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A chalked message outside the OMB Director’s home. Photo: J. Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Arlington, VA—They swept into the a North Arlington neighborhood like a well-organized herd of cats with their weapons of choice, 2.54 cm solid point sticks—made of chalk. They laid a line of block letters spelling ‘SHAME’ in various colors, tall and wide enough to see from a helicopter. For effect, they added giant arrows pointing towards the home of Russell Vought, Director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB). On the sidewalk at the edge of Vought’s lawn, they chalked “USAID Lives In Our Hearts—From The American People.”

The half dozen activists took about a half hour or so to complete the giant block letters. An unmarked security unit sat behind tinted glass in what appeared to be an unmarked police vehicle just feet from them but did not try to stop them. Their antics complete, the chalk affinity group stood in a line looking over their work briefly as if daring the security contingent parked there to come out. Then they faded into the daylight like cats do, as if they hadn’t even been there, leaving their chalk boxes behind like a cat’s paw prints.

The chalk contingent did not give their names or speak on camera but let their chalk do the talking. They were stirred up at the force behind the vast cuts of funding to federal agencies and in some cases was the financial force behind completely annihilating agency funding at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Education, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others. That’s because as Director of OMB, Vought is the gatekeeper to funding approved for spending by Congress. If funding is approved by Congress, it then must go across Vought’s desk, somewhere in the Executive Mansion, the ornate building next to what has not yet been torn down at the White House.

The message to Vought occurred during a permitted community event organized by Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity (ANUH). But the permit did not allow for the message that was left.

Nearby, children chalked hopscotch boxes and played the game without balls and jacks. Other children played tic-tac-toe using some of the chalk. There was a lot of chalk for everyone to use. Many chalked messages in support of USAID and promised it would someday be rebuilt and return to service. Close by these chalked mementos, some other children painted rocks and left them out for the taking. “USAID Rocks” read one; another read “Speak Truth To Power.” The new generation of free range thinking children, raised on PDAs and internet conveniences, seemed to realize what fun their parents had doing the same in their youth. Some things never change from generation to the next.

These children knew what they were doing and knew why their parents were there: to fight for their futures and for their community and stand up for the federal workers now furloughed and those who had already been fired. They were there to defend their community from the leaders taking their careers and dismantling their government piece by piece. They were there to fight for the just country they wanted their children to live in.

Further away yet, a 1980s styled band played ditties from a decade when 1984 was still just a book and not a documentary playing out in real time. ‘Don’t You Forget About Me,’ by Simple Minds; ‘Under The Milky Way,’ by The Church; and ‘I Melt With You,’ by Modern English, were among the nostalgic hits they played. Several of the mothers who were in their 50s and 60s, danced with each other. Maybe dancing took them back a world of simpler times when their lives were not so misshaped by the current crop of toxic bureaucrats discriminately undoing nearly a century of government under the liberal vision of Rosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

At the end of the block, a series of speakers told of the achievements USAID federal workers and contractors had done around the world since 1963. They reflected their experiences in helping developing countries before Russel Vought’s scorched earth vendetta to dismantle that agency and its networks of global assistance. USAID had since 1963 helped stabilize many countries around the world by projecting a sort of soft power abroad through economic assistance to developing countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. USAID helped set up the infrastructure to create safe communities, support for women and children, fight famine, reduce hunger, and build public schools to educate developing country populations. The speakers told of how the projects funded with less than 0.3% of the budget, yet saved millions of lives over the years before the agency was defunded and dismantled by the new wave of bureaucratic minimalists under the Project 2025 far-right agenda, of which Voight was a co-architect. Now all that effort and achievement had been slashed under Vought’s supervision.

In fact Vought himself said of the federal workers that would be directly affected by Project 2025, “We want to put them in trauma, and ”We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” so that “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.”

So there was not much love-loss when the chalk affinity group served up their technicolor ‘SHAME’ message outside Vought’s home, although it was not clear then he was there at the time to see it. But not everyone was ok with it after it was completed.

One of the organizers of the Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity (ANUH), Sarah Nichols, was a former USAID contractor let go in January. She said the chalk contingent had acted on their own accord and had not coordinated their affinity action with ANUH. She said the ANUH event was permitted and intended to keep the community gathering a family friendly atmosphere to empower the neighbors. Many of the neighbors liked the chalk messages left along the block by others.

Soon after the SHAME message was chalked, Nichols confirmed several others removed the arrows and changed the message to a more positive one so as not to be seen as in any way doxing the location of Vought’s home. She also confirmed that the entire message and chalk had been power-washed away by unknown people early the next morning on Sunday.

Yet she also emphasized she as “a little tired of being scared and tired of people being scared.” She added that “Fascism and authoritarians apply fear as a psychological weapon and using that emotion of fear is effective to make people police themselves.”

She argued that by showing up and dancing they were showing their joy and resilience despite Vought’s attempts to dehumanize and traumatize them.

Chalking Preceded By Incident At Stephen Miller’s Home

An recent incident at the home of Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, was still on the minds of many. The chalked sidewalk incident at Miller’s home was met with a flurry of press attention and repercussions towards Barbara Wien, an activist present at the ANUH event. Wein said that police confiscated her phone and still had not returned it to her as of Saturday. Wein said she had been involved with chalking at a location in the Miller’s neighborhood but not outside the Miller’s home. She has been interviewed by several major newspapers about her experiences related to police having confiscated her phone and she expressed her concern that her freedom to exercise her First Amendment rights was violated.

She warned that many other activists had their phones confiscated too. They were not breaking any laws. They were just exercising their First Amendment rights.

She contends she has done nothing wrong and broken no laws. She said her parents experienced the oppression of the Nazi party during the Holocaust and eventually emigrated to the United States. She was not afraid to speak out against events similar to what her parents experienced when Nazis came to power in pre-WWII Germany.

Since the chalking incident at Miller’s home, he has moved his family from the neighborhood to a nearby military base and placed his house up for sale.

ANUH Community Gathering A Success

The ANUH gathering was a success according to Nichols. “Everything we’ve done is legal,” she said.

At event after event, citizens exercising their First Amendment rights are having to come out defending themselves for exercising their rights. And this is the rub. Will citizens allow themselves to be intimidated to give up their rights or will they continue to show up?

Nichols said, “No matter what we say or do, we have to stand up. Even if it is legal, they are still going to use tactics to intimidate.” By showing up we’re leading by example and more people will show up, she said.

The post Activists Chalk Sidewalk At Home Of Budget Director Russell Vought appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

A black and white poster depicting the moment a sandwich catapulted Sean Charles Dunn and the ICE resistance into American folklore history. The poster was wheat pasted all over DC. Photo: J. Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Washington DC—A federal jury acquitted a DC resident and former Department of Justice employee of misdemeanor assault of a federal police officer on Thursday. It brings an end to the flying sizzling sandwich saga captivating social media channels since August 10 earlier this year. The sandwich thrower unwittingly found fame after a guerrilla social media post depicted him challenging a group of federal police as they readied for an operation outside a nightclub in Columbia Heights on its latin night.

The sandwich guy’s name is Sean Charles Dunn. You’re going to need to remember that name. Because it could end up making its way into the history books as the Paul Revere of the 21st century. The guy who finally had enough of federal police agencies and ICE hounding documented immigrants, refugees seeking asylum, and American citizens too. He decided to do something about it. He stood up and said no to ICE with the help of his hero sandwich, catching the attention and the admiration of DC residents just like the colonists of 1775 Boston did. And the video is such a hoot too. It’s just an everyday guy in a pink shirt with blue shorts and white tennis shoes. First he threw the sandwich point blank at an armed officer and then he ran like a rabbit straight through a field of wolves. What could be more dorky than that? And egads! He worked at the Department of Justice! That’s a “deep state” affair if ever there was one. At least that’s what Attorney General Pam Bondi referred to it after she had Dunn fired.

There’s no confirmation of what ingredients the hero was made from and why Dunn’s weapon of choice rose to the level of a charge for felony assault, but lettuce presume it wasn’t a veggie hoagie based on the ham-handed way the system meted out justice in this case. One might say this hoagie welding hero who targeted his footlong throw at the chest of Customs and Border Protection Agent Greg Larimore didn’t even rise to the level of a misdemeanor. Dunn beat the wrap, didn’t hold the ham, but spread liberal amounts of mustard and onion all over CBP Officer Larimore, as the agent later testified.

Something spontaneous was bound to happen one way or another with the Department of Homeland Security operations across primarily blue-state cities, but with a sandwich? Couldn’t it have been something more dignified though, like a well placed social media post, a witty sign, umbrella, white rose, or even a well rehearsed song—anything more noble than…a sandwich.

Seriousness Of Justice Gone Awry Belies The Silly Sandwich Story

This is the point where comedy and tragedy come head to head. Because people are being harmed by application of a cruel immigration and customs enforcement division and its newfangled immigration policy. Its dehumanizing effects and aftermath are forever going to burn emotional and physical scars on the victims and their families. It is also likely going to be a dark stigma on this country’s history. It may wind up ranking with the inhumanity of slavery, indigenous population oppression and relocation, and interment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.

The sandwich dude caught on in popularity as his wheat-pasted black and white caricature was plastered on nearly every alley wall in DC during August and September. People wore shirts of the sandwich dude’s caricature. Stickers went up inside metro stations and on lampposts, walls, and billboards. As word of his courage spread, his fame sparked the resistance to action with anonymous roving patrols to document ICE movements, food drives, and deliveries for refugees and immigrants who had by then began going into hiding. But all this was before ICE began what became known as ‘Kavanaugh stop’ jump outs against whoever fit their description of what an immigrant or refugee should look like, or anyone who spoke out or stood up in opposition to them, rounding up anyone in their way without a warrant or an explanation of why they were being detained.

ICE brutality escalated and incidents became more violent after the Supreme Court September 9 ruling on the emergency docket. ICE and federal agents were by then being captured on video shooting pepper balls point blank into protesting citizens’ faces, ramming cars, shooting at citizens, body slamming, and bouncing heads of detainees into concrete. All of these incidents were caught on video, without repercussions being taken against the real source of the incident violence cascading through U.S. cities—ICE agents themselves. And while word of crowded conditions inside detention facilities were percolating out, they were not being captured on video and one could only guess how dire those conditions were.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued on September 9 in an emergency ‘Shadow Docket’ case (Noem, DHS v. Pedro Vasquez Perdomo et al), with the majority ruling overturning an earlier ruling of a Los Angeles federal court that ICE had failed to meet the legal requirement of “reasonable suspicion” for conducting stops on people based on their appearance, in this case their race. Kavanaugh wrote, in part, “[R]easonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”

Brief encounter. Remember that phrase because it’s likely to be cited time and time again against the Department of Homeland Security ICE agents in future lawsuits brought by American citizens. Those brief encounters that lead to people being beaten, slammed, rammed, or shot, for appearing to be latino or other races not fitting the arbitrary profile of what an American should look like; wrongly detained and held without an execution of a property issued warrant. Those short encounters.

On Thursday there was another important trial result with at least equal consequence but it was much less prominently unreported. In her oral ruling on a case challenging ICE for its suppression of First Amendment protection of protest rights, U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis described a list of incidents where citizens were tear-gassed “indiscriminately,” beaten and tackled by agents and struck in the face with pepper-spray balls. “I find the government’s evidence to be simply not credible.” She did not buy into Gregory Bovino’s testimony about the nature of CBP enforcement; meaning the government was lying about its application of enforcement measures during civil protests. “The use of force shocks the conscience,” she said in issuing an injunctive order that DHS CBP agents cease their draconian enforcement methods and notify the court by 10 pm (Thursday night) that every agent had been notified of her order.

The Jury Is The Voice That Matters

At first federal prosecutors charged Dunn with felony assault but later a grand jury refused to indict him on the weighty charge which could have resulted in a sentence of up to 20 years. Federal prosecutor Jennie Piro’s office entered a misdemeanor assault charge but the jury did not buy it in the end.

After his acquittal, Dunn spoke from outside the Federal Courthouse in DC, thanking those that supported him and he especially thanked his legal team at Steptoe which gave him “uncounted hours of pro-bono representation.” He said he just wanted to get on with his life. He didn’t think of himself as a hero and never feigned the title.

But he did speak as to the context of what he did on behalf of immigrants. “That night I believe I was protecting the rights of immigrants. Every life matters no matter where you come from, no matter how you got here, [and] no matter how you identify. You have a right to live a life that is free.”

As a result of his acquittal, his loss of employment at the Department of Justice and his back pay and benefits should be restored to him. He will have to fight that battle at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The MSPB adjudicates tort claims against the government involving adverse evaluations, demotions, and dismissals of federal employees and a decision in Dunn’s case could take years to complete. But that’s a fight for another day should Dunn choose to stay in federal service.

The post Sandwich Guy Found Not Guilty In Hoagie Hurl Caper appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Demolition machinery takes apart the last parts of tge East Wing of the White House. Photo: J. Zangas/ DCMG

Washington DC—On Thursday afternoon onlookers stared in silent disgust as Volvo straight booms and ACECo Caterpillar excavators crushed, clawed, and removed the last remnants of the White House East Wing. Dust stirred in the cool October wind as the demolition machines operated like slow-motion mechanical monsters from a 1960’s Japanese flick, moving piles of twisted rebar with robotic indifference. As dusk fell, they stacked it for removal by large construction trucks which beeped warnings of their movements. The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, a memorial to John F. Kennedy planted during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and also on the east side of the White House, has been torn up and destroyed. It was a separate garden and not the Rose Garden, which had been recently torn up and paved over with concrete.

Beyond the morbid scene of destruction, a giant parade flag billowed lazily on the north lawn of the White House as if it was bored. Staff left the east wing gate silently, their heads hung low as they passed media cameras. By late Thursday afternoon, the East Wing was entirely razed. What was once the stately office of the First Lady and her staff, and its political significance as the feminine power balance of the Presidency, was rendered to an anecdotal footnote. To view it one would have to consult archives of photographs and film. The unexpected destruction was waylaid for everyone to see. And what the brave passengers of Flight 93 had fought and died to prevent on September 11, 2001, had come to pass on October 23, 2025. Terrorists did not need to lift a finger.

Initially built in 1902, renovated and expanded in 1942, and later upgraded with receiving areas for visitors and special events, the East Wing was the entrance for visitors and tours for decades. It had received dignitaries and chiefs of State, and many tourists over the decades of its existence. They would be ushered down its Colonnade Hall to visit the Red Room, The Green Room, and China Room of the main residence. From a vantage point near the East Wing gate (video) there was for the first time since 1902 a clear view of the North Portico area from the Hamilton Statue.

