Quite frankly, if they are as dangerous as people say, we need the normies even more because it’s important that we have a couple photogenic martyrs who aren’t weird nerds everyone hates.
— Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty (@irhottakes.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
===
NBC New York, “Capitol Police arrest 60 parade protesters, including vet using a walker”:
… A group of military veterans and their families gathered in front of the Supreme Court, demanding that taxpayer dollars for Saturday’s military parade and for putting troops in Los Angeles should be used for housing, health care and food, instead.
Some of those demonstrators crossed the street to the U.S. Capitol, where they are accused of breaching a bicycle rack perimeter. Some of them also may face charges of assault on police officers and resisting arrest.
The veterans of conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan represented various branches of the military. They are united in the conviction that spending millions of dollars on the parade celebrating 250 years of the U.S. Army is wasteful and inappropriate.
“It feels like this whole dog-and-pony show that the president is trying to make about the Army is actually about him,” said Brittany Ramos DeBarros of About Face: Veterans Against the War. “And it’s actually a distraction from the fact that his administration is doing everything that they can to cut lifesaving services that veterans and our communities rely on.”…
“If you want to thank me for my service, don’t make it a hollow platitude or empty words,” one veteran said. “My service was to preserve and defend our Constitution, and now we’re seeing the president betray our service.”
“This administration has or will likely place you in a position where you must choose: Harm innocent people, support their kidnapping, suppress legal protests and expressions of the First Amendment, or follow your conscience,” another veteran said. “You not only have a right, but an obligation to refuse illegal orders.”
Baud
I feel seen.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
The ‘No Pants’ protests are that way, spotlight-stealer.
NotMax
Morning music to lead into an anticipated crowded weekend.
Can cans and bottle bottles.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
I’ll see your Can-Can and raise you some lyrics.
Matt McIrvin
Going to be pouring rain here with some thunderstorms, which will probably shrink the crowd. I’m going to try to go but may alter my gane plan.
Princess
Good luck to all protesting!
On another note, the Balloon Juice Jackals feed stopped updating a couple of days ago. Does anyone here knows who runs it or how to fix it?
Ben Cisco
Let the mockery of the TACO begin.
Gloria DryGarden
@Princess: i see, it’s 1 day ago stuff at the top. Jasiglar.bsky.com runs it. No idea why it’s not updating.
Different feeds are sometimes on different servers, as I understand it. I’ve been tracking more on “following” and less on the jackals feed.
Baud
Looks like DC will have dreary weather but not substantial enough to cancel the spectacle.
AM in NC
Where I live it’s supposed to be overcast and low 80s. God clearly wants us to protest, because it’s been in the 90s recently!!!!
Spanky
@Baud: NOTHING is going to rain on TACO’s parade.
Except, ah …. rain.
satby
By popular suggestion, will be wearing my Immigrants Make US Great shirt at work at the market before leaving to attend the last hour of the protest. Scattered thunderstorms predicted. Hope the turnout is good.
Spanky
For the DC area, according to Trump’s weather service:
Spanky
The Weather Underground (wunderground.com), on the other hand, says
Betty Cracker
Raining here right now, but it’s supposed to clear up later and be hot and muggy as is normal for June in Florida. First thing this morning, we were having coffee on the porch. A large otter scampered by on the riverbank, then a deer paused at the water’s edge about 30 yards from where we were sitting. I took it as a positive sign.
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
The weather underground, huh? IME, the weather underground in this part of the country is clear, dry, 55°, with occasional bats. ;-)
ETA: Damn, I miss Ozark.
mappy!
TACO.
(according to ftfnyt – no link):
prostratedragon
@Ben Cisco: Which side of Union Station is directly across from the old Post Office building? Mass Ave?
Professor Bigfoot
Y’all.
People in LA are making sure ICE agents in hotels can’t sleep!
Git it, you ornery-ass Americans!
Nukular Biskits
Mornin, y’all.
Signed up to go to local (Gulfport) “No Kings” protest. Haven’t made a sign yet.
Not sure I’m going.
prostratedragon
@Professor Bigfoot:
This one specially for TACOman himself —“Up for the Downstroke,” Parliament. He’d love it!
Baud
@prostratedragon:
Since Trump likes the Village People, someone talented needs to remake Macho Man into Taco Man.
WTFGhost
I have to say, I’m beginning to think blogging needs editors. I just saw this over at Crooks and Liars (emphasis mine):
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/06/trump-supporter-super-sadz-when-ice
How the eff can one have a valid work permit, and be called “undocumented”? You’re allowed to live and work here! This is a big thing about Trump hoovering up people who go to their hearings: they are not undocumented/”illegals.” They’re the ones who are playing by the rules. That Trump doesn’t like the rules doesn’t change that they are, in fact, the rules.
If we bloggers can’t even get this right, how the heck is the NYT going to?
lowtechcyclist
@prostratedragon:
Neither. The two are a dozen or so blocks apart. The old PO bldg is at 12th & Penn, and Union Station is on Mass Ave. east of North Capitol.
prostratedragon
@Ben Cisco:
Also on youtube.
TONYG
@mappy!: In the end, Trump’s “Mass Deportation” might be limited to small businesses in urban areas in “blue states” — avoiding any impact on his supporters. It will be bad enough, but not a nationwide phenomenon.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Well, it’s no Cole Porter.
;)
prostratedragon
@lowtechcyclist: Ok. I had recalled the PO around the rear side entrance, but ybis was 20 or so years ago(!).
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I had to laugh at the post right below this one where they’re monitoring statements online advocating for stockpiling weapons…like NOW that’s a bad thing? Like it’s OK when it’s just RWNJ but when normal people do it there’s a problem?
If there’s a wedge issue that could break off a good chunk of Trump’s support it’s the second amendment. I mean maybe they just accept that too but maybe not.
Someone should go on Fox News though and point out that the paranoid crowd that have been concern trolling about jack-booted thugs coming for us sure are quiet about it finally happening.
They Call Me Noni
Looks like the rain will hold off in my area, just cloudy. My sign says:
TACO is a Faux-King Threat to Democracy!
Sign I made for my friend says:
When Injustice Becomes Law Resistance Becomes Duty
We’re both wearing our RBG t-shirts.
Hope the turnout is good. There are two protests in our area.
NotMax
Re-linked from earlier.
AI does the parade.
Baud
@They Call Me Noni:
that’s clever
Matt McIrvin
@mappy!: “TACO” is a brilliant bit of mockery in part because, up to now, people have frequently underestimated the extent to which Trump is actually susceptible to pressure–they assume he’s this unstoppable bulldozer who will run any idée fixe to the bitter end. He might not be as much of a political survivor if he were, actually. But he’s not. He backs down, especially when people who have his ear get hurt.
prostratedragon
From Wired, “How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance”. Seems like Adam’s checklist, but can’t hurt to have another link.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Matt McIrvin:
Gonna be full blazing sun in the in mid-90s here today at 5280 feet in altitude.
What we need for these kinds of rallies are American Flag umbrellas…for the shade:
https://www.amazon.com/Vista-International-American-Flag-Umbrella/dp/B000UHK1G6?gQT=1
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
also because it originated from Wall Street.
Gloria DryGarden
@Professor Bigfoot: oh, gleeful delight! De-lightful.
Matt McIrvin
@WTFGhost: The confusion, I think, stems from the extent to which “illegals” are really “anyone Trump and his goons don’t like”. They’re not necessarily undocumented; they’re not necessarily asylum seekers or people with Temporary Protected Status or migrant workers; they’re all of those people, but also anyone who happens to be too brown or Spanish-speaking or expressing the wrong political opinions and in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Said goons weaponize their own sloppiness to make themselves scarier, because there’s no way to behave or be that will necessarily ward them off.
BellyCat
@They Call Me Noni: Time for King TACO to take a Faux-King WALKO!
Gloria DryGarden
@Princess: i sent her/ them a note. If I get a reply I’ll update. We haven’t messaged each other since winter.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: it’s brilliant!
Matt McIrvin
@prostratedragon: These kinds of articles are useful, but I have ambivalent feelings about them because they also give people who are considering attending a protest the idea that every one of them is going to be the Battle in Seattle. Most of them aren’t–most of them are just a bunch of friendly people getting together to wave signs on the sidewalk, and going home afterward. And that’s especially true when they’re as widely distributed as these.
Left social media has this weird way of pumping up the apocalyptic potential of mass protests in a way that just scares normies off (and then they’ll complain that they’re not showing up).
I think the best way to stay safe, if you’re worried, is to go to the smallest and most local protest in your podunk town that you can. The goons can’t beat down all of these, and I think the image of thousands of local protests happening all over the country is potent.
narya
Got out my Sharpies and a white t-shirt and made my own damn No Kings t-shirt to wear to my beer 5k today. Not pretty, but neither are these times.
m.j.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq_0wlJEKQ0
I was feeling a little funky and worn.
Suzanne
It is raining right now, and is going to rain all morning. Might reduce the size of the protest. We’ll see.
SuzMom elected not to go. I have been trying to gently encourage her to think about other mobility devices. She’s been using a cane and getting along pretty well with it, but I suggested one of those walkers with the folding seat might also be useful.
frosty
@Nukular Biskits: Still flipping between York at 10:00 and Baltimore at 3:00. I bought posterboard for a sign yesterday and figured out what to write but I’m running out of time to get it done this morning. Probably shouldn’t have been so lazy last night LOL!
Least chance of rain is York. I guess I’ll put the computer down and get started. I could always get there at 11:00, too.
Let us know how Gulfport looks if you make it.
eclare
The protest here is from 11-2, but the forecast is rain. Ugh. There is a slight window from 11-1 when the chance of rain is only 15%, that’s when I’ll go.
They Call Me Noni
@Baud: Thank you.
eclare
@Professor Bigfoot:
Break out the vuvuzuelas!
They Call Me Noni
@m.j.: How fun is that!
Matt McIrvin
I made a crude sign for the last one I went to that just said TRUMP WILL FAIL. I was feeling kind of dyspeptic at the time and I liked the mixture of hope and foreboding in those three words. I didn’t feel like writing anything cute.
Didn’t say when he’d fail, didn’t say how… probably all kinds of ways at all kinds of times.
Anyway, I’ve still got the sign. Don’t mind getting it wet.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Rollators are very, very handy. I got one for my mom from Amazon almost 20 years ago…
Good luck!
They’re predicting rain and chances of thunderstorms here in NoVA, but I plan on going. We got a lot of rain last night, so it might be quite steamy, but that’s Ok!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Nelle
@lowtechcyclist: I agree about missing Ozark.
Trivia Man
Attending a rally is completely up to the individual, everyone has different tolerances and abilities. Today especially protest is wherever one or more are gathered. I wish we had 100,000 solo protesters around the country. A shirt, a sign, an american flag would be sufficient.
If you are driving give a thumbs up or a wave to signs you see. Babysit or per sit for someone so they can go. Lots of ways to join.
Rachel Bakes
@Baud: Calling Randy Rainbow
Suzanne
@Another Scott: The thing that has made me hesitant is how stair-ful many places here in PGH are. Many places are still not fully ADA-compliant, including in our area. She can do stairs as long as there’s a handrail, and the cane is easier to schlep!
As an architect, the design provisions of the ADA have been absolutely drilled into my brain, and I notice deviations everywhere! One of the most common that I see is small side tables or storage cabinets in bathrooms next to the toilet….. directly in the space for the wheelchair side approach.
UncleEbeneezer
@BellyCat: Do NOT besmirch my beloved King Taco! King Taco is a Los Angeles chain of Mexican restaurants that are absolutely some of the best burritos, tacos, and sopes (not to mention, tamales) you will ever taste. We probably miss KT more than anything else from Altadena/Pasadena/LA. Their al pastor is amazing!
m.j.
@They Call Me Noni:
I was a bit misty.
Rachel Bakes
Gotta make my sign. I’ve had Wee Free Men (Terry Pratchett book) running through my head with slight alteration.
Nae King! Nae Queen! Nae Dictator! Nae Nazi! We willna’ be fooled again!
with a feegle stomping on a taco
Matt McIrvin
@Trivia Man: The best thing about attending them around here, which I did not expect, was all the people beeping in support–far outnumbering the audible haters. At the big one in April there was even a semi blowing its air horn.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Matt McIrvin:
Same here. Even a big-assed rally like Denver’s combined with our problematic pohlice force (a reputation that I remember from back in the 70s and 80s), today will be benign and trying to scare the beejesus outta people in a broad brush manner won’t help.
Per your suggestion, in a place like ours, there’s plenty of protests that are gonna happen in extremely white exurbs and it’ll be basically another day out and about in the sun with a few slogans, chants and signs thrown in for good measure.
Plus, it’s always a chance to engage local law enforcement in a unthreatening “hi, how are ya today?” kinda way. It puts a certain “face” on the event that maybe, just maybe, will temper that cop’s reaction at the next one on the off chance that it might turn a little dicier. Basically, use one’s whiteness for a good cause.
Matt McIrvin
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: That’s been my philosophy. If brown people don’t feel safe turning out, that means it’s my job.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Your Baudiness, why you gotta put an earworm in my head this early in the morning?
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker: I love your animal and avian stories.
We’re headed to a likely smallish rally in a neighboring county. Unlike the Albuquerque demo, it’s in the morning before the hideous heat sets in. We’re bringing our American flags since I don’t want our national symbol coopted by the fascists. Plus it’s Flag Day.
Trivia Man
@TONYG: don’t forget anyone with any link to his political enemies or their financial backers
Matt McIrvin
Looks like the rain’s slacking off, hope that continues.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Earlier in the week I’d talked about the No Kings event map:
https://www.nokings.org/#map
and seeing the veritable wall of no return running N-S along I-25 here in CO. And other observations about how in the batshit insane west, protest events followed the interstates to an extent. But nothing out in the godforsakeneasternplainsofcolorado.
Lo and behold, there’s a last minute one popping up in Lamar! 7700 people, 12K in the county as a hole with around 900 registered Dems.
Having an event there, now that’s making a statement! It’s totally like my bumfuck, red rurl county back in Central Misery, only with no trees, no water and no Misery vocal drawl.
The lack of such events back from my old digs in Central Misery is also telling. There’s not one in Jeff City and I totally get that given the surrounding populace.
twbrandt
@m.j.: that is fabulous!
Professor Bigfoot
@prostratedragon: Tell you what— that took me back to college daze.
Had me dancing through the house this mornin’!!
prostratedragon
@Suzanne: She can get a bracket to attach a cane to the walker. It’s a standard enhancement.
O. Felix Culpa
@Matt McIrvin: I agree. At least in my reading, that article made it sound almost too scary to get out and protest. Not sure if that was the intended effect, but it had me wanting to hide in a closet. But I’m going to a (probably) smallish, low-risk local protest anyway.
Suzanne
@prostratedragon: Understood, but schlepping the roll-y walker up the stairs is my concern. It’s bulkier and heavier.
O. Felix Culpa
@Nelle: Me too.
twbrandt
It’s forecasted to be mid-70s and cloudy here in metro Detroit, which is perfect for this kind of thing. Made my “NO KINGS NO DICTATORS” sign yesterday, the first protest sign I have ever made.
O. Felix Culpa
@Rachel Bakes: One of my favorite books! I love the Feegles.
Ben Cisco
.
Dorothy A. Winsor
It’s misting a little now but is supposed to clear up by 12:30, which is when our demonstration starts. I have my John Lewis T-shirt on
Baud
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Suzanne: Just a note. Mr DAW has Parkinson’s and he has trouble using a rollerator. It gets out in front of him and gets away so he stumbles. He had to switch to one with wheels on the front feet only. Unfortunately that means it has no handy seat.
RaflW
Holy F*cking Shit:
Two Minnesota (Dem) lawmakers have been shot
Sources have told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS’ Tom Hauser that two Minnesota Lawmakers have been shot.
Minnesota state senator John Hoffman in Champlin and Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman [our Speaker emerita] in Brooklyn Park were reportedly shot in their homes by a gunman impersonating a police officer.
A manhunt is currently underway in Brooklyn Park for a man pretending to be a police officer.
The suspect, according to the alert, is a white man with brown hair wearing black body armor over a blue shirt and blue pants. Authorities are asking residents not to approach the suspect if spotted.
prostratedragon
@Suzanne: Yes, ’tis a problem. It never dawned on me how tricky small detsils of the environment can be until I started needing a walker and then a wheelchair to move around much.
Belafon
I will be at the Dallas one with two of my sons and two of their friends. All of us new at this. The Dallas one is a rally and not a march so a little less stress over what we’re expected to do, but I will be paying attention and doing my usual knowing what is going on around me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Apparently two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses were shot in Minneapolis last night by a gunman impersonating a police officer.
ETA: RaflW beat me to it at #80. Also Baud.
Jackie
@Baud: WHOA! I hope that asshole is caught PRONTO!😡
Baud
prostratedragon
@Professor Bigfoot: Once upon a time that song, plus a few, and I mean few, too many Blacl people proved effective aganst a vampire someone had mistakenly let in.
Spanky
@RaflW: HOOCOULDAKNOWED!
Clearly, the solution is to outlaw blue pants. Only Baud is safe.
Baud
Jackie
@RaflW:
They further stated if a SINGLE police officer knocks on your door, DO NOT OPEN AND CALL 911. Actual police officers are paired when going to residences.
Belafon
@Matt McIrvin: And that’s what I’m fighting through this morning. Do I prepare for the absolute worst? Should I be taking my adult sons?
But we are preparing for the possible common things and the rest we’ll just have to have react in the best way possible.
BarcaChicago
I’m not treating this like an event that I need to hide my identity at. I live in Chicago, there are no troops here yet, we have protests all the time in the area that will be going to today, it’s very well organized, I am volunteering with indivisible directly. Everyone knows I’m going, I’m glad that they know because there’s nothing Illegal about. Our mayor and governor support our peaceful protest. I think the worst that could happen is Chicago police being jerks. So I’m not taking any of the precautions that I’m sure make a lot of sense but in my perspective don’t apply to my situation today. Ultimately, who knows?
Rusty
The rain is supposed to be over in New Hampshire by the time the protest at the state capitol is starting. I’ve bought a 3 foot by 5 foot US flag, and I have an old extendable fiberglass and aluminum painting pole to mount it on so I can make it longer and wave above the ground as need be. A friend pointed out I will be an older white guy with a flag, and folks may rightly confuse me with the other side, so I may need to use a sharpie on an old shirt to write No Kings or something.
Professor Bigfoot
@Matt McIrvin: It is a simple truth, though— if nothing else, “Father Time remains undefeated.”
That son of a bitch WILL fail, the only question is how badly will he hurt us all before he finally does.
Ben Cisco
@Suzanne: I concur. Mama Cisco is using one now and it is great.
Baud
Professor Bigfoot
@Another Scott: I followed your link and that particular rollator is “not available.”
I don’t know if that’s related, but now’s about the time we were expecting to start seeing “empty shelves,” so… aaaauuuuggghhh.
NotMax
@Suzanne
The tricycle style wheeled walkers (one example) are lighter and roll around corners easier. Trade-off is no seat.
