June 10, 1917 The Women’s Peace Crusade in Scotland launched a three-week campaign of street meetings and demonstrations in dozens of towns to build support for peace in the midst of what was then called The Great War (now known as World War I). More about the Womens’s Peace Crusade
June 10, 1937 The mayor of Monroe, Michigan, organized a citizens’ posse of some 1400 vigilantes, armed with baseball bats and tear gas, to combat the union organizing drive at local Newton Steel. The mob threw a dozen of the picketers’ cars into the River Raisin. Steelworkers’ cars were rolled into Monroe, Michigan’s River Raisin by strike breakers recruited by the mayor. The 120 striking steelworkers and their supporters were working to form unions in the “Little Steel” companies which, unlike U.S. Steel, continued to resist unionization. Newton had just been purchased by Republic Steel [see Chicago’s Memorial Day Massacre [May 30, 1937]. The whole story (Note from Ali: the link in the newsletter was no longer functional. Doing a search of cars going into the River Raisin is really interesting, even simply in modern times! I had to search the specific date to get this report. Seems like an “active” place, there in Monroe!)
June 10, 1963 The “Equal Pay Act of 1963” was passed and signed into law; it guaranteed women equal pay for equal work. The legislation was a result of the recommendations of President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women. The law itself
June 10, 1980 Nelson Mandela’s first writings, and those of other imprisoned anti-apartheid leaders, were smuggled out and made public while they were imprisoned on South Africa’s Robben Island. “ As I read these fascinating essays, I was struck so forcibly by the importance of memory, of history, for both the individual and the community. . . . I pray that our people and especially our children will, by reading this collection of essays, remember the very high price that has been paid to achieve our freedom.” – Desmond Tutu, from the foreword Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, where he spent 17 years Review of Reflections in Prison Portions of the book
Since I blogged about this issue yesterday, and I just finished my second cartoon of the day (for the FXBG Advance, which you’ll see tomorrow), we’re going to talk about some of the fallout of the Elon/Trump War.
Trump is thinking of selling the cherry red Tesla S he bought from Elon to throw some public support and propaganda his way after Tesla’s stock took a huge hit. Since Elon started gutting the government, a lot of Tesla owners have buyer’s remorse and have been selling their cars. Now, Trump has buyer’s remorse.
Presidents can’t drive on public roads, and Trump can’t drive at all. Trump buying a car would be like me buying a helicopter. I can’t fly a helicopter. If anything, Trump should buy Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. That would be more accurate symbolism, especially if what Elon said about the Epstein Files is true.
I’m sure there’s a MAGAt out there with too much money who would overpay for Trump’s Tesla, other wise, the value has dropped about 28 percent, even if it’s slightly used and fart-free (though Trump did sit in it for a minute which is probably long enough for him to blast a few dozen and christen the car. (snip-MORE)
I thought I’d be up super late last night, and planned to watch news coverage of the L.A. protests until the wee hours of the morning. But I felt out of sorts all day yesterday, which infected my cartooning, and sleepiness hit me heavy at 11 p.m. after a dinner of runny egg salad sandwiches (I had to do something with a dozen recently-expired eggs before leaving town Saturday, and I used too much mayo), so I went to bed.
I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, and I was ready to go. But I dreaded turning on my TV. I was afraid I’d find nothing but coverage of deaths and a city burning. But no, I didn’t find any of that. The most disturbing thing I learned was that Lauren Tomasi, a reporter from Australia’s Channel 9 News, was struck by a rubber bullet while she was doing her job. (snip-MORE)
The Advance included a note with my cartoons this morning as it often does, and today’s said:
Mail delivery in our area — indeed, in the Commonwealth — is a problem. Don’t take our word for it. Take former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s word for it. Her work uncovered delays galore, and the state consistently rates as one of the worst in the country for mail delivery. So when the downtown post office recently shutdown for, well, whatever reason it was closed for, there was mumbling, but not much of an uproar. Clay certainly noticed, however.
This cartoon was inspired by my own grievances, and it’s the second time the local post office has pissed me off enough to draw a cartoon. Louis DeJoy has inspired others.
The first time was back in December, when they raised the rates to my mailbox and then shut down the branch containing that mailbox. (snip-MORE)
Donald Trump is deploying the National Guard, not to stop riots or for safety, but to start a fight. And he’s doing it illegally.
ICE is conducting raids in the Los Angeles area. They’re not going after criminals, but average citizens who may just so happen to be undocumented. I don’t use the word “illegal” to describe humans unless it’s in the context of someone else using it. Humans are not illegal.
When the National Guard is deployed, it’s usually at the request of a governor or other officials. Yet, neither the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, nor Governor Gavin Newsom has requested military aid, like what happened during the Rodney King riots in 1992.
There has been some violence, such as cars being set on fire and other property damage, but to a small extent. The L.A.P.D. can handle these protests, which are legal.
Governor Newsom said Trump’s decision to call in the National Guard is “purposefully inflammatory.” He’s right.
Trump wants everyone to sit back and allow him to do whatever he wants. Not getting that, he wants a fight. He wants protesters to get violent. He wants L.A. to burn. He wants blood. He wants to point at the city and blame a Democratic mayor and a Democratic governor. He wants to blame liberals and Democrats. He wants to portray himself as the law-and-order president (sic), while he’s the president (sic) who pardoned the white nationalist J6 terrorists who attacked law enforcement. (snip-MORE)
June 9, 1872 Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist and the composer of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” tried to establish the Mothers’ Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June. In 1872 the first such celebration was held and the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted, but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday. Mothers’ Peace Day was the predecessor of the Mothers’ Day holiday in the United States now celebrated on the third Sunday of May. Julia Ward Howe ca.1898 Her proclamation read in part: “As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace….”
June 9, 1954 Special Counsel for the U.S. Army Joseph N. Welch confronted Senator Joseph P. McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) during hearings into alleged communist infiltration of the Army Signal Corps.McCarthy had attacked a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick G. Fischer, among many others, as a communist. This was alleged due to Fischer’s prior membership in the National Lawyers Guild. The Guild was the nation’s first racially integrated bar association. Army counsel Joseph N. Welch (l) confronts Senator Joseph McCarthy (r) Welch was outraged by the attempt to destroy the reputation and career of someone of whose integrity he had no doubt: “Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness . . . . Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” The entire hearings and this encounter were seen live on television, the first congressional committee hearings ever to be broadcast. McCarthy’s ability to make such accusations was soon greatly diminished. Watch the confrontation National Lawyers Guild, since 1937 and today
June 9, 1984 150,000 marched in London, England, for nuclear disarmament, protesting the presence of U.S. cruise missiles on British soil.
June 9, 1993 Police banned a vigil by Women in Black (Zene u Crnom) in Belgrade, Serbia. Who are the Women in Black? Women in Black demonstrations combine art & politics
A third day of protests against immigration raids was expected to take place in the Los Angeles area on Sunday, hours after President Trump took the extraordinary action of ordering at least 2,000 National Guard members to assist immigration agents clashing with demonstrators.
The announcement by Mr. Trump — who said that any protest or act of violence that impeded officials would be considered a “form of rebellion” — was an escalation that put Los Angeles squarely at the center of tensions over his administration’s immigration crackdown and made rare use of federal powers to bypass the authority of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
Mr. Trump issued the order on Saturday as law enforcement officers faced off with hundreds of protesters for a second consecutive day in the Los Angeles area, in some cases using rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. Mr. Newsom described Mr. Trump’s order as “purposefully inflammatory,” saying that the federal government was mobilizing the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle.”
Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby.
Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA’s fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The National Guard has not yet been deployed to the sites of any protests in Los Angeles County, according to its sheriff’s department. “We were told that the National Guard had been deployed, however they are not on the scene or the ground yet,” Deputy Sheriff Tracy Koerner said around 1:45 a.m. local time. Earlier Sunday, Mayor Karen Bass said the National Guard had not been deployed in the city limits.
The Los Angeles Police Department said at midnight that it detained “multiple” people who breached an area near the city’s Metropolitan Detention Center where the agency had declared an “unlawful assembly.” “Those detained will be arrested and booked for failing to disperse,” the force said on social media. Earlier, police said a section of Alameda Street was closed to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
The cult is celebrating on X, with some calling for the use of “live rounds” on protesters. Trump’s post below came at 2:41am, presumably upon his return from a UFC match where he was seated with Mike Tyson.
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emptywheel (check)
@emptywheel
SEIU CA President David Huerta was assaulted and arrested for peaceful protest. The injuries the assault caused required hospital care.
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JD Vance
@JDVance
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Replying to @JDVance
For the far left rioters, some helpful advice; peaceful protest is good. Rioting and obstructing justice is not.
