Infrequent commenter caphilldcne was at yesterday’s protests in the nation’s capital. He sends along some pictures and a bit of description.
We marched from the Senate office buildings on Capitol Hill passed the White House. I headed back after 17th Street. The photo of the Washington monument shows how deserted the mall is. A lot of the people at the base of the monument are national guard. It’s a sea of people. Tens of thousands. I was pretty shocked by how big it was. This is just one of many groups marching. People were polite, well-mannered, friendly and appalled by what is happening to this country. I’m glad to stand with these incredible marchers.
Open Thread!
WaterGirl
Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m so moved by all these marchers. Blessings on them. I seriously get the impression that the country is just fed up with all of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT already, but from today in Washington: Mitt Romney is on the march:
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Got to admit. Didn’t see that coming.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell: I’m trying to think if he’s the first Republican to march. The first one I’ve seen, certainly the first national figure, no?
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I LOVED Jennifer Rubin’s title to her piece from today or yesterday.
Do not underestimate the power of this moment.
WaterGirl
@James E Powell: Perhaps al the mockery of Romney for talking about how his Dad had marched played a part?
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Great pics.
In protest-related news, Mama Cisco reports that her lightly populated, rural Alabama county had a march 100 strong (including a white guy!) – in the county seat. Business owners along the route were out front with shotguns and rifles, and a barricade placed around the Confederate monument at the old courthouse. I’m shocked.
Caphilldcne
Thanks for publishing these, Cheryl! I wanted to further comment that almost everyone was wearing a mask. People were keeping a bit of space but of course a lot of chanting. There were lots of groups that showed up to provide water, food, And in many cases hand sanitizer to the crowd. The Georgetown Black Law Student group was out there. I really appreciated it. My initial attempt at a post discussed some of the locations – we were marching past the national archives for example. Anyway I’ve lived here nearly 20 years. I’ve marched to protest the Iraq war in 2004. Sadly the last 3 years I’ve felt compelled to go to dozens of these. This time does have incredible energy and I applaud the incredible young people who showed up!!
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Today is the first day of Romney’s 2024 presidential campaign.Today is the second day of Romney’s 2024 presidential campaign, the first day being his impeachment vote.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW had a NASCAR race on today and before the race, they had a Black Lives Matter statement on the PA. Drivers held up “I can’t breathe” t-shirts. NASCAR!
db11
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Caphilldcne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wow. Frankly, I appreciate it. I’ll never much love Mitt but he’s at least acknowledging this pain.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That Romney is the most decent Republican in national politics is proof that we are living in bizarro times.
JPL
@WaterGirl: When graduating seniors organized a protest in my burb north of Atlanta, I knew then it was a big deal. Also the comments on Nextdoor were positive so what else do you need for proof.
Mart
A Covid-19 explosion worries me, but the huge and diverse participation is moving. Hope to goodness no super-spreaders at Floyd’s funeral.
Subsole
This is uplifting after so much darkness.
Thanks for sharing it.
japa21
Yesterday was my youngest grandson’s 3rd birthday. Son and DIL had two parties for him. The first was for neighborhood kids on the front lawn. They had the family groups appropriately spaced so no superspreader would have a chance. In the afternoon they had family, grandparents, aunts and uncles, about 15 people. Again appropriately spaced out in the back yard.
This actually relates to this post, because in between the two parties they participated in a protest march in downtown LaGrange, IL. The birthday boy was in a stroller and pretty promptly fell asleep, but his 5 year old brother marched holding a sign that read Embrace Empathy. According to my son, there was a little over 100 people, no real police presence and businesses along the way were handing out water and food to the marchers.
Son and DIL are trying to help the 5 year old understand racism. My son is white enough to almost be invisible and his wife is Filipino, son the kids are mixed race. Additionally, many of their neighbors are mixed race so the 5 year old has no real conception of what racism is. He is finding out.
japa21
BTW, did raven report how it went in Athens last night? Been dealing with other issues here so just able to catch up on most recent posts.
Martin
Huh. Minneapolis City Council will announce their commitment to disbanding the city police department.
So, the nuclear option for public universities that have departments that have gone off the rails is to disband the department. You aren’t firing the faculty and dealing with the tenure rights problem, you just don’t need them any longer, so they’re layoffs. You then build a new somewhat different department with a different charter and hire new faculty.