This latest outrage from the regime seemed to eclipse anything else it had previously done in Washington DC. The takedown of the government agencies was administrative in nature and that had its victims. It struck federal workers hard economically as well as the public in terms of federal services they provided which were largely eliminated or delayed or pending on the chopping block. Then there was the deployment of the National Guard and the ICE roundups of those pending full citizenship and migrant workers separated from family members, which in itself demonstrated the regime’s inhumanity. But the physical destruction of the East Wing was so visibly significant. It was also a metaphorical statement imbued with the White House occupiers that they could destroy any part of the government and its institutions that they wanted to because they had been given the power equal to a king from the Supreme Court.

Questions Remain About Demolition Permits And Approvals

The White House Press Secretary offered no explanation for the ruin that could reasonably silence the press. And why plans to obliterate the East Wing had been carried out despite the President’s earlier statements that no existing portion of the White House structure would be altered or destroyed were also met with more skepticism. The question remained: did they plan to raze the East Wing all along but hide it until the government shutdown captivated everyone’s attention? After all, the Press Secretary admitted the White House had consulted counsel about the demolition and assured the press the decision was legally sufficient.

The Press Secretary said the East Wing was being obliterated to make way for construction of a 90,000 square foot ballroom, which some were calling Trump’s “vanity” project by naming it after himself. The ballroom specifics had not been filled but had already mushroomed in both size and cost from a 900 person capacity at $200 million to a 1000 person capacity at $300 million. The size and scope of the project would minimize the White House itself and cover the square footage of two football fields.

Reuters photographer Jessica Koscielniak reported on Bluesky she had followed a truck carrying soil and debris from the demolition of the White House’s East Wing. The truck dropped it off at the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington DC. This in on Haines Point near the National Park Service impound lot. There is an ongoing construction buildup project nearby to raise land around the Tidal Basin due to rising tides as a result of rising oceans from the climate emergency.

There remained questions about procedures and law governing historic buildings; whether or not proper inspections had been completed to evaluate environmental impacts and hazards such as asbestos releases into the air. Structures built before 1989 were often insulated and fireproofed with asbestos. The demolition hurled yet more injury to a city growing more frustrated and angry with the continued institutional takedowns and takeovers of the government by the regime.

The demolition of the ‘People’s House’ East Wing fell in line with an authoritarian scheme because it struck another arrow straight to the heart of an institutional constant in American history and culture. The executive residence itself is an iconic structure and visited both inside by dignitaries and tourists, and by the public outside its North Portico at Lafayette Park. It had been referred unofficially as the People’s House long ago.

It paid no attention to established rules and procedures guiding modifications of national historic structures when it began demolition on Monday, October 21. There were no plans filed with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization that oversees important historical structures of significance in American history. The organization formally requested the White House cease demolition in a letter it sent on Tuesday, October 22, a day after demolition began.

A published report in Veranda noted the request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We respectfully urge the Administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, and to invite comment from the public,” National Trust President and CEO Carol Quillen wrote to the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Park Service, and the Commission of Fine Arts.

The White House, Capitol Building, and Supreme Court Buildings fall under purview of the National Park Service which has oversight of upkeep of those structures. However, there has been no publication or documentation as to how and why the plans to raze the East Wing changed from Trump’s earlier statements in regard to the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building,” but rather, it would “be near it but not touching it,” changed to the present outcome.

Destruction And Removal More Than Brick, Stone, and Rebar

The destruction of the East Wing was more than the desecration of an iconic structure and removal its concrete and stone, wood and rebar. Intertwined with its disembodied parts was the intangible symbolic representation of the First Lady’s ascendancy to the seat of the most powerful position in world affairs. The obliteration of the East Wing was also the take down of the power of the First Lady. Why is this so?

In her book Politics of the President’s Wife, MaryAnne Borrelli wrote “The emergent bureaucracy of the [First Lady’s role] drives the spatial allocations because space in the White House is power.” It reasons that the destruction of that space is also the removal of the power of the First Lady. Relocating it to an area outside the White House is not equivalency. Under an authoritarian regime, this misogyny plays into power domination of men over women.

The power of the First Lady was formalized during President Jimmy Carter’s administration when Rosalyn Carter hired a staff of 18 and paid them salaries commensurate with others working for the President. Since then First Ladies were principally involved with campaigns to advance social justice initiatives or education.

Rosalyn Carter “focused national attention on the performing arts. She invited to the White House leading classical artists from around the world, as well as traditional American artists. She also took a strong interest in programs to aid mental health, the community, and the elderly. From 1977 to 1978, she served as the Honorary Chairperson of the President’s Commission on Mental Health,” according to the White House archives.

Nancy Regan focused on drug addiction in a “War on Drugs” campaign with a catchphrase’Just say no.’

Barbara Bush campaigned for literacy in schools, devoting her time working with the president to advancing educational opportunities for children. “As wife of the vice president, she selected the promotion of literacy as her special cause. As first lady, she worked for a more literate America, calling it the “most important issue we have.” She supported many different causes and people including the homeless, the elderly, HIV/AIDS patients, military families and school volunteers,” according to White House archives.

First Lady Michelle Obama “initiate[d] a national conversation around the health and wellbeing of [the] nation. That conversation led to Let’s Move!, an initiative launched in 2010 dedicated to helping kids and families lead healthier lives.”

First Lady Melania Trump worked on an anti-bullying “Be Best” program during Trump’s first term and planned to revive the campaign during Trump’s second term, according to a published report in People Magazine. She has spent about 2 weeks at the White House since the January 20 inauguration and has not publicly commented on the East Wing demolition.

First Lady Jill Biden, formerly a teacher and educator, worked on improving education in schools. She continued to teach while Joe Biden was president and planned to work with and advise Kamala Harris on this initiative should she have won the election in 2024.

The post White House East Wing Demolition Riles Public With Seething Animus appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

New Yorkers confront ICE on Canal Street. Screenshot Gwynne Hogan / The City

New York City—Tuesday, around 4:00 PM, the call went out. Federal agents from multiple agencies were raiding Canal Street.  Even though apps created to track ICE were removed from iPhones and groups were deleted from Facebook, Americans continue to communicate when a raid occurs. Locals immediately responded and chased the ICE agents off. Several of them were arrested.

The agents were chased off of Canal street to 1 Police Plaza, a few blocks away where a standoff occurred. While unarmed protesters chanted, Federal agents brandished guns. An armored vehicle rolled down our streets. Reporters who were there told me that they had never seen anything like it.

Senator Larson is reporting that  “ICE is stockpiling arms, including chemical weapons, guided missile warheads and explosive components. The spending dwarfs anything we’ve ever seen in the agency – a 700% increase.” The President is preparing to wage war against the American people. It should concern every American that this is happening in our country.

The “plausible” explanation for the raid, which the NYPD says did not involve them, was the sale of counterfeit goods.  Long has Canal street been the place one goes when one wants to buy a knock off Gucci purse or a plausible Timex watch. Over the years, the vendors began to change from being mostly Chinese to mostly African, which is what happens in our cities as new immigrant populations emerge and replace the prior wave. Every now and then, the NYPD or Federal agents sweep through the neighborhood, but this was different. A man selling phone cases was among those who was arrested, this is not a federal crime.

I have often been overwhelmed by the numerous vendors who have been gathering on Canal Street for almost as long as I can remember, and I have lived here for more than 40 years. So, apparently was right wing twitter user Savanah Hernandez “overwhelmed” and “concerned”, who suggested on twitter that ICE “check it out”. So they did. As it turns out, if you want to report a group of possible illegal immigrants to ICE, and to suggest a violent raid in a residential and commercial neighborhood, twitter is the way to go. We wouldn’t want New York City to look like Paris, after all.

If you live in New York or want to keep an eye on a situation that is likely to escalate rapidly, we suggest that you follow Michael Nigro Stephanie Keith

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A sign at the No Kings rally on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC. Photo: John Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Washington, D.C. — Nearly seven million people took to the streets in over 2,700 peaceful protests across America on October 18th for No Kings Day. Organizers said the event was 14 times larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined. Washington D.C., hosted the flagship event on Pennsylvania Avenue, where demonstrators packed the street from the Capitol building to the White House.

It’s no surprise Washingtonians came out in droves. As organizers with Free D.C. noted in a speech to the crowd, D.C. was in its third month of military occupation. Donald Trump sent the National Guard in to ‘combat crime’ in the city, a move that drew the ire of the local community and of many veterans. Even during the peaceful protest, demonstrators spotted military men on the roof of the National Gallery of Art, overlooking the stage.

With a city with as rich a history as D.C., it’s no surprise that both speakers and demonstrators leaned into the No Kings Day theme. Multiple demonstrators wore Founding Father cosplays, Statue of Liberty costumes, or colonial-style dresses. At times, the crowd could be mistaken for the cast of Hamilton. There was no shortage of references to that musical, either; one sign quoted the recurring lyric “History has its eyes on you.”

One demonstrator went even further back in time, dressing up as Jesus to scold Christian nationalists. “Does anyone know if Lauren Boebert wants to watch a production of Beetlejuice with me?” He shouted. Congresswoman Boebert, who represents Colorado, was previously removed from a Denver production of the show for vaping and groping her partner.

Members of the D.C. clergy took a similar approach, using faith to reprimand blasphemous leaders. They preached the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three men thrown into a fiery furnace for fighting against the narcissistic King Nebuchadnezzar. When the flames died down, the three men were miraculously unharmed, protected by their God. The Clergy noted that the same protection would follow the protesters that day.

Some relied on a more modern spin on No Kings. Rather than going all the way back to 1776, some repurposed iconography from the 1940s. One shirt featured Rosie the Riveter, renamed ‘Aunt Tifa,’ a play on antifa, which stands for anti-fascist. Trump attacked antifa in the lead-up to No Kings, comparing it to a terrorist organization, despite the fact that there is no recognized, central antifa group.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson took a similarly shady stance on the protests. He painted the event as a “hate America” rally. Johnson had cancelled House votes for multiple weeks in a row, sending members back to their districts in the midst of a government shutdown. The leaders of Indivisible, a popular grassroots organization, struck back against Johnson’s claims. They challenged him to see the turnout for himself. “There are a dozen No Kings protests in your district. Since you’re not doing your job, you have time to stop by!”

Another speaker with 50501 Nashville summed up the response to No Kings another way. “A hit dog will holler, and I hear a lot of hollerin’ from the Capitol building,” she said. Notably, several canines were spotted amongst the D.C. crowd. One golden retriever wore a No Kings shirt on its back. One carried a small cardboard sign tied to its harness that denounced ICE. Some owners tied yellow No Kings bandanas around their pets’ collars. The four-legged presence reinforced the peaceful nature of the protest, countering the Republican narrative that the anti-Trump resistance was dangerous and violent.

D.C. also took a page out of Portland’s book. To combat a similar narrative about their city, Portland residents showed up to protests in large inflatable costumes, ridiculing the militarized response they received. No Kings D.C. demonstrators showed up as inflatable frogs, dragons, unicorns, dinosaurs, Sesame Street characters, and more. In a clever play on words, some dressed as Monarch butterflies, declaring that they were the only monarchs allowed. One inflatable pig carried a sign, “These fascist pigs give the rest of us a bad name. Make bacon, not authoritarianism.” Some even found inflatable Trump costumes and wandered through the crowd yelling, “You all need Jesus! Baby hungry, want your freedom for breakfast!” After the rally concluded, many inflatables gathered together for an impromptu dance circle.

Costumes were a major feature at the No Kings rally and a nod to the Portland ICE protesters which mockied Department of Homeland Security agents and Trump’s immigration policies. The cartoon characters created a space of joy with many characters dancing and uplifting the mood of a tense nation. Photo: Lex King

Despite the moments of joy and humor, the rally reflected the somber moment the country found itself in. Multiple speakers focused on ICE’s alarming actions, wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves as they tore families apart. Mehdi Hasan, an immigrant and journalist, reflected on why No Kings mattered to him. Unlike many in the crowd, “I did not inherit America,” he said, “I chose it.” He warned that Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East was not a peace plan at all, lacking the justice and the restoration needed to truly bring peace. While there may be a ceasefire, it wasn’t the time to relax.

Senator Chris Murphy issued a dire warning to the crowd, which had grown so large that many were too far to hear the stage. “We are not on the verge of an authoritarian takeover, we’re in the middle of an authoritarian takeover,” he said. To the right of the stage, a flag reading “don’t give up the ship” snapped in the wind. One light pole was marked with a black sticker warning, “ICE kidnapped someone here.”

Native Washingtonian Bill Nye took the stage to raging applause. Attendees chanted his name, much like in the theme song of his show, Bill Nye the Science Guy. He recalled growing up in the capital city, sitting on his father’s shoulders and waving to astronauts in 1964. He remembered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on the National Mall, resurrection city, and the protests against the Vietnam War, where people stood shoulder to shoulder, “much like today.”

As a man of science, Nye was outraged by Trump’s attacks on many of America’s scientific institutions. Trump had slashed the funding and staff at leading scientific agencies like NASA and the CDC. Nye didn’t sugarcoat his words. “We are confronting the possible end of our republic,” he said. But, there was hope, because millions of people across America showed up to support the same message: “No thrones, no crowns, No Kings!”

Afeni Evans, a local D.C. activist, reminded the audience that marginalized communities bore the brunt of Trump’s attacks, and that even under previous administrations, they had to fight for their rights. “The social contract in this country has been broken, but we the people must revive it,” she said. Evans emphasized that a humane economy that invested in people and communities was necessary to move forward.

Nee Nee Taylor, a longtime D.C. activist, also took the stage at one point, challenging the white people in the crowd to get involved in movements and learn from the Black and Brown communities who were fighting this fight well before 2024. “When our movements need funding, where will you be?” She asked.
“We’ll be there,” the crowd shouted back.

At the end of the two-hour rally, organizers brought out the final speaker: Senator Bernie Sanders. His name alone was enough to spark chants of “tax the rich” from the crowd. Sanders, who had previously run for president and traveled across America on his ‘fighting oligarchy’ tour, greeted the attendees warmly, but he cut to the chase. The American experiment was in danger. Trump only wanted power for oligarchs, not for the average person.
“This is not just about one man’s greed, one man’s corruption, or one man’s contempt for the constitution,” he said. “This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on Earth, who in their insatiable greed, have hijacked our economy and our political system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of working families across this country.”

That greed threatened Americans’ healthcare. In fact, Democrats were fighting to prevent thousands from losing their healthcare due to Trump’s so-called big beautiful bill. That’s why they shut the government down, Sanders shared. They refused to endanger Americans like that, no matter how much the Republicans tried to force them to.

