Jake & MJ Booted from Teamster Headquarters!
Posted by thebaldchick in Uncategorized |*UPDATE* VIDEO ADDED! SCROLL DOWN FOR OUR VIDEO REPORT!
Jake & I attempted to bring you coverage of an immigration GOTV rally from Teamster City here in Chicago tonight.

The event was sponsored by our old buddies, the ICIRR, and featured a long list of politicians, including Mayor Daley, Senator Dick Durbin, Congressmen Danny Davis and Luis Gutierrez, and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The press release touted “1,700 immigrant election volunteers,” and I don’t doubt they got the numbers — it’s easier than it sounds when you bus them in:
Jake and I entered the Teamsters auditorium and followed the signs to sign in as press. They gave us ID stickers and a press kit, but within minutes we had been waylaid by several ICIRR staffers who, we assume, recognized us from previous events, and proceeded to pepper us with questions.
When we confirmed that we were there for Blogs4Borders, they demanded that we leave. We were told that they weren’t allowing anyone to film the event (a ridiculous claim, as they had a platform set up that was already half full with media folks setting up their cameras) Not to mention the media trucks that were parked outside.

We tried, briefly, to convince them to let us stay, but left peacefully as it was, indeed, being held on private property. We stopped momentarily outside the auditorium to grab a couple of pictures, and they sent a woman out to tell us we’d better leave before they called security. So we made our way to the public sidewalk in front of Teamster City to record our report from the scene. Jake will have video up later this evening.
As we ponder in our video report, what didn’t they want us to see and hear? If what they’re pushing for is so wonderful — and so appealing to the American people — why don’t they want actual, unedited footage of the event out there for all to see on YouTube?
The answer is that it’s NOT so wonderful, and it’s NOT appealing to the American people. Because, if it were, we’d have been greeted with open arms, not a boot in the ass, for showing up as citizens to document the whole thing and make it available for the world to see.
*UPDATE*
Here’s the video report of tonight’s events:
