Posts Tagged ‘HANDS OFF’
Public Protest
Sitting beside two women I didn’t know, I asked them if they ever imagined this would be happening in our lifetimes. The response from the elder of the two was that it was her second protest of a President because she previously took to the streets in objection to Nixon.
I didn’t know what to expect in terms of numbers but it seemed a little thin at first. We had no difficulty finding a place to park our car. Walking a short distance, we found a line of sign-carrying folks coming down the sidewalk toward us and chanting.
As they reached us, we fell in with the marchers while passing cars honked on our way to the small park where a soap box would be presented for people to speak their minds.
While people robustly expressed their deep dissatisfaction with everything the current administration has been doing, passing cars continued to honk in support of the “Hands Off!” theme. This occasionally triggered those gathered on the other side of the road to start chanting, which drowned out some of the words of the speakers, but we always got the gist of each message.
The small gathering in River Falls drew people from Minnesota on the other side of the St. Croix River, from Hudson, and from Red Wing. It was inspiring.
I learned of the somewhat subtle silent protest of “8647” on a sign, which I think is clever. There were plenty of other witty and creative slogans I found entertaining, as well. Among the many spoken messages shared by citizens, I was particularly pleased to hear one gentleman describing having just returned from a trip around Europe. He shared that the people of several countries they visited were not thinking poorly of us –sympathetic, maybe– but their beef was with our leaders, same as us.
“How are those cheap eggs working out for ya?”
The most moving speaker was a Hispanic immigrant who talked about working long, hard hours milking cows and searching for work that others don’t want to do. She just wanted a little compassion amidst the callous aggression being doled out by masked, plain-clothed ICE agents who are “disappearing” people with no acknowledgment of whether or not violations had actually occurred.
Most of the people who stepped up to the microphone were retirement-age so one guy put up a challenge to the crowd that the next person to speak needed to be under 30. It worked, and soon we were hearing the opinions of several from younger generations.
A lot of people expressed pride in our country and that is why they are protesting. I’m more inclined to admit I was protesting because I’m not proud of my country at this point.
At least, for now, we were still granted the freedom to assemble and exercise our right to free speech. No AI bots and no fake news. Just real people telling it the way they see it. It was cathartic if nothing else.
Rating: 10/10. I’d do it again.
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Filing Objections
It is April 5th, a “national day of action” the banner professes. Cyndie and I intend to join the mix of college students and rural folks from around River Falls to express our dissatisfaction with the destructive chaos that has been underway since the inauguration in January.
There isn’t a sign big enough to hold my objections.
I object to the President of the United States of America being a blatant small and large-scale grifter.
I object to people making decisions that impact millions of others based on greed and their ill-informed prejudices.
I object to our government disrespecting our allies.
I object to people trying to force their religion into this country’s laws.
I object to government leaders behaving like bullies.
I object to the decisions and behaviors of everyone who has enabled or abetted foreign interference in our elections.
I object to the discounting of the severity of the global climate crisis.
I object to blind adherence to ideologies.
I object to people ignoring their hypocrisy.
I object to the ugly confidence to publicly display hatred for others.
I object to the blatant disregard for the rule of law.
I object to the blatant disregard for human rights.
I object to the blatant disregard for proven science.
I object to the assumption that this administration can simply state that we are going to own another country.
I object to unilaterally issuing orders to deny equity and inclusion of our diverse populations.
I object to the assault on education and the sweep up of graduate students.
I object to the allowing of an unelected appointee to dismantle government institutions.
I object to the incarceration of innocent travelers by our immigration officials.
I object to the intentional destruction of our national and global economies.
I object to people lapping up mis- and disinformation like it was Kool-Aid that keeps them alive.
I object to the theft of good people’s sanity through the unending flow of drama and excrement coming from Donald Trump and every single person who supports him, including every billionaire or foreign leader controlling him from behind the scenes.
It’s time to go stand with the crowd to show how we really feel.
I’ll let you know tomorrow if it makes me feel any better.
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Sad Truth
No matter which side of the current democracy debate happening in the U.S. is bombarding my inboxes, they share a common trait: it all comes down to the almighty dollar. Apparently, Elon Musk offered up $1 million to entice voters to pick the Republican party’s favored Wisconsin Supreme Court judge. At the same time, the latest email from MoveOn.org in the name of Robert Reich outlines “the most sweeping assault on the American mind in modern history.” It goes on to tell me “we need a massive movement” and then asks if I will help in the form of $5.00 a month.
So much for my dream of wandering in the wilderness for four years to avoid news of the most despicable people to ever gain control over every branch of our once reasonably sound government.
Since the current administration of evil-doers is rushing to slash funding of practically any government program you can think of that was created to help people, all those organizations that were barely functioning on what little money they received are now looking to the citizens for more cash. The occasional fund drive weeks of public radio and television will become full-time pleas.
The sad truth is that when Public Radio begs me one more time to give even more than my current amount of sustaining donations, I may need to tell them I can’t afford any amount if the Social Security program falls under the destructive cash-grab by the kleptocrats in office.
How many ethical judges will be able to survive the methods of achieving autocracies that have sadly been proven successful throughout history?
If only someone would have warned us this might happen and encouraged citizens to get to the polls and vote to save our democracy last November. I guess they should have also offered a cash incentive bonus.
To their credit, MoveOn did send me one protest effort that didn’t immediately ask for money. The “HANDS OFF” national day of action (Saturday, April 5) looks to rally thousands of people across the country for nonviolent protest of the brazen power grab underway. I fully support their intentions but don’t believe for one second that protests by the masses will worry the bullies in the White House one bit.
I’m not sure whose attention we need to get in order to turn this ship around. We can stop shopping at every big corporation’s retail businesses, but it seems like it’s the power holders in Russia who have control over the U.S. now. I don’t think they care one bit about the possible collapse of our economy. Wait. What am I thinking? That is probably an integral part of their plan.
They let the Orange-One and Musk think they are all powerful and getting wealthier by the minute while Putin sits back and watches Russia’s one-time nemesis of global order and Olympic competition wilt away into irrelevance. If I were Musk and his boss-in-crime, I’d be supremely cautious around high windows and flights of stairs in the presence of Putin’s goons. As far as theories go, seems plausible enough to me.
I wonder if goon is a high-paying position. Remember, it’s all about the money, and one probably needs to keep their goons contented to the extreme.
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Relative Something 