If you opt for a standard folding frame walker, Mom got one through Medicare for a a cost to her of a cool ten buckaroonies. They not only delivered it but also sent along an instructor to show her the proper way to use it. AFAIK it still has that new walker smell, a cane being sufficient support for her to get around at 97.
WereBear
Oh, an iron gray sky will give that Stalin tint to everything. So the red hats will stand out!
Let it look like the Nazis marching into France.
narya
@Suzanne: I think about this stuff a lot (not nearly as much as you do!)–kneeling buses, for example, or elevators or ramps at el stations, curb cuts–all serve to make the world more accessible. I remember reading someone saying we’re all “temporarily able-bodied,” and that has stuck with me.
Jeffro
I’ll see your otter and deer and raise you 11 salamanders and 3 box turtles(!)…plus some sort of weird nearly-clear jelly fungus that we are calling “Witches’ Crisco” (instead of Witches’ Butter)
Heck of a day on the trails near Casa Fro today =)
Sandia Blanca
@Suzanne: I bought a cane with a fold-down seat at the drugstore for the Hands Off rally (about $40), and it worked great!
Another Scott
@BarcaChicago: +1
I feel the same way about the No Kings event in Alexandria, VA today. Lots of things are scheduled, in addition to No Kings – I’m more concerned about finding parking.
Of course, MAGA Gov Fuzzy Vest is doing his best to try to intimidate people, but I don’t think it’s going to work.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Impersonating an unidentified ICE agent is the easiest thing in the world, a thing people have started picking up on already.
NotMax
@WereBear
Even if the rains hold off or are intermittent, lightning is enough to cancel the whole shebang.
Jeffro
We have been having (or rather, trying to have) that discussion with my mom and her companion (especially him – dude can barely walk 10 steps). It’s going nowhere.
I might have to leave one on their porch and go, “oh look what the rollator fairy left here! Let’s try it out!”
JML
@RaflW: This is horrible. I’ve known Melissa Hortman for years and she’s one of the absolute best. Hoffman is a good dude too. Hope they will be ok and their families. This is absolutely horrific.
Welcome to Donald Trump’s America.
Stay safe, friends.
WereBear
@prostratedragon: ’tis a day for funk. We are lining the roads so I have a chair out front.
Professor Bigfoot
@Matt McIrvin: I’m an atheist; but imagine a medieval village priest making the sign of the cross over the young boys going off to war; “Go with God, my son, may the saints protect and defend you, every one of you.”
Heh, for some reason Henry V’s St. Crispin’s day speech comes to mind, my brother.
Anyway, ALL Y’ALL, stay safe and do th’ thang!
Another Scott
@Professor Bigfoot: It’s just an example of a cheap one we got. It worked very well, and was surprisingly light and maneuverable. But it would still be a challenge for many oldsters to try to drag up a flight of stairs.
I’m reminded of Dean Kamen’s work on stair-climbing chairs and the like. We have the technology, but they’re still big, heavy, expensive gizmos.
We need cheap, foolproof jetpacks!!1
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jeffro
I’m soooo glad he’s decided to fully tie himself to trumpov and MAGA. I know American voters have short memories, but he’s really screwed himself over for 2028 (and hopefully beyond)
NotMax
As said in a slightly different form yesterday, paws crossed that this time the stormy screws him.
//
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
zhena gogolia
I have a sign and my cane (I don’t usually use it, but I thought it might help). Whether or not I’m going to make it is an open question
ETA: On one side, “Liberty and Justice for ALL” “Make fascism history again” (both stolen from BJ). On the other, “History Has Its Eyes on You” (inspired by the Hamilton number at the Tonys).
Nix Besser
@twbrandt: This is my first protest sign too (after only 62 years).
FREEDOM
DEMOCRACY
TRUTH
A bit damp and chilly in SE Pennsylvania, but nothing’s going to rain on MY parade.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
NotMax
@Professor Bigfoot
Alternative hymn lyrics.
;)
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: detsils = details!
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Too many successors to the Friedman Unit, I can’t keep track.
Professor Bigfoot
@Matt McIrvin: There’s also the possibility that it really is a police officer— “those who work forces,” after all.
I’ve always believed that if “death squads” come to America they will be recruited from local police departments.
WereBear
@Suzanne: Speaking as someone with a chronic illness, we also worry about not having the energy and becoming a drag at an important time.
She might be up for getting pics & texts, and participate that way.
NotMax
@Baud
K. Leavitt: “He never said two consecutive weeks. Next question.”
//
Professor Bigfoot
@Another Scott: LOL!
Tell you what, though— we’ve seen that soutpiel saying Tesla was going to market humanoid robots… and like, man, if you were really trying to help the world you’d use that technology to make mobility devices for humans.
Like what Dean Kamen was doing, only with the technology available here, deep into the 21st century.
But noooooo… (dissolves into snarling, spitting curses)
prostratedragon
@BarcaChicago: I’m sure the Daley Plaza will be ok today. If I didn’t need things like a good spot to wait indefinitely for parataxi back home I would certainly go with my little flag.
