Correspondent
TOWANDA — More than 200 people showed up to a “Freedom Rally” at the Bradford County Airport on Jan. 2.
The rally was led and sponsored by local businessman Bob Raimo, owner of the Shooter’s Gauntlet shooting range, with cooperation from Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko.
The event took place near a hangar at the airport with a tent signing up people to attend a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6, a food truck selling hot coffee and sandwiches, and the Bradford County Veteran’s Services van.
Raimo had the idea for the rally “about four days ago when I woke up pissed off,” he said. “I texted the commissioner [McLinko], the sheriff, and several major employers in the county and said ‘meet me for breakfast’ and everyone showed up.”
Raimo also mentioned that “Congress was working to take away our freedom of speech” in regards to reporting on a bill being presented to the US House.
The bill in question proposed by Speaker Pelosi and Jim McGovern (D-MA) would reword the official rules of House law, making it to include gender-neutral terms. Words such as “father,” “mother,” “son,” “daughter” would be replaced by “parent” and “child.”
This change would only be reflected in how the House conducts its business and would not affect citizens but the measure has been mocked by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Raimo also insisted, that “Politicians have forgotten that this nation is built on ‘We the People’ not ‘We the Politician.’”
The event kicked off with an opening prayer and a singing of the national anthem, accompanied with fireworks.
Raimo took the stage and recalled his story of organizing the rally and emphasized “I don’t want this to be a political rally. I hate those.”
Raimo routinely called out establishment politicians saying “There are good Democrats and good Republicans and bad ones in both parties.”
He talked about government accountability and how Pennsylvania is a state where a governor isn’t subject to a recall vote.
Fliers with a QR code was passed out linking to a contract online where signees pledge to demand legislation that allows for recall of the governor and heads of the state assembly as well as any elected official and requires a voter provide identification when voting.
On the subject of voting, Raimo and McLinko brought up PA Act 77, which was signed in October of 2019 that allowed for no excuse mail-in voting, extended the deadline to register for future elections, and included several measures to encourage absentee voting.
Raimo and McLinko suggested this law was unconstitutional and led to major voter fraud but no evidence of such has arisen since November.
Raimo bid the audience turn their attention to the “jumbotron” next to him and on screen was former Presidential Chief of Staff and conspiracy theorist Steve Bannon. Bannon started off asserting that the 2020 election had been stolen from Donald Trump and Pennsylvania was “ground zero” of massive voter fraud.
Act 77 was a frequent topic of Bannon. He also called it “unconstitutional and unfair.” Bannon insisted President Trump “will never concede” and that attendants of the President’s planned gathering on the 6th must be “ready to battle” to ensure his victory.
Bannon urged the attendants of the rally to pressure their state legislators to decertify the Pennsylvania results showing Biden’s win.
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani came online to address the crowd next. Giuliani mimicked Bannon’s previous claim that Joe Biden and establishment politicians and judges from both parties had conspired to steal the election from Trump.
Giuliani said “It’s up to patriots like you to stop the steal.”
He focused his consternation on large cities in swing states.
“You have in your state, a city that is a professional at voter fraud, Philadelphia,” stated Giuliani.
Giuliani expanded on his claims by naming his “five cities in five states” that had been the location of the largest efforts to swing the election in Biden’s favor: Philadelphia; Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Detroit, Michigan; and Atlanta, Georgia.
When McLinko asked about the ongoing runoff Senate elections in Georgia, Giuliani assured those present “the same steal that happened here in Pennsylvania is happening there right now.”
Giuliani spoke about his continued legal challenges to election results in states across the country and accused judges of bias. This accusation extended to Bradford County native Matthew Brann, a judge appointed by Trump himself, who threw out a challenge to the election.
Nearly all of the President’s legal challenges have either been dismissed out of hand or have been ruled against him by judges of both parties including several Trump-appointed judges.
After Giuliani signed off, talk at the rally turned back to its original messaging, Covid and governmental overreach.
To drive home the negative impacts of the lockdown, retired Staff Sargent Earl Granville came up to talk about mental health with the crowd.
Granville recounted his service in the army national guard. He was grievously injured in an IED attack in an incident that killed two of his comrades.
Granville recounted his twin brother serving with him overseas and being there for Earl when he lost his leg in that attack.
Granville’s story ended when he got a phone call from his mother years ago that his brother had killed himself.
Since then, he has dedicated much of his life to working with veterans, volunteering with Oscar Mike Foundation, Warrior Strong, and Enduring Warrior.
Granville gestured to a nearby cinder block with a chain on it and informed the crowd that when he goes on runs with other wounded veterans (Granville wears a prosthetic leg) he will start the run carrying the block and eventually a running mate will offer to share the weight. The significance of this, Granville assured the crowd, is that they don’t have to carry the weight of the world alone. Granville asked that participants help each other and keep in touch with their loved ones as the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns can be bad on a person’s mental health.
The rally ended sometime later after several other speakers discussing the lockdown and election.