As in many places across the country, people gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to protest The Orange Menace using our tax dollars to commit his war crimes. But in Grand Rapids, things went very wrong when police arrested a protest organizer, Jessica Plichta, while she was doing a live TV interview:

Organizer Jessica Plichta, who recently returned from a Venezuelan peace summit, told WZZM, “We have to apply pressure at all points that we can, this is not just a foreign issue. It's our tax dollars that are also being used to commit these war crimes.”

[...]

Things took a turn for the dramatic when police arrested Plichta on camera immediately after the interview, citing roadway obstruction and failure to obey orders. Experts warned the move mirrors the 1990 Panama invasion that nabbed dictator Manuel Noriega.

It's pretty obvious when they arrested her that they were on the sidewalk and that they were nowhere near the protest since the cops pulled right up to where they were, and the roadway was very quiet. Furthermore, when they showed the footage of the actual protest, the cops were right there, cruising alongside them, and there didn't appear to be a problem.

If it looks like an intimidation stunt, sounds like an intimidation stunt, and gets perp walked like an intimidation stunt, it's probably an intimidation stunt. It does go to show how afraid they are of us by the extremes they are willing to go just to keep us quiet. Let's keep making some noise.

Holy shit.

Police just arrested a woman for protesting and saying, “This isn’t just a foreign issue, it’s our tax dollars being used to commit war crimes,” in reference to Venezuela.

If that speech is enough to put you in handcuffs, then the problem isn’t public safety.

It’s… pic.twitter.com/jYfJLx0NrF

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 5, 2026