Almost Retired
We’re out of town, so we’re attending the closest protest in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Since I’m sure the Los Angeles area protests don’t really need us, maybe showing up at this small town effort may be more impactful? We don’t really look much like outside agitators. But maybe we outside agitators have become fiendishly-clever by disguising ourselves as anodyne-looking retirees, using our Soros bucks for convincing disguises. Bwa ha ha.
I encouraged my two second cousins in Iowa to attend the protests in small towns near them, instead of Iowa City, where they were planning on going. My theory is normie Iowans will roll their eyes at another protest in Iowa City, but may take notice of the turnout in places like Mount Vernon and Muscatine. Could be wrong, but that’s my working theory.
Baud
Dorothy A. Winsor
From a Blue Sky poster in Berlin:
Baud
For BC
Dorothy A. Winsor
I also see Blue Sky posts from places like Tokyo, Amsterdam, Dublin, etc. No Kings
NotMax
Just now finished up what has to be one of strangest TV programs I’ve ever seen, The Light Shop. Korean series available in both subtitled and dubbed versions on Hulu.
Can’t really go so far as to recommend it per se, other than in a give it glance sense if the outre intrigues.
WereBear
@narya: As a travel blogger, I would walk the route to see if it really was accessible.
I would also include sport wheelchair access and bike paths, which can flip the situation to get people out further into the wilderness.
It’s about public access, and we are all the public.
prostratedragon
@Professor Bigfoot, @Another Scott:
They do have many other Drive Medical rollator models in stock. My mother’s is still sturdy after around 8 years. Novas are also good, but pricey unless an extra large one is needed.
WereBear
@NotMax: Mmm. I have some goat cheese for a sacrifice. Already dancing from the excellent tunes this morning.
cintibud
IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR CINCINNATI PROTESTERS!
The University of Cincinnati, site of the main Cincinnati protest has suddenly, with no advanced notice, closed all of their public parking garages during this event.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Sterling to scones the slogan won’t fly in London.
:)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: I was just thinking that! The Irish seemed to have no trouble. LOL
WereBear
@Jeffro: Do they know the story of the Trojan rollerator?
I would find a short doc on the Titan Submersible and replay that implosion sound that killed five people, including the guy who insisted on piloting the ship without a wired controller.
That’s the guy who une-upped the Titanic itself, now famous for absurdly not recognizing the truth of a situation.
JML
@Baud: I just hope they and their families make it through this. The news here has not been encouraging. These are genuinely good people who went into politics to help people, who truly believe in public service.
This was an assassination attempt and that’s scary AF.
Please be ok.
A Streeter
@prostratedragon:
@lowtechcyclist:
Prostratedragon is thinking of the former City Post Office, now the site of the Postal Museum, next door to Union Station on the west. In 1914 it replaced what then (and thereby) became the Old Post Office lowtechcyclist speaks of (now notorious as the site of TACO’s hotel, a sad fate for a wonderful building); in 1986 it was itself replaced as main DC mail processing facility by a much plainer building several miles north.
NotMax
@A Streeter
Got a teensy bit of satisfaction from knowing that, until it was sold, Biden was technically the landlord of Dolt’s D.C. hotel.
:)
Dorothy A. Winsor
I somehow missed that Mike Johnson called for Sen. Padilla to be censured. What the heck is Johnson doing telling the Senate what to do? I’m sure the Senate will get right on that
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
June 14 also a somber day in London, being the anniversary of the horrendous and deadly Grenfell residential high rise fire in 2017.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: They can do No Tyrants or something. Today they had their trooping of the colors, which despite some gaudy uniforms seems down-home compared to TACO’s cumparsita.
Heidi Mom
The protest in my south-central PA town will be held on the town square, where all such events are held, from 4:30 to 7:30 (the late hour is because there are also Pride and Juneteenth events scheduled for today). The forecast is for showers throughout the day, but my Ukrainian flag is nylon so that’s no problem. I don’t plan to be there for the entire 3 hours.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WereBear: I don’t know if you all can see tiktoks, but there’s a series of very funny videos of people dressed up like Trojans talking about this horse they just got. We’re going to leave it in the center of town, one guy says. It will be fire!
PJ
@lowtechcyclist: The actual old main post office building (where the postal museum is now) is at Massachusetts and North Capitol, to the immediate west of Union Station. It was still in use as the main post office through the ’90s.
prostratedragon
@A Streeter: Aha. Thanks.
Professor Bigfoot
@prostratedragon: Give ‘em that— at least it’s an old-ass *tradition* right down to those ridiculous (but really magnificent) bearskin shakos.
It’s directly contrary to the American tradition, that the old soldier Ike reinforced.
”We don’t do that shit here.” Or at least, we didn’t.
NotMax
@WereBear
If there’s an afterlife, there’ afteregg on the afterfaces of the commissoin which investigated the Titanic sinking and totally ignored or discounted eyewitness testimony seeing the ship split in two just before going down.
