Notes From the Rally at the Capitol 17 February 2025

 I spent a few hours yesterday with several thousand like-minded individuals gathered around the Capitol reflecting pool to show Felon and Lone Skum exactly what we think of them. I have a few thoughts:

·       I like marches better than rallies. I feel too passive at a rally, standing around listening to other people tell me things I’m already pissed about or I wouldn’t be there in the first place.

·       Yesterday’s rally was too polite for my taste, knowing what’s going on as I do. A lot of time was spent making sure we knew how to behave so as not to upset anyone. Fuck that. I WANT to upset people. The time for business-as-usual cooperation had passed.

·       We were advised, if harassed or otherwise feeling at risk, to sit down and raise our hand so a ‘safety marshal’ arrived. I had two comments:

o   Do I have to raise my whole hand?

o   Sitting down is no problem, but if I’m raising my hand I expect someone to grab it and pull me to my feet.

·       They also said we could sing or hum while waiting for the safety marshal; ‘The Star-Spangles Banner’ was suggested. Fuck that, too. If I have someone in my face and I feel like singing, I’m standing to my full 6 foot 1 inches and 215 pounds and giving him a rendition of ‘Bad to the Bone.’

I’m glad I went. The crowd was much bigger than a couple of weeks ago, and better organized. (Though portable toilets would have been nice.) The size and vociferousness of the crowds needs to continue to grow; I feel confident it will.

 

The big thing that needs to change is the attitudes of Democratic officials, especially those in leadership positions. As I said above, it’s too late for business as usual. You’re in leaderships: fucking lead. Rock the boat. Capsize the bastard if necessary. Smooth sailing is going to get us all impressed into servitude.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

 The benefits of programs in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are so self-evident it seems bizarre to have to defend them. Start with “it’s the right thing to do.” All Christians claim to live by the Golden Rule. Pick the form of this rule you prefer:

·       Treat others as you would like others to treat you (positive or directive form)

·       Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated (negative or prohibitive form)

·       What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself (empathetic or responsive form)

This ‘rule’ describes DEI quite well and should be the end of this essay.

Alas, it is not.

Allegedly good Christians – plus quite a number of all-purpose assholes – rant against DEI as though it were a quota program designed to place unqualified people in positions of importance and responsibility. If that were the case, the recent election would qualify as a DEI program par excellence, as never before have less qualified people been given more critical responsibilities.

All DEI means is that everyone is treated fairly. Period. The argument too often used against it runs like this: “Would you want a DEI hire [sic] to operate on you?” To which I reply, “There are no such things as ‘DEI hires,’ and I’d damn sure rather have a woman/Black/Hispanic/Indian (dot or feather; either one)/LGBTQIA+ person operate on me than some white guy who got the job because he knew the right people or, even worse, his father knew the right people.

This is not a perspective I hold because I’m some ‘woke’ liberal; I phrased a couple of things here to show I am most certainly not what the average person would consider woke. I’m also not so sleepy I don’t know what’s right.

It’s no accident America solidified its place in the world in the years after we became more interested in equality. Our diversity is our strength. It’s been proven the best decisions are made by teams with diverse memberships, if only because you (or I) can’t imagine what you (or I) can’t imagine. (See Steven Johnson’s wonderful book Farsighted for details.)

Those who rail against DEI programs can safely be placed in one or more of several categories:

·       Racists

·       Misogynists

·       Xenophobes

·       Homophobes, transphobes, or whatever the term is for hating on the entre LGBTQIA+ community

·       Someone who thinks the pie of opportunity has a finite number of slices and that anything someone else gets is something they cannot have for themselves

·       Selfish bastards

The Beloved Spouse™ and I are taking pains to avoid people and businesses that are anti-DEI, or have backed away from their DEI programs since Felon – who matches all of the above descriptions – took office. We do not have unlimited resources, so we’re not perfect, but dramatic changes have been made.

To name a few:

·       Stopped buying from Amazon and will let my Prime subscription expire when it runs out;

·       Stopped selling my books on Amazon altogether;

·       Stopped shopping at Target or Lowe’s. I never did shop at Walmart.