“We rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s,” Sanders said. “We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.”

As the afternoon social media wave gave way to evening news reports, it was clear the numbers of participants far exceeded organizers’ estimates. Over 7 million joined in the historic march, the largest turnout for a protest against government policies in the country’s history. The fear-mongering, disparaging remarks of Speaker Mike Johnson and other MAGA leaders of the week before, portraying the protesters as “radical” and “far-left of the Democrat party” including “Marxists,” and Antifa advocates,” had devolved to nothing. To the contrary, the No Kings rallies in DC and nationwide were patriotic, joyful, non-violent, much needed relief to a struggling republic, and to put it more simply, fun.

Participants gathered by the hundreds at the Department of Labor led by the Georgetown contingent of Tesla Takedowns, and danced while scores of idle bored police looked on. Groups of costumed caricatures danced. Citizens from every walk, including conservatives, joined in a celebration like atmosphere. Over 200,000 lined Pennsylvania with signs of dissent and comical repartee poking fun at the regime.

Speakers told of the anti-constitutional wrongs of the regime in furtherance of its own power and denounced it. They spoke of the promise of people power in fighting authoritarianism. There were no acts of property damage reported by any participant and therefore there were no arrests. There didn’t need to be.

The resistance had found its footing and gained much needed confidence for the challenges to come.

The post Historic No Kings Rally Shows Regime Can No Longer Suppress DC Citizens appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Washington DC—They came by the 10,000s dressed as frogs, unicorns, squirrels, cats, and ordinary citizens. Many wore yellow as a sign of unity and joy while some wore pussy-hats, a throwback to the historic Women’s March held on January 21, 2017. On that day nearly a million stood strong together against Donald Trump’s closed-society agenda, far eclipsing his meekly attended inauguration the day before.

And now in 2025, 8 years later, people power rose to oppose the Trump threat to democracy. The people handily rejected his authoritarian agenda and his chipping and chopping away the republic’s foundations. Institutions had unexpectedly buckled one after another, falling like dominos to his compliance demands issued over the first 9 months of his Project 2025 road map. Law firms, universities, corporations, the press, and the congressional party members of Trump himself had ceded their power and capitulated to the unitary leader. And it was this stunning collective betrayal by nearly every venerable institution that should have remained intact that wakened the people to take action, making them realize that they were the last column standing in the republic.

The people arrived by foot walking across bridges, by metro trains, and buses, asserting their right to demonstrate as provided in the First Amendment. They came by the thousands, then ten-thousands, and then more kept arriving. And despite a barrage of earlier labels from MAGA party leaders, they thronged through DC in resolved defiance to assert their power.

And on Saturday October 18, the last column of resistance stood loyally and firmly in place. One could hear and feel the building crescendo of the people as they marched and as their chants and their drum beats echoed from the glass and concrete high rise buildings as they passed. The opposition was led by lines of people carrying “No Kings” and Abolish-ICE banners. Many people dressed in animal costumes to mock a president and his cabinet who had governed like a king with courtiers: the people had their say and they were keenly awake and they had risen to reject his authoritarianism.

And it was a scene repeated in major metropolitan cities across the country—and while a final number of those rallying and marching will not ever be accurately counted, it was estimated to be in the millions. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, all saw massive protests. Many smaller cities also held rallies. Rallies were also reported worldwide in sympathy for Americans patriotically standing in for the remnants of their republic.

There were 2600 locations hosting No Kings rallies and marches across the country, according to Indivisible Co-founders and No Kings organizers Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg. Levin said that the events would be peaceful and that was what authorities did not want. He argued that authoritarian regimes gain more power over people when the people react violently to oppression. The ‘No Kings’ rallies strategy was peaceful, joyful resistance.

“The number one thing any authoritarian regime fears is broad-based, ideological, diverse, geopolitically dispersed, mass people power,” said Levin earlier in the week. And it was apparent that was what they were there to do Saturday.

And that’s what No Kings have given the regime; what it didn’t want: joyful, peaceful, perfect resistance. And that’s pretty hard to do when you’re placing hundreds of thousands of people in the same place, but easier to do when they’re all going in the same direction.

All week leading up to the No Kings rallies MAGA leaders tried to discredit the citizens who were planning to attend the nation wide action. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to cast the No Kings participants exercising their First Amendment rights as “Antifa people,” and “Pro-Hamas,” and a “hate America rally” crowd. U.S. House Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN.) labeled them “the terrorist wing of the Democratic party.” Many others from across the MAGA echo chamber intoned similar messages. Those messages drove the resistance even further. Those labels failed.

But the No Kings protests were not violent or anti-American. To the contrary they carried American flags, symbolic of their commitment to a democratic republic. They danced and celebrated and carried signs with comical slogans supporting a functioning government for the people, not an indefinitely shut down government, closed by reason to serve the political whims of those in power. They wore animal cartoon costumes to poke fun at the idea that MAGA leaders were casting them as reprobates standing against American principles with rights to be respected and honored.

Many Factors Lead To Historic No Kings Rally 

The last four months have seen a blitz of authoritarian measures taken by Trump to consolidate power. This has led to a near perfect storm in resistance campaigns across the region as ordinary citizens mobilized for actions. For instance, public servants are nonpartisan and are focused on their federal service and don’t take part in condemnations of their agency leadership. However, since the DOGE takeovers and shutdowns of many government agencies, many federal employees have spoken out against their government leadership and rallied outside their agencies.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been deployed in paramilitary fashion, roughly rounding up immigrants legally in the U.S. The roundups are so haphazard that 170 American citizens have also been swept up. The roundups are being captured on video and shared by guerrilla journalists. This has inflamed tensions in cities (almost entirely in blue States) and resulted in blowback against ICE.

National Guard deployments to cities claimed by Trump to be crime infested has also increased tension and mobilized citizen groups to monitor and record their activities. The National Guard deployments are being challenged in the U.S. District Courts.

Another symbol of an authoritarian regime is to use the military against its people as Trump has threatened to do. Even though the Posse Comitatus Act forbids it, it is something that is possible if Trump declares another emergency (he has already declared 9 emergencies since his inauguration, the most of any president).

The government shutdown has shut virtually most agencies and placed nearly 200,000 federal employees on indefinite furlough. This was caused as a result of House Speaker Mike Johnson failing to call the House into session to negotiate a Fiscal Year 2026 spending bill.

The Trump takeovers and shutdowns of many government agencies and removal of vast amounts of information from government databases is also fresh on the minds of many and spurred federal employee resistance actions outside of those agencies. Many furloughed employees have taken part in the ‘No Kings’ action.

Adjacent Activities Support No Kings Rallies

The first ’No Kings’ rally of June 14 was held on Trump’s birthday with a military parade he threw for himself which resulted in an embarrassment to the self-described “dictator.” Squeaky 1950s era tanks and Soldiers carrying drones welcomed Trump and he was not impressed or amused. In the prelude to the first ‘No Kings’ actions in June, hundreds of participants from Visibility Brigades and We of Action gathered at DC-MD-VA bridges to display ‘No Kings’ messages with giant letters to passing motorists.

On The day before Saturday’s rally, We of Action and Visibility Brigades once again displayed ’No Kings’ messages on area bridges, enticing many honks of support from passing motorists.

The post The People Rise At No Kings Rallies; Soundly Reject Trump Road Map appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Flowers adorn the stage at a memorial held on October 14 for George Floyd and all Black men and women slain by police and neighborhood vigilantes. Photo: Lex King

Washington DC—On October 14, community organizers and allies gathered on the National Mall to honor the life and legacy of George Floyd, whose 2020 murder by a white Minneapolis police officer sparked national protests. Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, ignoring Floyd’s warning that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s murder, like Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and more, highlighted the over-policing and police violence that Black Americans face.

Remember Your Oath (RYO) and FLARE, two organizations that maintain 24/7 protests outside Union Station, sponsored the remembrance, which occurred on what would have been Floyd’s 52nd birthday. Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Coalition of Concerned Mothers (COCM), Freedom Futures Collective, Stop Police Terror Project DC, and Black Lives Matter D.C. partnered with them.

Organizers placed flowers across the platform in reverence of victims slain at the hands of police. Photos of police brutality victims from across America lined the tents and stage. One speaker observed that they represented only a fraction of the victims, and if they displayed every photo of people lost to police violence, they could cover the entire mall. The significance of the location wasn’t lost on the crowd. One woman held a sign proclaiming “I have the same dream,” referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech at the March on Washington.

Sponsors held the event to honor Floyd’s legacy and to support those who lost loved ones to police brutality. It was especially important to recognize Floyd this year, as President Trump declared October 14th a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk, a conservative mouthpiece who shared the same birthday as Floyd.

His name only came up briefly during the event, by design. While organizers acknowledged the insult and outrage over Kirk’s Day of Remembrance, they were committed to keeping the event centered on Black voices and healing, and succeeded in doing so. “I believe that the event was incredible, it was a space that was held for the families of victims of prosperity to both tell their stories and find healing with each other. These families continue to fight for accountability for their stolen loved ones, and it’s important that we ensure their voices are heard,” Jolly Good Ginger, RYO founder and event co-emcee told D.C. Media Group. Several members of Congress initially planned to attend, but had to withdraw due to the government shutdown, then in its 14th day.

Bianca Austin, Breonna Taylor’s Aunt, offered a moment of silence for George Floyd, noting that a moment paled in comparison to the nine minutes Floyd pleaded with officers. “Nine minutes and 29 seconds,” she said. “I can get to work in nine minutes and 29 seconds.” She closed the moment of silence by breaking into a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday.
In her speech, Austin encouraged the crowd to “start humanizing our impacted families.” She pointed out that even though officers were charged and imprisoned for Floyd’s death, a feat in and of itself given the justice system’s biases, right-wing news outlets and influencers still painted Floyd in any negative light they could to push their narrative. Charlie Kirk had previously called Floyd a “scumbag.” Continuing to show up and share the stories of police violence’s victims were crucial to countering the false narratives.

Austin also spoke directly to the white people in attendance to clarify often misunderstood terms. “White supremacy and white privilege, we’ve got to know the difference. White people, you are privileged…we don’t bring it up to throw it in your face, we bring it up to give you an understanding. To this day, people don’t give a fuck about us, because we’re Black.” She added, “It’s your job, if you care about us, to check that shit.”

Following Austin’s call to humanize families, a wide array of individuals spoke from the stage overlooking the Washington Monument. Members of the Coalition of Concerned Mothers, a local grassroots organization of mothers who lost children to police violence, carried signs with their loved ones’ names and pictures. Most of them never got justice for their families.

There were four images that Dorothy Elliott said were forever seared in her mind: The murder of George Floyd, the January 6 insurrection, the photos of Emmit Till, and her son, Archie III, laying “on a concrete slab with holes in his body.” PG County officers shot him 14 times while he was handcuffed. They were never indicted, and one officer killed again shortly after, Elliott said. She’s been fighting for her son for over 30 years, even attending an international conference on racism at the request of Amnesty International.

Returning to her four moments, Elliott reflected that her community could never get away with something like January 6th, yet those overwhelmingly white perpetrators had received Presidential pardons. It wasn’t too different from how law enforcement benefited from qualified immunity, a legal concept that prevents the public from filing lawsuits against government officials for violating their rights except in extreme circumstances. The qualified immunity defense makes it difficult, if not impossible, for families to seek damages in police brutality cases.

COCM Executive Director Marion Gray-Hopkins, spoke about her son, Gary, who was murdered by two Prince George’s County officers when he was only 19. With the United States Capitol building behind her, she told the crowd about the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill seeking national policing reforms which was repeatedly introduced in Congress, but did not secure the votes to become law. Despite that, “We will not stop, we will not bow down until justice comes,” Gray-Hopkins promised.

One of the last things her son wrote was a college application essay about the concept of creating a village, a community that supported and cared for each other. Gray-Hopkins closed by inviting the crowd to join that village.
Reverend Dr. Greta Willis, whose 14-year-old son Kevin Cooper, was shot and killed by officers in Willis’s own home, saw the similarities between her family and Floyd’s. In his final moments, George Floyd called out for his mother, “because he knew that’s where comfort was.” Thinking about her son, she added, “If love could have saved him, he would have lived forever.”

Investigators tested her son’s body for drugs, but not the officers who shot him. Willis highlighted the hypocrisy, “They take our children and become the judge, jury, and executioner.” She then issued a challenge to the audience, asking, “Why are you here?” Just to watch them recount painful stories? Or to do something about it?

Jolly Good Ginger, drove that challenge home. “If you’re a white person in the crowd, I need you to shut up and listen. Take it back to your white communities, your white churches.” Organizers challenged the crowd to pick a name from those displayed, commit to learning their story, and fight for justice in their case.

Nee Nee Taylor, Executive Director of Harriet’s Wildest Dream, known as D.C.’s modern-day Harriet Tubman, and fellow co-emceed, emphasized that despite the solemn occasion, joy remained critical to the fight and reminded attendees to be gentle with themselves. “We continue in this work by continuing black joy,” she said, “They cannot take away our resilience and our joy.” In that spirit, multiple performers took the stage in between speakers, encouraging attendees to dance and wave their hands. Taylor’s own nephew recited poetry.

Although most of the speakers were victims’ mothers, Jacob Blake Sr. took the microphone as a father. His son, Jacob Blake Jr. survived being shot by officers seven times. Blake Sr. looked over the crowd, turning to the performers from Message in the Music, “I’m a father, I’m a protector,” he said, “and when that happened to my son? You all became my sons.” He promised to fight for them, and declared that he wasn’t afraid—especially not of Trump.

April Goggins, an organizer with Black Lives Matter D.C., echoed that sentiment, encouraging the audience to honor Floyd by living in the fullness he was denied. “Our work isn’t just about death, it’s about life,” she said. She concurred with earlier calls to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, drug test officers, and revoke qualified immunity, but she also cautioned not to define wins by the state. After all, that same state was responsible for creating the system in the first place. Wins had to come from community success, too.

The final speaker knew all about building community alternatives. Dr. Fred Hampton Jr., Chairman of the Black Panther Party Cubs, and son of Fred Hampton, a black power activist assassinated as a part of the controversial COINTELPRO program, closed the event. He reflected on his father’s death and the differences in the climate of the 60s versus today. Despite the different energy of today’s movement, he believed the Trump administration’s actions would galvanize people to act. “People get involved in one of three ways,” he said, “Inspiration, aspiration…or desperation. And these are deathly desperate times.”

The post George Floyd Honored by DC Citizens on What Would Have Been His 52nd Birthday appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Photo: J. Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Washington, DC—After Jimmy Kimmel’s late night comedy show cancellation it seemed like the country fell to a new low for First Amendment and press freedoms. It was a moment remarkably similar to the McCarthy era of the early 1950s when politicians leveraged power to intimidate those who disagreed with them.