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
What a horror that was. The building is due to be razed this fall, so toady is the last anniversary withe the frame intact.
Scout211
@Baud: OMG. This is the first I heard about this. They were shot in their homes by a man in a law enforcement uniform.
2 Minnesota lawmakers shot in apparent ‘targeted’ incidents, in grave condition; manhunt underway
NotMax
@Professor Bigfoot
Too young to remember Nixon’s (thankfully) quickly aborted attempt at redesign of the uniforms for White House military guards?
Jackie
Gov. Walz is speaking about the shootings of two state lawmakers now. MSNBC
NotMax
@prostratedragon
My layman’s understanding is the demolition has a timeline of two years to complete to ground level.
RevRick
Speaker Melissa Hortman was assassinated
TS
@Scout211:
press conference with the governor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtHNAbFnow
Jackie
Rep Melissa Hortman and her husband were
killedassassinated.edited to state truer definition of what happened.
Melancholy Jaques
My totally normie sister surprised me last night when she said she was going to a No Kings demonstration. This is not because anything I said or did; I never even mentioned that I was going because she is emphatically a normie who doesn’t even like to talk about politics. She said she and some of her co-workers are going because they are “angry about what is going on.” I don’t know about the co-workers but my sister does not watch news or follow politics.
Anecdotal evidence that somehow the message is getting through to some normies.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: They do these things carefully nowadays — wrap the building to contain debris and go floor by floor.
NotMax
@Jackie
“We’re all going to die.”
– Joni Ernst
.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jackie: God, that’s awful
Professor Bigfoot
@NotMax: I was still a kid at the time, so… but now, having just seen them. I’m in need of eyeball bleach.
At this point, I’m wondering why FFOTUS hasn’t created something like this— it looks right up his alley.
Professor Bigfoot
@RevRick: Nazi threats of political violence are no longer mere threats.
Another Scott
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
C-Span clip.
He’s so smarmy and self-righteous.
And he’s a bold-faced liar.
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That sounds delightful!
TS
They mentioned the protests at the press conference and a LE officer advised they would be out making sure the protestors were safe & giving them protection.
Elizabelle
WaPost does not seem to have MN shootings story up yet.
Another Scott
@RevRick: @Jackie:
Horrible.
:-(
The monsters won’t give up. We have to fight them every single day.
Strength to their families and all the good people everywhere trying to work for all of us in these dangerous times.
Best wishes,
Scott.
JPL
I’m in tears about the political violence that occurred in MN this morning. Their children had to be in the house and although I don’t know the ages, they had to be young.
Remember the orange goon is thinking of pardoning those wanting to murder Gov. Whitmer.
WTFGhost
@Rachel Bakes: Oh, if only one of them could find Trump with a golden shovel, about to dig into a feegle mound.
Pratchett rudely pointed out that no one wants to fight a 6″ humanoid, with strength exceeding that of a full grown man, given that he can fit inside your trousers….
“Daft Wullie, quit trying to pull out that toadstool! It’s stuck too firmly!”
“Crivens! I never though’ it were a toadstool. I might be daft, bu’ I’m nah stupid.”
Elizabelle
BBC has the MN story up. Nothing at WaPo.
RevRick
@Professor Bigfoot: This is Trump’s America. God damn him!
Elizabelle
The Guardian has prominent story. Crickets from the Bezos post. Not even a breaking news banner.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Nothing on WaPo’s Twitter or Bsky things either.
Maybe they’ve mostly got the day off??
:-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
Glory b
@Elizabelle: I saw an unconfirmed report that the female legislator and her husband have died.
WTFGhost
@Professor Bigfoot:
TTTO: Saturday Night (S A T U R D AY NIGHT!)
T A C-O MAN N O T – NOT!
T A C-O MAN N O T – NOT!
He gets on tarrifs like a big ol’ chump,
He’s the tacoman, the tacoman
We think they make his little weiner bump,
The taco man, the tacoman….
(It may need a bit of cleanup – I have horrible syllable-to-beat capacity – goddamn singers make it extra difficult, putting 37 syllables into four beats, if demanded.
(“My old man’s a certified public accountant working counterintelligence at the FBI, and what do you think of that….”)
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: out slobbering on GOP knobs? One must assume.
Baud
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: That feels so much like “giving the bastards the satisfaction,” but I have to trust that local folks know what’s what.
Strength to the families.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jeffro: Just before 6 pm Thursday, on my way to a friend’s house, I came around a curve and hit the brakes – a deer was ambling across the road. Roughly the 4200 block of University Pkwy in the Roland Park section of Baltimore, less than a mile from the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. Not exactly downtown but still pretty damn urban.
Kelly
Mostly sunny with a high of 73 for the Salem OR No Kings at the state capitol building. I’m planning to pick up a NO PARKING sign on the way in. I’ll cross out the PAR with tape.
