Wow, Mike - I guess I needed those tears. Thank you. I organize a weekly Saturday protest here in Ohio and we usually have 45 people in the winter (unless it’s freezing). 300 patriots showed up today because no one wanted to be alone. ❤️✊🇺🇸
Jan, I went last night to the market Square protest in Cleveland but couldn’t make any of the various protests in the various other cities today. I followed you but check out my Substack and subscribe and we can be in touch.
Mike, glad you were there, too! We have a protest every Saturday at noon in front of Tesla, Mayfield Rd Lyndhust. Join us any time and say hi. Our 1 yr anniversary is 2/14/26.
The problem is structural, the good people of the nation are unwilling to resort to lies, violence and trickery to advance their goals, so they keep getting beaten by the evil folks who have no convictions, only care about power and will say and do literally anything in order to win. No fascist regime in history has ever been stopped by non violent protests and strongly worded letters. Nothing will change until this dynamic is acknoledged, accepted, and fixed.
I woke this morning with a splitting headache, after these days of anguish. I knew there was a protest in my city, but I felt so hopeless, and my head hurt so bad. I saw a video, one of a woman saying “shame on you” to an ICE agent, and he replied “haven’t you people learned anything this week?” I was so furious, I catapulted out the door and went to the craft store and bought a big piece of corrugated plastic, wrote “We are ALL (Renee Nicole) Good” on it. I turned off my phone, drove to the city, and spent an hour and a half with hundreds and hundreds, maybe over a thousand beautiful people, lining a main thoroughfare for miles, flags waving, chanting, passing vehicles honking. Just making eye contact with others who carry the same anguish but also kindness, and hope, was what I needed. I ran into an old friend from the past who was keeping a beat on a snare drum, people moving. She handed me a bucket and pair of sticks and said “I know you’ve got rhythm, help a sister out” and we sat up on a hill next to the protest and made some noise. But the best part was meeting a man named Keith. While I was approaching the protest, I saw a small elderly man at the hatchback of his car, struggling with something. I said “Hey there! How can I help?” and he gave me the biggest smile, almost childlike in its sweetness. His body was bent with age, he had curved wooden canes for both hands and a folding chair tangled up with it. “Sure! I’d love a hand” and he said he wouldn’t miss a protest til the fascists were gone, but he was not as spry as he used to be. I took the folding chair, and got him sorted with his canes, door locked and gave him my elbow to hold. There was a small slippery hill and he was barely able to walk, so I used that eye contact and a head nod to signal a passing person to get him supported on the other side, we set up his chair, got him sorted. He thanked me, and unfurled a little American flag to wave.
In my heart of hearts, I hope Keith gets to see the fascists gone. And to the ICE goon in the video: you’re damned right I learned something this week.
Thank you for the pep talk; we really needed that! And don’t worry about using the F-word as these times demand expression. There was a time when I thought that the younger generation used it too much but when I saw a senior’s protest sign saying I never used the F-word before Trump came into office, I laughed because I feel the same way!
MB: "There Are More of Us Than There Are of Them; A sermon for those who think they’re alone"
I kinda doubt it; methinks you're just preaching to the converted, to your rather smallish congregation. But not least because the credibility of the whole damn Democrat Party -- presumably a larger congregation -- is going down the tubes. It will be lucky to get a game of jacks in the schoolyards ...
MB: "She wasn’t alone. Even in death, she wasn’t alone."
Neither was Charlie Kirk ...
Wikipedia: On January 21, 2025, Kirk praised President Donald Trump for revoking Executive Order 14004, which had allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the U.S. military, and said, "Sorry, if you're Jeff and you think you're Jill, you are not going to serve in the U.S. military. Go find something else to do."[121: https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1881755301101105434]
Maybe you "think" -- if anything you do can be said to be thinking -- that transgender troops -- in particular, male transvestites claiming to be females -- is a "good idea"? Maybe you have a buddy or two in that cohort? Someone whose nuts -- if they still have them -- might be caught in that crunch? 🙄
Presumably you're on the Democrat side, the side that had one of its "champions" -- i.e., Kamala ("she's for they/them") Harris --- put transwoman (AKA male transvestite at best if he still has his nuts attached) Dylan Mulvaney on the Party's beer and platform, and who had gushed over him "living authentically as a woman". Barking fucking mad there mate:
Pink News: "Kamala Harris enrages bigots after sending TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney a beautiful birthday note; Mar 23 2023; Written by Charlie Duncan"
"bigots", and "living authentically as a woman" -- what a pair of fucking jokes. Ha, ha. But Kamala apparently seems not to have a fucking clue as to what the primary difference is between men and women, and she presumably being one of the latter. Since she is presumably married to a man, one might think that she would have had at least something of a handle on that difference --- or is it merely a "marriage of convenience"?
