Tag: united states

No Kings protests today

Posted on by Liz Henry

So many great photos and videos coming out today from the No Kings protests around the U.S.! I want to save them here to remember part of the firehose of amazing images. It is not being really covered well by news media (yet). So also in case it is downplayed tomorrow I’d like to convey the impression I got today that this was huge all over the country. I also get pretty disgusted with things like seeing (right now) CNN have a headline like “Americans not sure what to think about Trump’s deportations”. Today is a very clear indication what Americans think!!!! Damn!!!

I also was very impressed seeing this wasn’t just a few big cities. It was smaller cities and small towns and in some of those I’m seeing reports that something like 1/5 of the town turned out to rally. That’s so powerful! And in the SF Bay Area I can see that while we had an enormous 100K+ gathering here (reports of up to 150K) that was simultaneous with all the towns around us haveing their own rallies and marches, 30K in San Jose, thousands more in Vallejo, Concord, Santa Cruz, and so on. It isn’t like everyone had to come to the nearest big city. It is just happening everywhere.

A selection from my casual feed on Bluesky, in no particular order,

Ann Arbor https://bsky.app/profile/marcofoster.bsky.social/post/3lrludtfhok2u

screenshot of a bsky post showing an overhead video of a huge crowd

Oakland, time lapse video, “Time lapse of Oakland no kings march eventually taking over both sides of Broadway from
@oaklandside.org. Many thousands of people.”

https://bsky.app/profile/brandon.insertcredit.com/post/3lrlyk4tlr22b

San Francisco (the beach gathering that spells out No Kings in people)
Video: https://bsky.app/profile/imanor.bsky.social/post/3lrlt2nrcqs25
Still image: https://bsky.app/profile/brucehinze.bsky.social/post/3lrlohrocbc2l

aerial photo of no kings spelled out with the letters formed by the bodies of a huge crowd of people

San Francisco, view down Dolores towards downtown: https://bsky.app/profile/leojos.bsky.social/post/3lrlttaf2ts2x

a large crowd streaming down palm tree lined Dolores St. in San Francisco, view over several city blocks

Chicago, earlier today estimated 80K, but I have seen higher numbers: https://bsky.app/profile/markjacob.bsky.social/post/3lrlppmtqok2e

https://bsky.app/profile/xplicitpolitix.bsky.social/post/3lrlsejv5mc2m

aerial shot of an enormous public square jam packed with people, this was the rally but there were 10 full city blocks of people marching behind this

And this video from Chicago showing along the lakefront, wow! https://bsky.app/profile/jimbrown.bsky.social/post/3lrlqjbkxjs2n

(here is a screenshot of a bit of that video)

screenshot of truly fucking enormous crowd along a huge length of chicago lakeshore drive

Philly, PA 80K-100K (from different reports) https://bsky.app/profile/rweingarten.bsky.social/post/3lrlsyq2ig22p

https://bsky.app/profile/krassenstein.bsky.social/post/3lrlsejjgmc2a

screenshot of a bit of aerial video of huge crowds filling several streets and plazas

a large crowd in front of speakers in a public square in philadelphia

Houston, TX

https://bsky.app/profile/aft.org/post/3lrlaa2jtis2r

photo from within a crowd of baseball hatted houstonians with signs, likely everyone is covered in sweat

Pittsburgh, PA
https://bsky.app/profile/engelr412.bsky.social/post/3lrlkwfym3c2f

big crowd somewhere in pittsburgh

and more pittsburgh, (a fun thread! i like the “what a jagoff” sign)

https://bsky.app/profile/engelr412.bsky.social/post/3lrlkwfym3c2f

https://bsky.app/profile/kemek.bsky.social/post/3lrlnbju7qk2m

a more clear aerial shot of the crowd in front of an official looking building in pittsburgh

Lancaster, PA
https://bsky.app/profile/got-yarn.bsky.social/post/3lrlgjeybss2g

a moderately sized crowd filling a public plaza in a town in pennsylvania that i have never heard of

Salt Lake City Utah,
https://bsky.app/profile/luckytran.com/post/3lrlmjvzpxs2x

aerial view of a moderately large crowd

Charleston, SC

https://bsky.app/profile/chsindivisible.bsky.social/post/3lrlbdajbec2b

shot of people in a crowd on a hot day's no kings rally in south carolina

Olympia, WA

https://bsky.app/profile/ranaman004.bsky.social/post/3lrlmziphgk2r

another big crowd in front of a government building, in olympia

Dallas, TX. Police reports were of 10K protestors. These videos seem to me to show more than that.

https://bsky.app/profile/therickydavila.bsky.social/post/3lrlvgumz6s2u

https://bsky.app/profile/victinibcn.bsky.social/post/3lrltqe6czc2a

https://bsky.app/profile/lorennacleary.bsky.social/post/3lrlo2krekk24

https://bsky.app/profile/dallasnews.com/post/3lrljrilmvg2x

Fort Worth, “No kings, si vaqueros in Fort Worth” :

https://bsky.app/profile/moye.bsky.social/post/3lrlnz5xyfc22

men on horseback in a no kings parade in texas, us and mexican flags flying

Nashville, TN

https://bsky.app/profile/johnhaubenreich.bsky.social/post/3lrlcmrcc7k2e

a moderately large crowd in nashville tennessee

Kingston, NY, a town I have never heard of but which was one of the many “a huge percentage of the population of the town turned out” reports I saw today. “Sheriff said 5,000 attended! City has 24k people total”

https://bsky.app/profile/ariberman.bsky.social/post/3lrlr6bs3y22q

Bastrop, TX, “small town, large turnout of 700 10 am CDT”
https://bsky.app/profile/shelleytango.bsky.social/post/3lrlozrsjas2v