·       Moved away from Chrome as my browser and Google Maps for directions. (G-mail and Calendar are more problematic, considering how intricately intertwined they are with other things);

·       Have not eaten at Chick Fil-A for several years

·       Cancelled our subscription to the Washington Post;

With all this in mind, I have two questions for you, thanks to Sean Connery in the film The Untouchables:

1.    What are you prepared to do?

2.    If you don’t think what’s above is enough, what would you have me do?

Response to Fund-Raising Letter from Kamala Harris 12 February 2025

 

Dear Former Vice-President Harris,

Thank you for your e-mail requesting $150 so “the Democratic Party would have the resources needed to flip the House and put a check on Trump's power for the second half of his term wouldn't you feel like it was $150 well spent?”

I am retired, living on Social Security and a small 401(k), yet I managed to scrounge up $1200 last year to send to your campaign, as well as the Democratic House and Senate election committees. The result is what we are confronted with daily from Donald Trump and his Republican – and other – accomplices. I didn’t get what I paid for last year, so why should I place another order?

Even worse, your letter assumes any of this will matter in two years. Democratic leadership is standing by, taking a ‘business as usual’ approach when the situation calls for something different. There are millions of concerned people who are looking for something concrete to do NOW, not contribute to a campaign that may not take place until after the barn is empty.

Where have you been? Why were you not at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18? I was there, along with thousands of others. Why have you not been visible and lending your name to protests? I might pay $150 to have you show up at the Department of Education and demand entry, as one of my senators (Chris can Hollen) did last week.

You might as well take me off all Democratic mailing lists as, until the party becomes more proactive and exercises real leadership, future requests for donations will only result in more responses like this.

Dana King

Laurel MD

Letter to Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown 11 February 2025

 

Dear Attorney General Brown,

The Trump Administration has allowed the extra-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency” to access my private records, both through Social Security and Medicare. This is a blatant violation of not only HIPAA regulations, but of my right to personal privacy.

Of course, I am not unique in suffering this violation; all Marylanders are affected. I urge you to join with other state Attorneys General in their class action suits against the administration, Elon Musk, and whoever else is involved, to not only stop this breach but to take action to make it right.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely

Dana King’

Laurel MD

Letter Sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune 9 February 2025

 

Dear (Senator Thune and Speaker Johnson),

I am a veteran of the US Army who, until the past ten years or so, took pride in  caring less about which party a candidate belonged to than what their record said they’d do. Recent Republican politics have shown the party to be less interested in governing than it is in taking over, which has altered my voting pattern.

Republicans have long taken pride in referring to themselves as the party of law and order, yet seem perfectly willing to stand by while the current administration runs roughshod over not only established law, but Constitutional principles. Indeed, many of your peers encourage this behavior.

While Elon Musk and his unauthorized Department of Government Efficiency try to cut not only the federal workforce but the levers of government itself, where is your outrage? You appear to be, at best, indifferent to a situation where silence indicates complicity.

What is your end game? Appearances indicate it is to gut the democratic principles to create at best an autocracy and at worst a dictatorship. If so, I, and millions of others, will use everything at our disposal to fight you. I did not serve this country – nor did my father and uncles in World War II – so you could walk away from the principles so many you claim to honor died for. I will join any effort to relegate the Republican party to the same historical footnotes as the Whigs and the Anti-Masonic party.

It’s already past time for you to honor your oaths to the Constitution. If you ever intended to.

 

Dana King

Laurel MD

Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell Out of the Way

 I caught a lot of flak for this Facebook post:

I hear of people on social media asking when is the right time to leave the country. The answer is:

NOW, you cowardly piece of shit. Our fathers and grandfathers didn’t fight and die so you could cut and run the first time things got tough. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. We don’t need you.

Part of the pushback is my own fault. I never meant to include people who may feel genuinely at risk; I thought that would be understood. That’s on me. I accept the responsibility and offer sincere apologies.

The actual targets of my brief rant are those who have had it good in this country, enjoying the fruits of our freedom and economic strength. Especially straight cisgender white men such as myself. We’ve had it better than most since any of us can remember. If you sense you might have to live under less favorable conditions – as many who are not white cisgender men have always had to do – and are looking into abandoning ship, then, yes, you are a coward. Get the fuck out.

“I have children to worry about.” I get that. If that’s what you actually mean, then get them and their mother out. If you really care about them, stick around and help the rest of us as we try to bring back the America you hoped your kids would grow up in.

Speaking of your children, take a second to think about what kind of example you’re setting. If the lesson they learn is to run away when things get tough, then I’m sure any place you may run to will be delighted to have you.

