We finally got to a No Kings rally today, one of the under-the-radar versions, in Glen Burnie, MD. There were I would say about 500 people there which was a great turnout for GB! It was fun. Our female host is more of a regular protest goer so we didn’t even have to make a sign, we took hers, since she had to work today.

We hadn’t been to a protest since Trump I, during which we participated in the Women’s March and the March for Science. In retrospect, those weren’t too fraught. Most of us thought Trump’s election was an anomaly from which the nation would right itself, and the Trump I team included a lot of reality-based (I’m talking World One reality, not reality-show reality, which is actually not related to reality, for those of you who remember reality) persons who were stopping much of the foolishness.

Obviously, we are no longer in that situation. World One is gone, at least from these shores. So say those of us on the ex-pat track.

What I did learn from today is that a group of people protesting together is no more likely to share core beliefs than any other group of theoretically like-minded people, including mothers of infants and coal miners. Some examples:

• There were lots of thumbs-up horn-honkers, but also a few deploying the American Eagle in our direction with vigor. The group split between, We love everyone, including chanting Love Heals; scorn, pity, or sadness for the Lost Ones; and Those folks are pro-violence or They should be locked up.
• Chants of USA! occationally broke out, a chant I personally feel is too ambiguous. People mean a lot of things when they chant USA, some of which will be racist or sexist or pro-war, given that this was not a gathering of historians.
• This was a very white crowd overall. I agree with that in this way: People of color cannot safely protest in public spaces while masked ICE goons are enabled to ship them to foreign prisons sans due process with the blessing of the Supremely Kangarooish Court. So it’s up to us white folks to take our chances with arrest to perhaps avert all of us living in the world of The Handmaid’s Tale. But I’m sure not everyone saw it the way I do.
• I imagine the crowd was all over the place on the religious spectrum, just as Christians these days range from turn-the-other cheek New Testament-based classics to burn-the-heretics, where heretic is your neighbor who thinks her middle schooler should be able to read Harry Potter.
• Some of the protesters were talking about Our Party and Their Party. That did not resonate with me at all. Democrats got us into this situation very specifically, including last year when their candidate could not stop pandering to billionaires, refused to engage with social media in the MAGAverse, and would not even acknowledge that the US might not want to be funding/arming a foreign theocracy committing genocide. If the choice is Dems or Trump, well, again I am moving.

Now for some fun signs! Notice it was a beautiful day in GB. If you look closely, some of you may find someone you recognize in one of the pictures.

And finally, the Raging Grannies sang some spoof songs specific to our times. This is a Glen Burnie branch of a nationwide organization so you can probably hear them online, though I haven’t tried that yet. Happy No Kings Day to you all!