A reader writes with a report from the Mall in DC yesterday:
My wife and I were in DC from Minneapolis [yesterday], and we thought we would see what this shutdown is all about. At the Lincoln Memorial I talked a couple from California into walking past the ridiculous barriers where the signs state that the monument is closed aside from “First Amendment activities.”
As I approached the top of the steps, one of the three (!) guards told me to leave. I mentioned the First Amendment exception, and that freedom of assembly seems to be part of that. He advised me that the area to assemble is only down below the monument, not at the monument itself. Somehow I missed that exception to that particular amendment. So I proceeded to read the First Amendment, loudly, for the audience below.
At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial two park ranger goons stood at the entrance to the wall, near the requisite barricades. The intention clearly was to intimidate people from entering the memorial area. Fortunately, many people simply ignored Barry’s Brownshirts and walked down to the wall. My wife Thuy, who was born in Vietnam, accompanied me (photo above left).
These people in DC are dangerous, and we the people need to stand up to these attempts to intimidate and abuse us.
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