But some fare, some "Kool-Aid", some "2+2=5" that y'all are peddling which fewer and fewer Americans are willing swallow, drink, or give more than the time of day to. Those peddling it will be lucky to not wind up being lynched -- literally if not figuratively. Even some other Democrat champions -- and leading contender for the next Presidential Election?; 'tis to laugh -- like California Governor Gavin Newsom are at least starting to walk back from that precipice -- even if too many others in that Party are ready to push him and it over that particular edge.
If y'all want to promote at least the idea of a Democrat Party -- which is looking less and less tenable all the time -- and to enlarge the size of your congregation then y'all might want to try publicly repudiating that rather toxic and quite demented ideological claptrap. Being charitable. To a fault.
True but the “good” majority needs a party to rally around. If Democrats want the wave election our democracy requires, they need a "big ideas" platform—not just outrage. That means rethinking Social Security so benefits can be received earlier in life, when family formation actually begins. Pair that with a national jobs program offering clear paths to the roles companies like Ford desperately need filled, and a robust abundance agenda that lets homes get built quickly.That's a coalition. Outrage alone won't be enough.
Okay. But if Congress votes later this month to continue funding ICE, this will show that evil is in the majority in Washington, and not just among Republicans. So what shall we who are Democrats do about this evil, aside from continuing to make excuses for it?
Wow, Mike - I guess I needed those tears. Thank you. I organize a weekly Saturday protest here in Ohio and we usually have 45 people in the winter (unless it’s freezing). 300 patriots showed up today because no one wanted to be alone. ❤️✊🇺🇸
Jan, I went last night to the market Square protest in Cleveland but couldn’t make any of the various protests in the various other cities today. I followed you but check out my Substack and subscribe and we can be in touch.
Mike, glad you were there, too! We have a protest every Saturday at noon in front of Tesla, Mayfield Rd Lyndhust. Join us any time and say hi. Our 1 yr anniversary is 2/14/26.
I heard about it, I'll try to make it soon!
I put it on my Opportutunities to Act Beat: https://michaelalandover.substack.com/p/the-opposition-opportunities-to-act
Thank you. This is a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
P.S. I detect the stench of a MAGAnut troll in our midst.
My working theory is that reactionaries are always loudest when they have already lost.
Why are there suddenly trolls in all the progressive spaces?
Because they've already lost, and they know it.
You might be on to something there. Or at least they know they're about to lose - bigtime. The reckoning is coming.
It’s part of the propaganda machine. Putin has his troll factories even though Russians hate him, they survive with $.
It happened in the comment sections especially on WAPO.
Thank you, Mike
Sometimes i need to go to a protest, like an alcoholic needs to go to a meeting. I am not alone.
The problem is structural, the good people of the nation are unwilling to resort to lies, violence and trickery to advance their goals, so they keep getting beaten by the evil folks who have no convictions, only care about power and will say and do literally anything in order to win. No fascist regime in history has ever been stopped by non violent protests and strongly worded letters. Nothing will change until this dynamic is acknoledged, accepted, and fixed.
I woke this morning with a splitting headache, after these days of anguish. I knew there was a protest in my city, but I felt so hopeless, and my head hurt so bad. I saw a video, one of a woman saying “shame on you” to an ICE agent, and he replied “haven’t you people learned anything this week?” I was so furious, I catapulted out the door and went to the craft store and bought a big piece of corrugated plastic, wrote “We are ALL (Renee Nicole) Good” on it. I turned off my phone, drove to the city, and spent an hour and a half with hundreds and hundreds, maybe over a thousand beautiful people, lining a main thoroughfare for miles, flags waving, chanting, passing vehicles honking. Just making eye contact with others who carry the same anguish but also kindness, and hope, was what I needed. I ran into an old friend from the past who was keeping a beat on a snare drum, people moving. She handed me a bucket and pair of sticks and said “I know you’ve got rhythm, help a sister out” and we sat up on a hill next to the protest and made some noise. But the best part was meeting a man named Keith. While I was approaching the protest, I saw a small elderly man at the hatchback of his car, struggling with something. I said “Hey there! How can I help?” and he gave me the biggest smile, almost childlike in its sweetness. His body was bent with age, he had curved wooden canes for both hands and a folding chair tangled up with it. “Sure! I’d love a hand” and he said he wouldn’t miss a protest til the fascists were gone, but he was not as spry as he used to be. I took the folding chair, and got him sorted with his canes, door locked and gave him my elbow to hold. There was a small slippery hill and he was barely able to walk, so I used that eye contact and a head nod to signal a passing person to get him supported on the other side, we set up his chair, got him sorted. He thanked me, and unfurled a little American flag to wave.