Disney’s decision to axe the popular show was a corporate decision made after FCC chairman Brendan Carr pressured ABC to cancel it. ABC announced it would “indefinitely” preempt the Kimmel show from its scheduled programming as the result of comments he made during his opening monologue. Disney owns ABC outright and is the parent company of other media companies such as Pixar, Marvel, and Hulu. It has majority ownership of ESPN and owns many brands such as the Muppets and Winnie the Pooh. Under Bob Iger it has become a media giant.

The chain of events leading to Kimmel’s cancellation and the public reaction could only have been described as a mega media showdown. And it could not have been a more important historical moment for First Amendment and press freedoms as the President’s attacks against those rights nearly obliterated them.

Disney’s decision to cancel the popular comedy show was not itself a First Amendment issue as it was a corporate decision. But taken with FCC Chairman Carr’s pressure on the media company to cancel its license, it could be argued that it was that pressure against First Amendment rights for Kimmel’s criticism of the president.

The trigger to the cancellation was Kimmel’s opening monologue comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk on September 15, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”

In Kimmel’s defense, on September 10, he posted on a social media platform, “Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”

But with the rapidly changing pace of news and the short attention span consumers it may as well have been something he said decades ago. His consolation remarks were lost with the erupting word war over the airwaves.

As a result, on Wednesday, September 17, an ABC spokesman announced it had ”preemped indefinitely” Jimmy Kimmel Live, completing what FCC Chairman pressured ABC to do. Taking a broadcast license would have taken years to accomplish through court actions and appeals and they could have prevailed.

It was another chink in the armor in an 8 month long campaign to stifle dissent by intimidating universities, law firms, media companies, newspapers, journalists, and anyone or any organization that did not fall into line or spoke out against Trump’s policies.

Then the people weighed in on Jimmy Kimmel’s behalf. Call it a last second Hail Mary Pass, an Immaculate Reception, or the Fourth Force, but it was just in time because Jimmy’s fate was up to this point sealed along with the hundreds of others losing their jobs or facing lawsuits over the last two weeks. The fury of the people spread like wildfire across two of the last commons people have left to express their discontent over losing basic rights: social media and purchasing power. And they turned their rage onto social media and encouraged others to vote with their keyboards and cancel their Disney+ subscriptions. They posted screenshots of their Disney+ cancellations online. And it worked.

There’s no way of knowing how many cancellations Disney chalked up but at one point their website crashed due to the volume of customers walking away from their Disney+ channel. Many others said online that they would also boycott Disney theme parks.

This resulted in Disney deciding to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel Live after a day of “reflective consultations” with the late night host.

On Tuesday night, September 23, Kimmel was back on. And the people rejoiced in his return. He had amassed 6.2 million broadcast viewers and 16 million views on YouTube for his return monologue, a record. During his monologue he said that Trump’s threat against ABC and the media was “un-American.” His voice broke as he spoke of Charlie Kirk and his family’s pain and that his comments were not ridicule of the Turning Points Founder’s slaying.

This issue played out quickly in just under 2 weeks but it brings an up an important issue of where real power is derived within a republic. It demonstrates how collectively powerful the people are even within the chaos of oppression. It demonstrates how powerful they can be if they align against stolen rights as an authoritarian regime takes over their republic.

This was not the first time Trump and his went after media outlets and personalities for saying what he disapproved of. He had sued NBC, ABC, even the conservative Wall Street Journal.

But this time the people had the final say.

A review of the timeline of these historic events show how quickly it played out.

Timeline of events.

September 10: Turning Points Founder Charlie Kirk is shot during a public media event with college students at Utah Valley University. Graphic footage is immediately released on social media. He is rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead later that day. Another clip of video surfaced showing what was thought to be a person running across a nearby roof. Pixelated photos are released by law enforcement of a man in a stairwell. Trump orders flags over federal buildings lowered to half staff until sunset on September 14.

September 11: Media backlash begins to build as both admirers and critics comment on social media about the killing. The FBI reports a suspect has been caught but later retracts their report. President Trump blames the “radical left” for the killing before the shooter(s) is/are known. Many Republican and Democratic leaders denounce the killing. MSMBC news anchor Matthew Doud was fired for on-air comments he made about Charlie Kirk.

September 12: A young man and alleged shooter surrenders to local sheriff authorities and is subsequently identified by the FBI as Tyler Robinson. The FBI leaves out the alleged shooter’s middle name in this initial report. Reporting a common first and last name as a suspect in a high profile case and leaving out a middle name is irregular police practice. His full name is later released, Tyler James Robinson.

September 13: Trump blames the “Radical Left” for the killing. Many people begin losing their jobs for posting their opinions online as a campaign to go after such posts is generated on a website.

September 15: Jimmy Kimmel comments about Charlie Kirk in his opening monologue. He ties in President Trump’s reaction to the killing when asked by press outside the White House. On the same day, Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attah is fired for posting a Charlie Kirk quote online and giving her opinion on the matter. She is the only Black female columnist left at the newspaper and had been working there 10 years.

September 17: Disney cancels Jimmy Kimmel Live. Disney and Hulu subscribers begin posting screenshots of their canceled subscriptions on social media with hashtags CancelDisneyPlus and CancelHulu.

September 19: Reports begin circulating that Disney’s subscription website had crashed due to the heavy traffic.

September 21: A memorial is held in honor of Charlie Kirk and is aired on most major media channels including MSNBC, a left-leaning channel.

September 23: Jimmy Kimmel Live returned to its regular program on ABC. Excited guests chanted “Jimmy!, Jimmy!, Jimmy!” as he walked onto the stage to begin the “most anticipated monologue in history.” He choked back tears as explained that he did not intend to make fun of the shooting and death of a young man and said his intent was the opposite. He castigated FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for his role in

Sinclair owned ABC stations opted not to air Jimmy Kimmel Live. Jimmy Kimmel declined to make a donation to Turning Points in consideration of getting back on the air.

The post Restorative Justice For Jimmy Kimmel Shows People Are The Real Power Source appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Photo: John Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Do something!!! There are so many ways to get involved as this regime takes away your rights and strips down our institutions.

Published with permission.

Every day, some new assault on our democracy takes place. Our first amendment rights are being threatened repeatedly; masked goons are grabbing brown people and others off the streets and, with no due process, subjecting them to wretched conditions before deportation; the 44-year-long Peace Vigil in front of the White House has now been dismantled, having suddenly been deemed an eyesore; the Pentagon is killing people in international waters with no evidence that they posed a direct threat to the U.S.; television networks, universities and law firms are being bullied by Trump, and too many have caved; our healthcare is crumbling like a house of cards; lies are tossed around like so much confetti; and there is little to no fact-checking or honest reporting taking place in the mainstream media. Things are looking dire for our democracy.

If you are concerned about the future of our country and you find solace in venting to friends or engaging in vigorous hand-wringing, know this: all the venting and hand-wringing in the world will not save our democracy.

The injuries our democracy has sustained in the past eight months are severe and they will continue. Our rights and freedoms will increasingly be challenged. We are no longer the leader of the free world, and we have lost our allies, who can no longer trust us. The threats to our health, climate, environment, security, education, diversity, culture, and infrastructure are growing more serious by the day.

If, like me, you find the prospect of being ruled by a dictator who has no regard for your welfare to be frightening, then this is the moment to get involved. Take that first step: make a poster or make one phone call to your representative; attend a rally or attend an organizing call with a grassroots organization; wear a button or place a sticker in a public location. Whatever you choose, commit to an action and see how it feels.

When more people take that first step and commit to doing something that conveys “This is not okay, and we do not consent,” we will begin to make inroads. Inaction is complacency, and if too many are complacent, we will be surrendering to a horrific future. Join the movement to resist tyranny and save our democracy.

Erica Chenoweth, political scientist and public policy professor at Harvard University, has shown through extensive research that sustained non-violent resistance by just 3.5% of the population has always succeeded in change. That means we need about 11 million Americans to be actively resistant, in a sustained manner, to this fascist regime. Having 11 million people protest on one day is not going to be enough. We need to mobilize that many people to resist the cruelty and desecration of our civil rights for a prolonged period. We face a serious threat, and we need to get very serious in response.

For many, the step from taking no action to engaging in non-violent resistance is a step too far. If that describes you, here is a list of many different ways to safely engage, starting with safe and easy actions for anyone who is new to activism and isn’t sure where or how to start. There are also a few actions which are more resistant-adjacent.

Postcarding:

Join a local group that meets to write postcards encouraging voters to show up for democratic candidates in upcoming elections. They provide the materials, you meet in someone’s home to write postcards, and it’s a great way to meet neighbors with who share your values. Or, link to an organization that supplies the names, addresses and messaging for you to write postcards on your own. Either way, you will be helping to shift the tide in an upcoming election. Some of the groups that organize postcard writing are: Third Act, Postcards to Voters, Activate America, Mobilize.US and Trouble Nation.

Vote:

It goes without saying, but make sure to vote in every election, and encourage those you know to do the same. Down ballot voting is very important!! Volunteer at your local polling location. Get involved in any way you can, and support candidates by canvassing, etc.

Join a local grassroots organization:

Search for a group in your area. Indivisible is probably the best known organization and there are thousands of Indivisible chapters around the country. You can find other organizations near you through this Grassroots Directory. It’s a lot more fun to join actions with a group than by yourself.

Spread some joy:

Today, at our Tesla Takedown protest, a mother and daughter walked through the crowd and offered all the protesters beautiful bracelets which they made together. What a powerful act – mother and daughter working together to spread hope, joy and encouragement in the fight to save democracy. My favorite was one that said “Prevent Truth Decay”, but there were literally dozens to choose from.

Contact your legislators:

Make phone calls to your legislators using the Five Calls app to tell them how you expect them to vote. This easy-to-use app lets you know who your legislators are, how to reach them, and it also provides a list of current issues and scripts you can follow if you aren’t sure what to say. If you prefer to write letters, that is another way to reach your representatives. Call or write often – their offices track calls and letters, and the more they hear from us, the more seriously they will take our demands.

Buttons:

Make a simple, decorative statement by wearing buttons to give voice to your thoughts. I have a collection of them, some of which I purchased on Etsy, others made by friends, and I wear them often. I also give buttons away, especially when someone comments that they like what one of my buttons says. Yes, I carry extras with me. Everyone loves a button!! Wearing them is an easy way to let others know where you stand and to remind them that these are not normal times.

Boycott:

Since January, I have completely boycotted Amazon, Whole Foods, Home Depot. Starbucks, Target, Walmart (with a few minor lapses for protest materials), and other stores/companies that are kowtowing to Trump or have eliminated DEI policies. Instead, I shop locally and support small businesses while saving a lot of money on things I don’t really need anyway. Costco, Trader Joe’s and Mom’s Organic Market get my regular business, as do small local shops.
Target has suffered a notable slowdown from continuing boycotts after it scaled back DEI initiatives. Tesla has also seen a huge drop in market share as a result of protests against Musk’s outrageous behavior with DOGE. Following the recent decision of ABC (owned by Walt Disney Company) to yank the Jimmy Kimmel show, angry viewers canceled their Disney Plus memberships in droves, causing the Disney website to crash. Your dollars speak, and you can choose to use boycotts to send a clear message to retailers and companies more concerned with their bottom line than with democracy. Imagine how powerful this could be if millions did it, over a prolonged time.

Rocks and more rocks:

An activist friend who goes by SB paints the most gorgeous protest rocks and leaves them in public spaces wherever she goes to give people hope and inspiration. A photo of her amazing handiwork is below. Another artist paints rocks with reminders to vote and left one at our Tesla Takedown site a few weeks ago. I am happy to report that no one has moved it, so all the pedestrians get to see it each day, as do we.

Ribbons:

Remember the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn from 1973? Yellow ribbons are a symbol of hope for the safe return of those who are missing. They played a role in the Iran hostage crisis and are also a symbol of support for POWs and MIAs. A local group of protesters is continuing this tradition with a twist. They are writing “Release the Disappeared” in English and Spanish on ice-blue ribbons and tying them around fences, benches and other public structures in support of the thousands of wrongfully disappeared immigrants. You can do the same, or use your creative talents to come up with your own ideas for giving voice to those facing the direct and undeserved cruelty of this regime.

Stickers:

A few friends have ordered small vinyl stickers using designs they have found on the internet, and I plan to do the same. These are a great way to spread the message of your choice far and wide. I place them in public places (lamp posts, signs, utility poles, etc.), where pedestrians are most likely to see them. I use some discretion in placing them since this could be considered defacing property. Unlike chalk, they don’t wash away.

Protests:

The organizers of every protest I attend make it clear that the goal is to be non-violent, and I am happy to report they have all been very peaceful. Yet some are afraid to attend due to the large crowds and uncertainty about bad actors. I’ve been to protests with as few as 20 people, and some with as many as 10,000, and in every case, there has been joy and community along with many diverse protest signs, vibrant chants and great costumes. There are also bridge brigades that hang banners over highways. Attending a protest or a march brings concerned citizens together and lets you know you are not alone. In the case of our Tesla Takedown protests, the honking from passersby can give you a real dopamine hit, and we love the “dogs for democracy” that lean out of car windows! Attend a protest, meet others like you who want to see change, and be the difference!!

Chalking: Each locality has its own code, so be sure you know what is permitted in your area. In many cities, chalk is allowed on sidewalks and in public spaces like playgrounds. Some law enforcement may be opposed to the anti-regime messages you write. Friends and I learned this the other day when we were detained for chalking a bike path wall. On previous occasions at the same location, officers told us we were okay to proceed. On this particular evening, the Sergeant who showed up detained us for “defacing property” and we had to provide our personal information. No charges came of it, and we later learned that his claim was false. This kind of ambiguity is not for everyone – and that’s okay. But if you are willing to risk an encounter with local law enforcement by spreading messages of resistance with chalk (which does not damage anything and washes away with rain), I can highly recommend it! We are going to wait for things to cool down a bit before we go back to our wall. Today we left some chalked rocks on top of it… they are not going to silence us.

“History will have to recall that the greatest tragedy of this period was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.”  — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Susan Douglas is a writer and advocate for human rights. Follow her substack here.

The post People Keep Asking What They Can Do In This Moment; There Is Plenty appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Climate groups led multiple actions against fossil fuel based energy companies across Washington DC Thursday and Friday. Photo: Courtesy of Beyond Extreme Energy

Washington DC—A broad coalition of oil and gas watchdog groups mobilized Thursday morning to demand the fossil industry obey DC Circuit Court orders to uphold greenhouse gas release standards. The groups Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE); Third Act National Organization; Elders Coalition For Climate Action; Third Act Actions Lab; Hold the Line Campaign, a Texas frontline organization; and Corpus Youth Habitat for Recovery Project, a grassroots youth-led group; were involved in the coalition partnership actions.

