Dozens of police officers swarmed protestors from the activist group Code Pink outside a main entrance to the Republican National Convention Tuesday, because they were holding tennis balls.
In June, the City of Cleveland added tennis balls to its list of prohibited items inside a 3.3 square mile “event zone” surrounding the Quicken Loans Arena. Other prohibited items included tape, rope, bike locks, and any stepstool that could be used to address a crowd. But the prohibition did not apply to guns – meaning that convention attendees and onlookers are allowed to openly carry firearms, including assault weapons.
Cleveland police requested that Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspend open carry laws inside the “event zone,” but he denied the request.
Photo: Alex Emmons
Photo: Alex Emmons
The Code Pink protestors used hundreds of tennis balls to mock the permissive attitude toward guns and protest the Republican stance on the Second Amendment.
But dozens of police officers armed with guns and batons quickly swarmed the protest group, gathering the dangerous objects and throwing them in garbage bags.
Cleveland police told protestors the tennis balls were “a banned item,” and “they were just following orders.”
According to Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, an officer told her “tennis balls can be very dangerous, because you can open them up and put something inside of them.” The officer suggested that they could be filled with feces. Benjamin replied that assault weapons were more dangerous, but the officer reiterated that he was just following orders.
Dozens more police then showed up and formed lines, blocking off a path toward the convention hall to protect delegates from the protestors’ frightening tennis balls.
Protestors began chanting: “How many people die a year in tennis-related accidents?”
Forget the Tennis balls, they banned small step stool on the bases that someone could lead the protest from? Wow, talk about a scary proposition, GOP must be afraid, very afraid.
“they were just following orders.”
AKA “the Nuremburg Defence.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders
Confiscating tennis balls is a war crime now?
Wow, what a judicial system. It arrests and swarms upon little ladies that wear pink with tennis balls that will have next to no velocity if tossed at police with their militarized equipment, but the same system lets the banksters that have stolen in the trillions live in luxury while continuing their scams.
Let’s take up a collection to have some scat freaks throw their shit at the pigs. At least one of them deserves it for the comment about putting feces in a ball. “We don’ need no stiinkiing tennis balls”.
Oh, and by all means, let it occur to someone to tip a huge box of tennis balls on the ground of a plaza or an intersection.
At the very least, send in the clowns juggling tennis balls (and maybe while riding unicycles).
Best part is how obsessed the people who are riding walking shit-pile-making vehicles are worried about folks smuggling shit IN.
I mean, if you don’t mind picking up shit, there was plenty to go around.
I listened to coverage of this protest on Democracy Now. The unfortunate thing is that, judging from the request of the Cleveland Police Department, they agree that open carry is a bad idea at least for the RNC. The protesters had an opportunity to engage the Police in a conciliatory way and start a productive dialog. Instead they just created more controversy and reinforced the stereotype of the obnoxious liberal (counterpart to the obnoxious conservative). I’m sure most of the police officers recognize the idiocy of banning tennis balls but allowing open carry; but they do not make the rules and yelling at them like they do, just creates more division. Missed opportunity…
They should have carried guns — paintball guns loaded with nothing but pink.
The issue with tennis balls is a horse footing related issue. The officers on horseback and horses can be injured.
I can think, in a few minutes, of dozens of ordinary items that could conceivably be used to injure horses and/or their riders.
Should they all be banned where Americans exercise their constitutional rights to assembly and free speech?
Marbles yes, tennis balls not likely.
Tennis probably isn’t the greatest game to associate with idealist protest and justice anyway – after all it has its own courts and is a game where love means nothing.
Excellent, Maisie!
second time you’ve made me laugh today!
The cops and republicans are all lunatics. If the cops had any ability to think they would have ignored the tennis balls and ignored their order to enforce the ban on the tennis balls. That’s asking too much this day and time. The cops just follow orders. Somewhere in there tiny cranium is an order to murder blacks that must be obeyed and they do follow through with that. They murdered a child’s dog today at the child’s birthday serving a warrant on the wrong house. The cops as well as the republicans are out of control and must be brought to heel.