There’s an old saying that goes, “Either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.” If you’re looking for the nearest fainting couch, this is the chance of a lifetime to get the hell out of the way. Don’t impede those of us willing to push back in ways more strenuous (and potentially riskier) than running your mouths on Facebook or Bluesky. We have work to do. All I ask is that you not come back and expect to pick up where you left off after we’ve done it.

Life in DOGE City, 5 February 2025

 Yesterday I took a trip to downtown DC to put a little more money where my mouth has been, if only to provide a couple more boots on the ground for a demonstration I’d heard about. Here’s how my day went.

I arrived at the Archives Metro and walked over to the Treasury Building where a crowd had gathered the night before to see if anything was shaking in the morning. Nothing was, unless you could barricades and a large police presence.

All entrances into the Treasury grounds were barricaded and manned with DC police. The gates had signs reading, ‘Pass Holders and Appointments Only.’ Pennsylvania Avenue north of the Treasury and White House were sealed tighter than a tick’s asshole. Nothing to see, I had to ask a souvenir vendor and a cop “I wonder what those cocksuckers are so afraid of.” The vendor laughed. The cop did not. The atmosphere wasn’t too bad, though the quantity of  police and Secret Service units on what is usually a public thoroughfare made things a little surreal.

From there I walked to the headquarters of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). A small crowd had gathered there on Tuesday to encourage the career employees and I thought maybe I could hook up with a few kindred spirits. The only person there was a guy dressed casually in a heavy flannel plaid shirt holding what appeared to be a walkie-talkie who ignored me, far as I could tell. He hung for about ten minutes before going into the building.

Crossing 15^th Street again on my way to the Capitol I saw police cars in the middle of the thoroughfare. Thinking something might be up, I walked north as far as H Street only to find nothing  had changed except that 15^th Street was now blocked altogether; no traffic of any kind could pass. I chalked it up to Elon not wanting his mid-day hummer from Felon to be disturbed and went on my way.

The crowd at the Capitol was disappointing at first, about twenty people. I chatted one up and learned the larger gathering was a few blocks away at USAID protesting Little Marco’s effort to close it down. There I found about a thousand people in a little park outside the Russell Senate Office Building. Everything peaceful, and the cops were courteous and often smiling.

The knot of twenty I’d passed on my way by the Capitol had moved across the street and swelled to about a hundred and were doing actual demonstrating. People were chanting and a bullhorn cut through the standard traffic noise.

A young woman I think I remembered from the Women’s March last month had the bullhorn and she was encouraging people to have their say. I listened to half a dozen or so brief speeches before asking if I could have a turn.

I started with, “I am a veteran,” which was interrupted by a shout of “Thank you for your service,” and general applause.

I cut them off with a modified ‘penalty declined’ gesture. “Calm down, people. The closest I got to combat was Atlanta, Georgia,” which drew a respectable laugh.

“While I didn’t serve in combat, I took the same oath everyone else does to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath had no expiration date, and I still take it seriously. It does my heart good to see so many of you here today who also take it seriously, whether you swore to it or not. Let’s kick ass.” That last provoked a minute or so of ‘let’s kick ass!’ chants.

I hung around for another ten minutes or so before my 69-year-old prostate reminded me I should start looking for some kind of lavatory and I made my way back toward Metro.

My major takeaways:

·       Using the urinal in a public toilet always puts me in mind of old Japanese monster movies: you see what’s going on, but the sound runs a second or so behind.

·       Going up to career federal employees to thank and encourage them to keep fighting the good fight is always appreciated, though a couple showed trepidation when I asked if they were lifers until I showed them I was a friend. That’s what it has come to.

·       I amused myself by spitting at ant Tesla I came across.

·       I have no delusions. A thousand everyday people gathering near government buildings won’t change any minds. Still, it was a thousand people of all ages who came out in a damp cold with freezing rain in the forecast on short notice to protest on a weekday. (Fortunately the precipitation held off.) What we did wasn’t enough, but maybe it’s a start.

Even if it is, the mistakes of this past election are going to cost, some more than others. Whatever might have begun on Wednesday is going to have to happen again and again and again. Pro-Democracy forces in this country grew complacent, and I bear my share of the blame. It’s going to take work to get things back to something we resemble as normal.

I’m in. I just wish people in authority were doing a better job of directing the resistance more effectively.