They held the actions to oppose recent cuts and to continue holding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accountable, oppose project and staffing cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, and expose major gas and oil lobbies and financial institutions in Washington DC. They were also calling out the $1 billion oil and gas donations to the 2024 Trump election campaign.

The climate groups staged three actions over Thursday and Friday as a lead-off to ‘Sun Day’ climate actions planned across the country over the weekend. A major protest was scheduled against oil and gas companies and financiers in New York City.

Thursday morning, activists met at 9 am at FERC, on 1st Street NE for a “unique” action to demand Commissioners obey DC Circuit Court orders to stop new fossil fuel projects until FERC considers greenhouse gas emissions as part of its project studies. This action was a disruption of FERC’s monthly meeting, a rally outside FERC, and a chorus of protesters chanting in the lobby of FERC, which could be heard inside during meeting proceedings.

Thursday afternoon at 2 pm activists met for a solemn walk beginning on the National Mall at Madison Drive NW and 12th Street NW, to the Environmental Protection Agency for a die-in. In January, Trump appointed EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, began the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history, including a repeal of the endangerment finding, a key climate policy passed into law in 2009. Activists and frontline communities led by the Elders Coalition for Climate Action met to expose the EPA for what could be one of the most devastating revocations of climate policy protections passed into law. Zeldin is undoing 56 years of environmental protections, including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, implemented at the EPA and improved in the decades since the EPA was created under the Richard Nixon Administration in 1970.

On Friday. September 19, Elders and members of Gulf Coast communities met at 200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Lower Senate Park, for a tour of the fossil energy trade associations responsible for capturing control of government energy policy. Led by Elders Climate Actions Lab, frontline community members visited multiple oil and gas trade associations which are responsible for lobbying and funding both the Republican and Democratic parties and guaranteeing the petroleum industry continues flushing the economy with fossil-based products.

FERC — “Rubber Stamp” Of The Fossil Fuel Industry

In Washington, DC, the actions kicked off on Thursday morning with a unique action at FERC designed to disrupt its monthly meeting of fossil fuel industry insiders and permit applicants. The public has not ever been allowed to testify at the monthly FERC meetings, which are essentially a panel of five commissioners who have consistently voted in lockstep with fossil industry requests on virtually every oil and gas project for which it has sought approval.

BXE has been involved with monthly meeting disruptions for the 11 years since the grassroots climate watchdog was first founded. The disruptions usually consisted of popcorn outbursts from affected frontline community members who have been denied an opportunity to publicly express their objections into the meeting record. Popcorn outbursts are staged disruptions unevenly timed to delay and the start of meetings.

Once activists disrupt the meeting, FERC Commissioners pause the meeting, turn off the video recording, FERC security quickly removes the disrupting citizens, and the citizens are permanently banned from future FERC meetings. The meetings are disrupted for anywhere from 4-7 minutes while security removes the activists.

According to Ted Glick, an organizer with BXE, there have been many incidents of private citizens having their land seized by oil and gas companies under the provisions of eminent domain. These land seizures have usually been in Black and Brown communities with little political power or financial resources to fight deep-pocket fossil lobbyists. The result is land-owners have limited recourse over the domain of their property. The land is permanently degraded as a result, usually with a limited value being paid from the oil and gas industry to the owners. The oil and gas companies then have free indefinite use of the land over which they build their pipelines.

The Institute for Justice (IJ) published on its website that eminent domain was intended to be a narrow power and has rightly been called a “despotic” power of government, given its vast potential for abuse: It can destroy lives and livelihoods by uprooting people from their homes, businesses, and communities. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote a blank check for local and state governments to abuse eminent domain in the now infamous Kelo v. New Londondecision. IJ represented Susette Kelo and other homeowners in New London, Conn., to save their homes from being demolished. But in a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court instead upheld the taking of their homes under the guise of “economic development.”

It has been this ‘despotic’ power that BXE has challenged at FERC over the past 11 years. Citizens have disrupted monthly meetings consistently over land grabs. The methane pipeline buildout of fracked gas from shale has been an example of how the gas and oil industry has seized thousands of miles of private citizens’ land to build pipelines over which citizens have no recourse. The interstate pipelines are often hundreds of miles long, meaning compression stations must be built with further confiscation of private land.

A key demand is that FERC commissioners follow the decision of the DC Circuit Court ruling to halt new fossil fuel projects until they consider how greenhouse gases (mainly carbon and methane) affect Black and Brown communities. These are often the frontline communities most affected by fossil fuel projects.

A major concern of the climate groups stems from the worsening climate emergency. Their actions are designed to ramp up public attention to the declining livability of the planet before it is too late to change course on the climate. Evidence of increasing extreme weather events, droughts, floods, and temperature rises have either met or exceeded the limits of human carbon emissions which the International Global Panel on Climate has determined is a red line to keeping the planet from becoming unlivable in the next century.

Additionally, there is the issue of renewable energy sources which the Trump government is standing against. While many nations are investing in renewable energy sources, the U.S. is reverting its focus to oil and gas and investing in the non-renewable fossil energy sector projects. China is leaping ahead in renewable technologies at an ambitious pace, building solar energy infrastructure into its grid while the U.S. is still building pipelines, compressor stations, and export terminals.

According to Ted Glick, this short-term profit based policy is at odds with what U.S. energy policy should be.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes monthly reports of global energy production and consumption. The U.S. is falling behind in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Asia, Europe. The Middle East, and South America are reducing their dependence on fossil fuel sources while the U.S. is moving in the opposite direction under Trump directed energy policy. Their September 17 report shows global coal energy generation is at its lowest level since 2020 and solar and wind energy generation and consumption is at its highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the only nation that is increasing its oil and methane production compared with the other 45 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Frontline Communities Join Climate Fight

Alyssa Portaro, Founder and Director of Habitat Recovery Project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, said in a press release, “We are proud to bring a Cameron Parish commercial fisher family to DC to highlight the harms of fossil fuel infrastructure in key biological areas. This place was once Seafood Capital of the United States, and is now home to the largest gas buildout in the world with LNG Export Facilities. Fisher families are seeing entire estuaries decimated by the construction of LNG exports, declines in fisheries species, sunken oyster boats in the wake of tanker ships. We need to see harms of LNG mitigated, and construction halted until fisher families directly impacted have a seat at the table for planning ecological repair and see just compensation for losses.“

Armon Alex with the Gulf of Mexico Youth Climate Summit, said, “Our communities along the Gulf of Mexico have been treated as sacrifice zones for far too long. We live with refineries, LNG export terminals, and petrochemical plants in our backyards, where the cost is our health, our air, and our futures. This is environmental racism at work. Black, Brown, and Indigenous families bear the burden of industry while billionaires profit. The devastation from fossil fuel infrastructure is our daily reality. Our political and economic systems have failed Gulf communities but we refuse to accept this as normal. The Gulf deserves clean air, safe water, and neighborhoods where people thrive, not corporate greed.“

The post Climate Groups Tell Big Oil And Gas Hands Off Planet appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

A protester stands amidst boards listing the tenants of fascism. Photo: DCMediaGroup file

Reprinted with permission.

There are alarming changes taking place in our country. Every week, no – every day – there are new developments, each one often more shocking than the last. I understand why so many friends and family just don’t want to talk about any of this. It is truly horrifying to watch the nation being torn apart at the seams. I have a similar reaction when I watch a horror movie, I cover my eyes and ask when the gory part is over and it’s safe to look again.

Much as we want to, we cannot avert our eyes. If we want to salvage our democracy and save our country, we have to take a courageous stand now, before we head so far to the right that there’s nothing left to repair.

Unchecked Power

The Department of Defense is now the Department of War, and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is positively giddy. He has been salivating over the prospect of war for months, clearly not familiar with the gravitas needed in making the decision to strike another country or the horror war brings. The two recent strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in international waters off the coast of Venezuela are clear examples of his unchecked bellicose nature. There is no indication, at least not that has been shared with the American public, that the boats or their occupants – all killed by American firepower – posed a direct threat to the U.S. Normal protocol would dictate that we board the boats to determine their purpose, but Hegseth and his merry band of warriors skipped that step and simply eradicated the “problem.” The potential for disaster with this stance is self-evident.

Lies

The current federal budget is set to expire on September 30, and without a new appropriations bill or a continuing resolution (CR), the government will be forced to shut down due to a lapse in funding. Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson released a CR to extend funding through November. Republicans refuse to negotiate with Democrats on the budget, and Johnson called the CR he offered “clean,” implying there is nothing in the bill that would be offensive to Democrats. What Speaker Johnson failed to say, however, is that the CR will lead to huge increases in healthcare costs, or loss of coverage altogether, for millions of Americans, an issue Democrats have vowed they won’t accept. Rest assured that if there is a government shutdown, the Republicans will point their collective finger at the Democrats, when in fact the healthcare debacle was brought on by Republicans creating tax benefits for the wealthy at the expense of healthcare for everyday Americans. Once again, Johnson reveals himself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, nothing less.

Hypocrisy

The assassination of controversial right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk last week has brought into clear focus the immense and dire divide in our nation. Commentary from both the left and the right in the past week underscores the totally unacceptable hypocrisy governing us. Kirk regularly made horrid racist, misogynistic and violent comments directed at liberal Americans. No matter how shocking, his comments were protected under the First Amendment. However, following his death, the tables have turned, and those on the left who are exercising their own First Amendment rights in speaking out about Kirk’s vile and cruel rhetoric are being targeted by the current regime. Many have been doxed, some have lost their jobs, and liberal non-profits are being threatened. The same rights that Charlie Kirk was able to exercise for years are now being explicitly denied to those speaking out to condemn his divisive commentary. Not only is this glaring hypocrisy, it’s a denial of a fundamental constitutional right and is unacceptable.

It won’t be easy to stop the unraveling of our country, nor will it happen quickly. The unchecked power, the lies and the hypocrisy are sure to continue for now. But if we keep averting our eyes in an attempt to spare ourselves from experiencing the gory, unsavory and illegal actions unfolding before us, we risk losing any chance of having a say in how this horror movie ends.

Susan Douglas can be found on Substack. Follow her here.

The post The Rapid Undoing of a Nation, Unchecked Power, Lies, and Hypocrisy appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

NASA supporters rallied outside the Headquarters building Monday on September 15. The budget cuts will reduce funding to 1961 levels and eliminate most programs already serving in Earth orbit and the Solar System. Photo: Lex King / DCMediaGroup

Author’s note: All individuals spoke in their individual capacity and did not speak on behalf of NASA. 

Washington DC—When Neil Armstong said the moon landing was one small step for man, the world assumed he meant a step forward, but to the group outside NASA headquarters on September 15, the Trump administration was taking NASA a giant leap back.

Current and former NASA employees, contractors, and supporters founded the group ‘NASA Needs Help’ to expose the planned budget cuts to the agency. Although NASA Needs Help includes many NASA employees, they stressed that it wasn’t an “employee group trying to save jobs, it’s a NASA fan group trying to save NASA.” They rallied outside of the agency’s headquarters for roughly five hours to highlight the critical work at risk. All those in attendance did so on their own personal time, and spoke in their capacity as private citizens, not on behalf of NASA.

Nearly Every NASA Project Under Attack

Trump’s budget cuts would push NASA to its lowest funding levels since 1961, threatening the future of 41 key missions. These include climate monitoring, asteroid research, and the Mars Sample Return mission, which uses the Perseverance rover to collect sealed samples of the planet’s soil.

Dr. Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist, emphasized that the loss of these programs isn’t just a scientific loss, but an economic one as well. The money spent on researching, building, and running scientific research is reinvested in the economy and drives technological investments.

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, who represents Virginia’s 10th district, home to many NASA contractors and employees, also spoke to the group. “NASA is one of the best investments we can make in the country,” he said. He shared that he grew up in Texas, near the Johnson Space Center. “My neighbors were astronauts, they were engineers, they helped put people into space, they helped us win the space race,” he reflected.

Before he departed for the Hill, Subramanyam promised to deliver the protesters’ message to his colleagues: fund NASA, return the 4,000 jobs lost, and continue to support science across America.

As the demonstrators rallied on Hidden Figures Way—the street outside NASA headquarters named after the women of color who made key calculations during the space race—passerby of every kind offered their support. Bikers rang their bells as they passed. Garbage trucks and a USPS van honked. Firefighters from the station across the road waved as they returned from a call.

The displays lent credence to another point the group made: NASA isn’t just a source of scientific excellence, it’s a source of inspiration as American as apple pie. How many people used images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope as a computer background? “Kids love space,” Marshall Finch, contractor, System Administrator at Goddard Space Flight Center said. “It’s space and dinosaurs…NASA delivers inspiration.”

Indeed, space exploration inspired some of the most influential pop-culture phenomena of the last century, something the group leaned into. One individual held a sign referencing Andor, a recent installment in the Star Wars franchise. Translated, the sign read, we are NASA, the galaxy is watching.

Multiple speakers focused on how cuts to NASA funding could have long-term impacts for America’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) efforts. “We say we want our kids to advance in STEM, but NASA’s STEM office saw its budget cut by 100 percent,” one said, “our children, our teenagers, who could have been passionately involved in science, who could be civil servants, will be denied opportunities and engagement.”

A mother carried a sign reading “don’t blow up my son’s career” with a broken rocket sketched beneath it. She shared that both she and her husband attended the event to support their son, a NASA engineer in Huntsville. “The American people support you, too,” she said to the federal workers gathered.

Another, an aerospace engineer who had worked with NASA in prior roles, lamented the loss of expertise the government would face if the cuts went through. Between reductions in force, the deferred resignation program (colloquially known as the ‘fork in the road’ after the email DOGE sent announcing the effort), and other attrition, civil servants with decades of experience had already left federal work.

Labor Union Representing Goddard Space Flight Center Also Under Attack

The funding cuts are just the latest in a string of attacks against the agency. Monica Gorman, the Area Vice President for the Goddard Engineers, Scientists, and Technicians Association (GESTA), which represents employees at three locations, including the Goddard Space Flight Center, shared that Trump was attacking NASA’s collective bargaining abilities.

Under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, if a federal agency primarily performs intelligence, counter-intelligence, investigatory, or national security work, the President can strip them of collective bargaining power if they determine it is incompatible with national security interests. On August 28, Trump did just that, issuing an Executive Order to end collective bargaining with several entities, including NASA. The Order attempted to justify it because NASA “develops and operates advanced air and space technologies, like satellite, communications, and propulsion systems, that are critical for U.S. national security.”