Can be done with courses/instructors where the contract is at the course not program level.
Sounds like what they may pursue here. The MPD is no more, replaced by a series of alternatives, possibly based on function, much as CA has a highway patrol separate from state police. Set up a variety of first responder organizations where their metrics are tied to some sort of positive feedback. For instance, if CA had CHP and CalTrans integrated with the goal of reducing highway accidents and deaths. So the lone motorist 8 MPH over the speed limit on an otherwise empty road might not warrant ticketing because the goal isn’t a ticket quota, it’s keeping the motorist safe, and they seem reasonably safe in that scenario already. And in terms of budgeting you can decide whether patrols are more warranted than installing guard rails or restriping, etc.
Take away the notion of ‘law and order’ which is its own goal, and replace it with public safety, which of course must involve some law enforcement component, but only to the degree that it helps public safety.
Should be an interesting experiment to watch.
Ken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Also the NFL. Well, to some degree; Colin Kaepernick still hasn’t been picked up.
Ken
@WaterGirl: There’s a small chance Romney’s hoping this is the second day of his 2020 campaign.
Hypothetically, what happens if a presidential candidate withdraws or dies between the nomination and election day? Maybe one of those cases where it becomes important that we’re not really voting for the name on the ballot, we’re voting for a slate of electors?
dogwood
@WaterGirl: I don’t think he was mocked because his dad marched, it was because he intimated that he was there. George Romney did March. He was a good man.
db11
@Martin: Wow!
Wasn’t their mayor booed off the stage by protestors last night?Wouldn’t have guessed something this
extremenecessary was brewing.Will definitely follow with interest to see how it unfolds, and what it teaches us about reform.
Edited to add: Oh, and I guess that takes care of their insanely toxic Bob Kroll / police union problem :)
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“In really nice bespoke loafers.”
I kid. Good on Mitt. Do good works while annoying your enemy, seems like a nice tack.
prostratedragon
All these photos are so momentous, to use a word that’s going to get a real workout soon. May we think long and deep so that this doesn’t become just another passing thing.
Still processing a motet I just heard on radio:
trollhattan
@Martin:
Did not see that coming. They can be a lab for the rest of us.
Baud
@Martin: Oh wow. TBH, more than I expected. It’ll be interesting to see how it is received.
Martin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Marketing!
Good on NASCAR for recognizing where the market is headed, but they have one black driver (Bubba Wallace – good driver, no less) in a series that draws drivers disproportionately from areas with large black populations.
They got a long way to go, but it’s a start, albeit not a very credible one.
Martin
@db11: Apparently a veto-proof majority of the city council. Saw the mayor on TV the other day. Wasn’t impressed.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@WaterGirl: If he’s running for president, he’ll have to change parties. There’s no way Mitt can win the party of Dump.
Baud
It’s fascinating how you can never predict the spark that will trigger a sea change in the culture.
db11
@Martin: So maybe the mayor was dragged forward by the council rather than vice versa?
Good on them for having the courage to address the problem at the root. If they replace the PD with something better (how could they not?), will make it tougher for other cities with similar problems to continue to pay lip service to reform.
This is really encouraging and reflective of the historical inflection point that we’ve (finally) reached with the events of the past couple of weeks.
Mohagan
@WaterGirl: So young, so cynical. That was my first (ungracious( thought also, but I’m almost 70 :-)
Calouste
So both the editor in Philadelphia who wrote the ridiculous “Buildings matter too” article and the editor at the FTFNYT who let Tom Cotton’s fascist screed go through are no longer in their jobs. It’s a start.
db11
@Baud: Without COVID and the attending lockdown, I doubt this would have coalesced in anywhere near the same way.
Baud
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Oh God please no. I don’t want to deal with the tweets about how Romney is better than Biden.
Baud
@db11:
I had the same thought the other day.
lamh36
Still a chump tho??♀️
Someone is def running in 2024. But hey i’ll give him 0.00000000009999-% credit for this
https://twitter.com/mittromney/status/1269758561720156160?s=21
Kathleen
@WaterGirl: I thought this one from Friday was a masterpiece as well:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/05/how-history-is-made-not-everyone-hops-off-sinking-ship-once/
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Romney does have a Black grandchild so I’ll give him the benefit of the thought about caring for that grandchild.
