Aaron Rhodes
Editor-in-chief
arhodes2@jccc.edu
A group of over 50 anti-Trump protesters gathered at the intersection of College Boulevard and Quivira Road on Tuesday afternoon. Many held signs with statements opposing President Trump’s plans for a border wall between the US and Mexico, as well as Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
The protesters hoped to attend a meeting of Senator Pat Roberts’ staff in his office on the second floor of the Central Bank of the Midwest building, but only 12 were allowed in.
Bec Peck attended the meeting and addressed attendees on the importance of the First Amendment. Peck noted that she is concerned about gag orders that have been placed on federal workers to keep them from speaking to the media.
“Each person spoke about a particular issue that was important to them,” Peck said. “I specifically talked about the First Amendment and about how so many of these issues that the new administration is doing is infringing on all of our First Amendment rights.”
Peck said that educators, military family members, an immigrant, an NAACP member and a Holocaust family member also spoke about their concerns at the meeting.
Val Baul is an active member of activist group MoveOn, the Johnson County Democrats and Democratic Women. Baul is participating in their “Resist Trump Tuesday” events that oppose the new president’s agenda and administration.
“Unfortunately we have so many people that we couldn’t all fit in that office and then the Overland Park Police Department came to tell us that we weren’t allowed to protest in the building or be in the building because it’s private property,” Baul said. “So, it’s a little interesting that our senator is in a private building and we can’t go get our voices heard. We came to the corner, it’s public access here. The government can’t stop our rights to freedom of assembly, but businesses can.”
Several protesters have been attending protests at the offices of other members of congress. Tim Kerfoot said that stops were made at the offices of Congressman Kevin Yoder and Senator Jerry Moran.
“They have supported an extreme agenda,” Kerfoot said. “We are here to say, ‘We’re your constituents and you need to change your act.’”
Okay Drake (if that’s your real name), Trump has been in office for about three weeks. When did these coal companies dump waste into “drinking water”. Rivers are actually more convenient but you know how evil those coal companies are. They take their waste to the water plant to do their dumping. So when did Trump okay this? Anything like the Animas river that was wasted by the EPA with milions of gallons of toxic sludge. Remember the orange river back in 2015? I can’t recall what Trump was doing that day, do you?
I don’t recall any executive orders by Trump loosened any regulations on Wall Street. Wasn’t it Hillary that took millions from Wall Street and said she was going to oppose them.
Toddler shootings? Boy, I’d like to see those statistics. Exactly how many people were killed by toddlers last year? I’m going to have to call you on that one Drake. I think you’re lying or very mistaken to the point of being foolish. As for the false claim by a judge who was corrected by the associated press of all people. People from Somalia have committed terrorist acts in the US. Also, ABC lists eight different attacks from the countries in question. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/attacks-white-house-terror-list-involve-restricted-countries/story?id=45326216
Funny, how people dismiss a list that easily available online.
I don’t think you know how O’Keefe is considering your comment. James O’Keefe does not do protests. He infiltrates the left and reveals their lies and criminality.
One more thing, I find it very illuminating that Van Baul said that they were here to “yell” at the senator. Not a discussion, not questions looking for answers, no, they wanted to yell only. The political extremists were on the street and not in the building.
I’m curious on how President Trump has infringed on any first amendment rights. I haven’t seen that. Mr. Peck can say it but that doesn’t make it true.
Van Baul….the name of the group says it all. They are going to oppose anything that Trump tries to do which includes protecting the lives of Americans, easing regulations so jobs can be created, and reigning in government abuse of power. Why would anyone be against any of these things….right, because they’re democrats. Yes, private business has a right to decide how many people can fit into a building and what is appropriate conduct. The Bill of Rights applied ONLY to the government. Something that should have been learned in high school.
KerFoot, come on, it’s been eleven days. What extreme agenda are you referring to? National security? Jobs? Limited government? When did these become “extreme agenda”?
To everyone, control of the border is the responsibility of the federal government which means the POTUS. He has done nothing unconstitutional and what he did was done previously by Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Franklin Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. The list of seven countries was compiled during the Obama administration.
By the way, I was here for the 2009 Tea Party protest. A couple of hundred of us showed up at JCCC instead of being at the Liberty Memorial. Nobody had to pay us and no community organizers were in attendance.
Yes, because allowing coal companies to dump their waste into drinking water is so beneficial to job making.
While loosening the regulations on Wall Street. You know, the people he said he was going to oppose?
Fact, you are more likely to be shot by a toddler than be killed by any type of terrorist. The “protection” you say you want is from cutting off travel to countries that have never had a citizen engage in terrorist activity on US soil, while allowing countries that have to still come, only because of business ties.
Let’s not forget that Trump insulted America on national television to defend Putin, and plans to do nothing about their aggression in Ukraine.
Funny, how people mindlessly bring up a list they can never prove exists.
Also, the only people paying protesters is O’Keefe.