While NASA’s charter does direct them to share any useful defense technology with the Department of Defense, NASA is a civil space agency, Gorman emphasized, not an intelligence agency, and they’ve been collectively bargaining for decades with no impact on national security. Other offices handle national security aspects of space. For example, the National Reconnaissance Agency, an intelligence agency within DoD, was established in 1961 with the mission to “leverage space to enhance America’s national security and strategic advantage.” The claim that NASA performs primarily national security functions is especially rich considering that during his first term, Trump established an entirely new branch of the military, the Space Force, to focus on exactly that.

Gorman spoke to the crowd about the importance of bargaining power in their industry. In her case, collective bargaining agreements allow her to complete her job without fear of retaliation or punishment if she raises a concern. That can be a matter of life and death.

“The work that NASA does can be dangerous, people have given their lives for this work.” She said, referencing tragedies like the Challenger explosion. Whistleblowers had raised concerns about the Challenger’s O-ring design, but were ignored, in part due to pressure by higher NASA officials. Roughly 70 seconds after launch, the O-rings failed and Challenger exploded, killing all seven crew members.

Gorman summarized the risk of losing bargaining rights; “If people don’t feel safe at work, if they don’t have the trust that they can speak up and bring those concerns forward without retaliation, then those concerns get buried and people will die.”

A giant leap back, indeed.

The post NASA Supporters Fight Giant Leap Back Budget Cuts appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

The Peace Vigil as it appeared the day before US Park Police raided and took down the tent by force. Photo: J. Zangas / DCMediaGroup

Editors note: Lex King was present on the night President Trump ordered the takedown of the William Thomas Memorial Peace Vigil. They gave this first person account of activists’ actions which kept the U.S. Park Police from removing the Peace Vigil entirely. As of Tuesday night, the Peace Vigil was continuing operations and being staffed by multiple activists but without its main tent structure.

“If this tent goes, watch yourself and your families next,” activist Rio Phillips warned a growing crowd on Friday, September 5th. Night had already fallen over the city when he’d received word that the William Thomas Memorial Peace Vigil could be taken down at any moment. Phillips and a group of supporters flocked to Lafayette Square to defend the longest running protest in American history.

The Peace Vigil began in 1981, running 24/7. Vigil keepers used a blue tent to take shelter from the elements and store materials. According to permitting laws in Washington D.C., the tent did not require a permit as long as someone was actively attending to it, meaning the tent couldn’t be left alone for any period of time. That’s why protestors were immediately alarmed when they got the call that the vigil’s attendant had been removed from the tent.

When they arrived at Lafayette Square, police tape blocked the entrance to the park with multiple Park Police officers guarding it. Protestors were stuck on the sidewalk, trying to spot the tent in the dark. Police assured the group they’d closed the square down for a congressional picnic, not to take down the tent, but it did little to quell the group’s fear.

Earlier that day, Trump found out about the Vigil on live television after a right-wing personality levied slanderous accusations that the tent was hiding weapons. Trump responded, “Take it down. Take it down today, right now.”

Needless to say, they had real reason to be concerned.

For nearly three hours, organizers gathered around the police tape, keeping their gazes trained on the tent in the distance. The group consisted of members of a nearby 24/7 veterans’ protest, FLARE, and 50501. Some protestors made snide comments about the timing of the tent’s possible removal. On the same day, Trump issued an executive order ‘renaming’ the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Was it a coincidence that he wanted the Peace Vigil in his backyard gone, too?

Phillips brought out a megaphone, chanting and providing commentary. “Show us your cankles!” He repeated throughout the night, referring to the President. “He can barely stand up! What he does stand up for is genocide and pedophilia.”

Phillips, who is campaigning for one of West Virginia’s Senate seats, has volunteered at the vigil for 20 years, since the George Bush era. His campaign identifies peace first foreign policy as one of his priorities. Reflecting on the potential end to the historic vigil, he said, “To be in town while we face this, it moves me more than I can put into words.”

At times, he led the crowd in simple chants, including, “Leave the vigil alone!” When the crowd died down, Phillips spoke on the symbolic importance of the Peace Vigil, not just to the anti-war movement, but to democracy itself. He spoke to Philipos Melaku-Bello, a long-time vigil attendant, highlighting the vigil’s importance: “Constitutional liberties don’t have a curfew. They don’t have hours of operation.”

Another protestor echoed that sentiment, taking the megaphone briefly to share what the vigil meant to them. “It’s been here 44 years…and counting,” they added pointedly. “It’s profoundly American, just like the First Amendment. If you sit idly by while they tear down the longest running protest in the world, you represent the end of America as we know it.”

An activist left a sign symbolizing a call to fight back against rising authoritarianism in the U.S. Photo: Lex King

“First amendment’s gone, now are they going to tell you you don’t have the right to say things to your children? Because once the freedom of speech is gone, they can impose things.” Melaku-Bello spoke to the gathered media outlets, reiterating the vigil’s importance to free speech. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Alexander the Great did it, the Third Reich did it, the browncoats who turned in their grandparents, their parents, their uncles, their aunts, their best friends’ parents.”

He wasn’t the first one to make the comparison to Nazi Germany that night. In fact, multiple protestors compared Trump’s actions to Hitler’s. One held a sign that depicted a figure punching a swastika.

Despite the message about freedom of speech, Melaku-Bello had one even bigger takeaway, waving his hands and shouting, “It’s deflection again, release the Epstein files!” A chorus of agreement rose from the crowd.

At one point, a man pulled out a guitar, playing a song he wrote, aptly named “Trump is a punk-ass bitch.” Protestors danced along the sidewalk and sang the chorus into their megaphones.

Shortly before 11 p.m., police took down the tape and allowed the group to re-enter the park, where they found the tent still up. The crowd cheered and took photos together, celebrating their brief win. They had stood guard for hours to protect the bastion of free speech.

Despite their brief victory, police removed the tent Sunday morning, but allowed Melaku-Bello to remain without it, leaving the future of the vigil unclear. Although the tent was removed days later, Friday reminded the people that in a regime that worked as quickly as Trump’s, their collective action had bought something money never could: time.

The post DC Activists Defended Peace Vigil Before US Park Police Took It Down appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

The town hall was held in northern Virginia

On September 7, 2025, eleven grassroots organizations across Virginia partnered together to host an empty-chair town hall on the rule of law at Mason district government center in Annandale, Virginia. Organizers repeatedly invited Jason Miyares, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, emailing his office seven times and calling four. Despite the repeated attempts, Miyares didn’t attend. In fact, he never even confirmed receipt of the invitation, organizers shared.

The group didn’t let his silence stop them, though. They set up an empty chair, representing their absent official, and posed questions to the furniture.

The questions ranged across topics from immigration, to DOGE, healthcare, and more. 19 states sued over DOGE’s unprecedented power, which they used to fire federal employees en masse. Despite the fact that the national capital region—including Virginia—is home to roughly 20% of the federal workforce, Miyares did not join the lawsuit. The first speaker keyed in on that fact. “You did nothing when probationary employees, our best and brightest, were fired illegally.” She told the empty chair. “My son was among them.”

The empty chair did not respond.

An empty chair greeted concerned citizens attending a town hall held for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares at the Mason district government center in Annandale, Virginia about the rule of law.

Some speakers sharpened their questions like daggers. “Why aren’t you here?” Mike, of Fairfax, asked the chair. “I’ve been at this since the 60’s,” he said, referencing the fight for democracy. He had been tear-gassed three times at protests as a high schooler during the Nixon era. “We don’t want to go back to that. We’re going forward with democracy.”

Another speaker, Maryann, a 90-year-old former nurse who had worked in pediatrics, lambasted the Health and Human Services Secretary, RFK Jr., a long-time vaccine skeptic. He removed career public health officials and replaced them with those aligned to his views, prompting them to review vaccine mandates and recommendations. Trump’s Big Bad Bill also risked the closure of several rural Virginia hospitals, putting the community in danger. How would Virginia’s Attorney General respond to changing recommendations?

She had personal reasons to be concerned. The former nurse shared that when she was young, her cousin died of Measles. Back then, there was no vaccine for the disease, which she said they didn’t even understand at the time.

Maryann also reflected on her husband, a former Metro Police Department officer and public servant. He was humble and respectful, the way public servants should be, she thought, comparing him to the current administration officials. “If he was not already deceased, this would kill him.”

Questions came in from as far as Roanoke, who submitted a question in advance. Miyares found that Roanoke College had violated Title IX and discriminated against female athletes when it allowed a transgender woman to swim on the women’s team. The Roanoke community pointed out that Miyares’ own report explicitly stated that there was not sufficient evidence that any women were denied the opportunity to compete.

It similarly stated that the transgender swimmer never competed, couldn’t win awards or set records, and resigned after only four days. “Given that your own findings contradict the narrative of victimized female athletes,” they asked, “why did you choose to hold a press conference and launch this investigation just weeks before the election? How do you justify using taxpayer resources and your official position to investigate a case where, by your own admission, no competition opportunities were denied, and no hostile environment created?”

“They look forward to your response,” the Master of Ceremonies, who read the question on behalf of the Roanoke constituents, sarcastically told the empty seat.

ICE was another hot topic for the questioners. Trump built his campaign on the promise of deporting violent criminals, but, as one speaker reflected, ICE was targeting “20 or 30 year members of our communities.” Virginia’s National Guard announced last month that it would assist ICE with logistics and administrative support. Although the Guard maintains that it will not help make arrests or enforce laws, it’s little comfort for the northern Virginia communities who watched the National Guard occupy Washington D.C. just across the river.

Although Miyares did not attend, the groups were still treated to a VIP speaker. VA State Delegate Holly Seibold, who represents Fairfax county, joined the event. Seibold was a public school educator and non-profit worker before becoming a politician. She created BRAWS, a non-profit that provides undergarments and feminine hygiene products to members of the community in need.

Seibold provided brief remarks at the end of the event, empathizing with the attendees. She shared the story of one of her constituents who had just been deported. She had fled from El Salvador and came to the U.S. legally under a protective order. She had two young sons, one on the Autism spectrum.

Officials told Seibold that the woman volunteered to ‘self-deport,’ but Seibold kept digging and found that she had been given an ultimatum: sign the paper agreeing to voluntarily deport, or be separated from her sons. Any parent would know that was no choice at all.

Seibold tried to intervene, but it was too late. The woman had to wear an ankle monitor as part of the agreement, and she feared that if she skipped the flight to El Salvador, ICE would raid her house. Before she was deported, she had worked at a local restaurant and had been working to master the English language. Her sons were both attending public school. They were valuable community members, Seibold reflected. Now, they’re back in an extremely dangerous situation.

As the event wound down, the Master of Ceremonies summed up the silence that followed each question. “Bueller? Bueller? Miyares?”

“We are disappointed. Grassroots groups from northern Virginia, to Richmond, to Roanoke came together to invite and engage with our top lawyer and elected leader and he is a no show.” Said Stair of Network NOVA, one of the event sponsors, speaking on Miyares’ absence. “We tried everything the last three weeks, calling, emailing, offering to meet by zoom or talk to a representative of Miyares’ choice. We never got a response to any of our invitations, but decided to hold the town hall anyway to underscore the importance of rule of law at this time in our history.”

In the end, Miyares struck himself speechless in a literal sense.

The post Attorney General Jason Miyares Snubs Northern Virginia Constituents appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Philipos Melaku-Bello holds documents granting him a legal right to remain at the Peace Vigil site near the White House. Photo: John Zangas / DCMediaGroup

Washington DC—On Sunday afternoon the Peace Vigil manager, Philipos Melaku-Bello reclined in the sun under a big red umbrella at the William Thomas Memorial Peace Vigil, reflecting on the whirlwind of events that occurred over the last three days.

Just hours earlier, the 44 year old Peace Vigil was raided by U.S. National Park Police which tore down and confiscated the blue tarp tent, its frame, and cinder block anchors. As word spread of the raid, scores of longtime DC activists, residents, and supporters sprang into action. They rolled in throughout the day, like an anonymous army of loyal supernumeraries, to sit with and support Philipos and the other activists who staff the Peace Vigill. Among them were attorneys, activists, friends, supporters, and former Vigil staff members.

The takedown incident was triggered on Friday during a White House press conference as a result of a question posed to President Trump from right-wing media personality Brian Glenn. In his question, which was more like a loaded screed, he implied the Peace Vigil stored weapons and posed a “national security risk” in Lafayette Park. He further alleged the Vigilers were radical leftists standing against American values, using drugs, and creating a rat-infested space. Melaku-Bello said that none of this is true.

Upon hearing Glenn’s screed, Trump response to his staff was to “Take it down. Take it down today, right now.” Later on Friday after Melaku-Bello learned of the press conference, he extended his shift at the Peace Vigil through Friday night past his scheduled quitting time. He remained there all through Saturday, Saturday night, and he did not leave until early Sunday morning. Melaku-Bello anticipated police would arrive at any minute and he wanted to be there if they did. By Sunday morning it seemed that the threat had passed as no police forces had come. Will Roosien, the relief watch, joined him and took over at about 6 am right as Melaku-Bello was leaving.

Minutes after Melaku-Bello left—after sitting for nearly 2 days straight—U.S. Park Police swept into Lafayette Square and confiscated the blue tarp tent, its frame, and cinder block anchors. Roosien called Melaku-Bello, who immediately returned to join the relief activist, and he continued seated at the Peace Vigil for the third day. He remained at the Vigil as of Sunday night at 6 pm.

National Park Service police left behind some of the cardboard signs and the two giant pallet signs. They gave no explanation as to why they took the tent and issued no citation or ticket explaining what Federal code or regulation the Vigilers had violated. Melaku-Bello maintained that the Peace Vigilers had not done anything to justify the police raid and had not gone astray of any of the court-ordered requirements they obey in order to remain on the red bricks. He said the raid was politically motivated.

As Melaku-Bello spoke, another activist, Steve-O, a much more silent activist at the Peace Vigil staff, cleaned up the area behind where the original blue tarp tent stood. Dirt runoff from Lafayette Park from recent rains had accumulated between the curb and the tent which rested against it.

Peace Vigil Sanctioned By Court Order

The Peace Vigil itself has been sanctioned by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia since its main founding activist, William Thomas, agreed with the Judge’s order not to sleep or encamp in the park. He was permitted two large permanent signs provided they did not exceed the dimension limits of 6’ height and 4’ width. Two other requirements were that he and the Vigilers not encamp or sleep at the Park and that an activist of the Peace Vigil be continuously present for it to remain permitted.