Deploying troops to communities already under pressure is not leadership—it’s provocation. The Trump Administration is weaponizing fear to divide and destabilize. We will not be silent. We stand with those targeted and terrorized. We fight for justice. Always.
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Gavin Newsom
@GavinNewsom
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The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle. Don’t give them one.
Brian Allen
@allenanalysis
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In case you were wondering what sparked the LA standoff between protesters and federal agents, this is it. Immigrants showed up for routine ICE check-ins and were detained on the spot. Hauled into the basement. Held overnight like fugitives. No warning. No due process. Just snatched. “Land of the free,” right?
Republicans against Trump
@RpsAgainstTrump
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During his first term, Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper to shoot protesters. Esper refused. Now he has Pete Hegseth. God help us all
JD Vance now wants to use the chaos ICE is causing in Los Angeles as pretext to pressure politicians to pass the Republican budget bill that will saddle Americans with trillions of dollars of debt, skyrocket the deficit, take away people’s healthcare, and give massive tax breaks to the wealthy.
Jo
@JoJoFromJerz
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Weird how he didn’t call up the National Guard on January 6th.
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Crooks and Liars
@crooksandliars
Trump sends in his brown shirts to cause disruption so he can use the insurrection act or whatever fucked rational he comes up with to send in the the National G. Mussolini gives a thumbs up in his grave.
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MeidasTouch
@MeidasTouch
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Trump lit the match, poured the gasoline, and now wants to use the blaze he is creating as pretext to burn it all down.
A powder keg is about to explode: With masks to hide their identity, this is what a Nazi takeover of the streets of Los Angeles looks like. Trump’s cosplaying ICE Gestapo is carrying out a lawless assault against one of the most diverse cities in America.
I was told ICE was going to arrest gangsters and mobsters. But all I see is fat white guys in cosplay doin jobsite raids, school raids, and arresting mothers with kids who are applying for citizenship.
Ask yourself why ICE is conducting raids in cities like LA and Chicago, where they face strong opposition, while massive agribusinesses in places like Kristi Noem’s South Dakota remain untouched.
Your boss pardoned cop beaters at the January 6th riot
CBP
@CBP
Let this be clear: Anyone who assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer or agent in the performance of their duties will be arrested and swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Attack a cop, and life long consequences will follow!
This guy is living out his camo fantasy right now like it’s a game. Disgusting.
Acyn
@Acyn
Tom Homan: We are making Los Angeles safer. Mayor Bass should be thanking us. She says they are going to mobilize—guess what? We are already mobilizing. We are going to bring the National Guard in tonight
President Obama deported 3 million people and managed to do so without using stormtroopers and the National Guard. Like everything else, Obama was better at that too.
Trump is sending in highly visible and armored ICE agents to LA and other big cities. He’s deliberately creating conflict so he can federalize the National Guard to go in and start hurting American citizens. That’s the end game.
The person most responsible for the chaos and violence in southern California right now is @StephenM – who screamed at and fired ICE officials for not making 3,000 arrests per day Now he’s put ICE agents, police officers, protesters, immigrants, and innocent bystanders at riskShow more
It’s even worse than just “capturing them at court dates”…they are dropping charges against the people for the sole purpose of arresting and deporting them as they are leaving the courthouse, It’s underhanded bullshit.
TACO will declare a national emergency and then suspend Habeas Corpus and initiate mass arrests. The captured true American Patriots protesting the Dear TACO will be sent to concentration camps. Who will stop him? More court orders.
Legal or not, it’s going to take an escalation by the Mayor or Governor, telling their officers to arrest and detain ICE members for trespassing and kidnapping, to attempt to end this. Governor could just tell the National Guard to disobey. It’s going to take open defiance by those with the power to smack down these fascists who think they have all the power.