Terrorism by tennis ball? Look simple fact is almost any common object could be converted in some way or another into a “weapon”.
Did they ban water bottles? If not why not? Almost all water bottles or reusable water containers are bigger than a tennis ball and capable of carrying any number of dangerous liquids or compounds that exceed the yield of a tennis ball. And can be thrown just like a tennis ball. Hell a water bottle full of water and frozen is almost as good as a brick or rock if thrown.
And how in the fancy fuck is “tape” considered a dangerous item? Would that be scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, electrical tape, plumbing tape, sheet rock tape . . . ?
Are rubber bands and rubber tubing and plastic funnels banned as well? Because in about 10 seconds you could manufacture a rubber tube slingshot/catapult and launch frozen water bottles at the police from 75 yards or more. Or literally bags of feces. And yet they ban tennis balls of all things.
This country is literally run and “policed” by morons. You can walk around with a loaded assault rifle or semi-auto pistol (military grade) but you can’t show up at a protest with a tennis ball on you or masking tape? That’s fucking absurd.
Christmas tree ornaments? They make really excellent paint (or other content) bombs and they are the very best small Molotov cocktails — they always break upon impact.
Canes and crutches?
Hands (easily folded into fists)?
Closed shoes and boots (the better to kick with)?
Any cop with half a brain and a smidgen of self-respect would slink away from this nonsense in shame.
This would be hilarious if it weren’t so deadly serious! The only good thing to come out of this GOP convention was hours of TV comedy. The whole World is laughing at the US and its foolish way of mismanaging elections. You would think that after almost 250 years, America would have learned how to do it right, but you would be wrong!
Code Pink sends Republicans into conniption fits, here’s some video of their protest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssXpw0X_phU
Equally hilarious was Lindsey Graham’s response to being questioned by Medea Benjamin:
“I think people like you make the world incredibly dangerous,” he continued. “I think people like you are radical Islam’s best hope.”
Must have been the 2016 Code Pink Summit on Saudi Arabia that got him all riled up. . . or was it Code Pink’s criticism of Israeli human rights abuses? Probably both.
Graham was obviously projecting his own personality onto Medea Benjamin.
I wonder if they dyed the tennis balls pink, or if they can be purchased in pink. I’ve not seen a pink tennis ball before.
Where’s Glenn the tennis playing enthusiast? He should or would know the answer to that question!
I know the answer, from living next to tennis courts and being friends with Labrador and golden retrievers:
You can buy them.
The dogs don’t seem to care much about the color.
Does Code Pink go to demoncrat tennis matches?
As Trump has done absolutely nothing to get their ire,other than words,they should,and hopefully will be at the coronation of the neolicon murderess.
I notice the protesters have not made the MSM headlines?Is that from police presence or just media tactics,as they know those people hurt their chosen one.
BLM Representatives met with city officials from Atlanta recently and delivered a set of 25 requests/demands. This one really stood out.
Stop allowing the Atlanta Police Department to train with Israeli trainers.
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-meeting-blm-protesters-wa/nrzr8/
Hey, give those cops a break. They simply lacked the balls.
they’re is no one in the justice dept. or law enforcement who dares to arrest someone in congress, the senate, wall street, the nuclear industry,etc. yet those are the crooks who have done soo much damage. tennis balls and marijuana are such a threat to a crooked oligarchy posing as a democracy with traitorous crooks posing as honest elected representatives. i predict riots and worse.
Why bring tennis balls?
Love it: protesting w/ tennis balls. Good stuff.
Now this
As dumb as it may seem, Kasich has done the right thing; he understands and he is not a tyrant wrt to firearms. We should be applauding him as a politician for obeying the law; so many, perhaps all politicians at some point, or habitually, break the law.
