Biden Rejects Permit for Annual POW-MIA Motorcycle Ride

[mystery-ak]

Biden Rejects Permit for Annual POW-MIA Motorcycle Ride

Kyle Morris
3 May 2021

Under President Joe Biden’s leadership, the Pentagon has rejected a permit for the annual Rolling to Remember motorcycle ride that is held in Washington, DC, each Memorial Day to honor POW/MIA veterans.

The event is organized by AMVETS, a veterans group, which submitted permit requests and petitions for the event to multiple federal agencies. According to a press release from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), “AMVETS received approval from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Interior, and multiple other state and local authorities.”

Originally, the Pentagon granted a permit to AMVETS for the event in March, however it was later rescinded without explanation.

“There are no options with as much space and convenient routes to the memorials, meaning it will be more difficult, disruptive, and expensive than if the Pentagon parking lots were available,” said Joe Chenelly, the national executive director of AMVETS.

“The administration included AMVETS in this new group as ‘a trusted voice in communities across the United States,’ but the Pentagon wouldn’t have a conversation with us to share their concerns and give us the chance to address them before deciding to refuse our application,” Chenelly added.

In past years, the Rolling to Remember motorcycle ride, formerly known as Rolling Thunder, had used the Pentagon parking lot as the pre-ride staging area to line up for the processional ride from the Department of Defense to the war memorials on the National Mall.

“The biggest disappointment in the Pentagon’s denial was that AMVETS was ignored for months as its professional staff in Washington requested numerous times an opportunity to hear the Defense Department’s concerns and present a [coronavirus] safety plan,” said Jan Brown, the national commander of AMVETS.

“The Biden Administration is making a terrible mistake by blocking a veteran’s charity from the use of the Pentagon parking lot for the Rolling to Remember POW/MIA remembrance motorcycle ride,” Issa said in a statement. “This last-minute rejection, a first of its kind in more than 30 years, leaves patriotic veterans without a safe alternative.”

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/03/biden-rejects-permit-for-annual-pow-mia-motorcycle-ride/

[Wingnut]

Permits? They don't need no stinking permits.

[skeeter]

Biden canceled nothing. The twit twenty something angry bureaucrat leftists surrounding him did. He’s just out front taking fire for it.

[PeteS in CA]

Vets Group Celebrates New DC Motorcycle Ride Location After Pentagon Rejection

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/05/12/vets-group-celebrates-new-dc-motorcycle-ride-location-after-pentagon-rejection.html

The new organizers for a massive motorcycle ride through the nation's capital say it will now start at RFK Stadium in northeast Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day weekend after the Defense Department denied the group's request to kick off the event at the Pentagon.

Bikers registered to participate in the AMVETS Rolling to Remember ride can gather in the Washington Football Team's former stadium parking lot at 7 a.m. May 30, the group announced this week.
...
Between 50,000 and 100,000 motorcyclists are expected to participate in the ride, according to the group. AMVETS, a veteran organization with about 250,000 members, announced it would continue the Rolling Thunder tradition after that group held its final ride in 2019. The ride is meant to honor the service members missing in action or being held as prisoners of wars, as well as raise awareness about veteran suicide.
...
Chenelly told WJLA that Rolling to Remember is working to set up security, medical and water stations at RFK Stadium.

"We want to make this as least disruptive to the community as possible," he said.

RFK Stadium is about 2 miles east of the U.S. Capitol, and about 6 miles from the Pentagon.

Actually, I hope they make themselves heard, loudly, near the Capitol, White House, and the Pentagon.