Isn’t this a rouge thug agency that hides their faces and refuses to show ID? How does anyone tell them apart from kidnappers, maybe a Proud Boy member pretending so they can abuse people they dislike. Plus the creative ideas she has suggested are dubiously legal, possibly a crime. Also as you see in the second one they already pretended to be utility workers causing issues for that company and lying to kids. There is so much more than I can express here about what our country has become. How can people hate that much. I did not paste the hateful attacks on Pride Events by religious people making up stuff they think the right is doing like using the Trevor Project’s suicide hotline to claim that they are transing kids? Or the woman who claimed walking into a store with pride merchandise is being assaulted with rainbows, the cloying fume of pride, and Legos of all colors. When did just seeing that other people exist become an assault and a threat to yourself personally. I don’t agree with fundamentalist Christians, but I don’t want to ban them or force their books from stores and libraries. Why can not these people live and let live. Just knowing people eat asparagus don’t make the evil even if I personally refuse to touch the stuff. Anyway, the news has me very down and sad. So much hate or bigotry and these people revile in both. They love it. They want it at the same time saying it is in the name of their god who as I remember preached the opposite of what they are doing, feed the poor, clothe the poor, help the immigrant as you were once an immigrant, judge not least you be judged, and so much more. Hugs
Senior US immigration officials over the weekend instructed rank-and-file officers to “turn the creative knob up to 11” when it comes to enforcement, including by interviewing and potentially arresting people they called “collaterals”, according to internal agency emails viewed by the Guardian. Officers were also urged to increase apprehensions and think up tactics to “push the envelope” one email said, with staff encouraged to come up with new ways of increasing arrests and suggesting them to superiors.
“If it involves handcuffs on wrists, it’s probably worth pursuing,” another message said. The instructions not only mark a further harshening of attitude and language by the Trump administration in its efforts to fulfill election promises of “mass deportation” but also indicate another escalation in efforts, by being on the lookout for undocumented people whom officials may happen to encounter – here termed “collaterals” – while serving arrest warrants for others.
Read the full article. Impersonating utility workers apparently falls under getting “creative.”
“Creative” = “Get illegal” and “terrorize”. San Diego is still reeling from a raid on a restaurant at happy hour where employees were handcuffed until 4 of their colleagues were dragged off by masked men. When concerned community members began filming the encounter they were greeted by flash-bang grenades. This is fascism.
Southside neighbors jumped into action Wednesday morning when they believed immigration officers were attempting an arrest near Sixth Ave. and Ajo Way. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told KGUN 9 that there is an ongoing investigation, but did not provide further details.
Christine Cariño called KGUN 9 because she believed there were ICE or HSI agents in her neighborhood. Cariño described their unmarked vehicles, claimed they asked her unusual questions, and claimed that they worked with Tucson Electric Power.
She began to suspect the individuals were immigration enforcement officers during the initial interaction. She explained how they initially asked her to help them find her neighbor. That’s when she questioned if they were ICE or HSI agents, despite having been told they were with Tucson Electric Power.
An Arizona power company is warning that it objects to anyone who may misrepresent themselves as one of its employees amid allegations that immigration officials posed as utility workers while attempting to detain a man at his home in south Tucson.
Tucson Electric Power’s statement come after local residents raised concerns that two men who introduced themselves to neighbors as utility workers and asked for directions to a specific house were actually federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Members of the Arizona Latino Legislative Caucus were quick to condemn the incident, saying it was “part of a broader pattern of concerning actions” by immigration authorities. State Rep. Mariana Sandoval, D-Goodyear, said in a statement that federal officials should investigate the incident and publish guidelines to prevent future occurrences.
Do ya notice how quickly and gladly ICE and other law enforcement agents go full on gestapo? If they could just shoot people dead for no reason, a lot of them would do it and high-five each other afterwards.
there was a clip of the ICE director (either very mad, or very nervous –(watching his fingers tapping anxiously on the podium)) the other day answering the question on the facial coverings (hence my calling them ICEis ) ..
because nasty people were taking pictures of agents and Doxxing them! (and apparently their wives, children, etc etc ) …
well, oddly enough, in most places you can find the names of the local police officers, and who of those are on things like the SWAT team .. and they at least wear badge numbers, if not names ..
Ahhh. That explains the push to make it a crime to identify ICE officers. There was one the other day that was confronted over his white supremacist tattoos that were clearly visible on his right arm. I think it has more to do with them hiring from racist groups rather than protecting their “families”.
No question. My trump loving cousin works for a homeland security contractor. he is always talking about the “gangs” from the city who take over all the street festivals, all the parks (especially the suburban ones), all the malls and gallerias, and all other public spaces. He really thinks that there are roving gangs on marauding everywhere! And they are all black and brown people, naturally, and he insists they are all criminals, raping and murdering everyone. It’s why he will never go downtown.
He is totally anti-immigrant and would dearly love to deport every one of them for any reason or no reason. And if they die in the process, so much the better.
I thought it was illegal to claim you were utility person? I recall back in olden times that sometimes men would pose as a utility person or cable guy to get access to people’s homes to steal things or even rape women. That’s why they started carrying ID cards that they were required to have them visible. I wonder if they violated some law?