Still a weathervane tho
Baud
@lamh36: How old will he be in 2024?
Re: first tweet under that — I wonder if he will endorse Joe.
Baud
@lamh36: I forgot about that.
Martin
@db11: I don’t think the mayor supports this at all.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: I sometimes think his father’s ghost haunts his dreams.
Not often enough, though
Subsole
@Martin:
Maybe I’m just hypersensitized but I am frankly terrified this defund talk is gonna be just the opening the GOP needs to wriggle free of an electoral bloodbath. Folks don’t dig anarchy, which is exactly what that phrasing conjures.
The fact people are already having to roll out flowcharts and 20k word essays to explain what “defund” means does not inspire confidence.
Caphilldcne
@Mart: worries me too. I’m going to get tested and definitely trying to be careful around others! I guess it’s a calculated risk and others need to make calculations based on their situation, but ending white supremacy has to be a priority right now.
WaterGirl
@Martin: There is still a discussion on the “On the Ground with Laura Too” thread from earlier today. Laura just returned from the announcement about half an hour ago. Some good link,s also.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Martin:
I’m happy to live with marketing as a start. It recognizes how other people judge them, so it punctures the bubble a bit.
JPL
@Calouste: Not enough for me. Apparently the twenty-five year old editor that worked with Cotton is still at the NYTimes. Bennet must be so proud of his hires since they outlasted him.
trollhattan
Rut-roh.
Martin
CNN has an article up now.
So, I think this is smart. They are acknowledging the current system isn’t working, they recognize a different system is going to be difficult to work out. I think this is good expectation-setting. The challenge will be when the MPD decides to stop doing their job, can they rely on the state to help them with that transition, because you fucking know that’s going to happen.
9 members out of 13 supporting the effort. Doesn’t matter what the mayor thinks of the idea – he’s been outvoted.
MattF
@Calouste: Also, Cotton’s op-ed is now prefaced by a fairly long and detailed editor’s note explaining why the piece should not have been published in its current state.
JMG
@Baud: As a former Mass. journalist, I have some acquaintance with Mitt. He has a deeply cynical view of human nature, notable even by sportswriter standards. But he has a code of honor and he does try to live with it.
Kathleen
@Subsole: I prefer the term “Transform” the police department. Cincinnati Police had inflicted horrible abuse on African American citizens. In 2001 a Cincinnati policeman killed a young unarmed African American man whom he was chasing in a downtown neighborhood. That sparked a riot and subsequent boycotts of the city by African American performers and organizations. I was not optimistic about positive change.
Long story short, Police and city entered into a Collaborative Agreement (Justice Department was also part of the oversight process) which has resulted in positive change in relations though everyone agrees improvements are still required (agreement currently undergoing a “refresh”). For example, CPD has banned night sticks, choke holds and rubber bullets. Here is a link to a 4 year old story which provides historical context and overview of provisions:
http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/cincinnati-collaborative-agreement-after-14-years-whats-kept-historic-agreement-going
JMG
@Subsole: No one cares. Do you think Joe Biden is gonna talk about this? The only issue in the election is Trump. He is bound to do something in the next weeks, days, hours to drive “defund the police” back to page B17.
rikyrah
@James E Powell:
Dude,
He is so running in 2024?
Baud
@JMG:
The more annoying thing will be when “defund” becomes a new litmus test for Dems like M4A. I
Baud
Mitt will be Biden’s current age in 2024.
WaterGirl
@dogwood: I didn’t mean to say that Mitt was mocked because his dad marched. I meant to say that Mitt was mocked this week for praising his dad for marching, while not taking the action himself.
Martin
@Subsole: Well, it can certainly go in that direction. It’s really incumbent on democrats to step up and define this process and the end result before the GOP does. But you can count on the police union to sabotage this in favor of GOP talking points at every step.
It would probably help if the city council stated up front that MPD employees will be considered in hiring for new agencies, but that examples of their public safety efforts will be taken into consideration – enough of a clue that if they sabotage this effort, they can go work at WalMart instead.
One thing I would like to see in the new agencies is no moonlighting in security related jobs, or some real approval process needed. The blurring of roles around law enforcement is really problematic.
Sister Golden Bear
@Martin:
Agreed.