In my heart of hearts, I hope Keith gets to see the fascists gone. And to the ICE goon in the video: you’re damned right I learned something this week.
This is incredible! What a beautiful peace!
Thanks, I needed to hear that.
Bravo Mike Brock!
This was a pretty awesome read Mike, a good reminder.
Thank you for the pep talk; we really needed that! And don’t worry about using the F-word as these times demand expression. There was a time when I thought that the younger generation used it too much but when I saw a senior’s protest sign saying I never used the F-word before Trump came into office, I laughed because I feel the same way!
MB: "There Are More of Us Than There Are of Them; A sermon for those who think they’re alone"
I kinda doubt it; methinks you're just preaching to the converted, to your rather smallish congregation. But not least because the credibility of the whole damn Democrat Party -- presumably a larger congregation -- is going down the tubes. It will be lucky to get a game of jacks in the schoolyards ...
MB: "She wasn’t alone. Even in death, she wasn’t alone."
Neither was Charlie Kirk ...
Wikipedia: On January 21, 2025, Kirk praised President Donald Trump for revoking Executive Order 14004, which had allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the U.S. military, and said, "Sorry, if you're Jeff and you think you're Jill, you are not going to serve in the U.S. military. Go find something else to do."[121: https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1881755301101105434]
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlie_Kirk&oldid=1311056624#LGBTQ_rights
Maybe you "think" -- if anything you do can be said to be thinking -- that transgender troops -- in particular, male transvestites claiming to be females -- is a "good idea"? Maybe you have a buddy or two in that cohort? Someone whose nuts -- if they still have them -- might be caught in that crunch? 🙄
I am preaching to the converted, yes. It's good to know which side you're on, though. I have taken note.
Presumably you're on the Democrat side, the side that had one of its "champions" -- i.e., Kamala ("she's for they/them") Harris --- put transwoman (AKA male transvestite at best if he still has his nuts attached) Dylan Mulvaney on the Party's beer and platform, and who had gushed over him "living authentically as a woman". Barking fucking mad there mate:
Pink News: "Kamala Harris enrages bigots after sending TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney a beautiful birthday note; Mar 23 2023; Written by Charlie Duncan"
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/03/23/kamala-harris-dylan-mulvaney-birthday-card-backlash/
https://www.newsweek.com/bud-light-executive-alissa-heinerscheid-new-job-mulvaney-trump-liv-golf-2057502
"bigots", and "living authentically as a woman" -- what a pair of fucking jokes. Ha, ha. But Kamala apparently seems not to have a fucking clue as to what the primary difference is between men and women, and she presumably being one of the latter. Since she is presumably married to a man, one might think that she would have had at least something of a handle on that difference --- or is it merely a "marriage of convenience"?
But some fare, some "Kool-Aid", some "2+2=5" that y'all are peddling which fewer and fewer Americans are willing swallow, drink, or give more than the time of day to. Those peddling it will be lucky to not wind up being lynched -- literally if not figuratively. Even some other Democrat champions -- and leading contender for the next Presidential Election?; 'tis to laugh -- like California Governor Gavin Newsom are at least starting to walk back from that precipice -- even if too many others in that Party are ready to push him and it over that particular edge.
If y'all want to promote at least the idea of a Democrat Party -- which is looking less and less tenable all the time -- and to enlarge the size of your congregation then y'all might want to try publicly repudiating that rather toxic and quite demented ideological claptrap. Being charitable. To a fault.
It's no longer between Demcrats and Republicans, it's between fascism and democracy.
Thank you for this. Thank you.
The left keeps telling everyone who doesn't completely agree with them they are evil.
So, by the childish metric of the left the evil outnumber you 10:1.
True but the “good” majority needs a party to rally around. If Democrats want the wave election our democracy requires, they need a "big ideas" platform—not just outrage. That means rethinking Social Security so benefits can be received earlier in life, when family formation actually begins. Pair that with a national jobs program offering clear paths to the roles companies like Ford desperately need filled, and a robust abundance agenda that lets homes get built quickly.That's a coalition. Outrage alone won't be enough.
Okay. But if Congress votes later this month to continue funding ICE, this will show that evil is in the majority in Washington, and not just among Republicans. So what shall we who are Democrats do about this evil, aside from continuing to make excuses for it?