Austin TX: “Austin proceeds despite the evacuation of the TX Capitol at 1 pm in response to what TX DPS called a “credible threat” against lawmakers attending today’s rally, one of more than 1,800 across the country.”

https://bsky.app/profile/somewhereinatx.bsky.social/post/3lo5ethncdc2x

https://bsky.app/profile/candicebernd.bsky.social/post/3lrlwrbkcn224

https://bsky.app/profile/dianejohnson13.bsky.social/post/3lrlxymqwek2x

view of crowd in front of the capitol building from inside the crowd
view down austin's main downtown street, congress ave, of a big crowd marching with signs

San Diego, along the waterfront,

https://bsky.app/profile/dworkin.bsky.social/post/3lrljwvlomc2t

multiple city blocks of a very wide crowd along a waterfront street in san diego

Portland Oregon: “Thousands showed up today in Portland, Oregon along the waterfront”

https://bsky.app/profile/blondiebombshell.bsky.social/post/3lrlsd5brtc2r

jam packed street in portland, marchers with signs

Seattle, WA

https://bsky.app/profile/pnwgoodboy.bsky.social/post/3lrlok2qhkk2x

giant crowd in a huge public square and surrounding streets in seattle

Sacramento, CA

https://bsky.app/profile/dworkin.bsky.social/post/3lrljnyrics2t

another aerial shot of a big ass crowd this one in front of the california state capitol building

Minneapolis, this is so impressive and amazing since this march was actually called off because of the political assassination of State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting of State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife (who are expected to survive).

“The day started with tragedy with political violence in MN and instead of being scared, neighbors SHOWED UP to stand together at No Kings Twin Cities. We packed the Capitol Mall all the way to the Cathedral. Estimate 80,000+ right now. So proud of our state.”

https://bsky.app/profile/indivistwincities.bsky.social/post/3lrlwe6decs2h

enormous, enormous crowd, aerial photo, in front of capitol building

Somewhere in Idaho, “Do you know how badly you have to screw up as a Republican to get this kind of turnout in IDAHO? ”

https://bsky.app/profile/heathersdesk.bsky.social/post/3lrlpmxykws2a

a large crowd in some public square in an unknown idaho town

I could just keep going, I didn’t even try to look up particular cities or look up the hash tag. This is just what came into the main Blue Sky feed that isn’t even people I follow or particularly tailored for me. Please feel free to add more in comments!!!!!

On the horrible human rights abuses perpetrated by the USA

Posted on by Liz

Just a note that it is completely horrifying that the US government continues amping up its focus on concentration camps, detention centers, etc.

AND also, no one at all should be in prison or jail as it currently exists and this is just one more manifestation of an unsustainable multigenerational injustice of the growth of the carceral state, or prison industrial complex, or both. Abolish prisons and abolish ICE. This is the greatest horror of our time and country and it has been so for all my life. Ethically I should probably focus whatever of my energies aren’t going towards my job in open source software, into fighting the carceral state. Must think about how to do this and look for good organizations to join & support. Donating to bail people out is one thing, for immediate relief of a few people, but it needs huge legal, cultural, structural changes to stop what’s happening and try to undo the incalculable harm…

kthanxbai, Just had to get that off my chest.

Inciting to protest

Posted on by Liz

It’s hard to know how to describe how this looks to me, but I have read a fair amount of history and I don’t think it will go well here.

The President-Elect’s tweet today: “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”

Protesters incited

I’ve been a blogger for over 10 years, and as part of the media, I’d like to incite you all to protest anything you please, since that is a fundamental part of our rights in this country. Protest is an incredibly important way that we can drive political change. I believe in protest, and also in the power of civil disobedience. Not just laws but obviously, the principles behind creating laws are worth defending, and discussing, and protesting.

Maybe a more fair way to do things for the President-Elect would be for him to appoint an oversight board to tell the media what they can publish and also making not only protest but suggesting protest or covering protests as news into a federal crime. I can’t think where we have seen this idea before, maybe in various dictatorships over the years.

Failing that, maybe someone could tip off the President-Elect about the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States including our right to free speech and peaceful assembly. There is a nice explanation of it on some useful government web sites. Have a look!

“The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States Congress from enacting legislation that would abridge the right of the people to assemble peaceably. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes this prohibition applicable to state governments”

So, anyway, sarcasm aside, looks like they gave the President-Elect his Twitter account back.

I am so proud of the protestors and especially of the San Francisco students who walked out of class and marched today in protest.

“More than 1,000 students left campuses across the city and marched toward Civic Center Plaza, according to the San Francisco Unified School District.”

I look forward to more protests, teach-ins and consciousness raising and whatever activism and political action comes from the protests.

I also look forward to reading and writing about the work of excellent journalists who will never be silenced . . .

4th of July parade ACLU