deal with them to disrupt Great Britain. Heck I'm a Black man and in the 1960s I identified erroneously as Irish Catholic because all the Priests and Nuns in Roxbury were Irish. My Protestant Auntie had to point out the error of my ways.
Now were they to show up in Silver shirts or Brown shirts with swastikas proudly displayed I be all for keeping them out of Southie. Heck I'd help kick their asses if they showed up in Dorchester/Mattapan dressed like that.
"Real"
This is so reminiscent of all the disclaimers we're seeing nowadays about how right-wing Christian nationalist hatemongers aren't "real" Christians. What an amazing get-outta-jail-free card that is, and how utterly lacking in truth.
Oh, well, if their goal was to disrupt Great Britain then that's fine.
@ibb
When I say "Real" Nazis I mean members of The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party which was Founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party, They became Nazis in 1921 when Adolf Hitler became the leader of the German Workers Party and renamed it The National Socialist German Workers’ Party. "Real" Nazis were defeated in 1945 and outlawed in Germany.
The people where dealing with now I refer to as Neo-Nazis. They come from to many different organizations and countries to name here but they share similar goals to the "Real" Nazis. I theorize that neither party gives a rats' ass about Ireland or Southie (South Boston) for that matter.
Ultimately Joan of Arc...
...was burned at the stake because she started wearing men's clothing again after her English prison guards tried to rape her while she was dressed in proper womanly fashion.
Neo-Nazis are cropping up all over the United States.
Having said the above, and from what I've been reading/hearing about the Neo-Nazis, I believe that the South Boston pols are doing the right thing by deciding to keep these neo-Nazis from coming and disrupting the St. Patrick's Day Parade.