I was an enumerator for the Census in 2020, and we were told how to look, dress conservatively, be respectful of the property, etc. We were required to wear our badges and to show it to any person who answers the door. We also had bags with US CENSUS 2020 emblazoned in large letters. Sometimes when I’d be walking down the street, bikers or car drivers would shout out a thankyou.
Even with all that, some people refused to open the door and speak with us, fearing whatever. We were instructed on how to handle that politely, and leave a note.
I can only imagine that ICE keeps doing these things for the next four years, the Census will not get a good count on huge swaths of people.
Mayor Muriel Bowser addressed the closure for the first time in a public radio appearance Friday afternoon. She called the closing an “unfortunate error” and said she would “continue to try to lean on” the National Park Service “for a different decision.” At the same time she appeared to defend the decision, saying police had “a lot of events to be responsible for” and that “unfortunately, the public safety issue rose to the top over the public celebration.”
A cyclist draped in a rainbow Equality flag chanted “shame” as she rode loops around the park. Passersby, turned away by police from entering the circle, shouted expletives. A man, driving top-down in a convertible through the snarled traffic around Dupont Circle, shouted, sarcastically: “Oh no! I’m a heterosexual man, and I must be protected from Pride!
The park has been a historic gathering place that has hosted celebrations following the first Pride events in the 1970s, AIDS protests in the ’80s and ’90s and vigils after violent attacks on the LGBTQ community, including a vigil for the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and a Black Trans Lives Matter rally.
Earlier this week, D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto and Zachary Parker announced that the Metropolitan Police Department had withdrawn its request to close the park following backlash from community members. But federal officials proceeded with the shutdown anyway and have not responded to requests for comment.
“I am extremely disappointed and frustrated that Dupont Circle Park will be closed this weekend despite MPD’s commitment to keep folks safe there,” Pinto said in a statement to The Advocate.
“This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate World Pride at this iconic symbol of our city’s historic LGBTQ+ community. I wish I had better news to share.”
Underscoring their desire to implement the closure, USPP highlighted criminal incidents that were initially pointed out in Smith’s April 22 letter. Those incidents, which took place during the District’s Pride celebration, included damages to the park’s historic fountain in 2023 that amounted to approximately $175,000.
In 2019, panic erupted at the park after loud popping sounds were perceived as gunshots being fired. However, it was later determined no firearm had been discharged. Seven people were transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries prompted by the chaos that had initially broken out.
Police responded to recent incidents of vandalism to Pride decorations in D.C. The suspects tore down rainbow wraps from poles in the area, according to two incident reports from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). One incident is listed as a suspected hate crime. The suspects got away in both cases, according to MPD.
Chris De Anda said he wrapped himself around one of the poles to block the suspect from ripping off the rainbow wrap, thinking that would stop him. It didn’t.
“He starts to rip down the flag, rips my arms off trying to get into them to pull down the paper a little bit more, but the entire time I basically hold on to it,” de Anda described, saying the man scratched his arms a bit to get to the flag.
The lawless, corrupt occupation regime in DC is doing this on purpose as a way to inconvenience, snub and insult the lgbt community. Their long term goal is to silence, cancel and eradicate lgbt Americans, so expect increasing instances of these kinds of things, and worse.
So…a bunch of bigots have been vandalizing things in Dupont Circle, so they close it all off so the people who AREN’T the bigoted vandals can’t go there? Kinda sounds like they’re letting the bigots win here…
Childish petty thin skinned MAGA cultists in the White House just can’t let anyone celebrate anything that isn’t specifically a “Christian” event. I wonder what would happen in Thousands just show up to DuPont Circle enmass, what are they going to do, arrest them all???
I watched videos of this protest and the complete violence of the police going full out assault against the gay protestors who were just standing there. The Christian group in anger at what the mayor said about them, so the next day blocked access to the town hall not letting reporters, workers, or people in the community into the town hall. The Christian group did not have a permit and violated sound level ordnances but the police did not try to remove them or force them to let people through to the town hall. But the police did again violently attack the counter protestors from the neighborhoods. It seems clear the police are pro the Christian haters who want conversion therapy done on LGBTQ+ kids to wipe out anyone not straight and cis. The police chaplain is on the fly for the hate group as you can see below. The Christian hate group wants to force everyone to live as their church doctrines demand. They are extremely hateful towards the LGBTQ+ community. They demand that people respect and accommodate their views but refuse to accept the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, not accept the rights that the LGBTQ+ communities are due. I will post the rest of the post by Joe. My. God. but at the end I will post a video that streamer Vaush made on this subject also. As Vaush says the prosecutors refused to press charges on many the police arrested. Maybe because they were innocent protestors viciously attacked by bigoted police. Hugs
In the days after a chaotic confrontation between police and protesters at a conservative Christian rally on Capitol Hill, several groups have questioned why the demonstration was held at Cal Anderson Park and how the city could have better prepared.