That said, the corporate rainbow-washing that occurs every June during Pride season has moved the Overton Window in regards to LGBTQ issues. So even people doing the right thing for less-than-right reasons can be helpful. Especially if that sets them up for people to then pressure them to do more than lip service.
WaterGirl
@db11: Laura Too, earlier, described this as a FU to the mayor, so no, the mayor was not in favor of this.
Cheryl Rofer
Trump has been relatively quiet over the weekend. I saw some discussion on Twitter of whether the tweets we’ve seen have even been from him. As usual, who knows. But this might get him going.
WaterGirl
@Baud: It’s the perfect storm.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
@Baud:
Are we up to the Seventh Seal yet?
NotMax
FYI.
A new rhythmic Rainbow rejoinder.
JMG
There was a demonstration, well, more like a prayer circle vigil, in Harwich, Ma. on Cape Cod yesterday. 300 people. Harwich is 300 years old and in that time I very much doubt it has had 300 residents of color.Something’s happening out there in places where none of us suspect.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: I hope that Mitch had to swallow a bottle of Tums after watching that.
raven
@japa21: There were NO incidents during or after a 3,000 person rally. One of our council members who was 71 was fond dead this morning after falling down the stairs at his home. He was at the rally for a while and there is no foul play suspected.
Martin
@JMG: Joe would be smart to say that he will instruct the federal government to assist local and state governments with any reforms that they feel are necessary to ensuring public safety, and leave it at that. He doesn’t need to endorse defunding, he just needs to endorse trusting local government to do what they feel will work best for the public. And he can pivot cleanly off of that to the DOJ Civil Rights efforts under Obama to help law enforcement reforms. Basically, it’s just an upgraded form of the process that was already in place under Obama.
What’s key is that he keeps the whole thing centered under public safety, not law and order. Not only does that put him on good footing regarding looting vs protesting, but public safety allows him to easily pivot to measures to protect the public from Covid, gun violence, and a host of other democratic priorities.
Subsole
@JMG:
Hope you’re right. Guess I’m just on edge lately.
We cannot, and I mean can not fuck this up.
MattF
@NotMax: Prefaced by a Biden ad and then a Trump ad.
Baud
@Martin:
Agree. Good suggestion.
Martin
@raven: Nobody ever holds stairs accountable. They are a greater menace than antifa.
Baud
@Martin:
It’s because Democrats are soft on stairs.
Martin
@JPL: He’s from Kentucky, so it’s either bourbon or meth, or both.
bluehill
@Kathleen: Yeah, it’s kind of like the repub “government is the problem” shtick. No. Bad government is the problem as we have clearly seen these past four years. I want better policing, not no police.
Martin
@Baud: You joke, but Trump is afraid of stairs for good reason. He knows.
Subsole
@Kathleen:
I love that framing of transformation. Powerful and positive. Abolition evokes destruction and violence. Your framing almost sounds regenerative.
That’s what we need to be seen offering people. A respite from destruction.
Marcopolo
Happy to say I am in a much better mood now than a week ago. I’m so glad the way things have gone. I was really worried (still am about Covid spikes but what can you do?). So much credit to the protesters for peacefully persevering (and self-policing); so much credit to Mayor Bowser (and others) for making physical & political space for protesters to do their thing safely & joyously (my God she so totally outplayed Trump); so much credit to all the bad apple police & security people who made the protesters’ case for them by showing their awful nature repeatedly while being filmed for all to see.
A couple other thoughts:
First, because of the economic downturn caused by Covid-19 a lot of places will be cutting police funding (along with a whole lot of other funding). Maybe as the economy picks up more of these places will be taking a critical look at whether their police funding needs to return to its old level.
Two, I haven’t seen anyone note this but when you look at the protests over the past 10 days and compare them to the “open things up” protests of 4-6 weeks ago there is no comparison. It’s sad how much attention those Astro-turf events got.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I like this site for perspective on individual states and across the country.
If you press PLAY and keep your eye on a particular state (at the top) you can see the ups and downs as the dates roll by.
From ProPublica:
States are reopening. See how they rise or fall.
JPL
@Martin: I’m fine with that.