Thomas, who died in 2009, had even purchased a house on 12th Street from a tax sale in the early 1990s which he named the Peace House. The house was to provide Vigilers a place to rest, eat, and shower between their shifts. The Peace House remained open until about 2016. A group of squatters took over the Peace Vigil after they took refuge there following the OccupyDC movement, but they failed to pay rent to its owner, and failed to keep up with the utility costs and taxes. The utilities were shut off due to non-payment. Helen Thomas, widow of William Thomas and part owner of the property, eventually came to a settlement agreement with the squatters, that they leave after an undisclosed payout was given to them. The Peace House was eventually vacated and pending final disposition at that time, but other activists had by then assumed duties of staffing the Peace Vigil and had to provide their own support and accommodations.

Thomas built the original Peace Vigil signs with reinforced wood and painted with warnings against war, nuclear war, and human rights abuses worldwide—the same messages it has carried since its original founders proscribed in 1981. “Live By The Bomb, Die By The Bomb,” read one of them, “Wanted: Honesty and Truth,” read another.

Melaku-Bello said that the signs were rebuilt several times due to weathering and decay. They were destroyed several times when opponents to the Peace Vigil attacked and destroyed them. Melaku-Bello said the signage present now was specifically rebuilt 1/4” short of the dimensions limit in order to comply with the court order. When asked if drugs were ever used there he said no but admitted that long past several activists were cited for public intoxication. They were asked not to return.

The signage message has been little changed over the Peace Vigil 44 years and since its beginning, has effectively remained anti-war, anti-nuclear, and pro-human rights.

Peace Vigil Refuses To Go Even After Raid

As Melaku-Bello sat under a large red umbrella, contemplating the future of the Peace Vigil, dozens of activists and admirers streamed in to ask what had happened. The severely fatigued sage answered each question patiently, explaining the importance of having a voice of opposition to what is wrong about America, and describing the legal injustice of the raid itself. His message: voices of opposition are necessary and must be allowed to be heard.

Melaku-Bello carries a copy of the court order in a water-proof zipper black container and pulls it out like a testimonial to the Peace Vigil’s existence whenever anyone asks him what he’s going to do about the raid. He holds it up and moment then folds it back and returns it to the container.

Philipos with his signature peace sign. Photo: J. Zangas / DCMediaGroup

An international press corps also descended on the Peace Vigil, intervening Melaku-Bello. Dozens of stories about the Peace Vigil began popping up all across the web. More supporters came. By Sunday afternoon there was a torrent of visitors and press, activists and attorneys, offering their support and bringing food and drinks to Melaku-Bello. He accepted each graciously. Some simply came and hugged him and left without saying anything. One young woman stood before him, tears in her eyes, said nothing and left. She returned later and sat silently facing the White House.

Removing the tent is likely not going to end the Peace Vigil outright or in the near future but it will make sustaining it much more difficult over the long term. Weather will worsen and Winter storms will bring ice and snow. Without a tent covering to retreat from the elements, its unlikely anyone without hearty outdoors experience will endure.

The Peace Vigil has been through difficult times before, hurricanes, assaults, and hundreds of storms, and time. It has endured the wims of changing political power, surviving beyond the lives of many of its founders, and is half way through its fifth decade. It is the longest continuously running Vigil for Peace in North America and perhaps one of the longest running Vigils for Peace globally.

If anything remains through the coming days, it will be the will of activists to sustain the Peace Vigil.

You may donate to the support the activists and their legal fund here.

The post Peace Vigil Future Unclear As Trump Regime Takes Down And Removes Tent appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Tens of thousands of DC citizens demanded occupation forces leave DC in massive action. Photo: John Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Washington DC—Tens of thousands of DC citizens rallied and marched Saturday demanding the immediate end to occupation forces and an end to police harassment and illegal arrests in communities throughout the city. The We Are All DC action was in response to the regime’s deployment of 1000s of federal police and over 2000 Army National Guard Soldiers from Southern States, including Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Citizens denounced roundups of immigrants, traffic stop traps, and the arrests some U.S. citizens.

The march began at Malcom X Park and ended about a mile away at Freedom Plaza, where organizers told of the adverse affects the occupation had on their communities, police stops to check drivers, usually without probable cause, and ICE roundups of immigrants and green card holders awaiting their final approval as citizens. Businesses were being hampered or closed because customers were not coming to the city and workers were afraid to go to work.

Trump’s claim that a crime emergency justified the occupation forces has been resoundingly rejected by DC citizens. Trump’s claim of rising criminal element also was not supported by crime data published by his own Department of Justice. Such crime data accumulated by government police agencies over the past three decades actuality reflects a marked reduction in crime rates, according to a Department of Justice Report on crime in DC.

If anything, it was evident in the fervor of the speeches that the deployment of occupation forces have solidified the feeling among grassroots groups that DC must now be recognized as the 51st State. “We’re going to lead with autonomy for DC and that autonomy looks like the 51st State,” said one speaker from FreeDCProject. “We are no longer standing on the back lines of what is happening in our country. We are no longer asking but we are demanding that we have full autonomy and we are demanding that DC become the 51st State.”

FreeDCProject, CASA, Harriets Wildest Dreams, and many other grassroots groups led by local citizens, unions, immigrant groups, and clergy, joined the citizens march as it walked down 16th Street past the White House, and to Freedom Plaza. Once they arrived there, speakers denounced the President’s occupation of the city. They had harsh words for DC Muriel Bowser as well for her betrayal of the city by thanking the president for his surge of police and National Guard to patrol the city.

Mayor Bowser signed an agreement granting cooperation with occupation forces in DC beyond the 30 day emergency expiration which was scheduled to expire on September 10. While Mayor Bowser denied she was agreeing to cooperate with extending the President’s crime emergency crackdown, grassroots groups expressed a sense of betrayal that she was cooperating with authorities in the first place. Speakers told how their communities had suffered greatly under the occupation and the Mayor’s agreement was a furtherance of that suffering.

The Mayor’s cooperation with the occupation forces was regarded by organizers as tacit approval of the extension of authoritarian measures undermining the DC territory, its communities, and its people, which were before then already at a disadvantage, without voices of redress in their legislature. It was certainly the tone of speaker after speaker who expressed condemnation of the Mayor and her acquiescence to Trump’s occupation.

At one point during the march as the banner bearers passed Foundry United Methodist Church, all the tower bells rang out in support of them, welcoming them as they passed. In that moment it was as if they suddenly became as one; an esteemed charismatic world leader taking their place of prominence atop a stage to receive accolades of praise. The marchers delighted as the bells tolled and paused momentarily and spontaneously erupted in thunderous cheering. (See video at foot of story)

Citizens Denounce The Federal Occupation

Many citizens voiced extreme concern with the abuse of authority and heavy-handed police street tactics as they have played out across the 7 wards of DC over the four weeks since forces were first deployed on August 10.

“Its incredulous, surreal, a nightmare that keeps going on and on,” said Ken Greene, a long time resident of DC. Ken moved to DC in 1977 and though he was not completely resigned to the occupation succeeding in the long run, he felt the social justice gains of many decades were being swept away since Home Rule was first granted by President Nixon in December 1973.

“All the progress we made since the mid 1960s; we marched for social justice and it’s all going away,” he said. Greene believes part of the solution is going to come through the direct experiences of Trump’s supporters experiencing the adverse consequences of his policies. As they begin to suffer the consequences they will come to realize he is not doing well for the country.

Reverend Goss, a clergywoman from Virginia joined the march in support of her friends who live in DC. “I want DC to be represented in Congress and I want the National Guard to be sent home,” she said. Goss said also she was angered by the treatment of DC residents at the hands of the president. “This is an evil act to do what [they’ve] doing and God is not on [their] side and we are here to speak for a moral end to this regime.”

Kelly Daley, a member of Defend Democracy Indivisible, said that what was happening with citizens was the start of something big. “DC deserves to be ruled by itself and it deserves full Home Rule and Statehood. Having the National Guard here is starting to of many steps we can see coming down the road.”

The post DC Citizens Demand Statehood In Rally And March Against Occupation Police Forces appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

National Guard troops outside Union Station carry combat grade weapons. Photo: Lex King/DCMediaGroup

Washington, DC—”Not on Our Watch” is the message Veterans’ are sending the President.

The two beige Humvees parked on the bricks looked like they belonged at a military base instead of outside Union Station as part of a wave of police forces occupying DC. No one knew that better than the group of Veterans gathered in their shadow.

Last month, Trump ordered National Guard members from at least six states into the Nation’s Capital to lower high crime rates, even though Trump’s own Department of Justice stated that violent crime in D.C. reached a 30-year low. Trump also sent federal agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal police agencies. Trump has also federalized the DC Metropolitan Police Department as part of his so-called “crime emergency,” further ramping up paramilitary control of the city.

Chilled by the idea of military assets rolling through American streets, Veterans were quick to respond.

Russell Ellis, also known as Jolly_Good_Ginger on TikTok, organized a 24/7 veterans’ sit-in at Union Station to protest the massive police deployment. In the week since it started, the protest has drawn veterans from around the country to DC. They promised they won’t leave until the Guard does.

The message to the National Guard Soldiers is not to obey illegal orders. But would they refuse such orders? Photo: Lex King / DCMediaGroup

 

Ellis shared that “using troops on American soil undermines the public’s trust in the military.” America’s active-duty forces are governed by the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the military from acting as law enforcement. Although the Act doesn’t always apply to the National Guard, the separation between military forces and police is a sign of a healthy democracy. Citizens get anxious when that line starts to blur, and this is for two good reasons: Kent State.

On May 4, 1970, then Ohio Governor James Rhodes sent the Ohio State National Guard to control an anti-Vietnam War-Cambodia Campaign protest at Kent State University, a working class college. The guardsmen were not trained to interact with civilians exercising First Amendment rights during street protests nor were they skilled at handling civil matters. As a result, they shot and killed four unarmed students, and wounded nine others. It was a seminal moment in US history and it triggered a national referendum on the Vietnam war and turned the tide of opinion against the military and its role in our Republic. It was also exactly what the Posse Comitatus Act was meant to prevent. And a repeat of Kent State is something that could happen in DC, given the right circumstances of anger, fear, and suspicion which currently exists in DC.

Ellis also explained that the National Guard’s presence in D.C. threatened national security. He feared it would lower the military’s enlistment rates and hurt retention, meaning that fewer prospective recruits would join and current service members would increasingly leave, taking their knowledge and talent with them.

Ellis provided a site which Veterans can access for more information on what they can do to get involved. The site reads, “Now, as we see the National Guard activated and deployed to our streets – this is NOT in keeping with that OATH nor that DUTY. This is a blatant MILITARY OCCUPATION of American cities.“

The sit-in website, rememberyouroath.org, outlined three main goals:

1. Inform our National Guard siblings of their rights to refuse unlawful orders. Educate and encourage.
2. Hold National Guard officers to account for accepting the orders to INTIMIDATE the American people.
3. Respond to ICE and MPD checkpoints and stops throughout the city to protest, shame them, and assist their victims.

To support the first goal, they hung a sign about the GI rights hotline mere yards from the National Guard’s Humvees. The hotline provides free, confidential information about military regulations, and can direct callers to legal resources if needed. With Trump escalating military involvement, the hotline is a crucial tool for service members who fear they were given illegal orders.

Federal police and active military deployed on the streets to combat crime are a recipe for disaster as the history of the Kent State University massacre reminds the nation. Photo: Lex King / DCMediaGroup

 

The veterans also displayed the federal employee’s oath of office, reminding the federal law enforcement officers flocking to D.C. that they, too, swore to defend the Constitution from “enemies both foreign and domestic.”

At a brief address, Ellis instructed the gathering to remain peaceful, but vigilant. The previous night, a member was arrested for using washable sidewalk chalk, which he sarcastically noted was apparently, “more dangerous than pedophiles, apparently.” Earlier in the week, another veteran with the group was arrested by the Secret Service after burning the American flag across from the White House in protest of Trump’s instruction to prosecute flag burning. The Supreme Court ruled that flag burning was protected First Amendment speech in 1989.

The founder of American Opposition—one of the organizers behind June’s No Kings Day protests—Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, joined those gathered at Union Station. He planed to host a rally there on September 2nd to “welcome” Congress back to session. Álvarez-Aranyos previously worked with Veterans’ groups at the June 6th ‘Unite for Veterans’ event in D.C.

The 24/7 sit-in was the beginning of what Álvarez-Aranyos viewed as “phase two.” The first phase of his work was focused on activating people through a series of protests, such as No Kings Day and Unite for Veterans. Phase two will direct that energy into pressuring vulnerable republicans and ineffective democrats. “Where it’s legal, we’ll show up at their homes, we’ll show up at their offices, at restaurants where they eat,” he explained.

Álvarez-Aranyos was confident that the American people were ready. In fact, he launched the second phase earlier than he expected. “13 million people are willing to get out and fight these battles. Now, we get to the work of aiming our efforts at people who need it.”

The post Veterans Stand Ground At Union Station; Tell President Take National Guard Out Of DC appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

Michael Marceau described how the deployment of massive amounts of police and National Guard Soldiers was unnecessary. Photo: J. Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Washington DC—Sixty seven years ago Veteran Michael Marceau was a combat infantryman in Vietnam when the unthinkable happened. He was wounded by enemy fire. Then, after what seemed like hours but was actually only minutes, a helicopter ‘dust-off’ took him to safety and so began the next chapter of his life: his long recovery from his combat wounds. He doesn’t speak much about the details of it. The Vietnam War took a heavy toll on him. And many of his comrades did not return. So he has committed himself to peace and is a member of the DC Chapter of Veterans for Peace.

At this late stage in his life most of his years are behind him but that doesn’t mean he can’t use the time he has to make life better for others by speaking of the costs of war. And now DC is in a strange new war much different from the battles he saw in the jungles of Southeast Asia. This is a battle an authoritarian machine chose to wage on its own citizens, rolling through the streets, chewing up rights and disappearing hundreds in its wake. This is what any war does, it chews up everything and everything around it and moves on.

The declaration of a “crime emergency” and the federal activation of the DC Army National Guard to DC streets was not anything Marceau imagined he’d have to resist in his lifetime. At least not here in DC. Wars are always fought ‘over there.’ But for someone who experienced war, he understands military conflict, and knows its truths and consequences, and the abuse of military power has devastating consequences, mostly on the innocents affected. And though the war on DC has hit him hard personally, he has decided to be in the middle it anyway on a hot day. Although he’s nearly into his 80s, he’s taking his stand the only way he can.