Tennis balls should not be banned.
btw. Alex thanks for reporting on this. I hope ii duce arrives to make sense of apparently nonsensical gov regulation.
Police are Terrorists. Period.
Police are Tools. Period. Army of the Rich.
I mean, really, terrorists? Terrorism is violent action against the state, not being a tool of the state. Sure, some of them are racists and crooks, but not in any higher proportion than among the general citizenry. Your sleazy worthless cops basically fall into three categories:
Lazy bureaucrats, attention-hungry media clowns, and outright corrupt authoritarian thugs.
Even when the police do their job, they’re little more than janitors; they show up after acts of violence and try to clean up the mess. They take the bodies away and try to arrest the culprits. They record what’s been stolen (if the victim is upper-class, anyway). Janitors who follow orders, an unfortunate necessity in our violent society. Typically mistrusted or hated by the poor, and looked on as servants by the rich. I rather feel sorry for the honest cops, to be honest.
The narcotics police are the dirtiest of the lot, of course. That’s where the racists and crooks gravitate towards; they steal drug money and up their arrest record by targeting poor minorities while kissing the asses of rich people. For that group, all I feel is utter contempt.
Higher standards for law enforcement hiring, including pyschological screening to weed out the racists and criminals, is clearly needed, as well as end to the rotten corrupt Drug War.
all the blm people want is justice, which is when the guilty have no one to blame but themselves. the texas judge who ordered murder victims picture be posted in the murderer’s jail cell had an idea what justice is.
By that logic, only the leaders of groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS are terrorists, not the people who blow off bombs and otherwise kill civilians. Your logic is wrong. Each individual is responsible for their own actions. The only think you have to do once you’re born is to die, all else are choices. Some choices are much easier (to eat and drink, for example) and some are harder (disobey illegal orders, for example). But if you don’t like what your orders may be, you shouldn’t be a cop in the first place, and if you do like them, you’re an asshole. And I’m not talking about homicide cops, those are a tiny minority.
Alderman Carlos Rosa of the 35th Ward announces his support for the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) Ordinance that would place control of the Chicago Police Department under an elected board of civilians with the power to end police impunity…
http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/87520
Agreed. I’ve witnessed their terrorism first hand while living in the ghetto of west Oakland, California. I was so furious the first time I saw cops physically attack a Black person they thought was a street drug dealer that it’s a good thing I didn’t have a gun.
for haollies, nope.
The rich need their favored groups doing things for them. The rich need to protect their “workers”. The rich need to protect their wealth. Look at the bigger picture, follow the money, always follow the money.
in any case, people need police. They are not terrorists, at least in the U.S. they aren’t.
american police are scared of their own shadows, weak minded and heavily armed american police steal from the people with confiscation laws
no matter you worked all your life to save that money, they’ll take from you
america is a place to be avoided a dangerous, unfriendly, twisted reality kind of place
In this world there are many places to go that are much nicer
Police on the streets are just like soldiers on the ground. They do the job they are trained to do and ordered to do by their superiors.
Now do you blame our rank and file soldiers for the atrocities in the Middle East or the powers that put them there?
Universal Soldier by Buffy Saint Marie
He’s five feet two and he’s six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of thirty-one and he’s only seventeen
He’s been a soldier for a thousand years
He’s a catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist and a Baptist and Jew
And he knows he shouldn’t kill and he knows he always will
You’ll for me my friend and me for you
And he’s fighting for Canada, he’s fighting for France
He’s fighting for the usa
And he’s fighting for the Russians and he’s fighting for Japan
And he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way
And he’s fighting for democracy he’s fighting for the reds
He says it’s for the peace of all
He’s the one who must decide who’s to live and who’s to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall
But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He’s the one who gives his body as the weapon of the war
And without him all this killing can’t go on
He’s the universal soldier and he really is to blame
But his orders come from far away no more
They come from him and you and me and brothers can’t you see
This is not the way we put an end to war?