The rally, advocating “freedom from same sex attraction” and ”the sacrality of biological gender,” was permitted in the heart of the state’s most LGBTQ+-friendly neighborhood, in a park named for the state’s first openly gay elected official.It attracted scores of protesters who scrapped with police. Twenty-three people were arrested.
Local LGBTQ+ advocates and at least one City Hall politician expressed anger the permit was granted for Cal Anderson, alleging the location was intended to rile the neighborhood’s residents.
The Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced via a social media post on Tuesday evening the FBI will investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups regarding last weekend’s chaotic Cal Anderson Park rally.
Dan Bogino posted the announcement on X at 5:15 p.m., writing, “We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert. Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion.”
MayDay USA, which describes itself as a Christian Pro-Life organization, held the rally at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was met by LGBTQ+ protesters in a competing rally. At some point, police were called in, and there were multiple scuffles between the group and officers.
One of the prominent supporters of Mayday USA is former Spokane Valley state representative Matt Shea, of the “On Fire Ministries,” according to the Radical Women Seattle. Mayday USA organizers have set up a tour of five cities in the country, with Saturday’s event being held in what is considered the heart of the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle on Capitol Hill.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said the far-right rally was specifically held at the park in Seattle’s known LGBTQ+ neighborhood “to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”
In a statement, Mayor Harrell called Seattle “a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice.” Harrell said anarchists joined the counterprotesters, which resulted in violence and arrests. He said the event organizes shut down the event early after being asked to do so.
Matt Shea, the far-right extremist cited above, has appeared here multiple times, most recently in February 2023 when a church then-affiliated with Shea was ordered to pay Planned Parenthood nearly $1 million in legal fees and a fine related to protests that “interfered with patient care.”
He first earned national headlines in 2019 when leaked chats showed his violent fantasies about executing non-Christians and when it was learned that he had participated in militia drills to train young men for “biblical warfare.”
Shea advocates for the creation of a 51st US state based on “biblical law.” He has also said that all American men who fail to avow allegiance to Jesus should be executed.
He was expelled by the Washington state Republican caucus but refused to resign even after the feds found that he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States” by helping plan the armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.
Shea did not seek reelection in 2020 and is now the pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Spokane.
Hello all in Playtimeville! Yesterday I came by this meme and I was a bit shocked.
So I went to look it up. Googling the issue, I found that the bottom 90% of earners had an average wage of $36,571, and the federal poverty line for a household of 4 is $32,150.
Now, my father worked a good factory job, and I now supervise a fabrication plant. I don’t make, inflation calculated, what he made in 1990 – roughly when he retired. None of my people do. Interestingly, the job he had and a great many of the jobs like the one he had are gone now, moved off quite literally to India, China, Mexico and such. Those jobs are gone. Gone. Like the Bruce Springsteen song, they ain’t coming back.
When you look at the debt situation, it is bleak as hell. But, when did those debts really start accumulating? Right after Ronald Reagan’s Trickle Down Economics – when three major events coincided: the idea that the wealthy know how to invest money better than the poor, and will therefore be the better custodians of that money, trickling it down to the labor classes; the globalization of industrial labor when companies could move their jobs off-shore for a fraction of the hourly wages; and the reduction in taxes that the top incomes would contribute on their astronomical earnings while increasing the taxes that the lesser incomes would pay.
When it gets to the end, there are a great many factors influencing the lives of the common American. I believe welfare and immigration are problems. I believe also that writing laws that you won’t pay for is also a problem!! Congress, regardless of party, has put the tab on the credit card for over 40 years and worsened the position for those who are not in the top 10% at every opportunity. Like every other business and family in the country, I believe the government must live within their means by forcing a law that the budget must balance. It is only then that we can solve some of the other problems facing our country – or more so, become unflinchingly aware of who the real problems are.
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Scottie's Playtime 