Jackie
Apparently the fake cop even had a vehicle decked out to resemble a police car. Police found a list of potential victims – including the two who were shot – inside the abandoned “police” car. Apparently police engaged fire with the now on foot fake officer near the wounded lawmaker’s home.
WereBear
@Baud: Memorial would be fitting, when it’s right.
Nelle
@Melancholy Jaques: My Republican, evangelical, anti-abortion sister will likely not be protesting, but she has alienated many of her Republican friends by coming out against Trump. Cutting food aid to children was her line (and his despicable character).
H.E.Wolf
@Trivia Man: I wish we had 100,000 solo protesters around the country. A shirt, a sign, an american flag would be sufficient.
I’m on the sicklist today, so my protest is very solo! I chalked a Betsy Ross flag on our sidewalk, and captioned it “NO KINGS”.
13 stars in a circle are tough (for me) to space evenly. Props to Ms. Ross for her skill.
JML
I’m absolutely gutted at the death of Melissa Hortman & her husband Mark. Melissa was the best of us: smart, funny, fierce (but never mean or vengeful). She was in politics for the right reasons: to serve the public and improve her community. One of my all-time favorite people in politics. Met her early in her legislative career and she was easy to spot as a future star. Supported multiple candidates I worked for, and always did more than just put her name on something. I tried to talk her into running for Congress once and she turned me down flat, saying “I love my husband and don’t want to get divorced”. She was joking, but not really: she knew what the stresses of a campaign could do, but moreover what winning could do with people being separated and trying to maintain 2 households. She and Mark were a great team with a wonderful family, and Mark being killed too is another absolute tragedy.
We lost a great political leader today, and two wonderful people. Just a horrible day. This is crushing. Cannot believe political assassinations are happening in MN.
Be safe this weekend.
Baud
@JML:
I’m sorry for your loss.
WTFGhost
@O. Felix Culpa: Really, the danger is highest for protest organizers, because you know Trump would order a full federal probing of everything, up to, and including, the entire GI tract, for anyone who causes “trouble”. Still, a burner phone is safest, if you ever say anything that could sound like incitement or a desire for violence, because that lets local cops try to build a case against you, if you’re near a scuffle, and get rounded up.
@narya: Plus, all of those things are family friendly, for strollers, for example. They mean you can complete more of your day if you’ve broken a leg.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The goal is to get enough liars telling the lie, so the lie soaks in, “…and Democrats, of course, deny it!”
Another Scott
@JML: Thank you for sharing that. It’s important.
:-(
Strength and comfort to you, and to all who loved and were served by them.
Best wishes,
Scott.
bluefoot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: that is excellent
RevRick
@RevRick: The blood of Melissa Hortman and her husband are on Trump’s hands and on the hands of every GOP politician who did not denounce his pardon of the January 6th rioters or his ugly rhetoric at Ft. Bragg.
Elizabelle
@JML: My condolences, JML. I am glad you knew such a wonderful couple, and it is beyond tragic they are gone.
I will be thinking of all three of you, and keeping Minnesota in my heart. Always, Governor Walz and Lt Governor Peggy Flanagan.
Some of the best people in the world.
Elizabelle
Does anybody else notice the missing word in DJT’s “statement” put out by Spokestwatliar Karoline Leavitt?
Belafon
We are about half way between Rowlett and the stop in Dallas on the DART rail, and the train is running out of standing room.
pieceofpeace
@Tony Jay: Good to see you here….
cintibud
Just got back from the Cincinnati protests. THOUSANDS of people! Many great signs!
Tony Jay
@pieceofpeace:
Like a surprise tallywacker at an Over 70’s Greco-Roman Wrestling evening, I emerge on occasion, but never hang around for long.
Matt McIrvin
@Professor Bigfoot: The shooter now appears to have been a rent-a-cop type, private security.
chemiclord
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Spoiler alert: They will absolutely accept it, especially if it only targets them “outsider” “fake Americans” in blue states.
Hell, I’d wager a majority of them would happily surrender their own guns if their God King Donald Trump demanded it.
planetjanet
@prostratedragon:
The Postal Museum is across the street from Union Station.
Kayla Rudbek
@narya: very true that we are all temporarily able-bodied at best
Kayla Rudbek
@Professor Bigfoot: yeah, we should be using technology to help the blind, the deaf, and to accommodate those who can’t walk. What would Jesus do if he was an engineer, after all?
Kayla Rudbek
@Professor Bigfoot: I’ve seen some of the video/photo of Trump’s parade on Bluesky and I am spectacularly unimpressed. First off, to celebrate the Army’s 250th, they should have all been in full dress uniform instead of their camouflage PJs (yes, I am a complete snob about the military being permitted to wear camouflage outside of the battlefield. Bite me, I learned this at my JAG daddy’s Class-A clad knee and from years of uniform wearing in Catholic schools.) Second, my high school marching band did a better job of marching in time than they did. Third, I haven’t listened to the music yet, but the commentary makes it look like whoever picked it was in full malicious compliance mode.