Martin
@Kathleen: I think there are PDs that are open to reforming from within. There are a lot that are not (NYPD, for example). Not sure where MPD stands, but my sense is they’re not interested in reform, probably because unemployment is not seen as an alternative. There’s a VERY bad ‘what the fuck are they planning on doing without us’ problem within law enforcement that leaves them thinking they have the upper hand here. The nature of the union contract certainly plays into this.
A few disbanded PDs might do wonders for attitudes across the country. If Joe wins, he quietly needs to make sure this effort in Minneapolis succeeds. Nancy and Chuck need to as well.
raven
@Martin: It’s not the first friend of my age to die that way.
Miss Bianca
Sort of competely o/t, has any of the jackaltariat read a book by Adam Gropnik called, A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism?
.
Baud
@raven:
I was scared that would happen to my mother, who insisted on living on her own in a two story.
Miss Bianca
@Martin: Uh…that seems kind of huge.
@Calouste: Damn, Skippy.
raven
@Baud: I’m worried about myself with this gait problem I’m having.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan:
That this is somehow our ‘new’ normal instead of just, you know, ‘normal’, perhaps says more than I think he intended.
Baud
@raven:
I tried to convince my mother to get one of those chair lifts. You should look into it.
Martin
@raven: Anything with as many building codes around it as stairs is legit a bit dangerous. Alas, residential stairs have few cost effective alternatives.
I’m in the age bracket where bikes and suicide are the still the most common answer to the question. Hopefully I have a little while yet before I decide that stairs and bathtubs are my enemy.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Nice visualization, merci. Interesting how volatile some are, and not just states with tiny populations.
raven
@Baud: Not yet.
raven
@Martin: We put in a big walkin shower when we built the addition. The sewing room is upstairs and my shop is down but I and also get there via a sidewalk down the side of the house.
Baud
@raven: Ok. Just don’t be stubborn about it when the time comes.
JPL
@Martin: Stair falls and serious injuries affects all age groups.
Miss Bianca
@Martin: Martin, I really hope somebody smart out there at a local or state or national level is reading the stuff you’ve been writing here lately. Between you and Kay I think I’m getting as much policy wonk talk from the comments as from the FPers.
btw, from the way you talk, tho’ – and the speed with with some of these things are happening – I have to imagine that good political leaders have a set of plans for implementing new programs that can be ‘shovel-ready’ at a moment’s notice
ETA: I think the emphasis on ‘public safety’ is brilliant. If we can refashion ACA and health care spending as ‘public health’, we might really be going places.
NotMax
@raven
OT.
Came across this movie listed on Prime. From what I’ve read about it, plays a bit fast and loose with the real stories for dramatic effect but still thought it could be up your alley.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Martin:
I look forward to seeing how Minneapolis’ reforms work out. I agree that public safety should be focus. I have a feeling the “Defund the Police” slogan doesn’t sell so well among totebaggers and Middle America. It’s not evident why and it’s easy to demagogue.
Locally, the township where I live has fairly well-funded police and fire departments. Interestingly, I’ve seen them packaged together as the “Safety Services”, by a candidate for the township Fiscal Officer, who of course had to kiss their asses. The renewal levies and new levies routinely pass. I admit I’ve always voted for police renewal levies, but I might consider voting against in the future
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I go back to that page a lot. I wish it was possible to hit PLAY within a particular state, but that’s only on the page with all the states.
Still really useful, though.
Matt McIrvin
I’m less worried about public opinion turning back toward Trump than I am about Trump fucking with the election or attempting some kind of coup. Because it’s essentially a 100% certainty that he wants to, and the institutions that protect us from this have severely eroded. Actually getting rid of Trump somehow (e. g. hounding him into resigning) and slotting in Pence might make things politically harder for the Democrats, but it would probably reduce the likelihood of, say, an attempt to arrest Congress or bomb the Capitol.
mrmoshpotato
But who would be his running mate? Certainly that Ayn Rand-humping jagoff would be making less as VP than whatever planet-killing horseshit he’s doing now.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Just today, I saw on a top rated thread on a subreddit I visit a moron spouting the stupid “Both sides, same thing” bullshit. In 2020, in the middle of a pandemic that Trump fucked up the response to, and after his AG apparently ordered the DC Police to tear gas peaceful protesters so he could have a photo-op!
