Memorial Day sees MAGA boat parades, busy bars and boardwalk shootings as Americans adapt to changing social distancing norms

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/memorial-day-maga-boat-parade-daytona-shooting-
missouri-pool-bars-social-distancing

Mass gatherings and shootings marked the start of the Memorial Day
holiday, as Americans and government officials made sense of changing
rules regarding social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Welcoming warming temperatures during what’s normally the start of a busy
summer tourism season, hundreds of boaters came out Sunday in droves on
the Charleston Harbor in South Carolina for a massive Memorial Day weekend
parade in support of President Trump.

It happened as South Carolina, more than any other state in the nation,
has largely lifted lockdown restrictions that had caused public life for
most Americans to come to a monthslong standstill.

Meanwhile, six people were wounded in a shooting in Daytona Beach, Fla.,
Saturday. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cleared
restaurants to reopen at 50 percent capacity.

Helicopter video shared by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office showed
hundreds crowding the boardwalk, with rowdy partygoers drinking and
dancing before shots rang out and officers arrived at the scene.

“We got slammed. Disney is closed, Universal is closed. Everything is
closed, so where did everybody come with the first warm day with 50
percent opening? Everybody came to the beach,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike
Chitwood said in a press conference on Sunday, according to the Orlando
Sentinel.

And, at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, a popular resort spot, hundreds of
partygoers packed bars and crowded pool parties on Memorial Day weekend,
the Daily Mail reported.

In several photos, a sign that read “Please Practice Social Distancing: 6
Ft. Apart” is seen ironically hung from a balcony as people were seen
drinking and couples kissing crammed into the pool below.

It appears the photos were taken at Redhead Lakeside Grill and Yacht Club
in Osage Beach at Lake of the Ozarks, KSDK reported, though some social
media users mistakenly tagged the sign's location at the nearby Shady
Gators bar.


Missouri Gov. Mike Parson began lifting a stay-at-home order earlier this
month. Other videos that went viral on social media showed a packed “Zero
Ducks Given” pool party at Backwater Jack’s bar closeby. Live music
started up later in the evening, as festivities continued.

“No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks?? #loto,” KVTK reporter Scott
Pasmore tweeted, sharing a video of the busy pool scene.

“This is one of our big weekends. Everyone knows that," Osage Beach Mayor
John Olivarri said Monday in response to the viral images, according to
KSDK. "So, if people made the conscientious decision to come down here and
to participate at whatever level they elect to participate, they have made
that decision.”

“Are we going to make everybody happy because we are open? Probably not,”
the mayor continued. “Do I feel bad that our businesses have opened up and
giving our employees the opportunity to go back into work and feed their
families? Absolutely not.”

The “Charleston MAGA Boat Parade,” organized by OSR Marine, a marine
supply store, had more than 700 people in attendance, according to the
event’s Facebook page.

“I mean we can’t have rallies right now. We still want to support our
president,” one Trump supporter, Yvette Demaria, told WCSC. “As you can
see, there are lots of people out here who are supporting him.”

Boats were to meet at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in the battery around
noon. Around 12:30, the parade kicked off rounding the battery and up the
harbor. Following the route approved by the U.S. Coast Guard, boats then
made their way under the Ravanel Bridge and around Drum Island before
making their way back past the USS Yorktown and ending just past the
Harbor marina.

According to WCIV reporter Greg Brzozowski: “Starting at noon Sunday
during Memorial Day weekend, boaters paraded through Charleston to support
President Trump for hours, displaying flags, signs, and more while going
from the Coast Guard station by the Battery downtown to Johns Island.”

Video shared of the parade showed posters, signs and flags on display,
including one placard that read: "If we followed rules, we'd still be
British. Liberty is essential."

William Hamilton, a Charleston attorney and public transit advocate,
expressed concern over the parade, and, instead, encouraged those eager to
get out of their homes to volunteer.

“Well, my first thought is that when Americans are dying at a rate of over
a thousand a day and 40 million people were out of work, that somebody
thought it was appropriate to hold a big party,” Hamilton told WCSC.

Dozens of people reportedly lined the battery to take pictures of the
boats out on the marina – though it was unclear if people kept 6 feet
apart, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Charleston and Mount Pleasant Police Departments, U.S. Coast Guard,
and the Department of Natural Resources patrolled the harbor during the
parade but did not issue any citations.

Police helped one boat that lost power during the parade and began gaining
water. No other rescues were carried out, officials said.


It wasn’t the only MAGA boat parade held over the holiday weekend. Lara
Trump, a senior campaign adviser who is also President Trump’s daughter-
in-law, posted an Instagram video showing a large boat parade in her
hometown, Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

In Florida, the Volusia County Beach Safety Director Ray Manchester said
some 300 people were rescued by lifeguards on Saturday, adding that “every
part” of the 47-mile shoreline “was full.”

Related to the shooting on the Daytona Beach boardwalk, Police Chief Craig
Capri said two people were shot and four others were injured by shrapnel.

Gunfire rang out in a crowd of hundreds, believed to be encouraged to come
to the boardwalk by a man seen on helicopter video tossing cash to
partygoers from an SUV.

“We’re going to identify him, and we’re going to charge him,” Chitwood
said.



--
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.

Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump has boosted the economy, reduced illegal immigration,
appointed dozens of judges and created jobs.

Senile loser and NAMBLA supporter Nancy Pelosi got "Trumped" on February
5, 2020. "President Trump, Not Guilty."