Wait until the war is over, and we’re both a little older. . .
Breakfast where the news is read
television children fed
unborn living, living dead
bullet strikes the helmet’s head
and it’s all over, for the unknown soldier. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZPIlO7jLmw
The old men and women send the children out to die in their wars so that they can line their pockets with loot, that’s how it really works. Those who survive. . . well guess who the police are hiring these days? Only to be killed by other unhinged military veterans. . .
Dig a grave for the unknown soldier. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWsGyNsw00
found this version for enhancement
hope @Deadheded gets your message.
As I hope most will recognize, the above is a listing of the Nuremberg Principles, codified by the United Nations International Law Commission, to establish the legal principles for the Nuremberg Tribunals.
Speaking of which, from Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice, Attorney General and Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunals:
It is rather significant that when the ICC and ICJ were set up, Crimes Against Peace was NOT put in their mandate.
tyvm. didnt know that. the things we aren’t taught but should be!
Yes, I do blame them, though to a lesser extent than those giving the orders and making high-level decisions. No one forced these people to join the military, they did so voluntarily.
Congratulations, we are now the collectively most stupid country in the world. If the average IQ is 100, that’s a lot of idiots. No wonder there are so many Republicans and NRA members.
That’s where you get the IQ from – the average is 100. If you are better than the average, your IQ is higher.
We’ve all heard about the nuclear football – bring on the nuclear tennis ball.
From banning tennis balls to allowing open carry. The entire world must be looking at the absurdity and wonder about this once great country.
So Guns are OK, but Tennis Balls are banned? What the hell is wrong with America? Is the RNC making America great again with these backasswards policies and ideas?
Good little Nazis, just following orders. And people wonder why some of us hate the police!
And our country’s slow fall into becoming Orwell’s Oceania continues…
Do the future a favor, and vote for Jill Stein or even Gary Johnson while we are still able to, so someone will have noted that at least some people resisted the fall into totalitarianism.
Perhaps the police were concerned about racqueteering.
Tres droll! Merci.
racqueteering…!?
roflol
perhaps the judicial fears about being aced in the court?
No Shit!
“The officer suggested that they could be filled with feces.”
I wonder if the officer has ever tried to shit in a tennis ball? Not so easy, is it?
Well, not easy for you, but you aren’t a “dangerous anarchist,” now are you?
Cleveland’s Finest know about this stuff: they study it, in between shooting little kids with pellet pistols and chasing and killing scary, unarmed people like Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
And it’s not easy to find the free time; the Russell-Williams car chase and extrajudicial execution, alone, required the services of more than 100 officers in 60 cars. With public protection duties like that, it’s tough to squeeze in classes like Tennis Ball IFDs (“improvised fecal devices”) 101. But they do it, those brave women and men.
depends on where you store tennis balls.
fecal boink bombs
You don’t have to make it up:
. . . sie folgten nur Aufträge.
Seriously, America is finished, done. Put a fork in it. When law enforcement resources pursue tennis balls over assault rifles, it is beyond bizarre. We truly are on a path to ruin.
Don’t get pulled over on your way back from the tennis court!
And if you do, and he asks you if you have any weapons on you or in the car, don’t lie.
Tennis balls scare the crap out of me. Say for instance you were a line judge in a Williams pro tennis game and you got hit on a serve. It can hurt. And suppose instead an amateur actually threw a tennis ball at you, taking aim and throwing as hard a possible, it can hurt. And just imagine a hundred or more people throwing all the tennis balls at once at you – for pete’s sake, you can be hit more than once. Not only that, but you can be hit on rebounds and possibly more than once from the same ball!
So the big question is, how come tennis balls were never included in the non-proliferation treaty? And what if the police got pelted with tennis balls and then… threw them back!?
See what’s going on here? Perhaps the biggest kept military secret on the planet. Those so-called nukes, ICBM’s, when they explode, plutonium my arse, it rains tennis balls.
Hilarious; good post.