A vote (or non-vote) for anybody else but Biden is a vote for Trump. The two parties aren’t the same. Ferguson, Flint, Standing Rock were out of Obama’s control. The president is not a king who rules by fiat. But Trump and the GOP are trying to change that. It blows my mind that people still think like this after the last 3 years
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
Sheesh on a shingle.
Consider cutting back on the magic mushrooms.
Kathleen
@Martin: Trust me I never thought it would work in Cincinnati either. I have a real problem with city officials announcing they’re going to disband a police department without having a transition plan plus a longer term definition of desired outcomes for the new police department. I think it’s irresponsible.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
WWWWAAAHHHHH!!!!!! Bernie would’ve been both of them – combined – with both hands behind his back!
ETA – I want my unicorn butler!
Kathleen
@Subsole: Thank you! The police here did a great job. The Police Chief spent a lot of time listening to and talking with young protesters (he also took a knee at their request). He said many of the things they demanded were already included in the Collaborative Agreement (bans on night sticks, choke holds and rubber bullets) and he wanted to continue conversations with them because he said, “We have to keep talking”.
Geminid
Romney’s a realist, and I think he knows that the tea party cranks and political preachers will maintain their grip on the republican party for at least a couple election cycles. Fine by me; they’ve marginalized the Virginia party, and they’re doing their best to marginalize the Republicans nationwide. But Romney can represent Utah well, and I don’t think a lot of Utahans will kick if he confronts bigotry. Especially the Mormons: they haven’t forgotten that they had to flee the Midwest when Joseph Smith and many other Mormons were lynched.
Viva BrisVegas
It needs to be quickly changed to something like “Demilitarize the Police”. Otherwise it will be used as a cudgel by the right to drum up fear and stop any real change.
As with “Climate Change” rather than “Global Warming”. Use of the term climate change allows for the ludicrous but plausible right wing response, “but the climate always changes”. It stifles legitimate debate.
Messaging matters.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Viva BrisVegas:
“Demilitarize the Police” is a pretty good slogan! I’m sure protesters will get their messaging together
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: You think this is far-fetched? Former defense officials are sounding the alarm about Trump’s abuse of the military:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/03/trump-military-george-floyd-protests/
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/06/the-guardrails-are-off-the-us-military-303959?fbclid=IwAR1d7cBL80ucJX-r3pcWOesIQCKa21wb-NBmOwLAb9W_tzzfBpT5nOpPWOM
The only thing preventing him from carrying out a coup using the military is the military’s unwillingness to follow illegal orders, and the Lafayette Park incident reveals that it’s not at all clear that they won’t.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
If you actually try to play out the scenario, you’ll see it can’t work.
Fair Economist
@lamh36:
We can afford to give him full credit for this. All hands on deck fighting fascism, and anyway the chance of him getting the Republican nom in 2024 and winning are incredibly slender at this point. Trump has taken over the party and the base, and if a traditional Republican gets the nom there will be a split.
Caphilldcne
@Sister Golden Bear: argh – there was a lot of LGBTQ participation. Should’ve got a photo of some of those signs (FYI I’m a gay man and should’ve thought to be intersectional).
Fair Economist
@Kathleen: Minneapolis has a contract with the police union for 2 more years. Plenty of time to develop a plan. Cities change police forces all the time anyway without trouble – closing their own to rely on county sheriffs or vice versa; it’s not a big deal.
Uncle Cosmo
@Martin: Steps have been the real “Boomer remover” since before there were Boomers.
Caphilldcne
@WaterGirl: it was my pleasure. Since this is kind of a dead thread I want to say thank you to you and to Cheryl and John and all the front pagers. I don’t comment a lot but this blog is my first and last stop on the internet. Every day. I’m grateful to the community here and I appreciate your incredible resilience in the face of a direct threat to our democracy. Virtual hugs to you all.
WaterGirl
@Caphilldcne: That’s very nice. Thank you so much!
Caphilldcne
@WaterGirl: you’re welcome!! :)
Ken
According to one rumor – which of course I don’t believe for a minute but these things are out there and people keep repeating them and you have to think there must be something there – it’s because the Russian mob threw him down a few flights when he fell behind on his loan payments.
Cheryl Rofer
@Caphilldcne: Thanks!
JoJo
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I see a lot of that on the Facebook page where the Milwaukee protests are listed. A lot of dumb, unfortunately. I don’t know that it reflects most people’s feelings or just some very loud people.