He walked around the khaki covered Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) military vehicles at Union Station on Saturday with a sign over hung his shoulders. It read “ICE, National Guard, DEA Get Out of Our House,” reflecting the collective feeling DC citizens have towards the police state DC has become.

The three MRAPs parked outside are quite imposing when one stands next to them. They don’t appear to be outfitted with machine guns or live ammunition and the sergeants nearby are friendly and engaged the public professionally when approached, but they were not tasked to reach out to the public like public affairs officers. They are here to show power. They are here to tell the public they have been to war and aren’t afraid to fight another one. They are here to impose fear.

On the second sign hung over Marceau’s back reads “ICE, NG, DEA, Find the Epstein Files,”in effect meaning its what police should be doing: fighting real crime, not harassing citizens trying to go to work and earn a living.

He pointed out his belief that the actions taken by Trump came on the heels of Epsteingate and were a distraction from it. The files held at the Department of Justice reportedly have Trump’s name repeated throughout their pages. The full extent of his involvement with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is not yet publicly known. But some of the documents released on the New York Times website indicated a more close friendship between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein in earlier years than Trump previously admitted. And this was evidenced by a racy personal letter Trump wrote to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, long after Trump claimed to have had completed dealings with him.

Marceau believes, as do others, that the timing of the deployment of police agencies and the mobilization of the National Guard to DC was designed to shift news coverage from the embarrassing spectacle that swirled around Trump and threatened to completely turn the MAGA base against him. Indeed many MAGA had become enraged when Trump demurred on releasing the Epsteingate files because releasing the files and exposing the names therein was a major campaign promise he repeated over and over again.

Then there’s the issue of the Posse Comitaus Act, and the real wrong Marceau said is being waged against 700,000 DC residents. DC residents already have no voice in their legislature. They also pay some of the highest local taxes than any city in the U.S. And it’s these issues Marceau really takes to heart.

The 147 year-old Posse Comitatus Act was passed into law to prevent the government from using the power of the military to enforce domestic laws and civil statutes unless there was an extreme emergency. Marceau said flat out there was no emergency and DC streets were as safe as they had been in many years. Statistics published on the DC Attorney’s website bear out that crime was at its lowest point in 30 years.

This also belies a hidden question. If police agencies and the National Guard are being diverted to fight crime where it is at its lowest point in three decades, what effect will it have on the areas where was diverted from?

The deployment of DC National Guard troops to DC streets up to this point has been largely symbolic and the handful of troops guarding the heavily armored vehicles were unarmed but they did wear black camera recorders and they were videotaping everyone who spoke to them. This is as close to law enforcement as any military policeman can get without carrying an M-16 or a LAW. Incidentally the Soldiers staffing the MWRAP vehicles are military policemen of the DC Army National Guard.

Marceau was matter of fact when speaking about the takeover and deployment of federal police agencies and feels it’s an abuse of power against citizens who have done nothing wrong. “The biggest criminal in Washington DC lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and that is the White House,” he said dryly. The history of this president’s conduct bears this truth out as well.

Marceau is obviously proud of his military service but not proud of the way his country is being led. He wears the medals and decorations he earned in Vietnam on his cap. It is his testament to courage he carries with him although he will never say it out loud.

Now, just being inside the nation’s capital is tense. Fewer tourists are visiting and that will take a significant hit on the local economy since tourism is one of Washington DCs biggest revenue drivers. The restaurants are also nearly vacant at night because few want to be out among the hundreds of police deployed. That means hotel bookings are also being hurt. Given the publicity of mass police deployments and ICE roundups, who would want to visit or dine out here?

But everywhere citizens are seeing the wrongfulness of the police agency and National Guard deployments. DC citizens are standing up and challenging authorities wherever they show up to grab people off the streets.

Marceau was by himself on Saturday afternoon at Union Station. But he is one of many citizens showing up to verbally challenge the authorities wherever they go. And the citizens are going to need all the courage they can carry because the battle for DC is going to be a tough one.

The post Vietnam Veteran Condemns National Guard Deployment To DC appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

A Resistance Banner display over North Capitol Street at Rhode Island Avenue.

Washington DC—Grassroots groups held an urgent press conference Monday in response to the regime’s declaration of a crime emergency and its federal takeover of the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Speakers from FreeDCProject, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, and 50501 organized the press conference along with other groups. Collectively they said the takeover was unwarranted, without a justification, and it actually endangered DC residents by placing them in a virtual police state and making them less safe.

Nee Nee Taylor, a longtime DC Civil Rights advocate and activist, and co-founder of FreeDCProject said, “The only violence that’s happening against our communities is the violence this president is directing.” Taylor, who has been involved in the Movement for Black Lives, also drew on the experiences she has witnessed with ICE, lambasted Trump’s provocative policies.

“For 4 months straight, the president has been trying to provoke violence in the Black and the Brown communities by having ICE kidnap our neighbors,” she said. ICE actions have ramped up in the region as the Federal police agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has begun rounding up immigrants and green card holders as part of a misguided plan to curb immigration.

Another speaker also intoned the same sentiment, casting the takeover of DC as destabilizing to city safety and well-being of peaceful communities while wasting taxpayer money on a scheme that was ill prepared and haphazardly implemented. “Nothing Trump is doing is about our safety. If Trump cared about safety, he would stop kidnapping immigrant neighbors. Terrorizing people is not about safety. If he cared about safety he would fund Medicaid, schools, and SNAP because people being sick, hungry, and out of school is not about safety.”

As night time set around the District, there was a report that the newly federalized police force had set up a checkpoint at the large intersection of New York Avenue and Bladensberg Road. Every car that passed that intersection was being stopped and its driver queried.

Police were seen in force at many metro train stop platforms throughout the day and were visible in high numbers particularly in the downtown area. Squads of police were recorded roving near the African American Museum and the Washington Monument. Groups of federalized police were also roving in downtown shopping areas.

Earlier in the day Trump cited an August 3 assault by juveniles on an individual working for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as an indication that crime was out of control in the District.

However, a report published on the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia, dated January 3, 2025, just weeks before Trump was sworn in, reflected crime in DC had fallen to 30-year lows. The report read, “Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves. A breakdown of the data is available here.”

We saved the report on an archive server so it could be accessed in case it is removed from the U.S. Attorney’s Office website.

FreeDCProject has published a series of bulletins on its website outlining what the residents of DC can do to ensure safe DC communities even though the Federal government is not acting in the city’s best interests. They urged residents not to obey in advance, to put up banners and signs resisting the takeover, to speak to their neighbors about what was happening, to organize resistance campaigns while expressing joy and camaraderie, to resist the takeover.

FreeDCProject is offering free training on cop watch, community building, and safety b st practices in the worsening climate of authoritarian oppression.

Visit their website here and consider donating to their grassroots efforts.

Media Also Faces Authoritarian Threat

We are already bearing witness to a trend of established institutions bending to authoritarian pressure. The capitulation of mainstream media to lawsuits by ‘obey in advance’ payout settlements is a sign of that.

Independent media provides a buffer between the truth and the authoritarian machine rolling through our communities. We are on the ground going to events and reporting the voices mainstream often avoids.

How does one support independent media? By check and following the continuing coverage of the crisis in our government and supporting independent media by sharing these story links across social media. You may also donate your resources to support independent media.

The post DC Grassroots Groups Prepare For Authoritarian Takeover Of City appeared first on DCMediaGroup.

A chalked message on a road wall near the Arlington Tesla dealership. Photo: DCMediaGroup

 

Arlington, VA—Many would have given up by now at standing up to this regime and its chaos clout chasers parroting its narratives and supporting its take down of our democracy and our institutions. This regime is building an oligarchy beholden to the wealthy class—indeed many institutions already have quit or caved to pressure to obey it in advance. But these are inordinate times and rising to meet these times are extraordinary people, and new faces are joining them every day. Many of them are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. They didn’t choose the times and challenges before them, but they didn’t shy away, either.

They are a tenacious lot with diverse experiences and most of them had nothing in common and would not have met except for the reelection and reemergence of a chaotic despot and his accompaniment of D-listers. Otherwise, they have nothing in common except for their commitment to rebuild their communities and a just society that serves everyone.

Improbably, they have outlasted even the most generous estimates of how long their grassroots campaign at Tesla showrooms could last. They keep returning to the street to draw joy and share a commitment to keep challenging this regime’s grip as long as it takes to see it fall.

They are joined by a swarm of much younger activists half their age who bring with them their zeal and energy but perhaps less awareness of the pain and disappointment life can toss in one’s way.

For one, many of the youth on the line handle the heat much better than the older members. They’ve also not experienced hip and knee replacements like the older crowd. The younger ones have not experienced going to the funerals of many friends gone before them. But comparisons between age and generation gaps is lost energy, as the divisions confronting this country are much more relevant. Divisions are not an issue on the Tesla boycott line.

What matters is that they’re all still here, they’re fighting together in the same battle. Because an authoritarian cannot take absolute control if the people continue to resist it. It’s going to be a long fight because we are not going quietly.

For many months since February, they’ve gone with their signs, bells, and enthusiasm on weekends to the busy road outside the Tesla showroom in Arlington. Suddenly, its week 25.

At first, they rose together in defiance against Elon Musk and his DOGE minion invasion of the U.S. government agencies, because DOGE was taking down the very government operations that maintained the order and functioning civil society built over 80 years. Then protestors championed the cause of federal workers themselves being forced out of their jobs.

They continued to rail against the trampling of rights and freedoms of civil servants as sensible rulings in the lower courts protected those rights. The Supreme Court textualists saw otherwise and often ruled against the mass firings anyway. What is the use of textualism when the rulings don’t come with context or even a written explanation? The “shadow docket” leaves out the necessary legal explanation of why they made the decision they published.

The boycott line continued rallying as the regime shuttered or radically diminished a handful of agencies like USAID, Department of Education, and Health and Human Services. They returned as more and more agencies were decimated, often with feeble justifications like saving money, while throwing billions of dollars on building a border wall already proven not to be effective.

The Tesla Takedown started in winter. Then came spring as the freezing weather turned warmer, and then came summer and blazing heat.

An activist pokes his head out from a sea of signs about fascism. Photo: John Zangas/ DCMediaGroup

Meanwhile, the regime sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to seize handfuls of brown-skinned immigrants and naturalized persons who had followed the laws to gain their citizenship. In its depravity, they even seized U.S. citizens. The Tesla boycott line became more of a resistance line because to them, it was a moral duty to stand for what was right.

The Tesla Takedown protestors have plenty of reasons to keep going back. Daily, this regime stoops to new lows in taking rights or liberties away, or striking out against institutions and perceived threats to its power.

Activists are keeping the Tesla Takedowns alive outside the electric vehicle car company showrooms and their zeal and energy cannot be stopped. For the 25th consecutive week, they displayed signs about authoritarianism, fascism and one activist made a large banner listing a batch of wrongs the regime has done to the citizens. It read:

“In the last 6 months Trump and Musk have: cut medicaid and snap, removed DEI, fired 30,000, disappeared innocent people, defied laws, normalized cruelty, militarized ICE, pardoned January 6th offenders, bullied universities media and lawyers, weakened science, raised prices, and alienated allies.”

Below is a video from the 25th consecutive week of the longest running grassroots campaign against a specific brand in modern history.

An Injured Beast Lashes Out

Tesla Takedowns are continuing across the country in resistance to the U.S. regime as it continues to dismantle democratic institutions and tries to create an absolute authoritarian state. The regime is not making the country great—in fact the opposite is true, as evidence mounts of the damage it is doing to government, the economy, U.S. world standing and influence, and global order. Tourism is down sharply in major tourist centers like NYC, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC. Many in the MAGA party are beginning to see the regime as dishonest, untrustworthy, and not keeping its campaign promises, so they are turning against it. But this turn is mostly based on Epstein case files dripping into the public sphere and not because of the regime’s decimation of the government and institutions.

The current U.S. government is beginning to act like a wounded beast. It is lashing out at whatever and whoever is nearby because it is failing. In this case, the Beast is Trump because he is the charismatic chosen one with the MAGA party, just like Hitler was one with the National Socialists—the NAZI party. As his party policies fail to get the traction he wants, he, as the leader, is behaving less and less rationally and more like a wounded Beast in its last throes. A weakened beast is dangerous and can inflict damage.

Some of what happened the last few weeks:

The Beast spoke from the Oval Office accusing President Barack Obama of “treason” for linking Russian influence to the 2016 presidential election. Obama responded that this was not something he would normally respond to, but it was an “outrageous claim.” This accusation was apparently designed to distract from Epsteingate, in which new evidence points to a more friendly connection between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child trafficker.

The Beast initiated an investigation of Jack Smith, the special prosecutor appointed by Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. This is another example of a politically motivated distraction designed to take attention away from Epsteingate.

Next, the Beast said he would deploy nuclear submarines closer to Russia in response to Putin’s delay of a peace deal with Ukraine. This was triggered by a social media post by Dmitri Medvedev, a former leader with little influence in Moscow. This is an abuse of formidable power, which in ordinary times, had there not been so much unpredictability and chaos in the U.S. political sphere, would be a major international political event.

The Beast fired Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after BLS released an economic key indicator jobs report. It reflected only 73,000 jobs were added in July, far below expectations. The Beast falsely claimed the data was “rigged” and politically motivated. The Beast ran on a campaign promise to create jobs and U.S. manufacturing, but his repeated tariff snafus have actually caused job loses, reduced trade, and brought on inflation due to destabilization of global markets. The BLS is an important agency in that it publishes trustworthy information in reporting economic trends which heavily influence world markets. Losing trust in this agency may increase volatility as economic data it publishes is doubted.

ICE efforts to remove legal immigrants are being exposed for what they are, and echo Auschwitz-type human rights abuses brought back to life from 80 years ago. Kidnapped witnesses from Venezuela have come forward to tell of the abuse ICE caused them by disappearing them to CECOT in El Salvador. Word of a hunger strike at the Florida Everglades tent camp, which is actually a concentration camp, has further soiled the image of the Beast’s regime. Over 65% of Americans disagree with ICE kidnappings and disappearances of legal immigrants arrested when they show up for their immigration hearings.

It is becoming clearer that the Beast is not able to follow through successfully on its objectives and when it does, it concocts grand schemes to distract or shift blame. It is left appearing wounded like a bleeding beast, striking out at whatever it perceives as a threat.

Eventually, the people themselves will decide when they’ve had enough of the chaos of this regime. And when that time comes, the Beast will be forced to retreat into hiding for good. Meanwhile, the Tesla Takedown protests will continue to shed light on the atrocities of the current regime.

See DCMediaGroup.us for more reporting on Federal government and Tesla Takedowns under keywords Federal, Agency, and Tesla.

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