Cruz/Trump Rally in Houston 10/22/2018

LOL- so I went to the Cruz/Trump Rally in Houston, Texas today (10/22/2018), with my "Baby Trump" balloon.

First, the ballon was a gift. It's the best "Baby Trump" ballon I've seen around with its "I love Putin" tattoo, a cellphone tucked into his (Trump's) diaper, and a hammer and sickle diaper pin!

I discovered that not all stores will fill a balloon that you did not buy from them, but I found a store that would. The manager there started to laugh as he inflated it and we had a nice chat about where he can vote this week because he has to work on voting day. He did not know that his employer was required to let him off work on November 6th to vote but I encouraged him to vote early and explained the reasons why early voting would benefit him.

But then I had to carry the inflated balloon on the train. I tried to hide it in a 13 gallon garbage bag at first but it was too big for that, so I just carried it.

There were MAGATs on the train and they tried to 'triangulate' me into conversation but I just stuck some earphones in my ears and ignored them.

Walking the few blocks to the event got me some honks and shouts. I'm not sure if they were supporters or opposition and so continued my 'earphones in I can't hear you/ignore' plan which works very well (thanks, Rach, for that hot tip!).

There were A LOT of MAGAT folks coming to the Cruz/Trump rally.

The news says 100,000 tickets were issued. The stadium holds 18,000.

So either there were a lot of fakers asking for tickets or else there will be a lot of really disappointed Cruz/Trump people who won't be able to get int, but there were still a lot of "red hats" there.

I mostly just walked around.
Folks closer to the rally were better behaved than those I encountered on the way to the rally.

And there were A LOT of cops.

I met a few protestors. One guy, Josh, had a rainbow "pussy hat" and his mom had a pink one. They had a small handful of folks in their group. We would meet up, split up, meet up again to update each other on anything of interest we had found out.

I was interviewed by KHOU Channel 11, The Texas Tribune, Houstonia Magazine, and a couple of others.

The LaRouchies were there, too.

The official protest area was defined but I still was able to walk around the larger area when I wanted. There official protest area was a large, rectangular area with barriers separating opposing groups but open on one end. Media was allowed into the open end and into the "no man's zone" between the groups so they could interview folks from each side easily.

After walking around a bit with my own "Baby Trump" ballon and a sign that read "Grab Him by The Assets",  I returned to this protest area.

There, I saw Josh being interviewed by none other that Alex Jones!

Jones was 'improperly' hanging out at the open end of the "no man's zone" between the two defined protest areas where media would normally be allowed to enter and leave.  

Jones had a good sized entourage with him including folks from Infowars (Is that his group or a group he works for?) and some agressive hangers-on who seemed to be trying to bait people. T

The Jones/Josh conversation got a bit heated (I waved my signs/balloon behind Josh as I passed by and as he was being interviewed at that time). That segment ended with Jones asking Josh if he believed in the First Amendment. Josh said 'yes' and walked away, then Jones turned to his camera and said "See, liberals don't believe in the First Amendment!"

Josh turned around to argue about Jones' lying about what he had just said and the cops started moving in as things hot heated, so I wandered off.

When I came by later, Jones was still at the media entrance and grabbed me for an interview.

He started by complaining about losing his platform(s). I totally forgot that he had been kicked off Twitter and Facebook, but I'm sure he was live-streaming and I guess it was for Infowars. He asked me the same FA question and I lamely replied about the limits of free speech and 'shouting fire', and asked him if he was booted for lying about the 'Clinton Sex Ring in the Pizza Restaurant Basement.' He denied that.

I questioned his denial asked if he wasn't being sued for that, which he again denied.

So I asked again and he said "No, I'm being sued for Sandy Hook.'

I said "Oh, that's right! Sany Hook!"

LOL!

He said the MSM lies and claimed that Nancy Pelosi wants Sharia Law. I said I had never heard her say that.
He said (I don't remember exactly) that Eric Holder said (something crazy). I said "No. I  have never heard him say that."
He tried some other ridiculous example too, and  I said I had never seen the person say that but added that I had seen him, Jones, say crazy stuff.

He denied that and I said  "No, I've seen you say that with my very own eyes," and said to his camera "So who ya gonna believe? Me, or your own lying eyes?"

He then became enamoured with my Trump balloon, so I let him hold it. He was holding it and looking into his camera and kept saying stuff like "I'm not gay but I like his chest hair," while touching its chest. Then he pulled the ballon lower and said he liked Trump's hair so I told him he could kiss my Trump balloon.... and I think he actually did!

I turned away just then because one of his entourage (who kept interjecting from the sidelines said something that distracted me right then- a now obvious "habit" of theirs).

That interview actually went pretty well so it may not make his show (where the heated arguing with Josh could).

Later, the reporter from Houstonia magazine tracked me down to get my info and said I had handled Jones better than most.

The police then realized what Jones was up to and made Jones move to his proper area where he and his group kicked it up a few notches and were intentionally inflammatory and trying to get folks riled up.

He would say stuff like "Liberals love abortion but hate America!"

He had some hangers-on (probably off-camera) that were targeting individuals with whatever taunts they could think up to piss folks off and get them to lose their tempers.

I noticed the police portable command tower and that the first group of police on horseback were starting to move in to the neutral/media zone, sorta blocking the news folks in to the end of the no-man's zone so decided this was a good time to wander off.

I have a job interview on Wednesday and don't want to get trampled or beat up!

On the way out, I ran into three lost old ladies trying to get to the stadiim. One had a walker and I kinda felt sorry for them because the arena was still a bit far away and the lines were really long.
It had been announced already that once the arena's 18,000 person limit was reached, tickets or not, no one else would be allowed in. I'm pretty sure they were too late to get in and they were heading the wrong way and into the protest zone/blocked-off area, so I gave them the best/easiest directions to the venue.

They were completely tickled that a "liberal" would be nice to them but also slightly suspicious. I pointed out my hiking shoes and said I was a "bad feet sister" and also pointed out the police officers on the other corner who would let them know I wasn't lying to them, so they toddled happily off.

LOL!

What a day!