On the 29th of October, antiwar and pro-Palestine activists including many Palestinians gathered in Tampa for a die-in followed by a big march that dominated the Tampa Riverwalk.

On the 28th of October, DC’s antiwar and pro-Palestine communities again took to the streets, for the third Saturday in a row of big marches in solidarity with beseiged Gaza. This march went to the State Dept’s 22nd st entranceNote that as this is written, Israel has invaded Gaza with ground troops, and the ground war has begun.

Also on Oct 28, theneo-Nazi “National Justice Party” showed up at the White House in an attempt to jump on the pro-Palestine train. DC’s Nadine solo counterprotested them before folks from the main Gaza march could reach the scene

Video below is by Our rights DC of Nadine counterprotesting the Nazis:

On the 26th of October Extinction Rebellion DC locked down at a Washington Gas “Project Pipes” construction site, shutting it down until they could be extracted.

Note that what would have been a second day’s disruption of the North American Gas Forum on Oct 25 was scrubbed in favor of supporting Gaza solidarity protests

Washington Gas is attempting to replace all of their rusting, rotting network of gas pipes in DC, at a projected $4.5 billion cost. The project started in 2014 and has been underway since.

Extinction Rebellion DC wants to stop the spending on Project Pipes, use the leaks as a reason to shut Washington Gas down entirely, and instead see the city fund a wholesale replacement of then-useless gas stoves and heaters with electric. This would require heat pumps and induction stoves to be more efficient than gas as a heat source, but as a technology is proven.

CCAN is also opposing the project, calling out it’s estimated $27,000 per household cost.

It is unknown to this author whether repairing all leaks that are known or could be found (to fix the distribution pipes until gas suppliers are shut down), would be cheaper or more expensive than replacing all of Washington Gas’s pipes. It is known some of them are in truly awful condition.

Some have said a subsidized transition to electric would cost less than the $4.5 billion project and be a more reliable long term investment. Again, it is unknown to this author if the math works. Certainly Washington Gas won’t fund it, probably would have to be a city project as it involved the underlying infrastructure of the entire city.

Project Pipes is funded by Washington Gas jacking up the price of residential gas, meaning DC residents (renders included) are effectively forced to invest in a project that could be made useless by a climate-forced transition off of gas in just a few years. Investors might not be interested in this project, so DC’s ratepayers are forced to act as investors instead.

Wealthy condo owners can counter this forced bad investment by cancelling gas service and switching to induction stoves and heat pumps. Less well off homeowners may not be able to afford the up-front costs, and renters though don’t even get this option at all. The rich can afford the all at once cost, the poor cannot and are forced to act as investors in a project of unknown long term viability.

Washington Gas (or more accurately their ratepayers) is in the situation of someone owning a gasoline powered car as gasoline is phased out. If that car has a fuel leak, the leak must be fixed before the car can be used, but this risks investing in a soon to be useless asset. Now consider the scenario if just one shop has a monopoly on repairs or parts and jacks up the price.

The wealthy could tell them to buzz off, buy an electric car, and scrap the leaky gas-burner, Those who do not qualify for car loans cannot and would have to pay for repairs.

Late afternoon on Oct 25, antiwar protesters descended on the US Department of state with noisemakers-and a 2020-style car caravan. State Department employees coming out received chants of “Quit Your Job!”

On Wed the 25th of October, Jewish antiwar activists marched from Columbus Circle (itself a monument to brutal settlers) to the US Capitol against the war in Gaza. Protesters got past bike cops, then explained that the stones were for a ritual normally practiced at gravesites and not for throwing.This allowed them to pass the stones forward and lay them on the Capitol reflecting pool’s rim as though at a grave. Afterwards protesters read the names of some of the dead from Gaza, many of them children.

While this protest took place, other protesters carried out civil disobedience sit-ins in the offices of multiple members of Congress, resulting in numerous arrests

On Oct 24, DC’s famous High Heel Race returned to 17th st, with the full support of the city. Among the more notable costumes were “Trump Baby” and even “Trump Baby in Jail” along with so many stunning performers.

This is a family-friendly drag event, the kind DeSantis and other GOP bottom-barrel types want to make a FELONY.

We as a community are standing our ground against drag bans!

On the 24th of Octover, seemingly all of the area climate activists descended on the North American Gas Forum, with protesters outside and disruption inside. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey R. Pyatt was inside hobnobbing with gas barons.

Pyatt was considered a priority target due to Biden’s fake “almost declaring a climate emergency.” Shortly after disruptors inside were expelled, he attempted to leave only to be immediately pursued and blockaded. His car was blockaded in the driveway, eventually reversing out the back as cops pushed back protesters. Protesters charged around the block, catching him before he could escape the heavy traffic and blocking him again.

At one point in the protests, the Willow project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline were singled out as projects that must be stopped.

There was some low grade police and security aggression but no serious violence on any side. There was a great deal of noise and disruption. The chant of “Natural Gas-my ass!” no doubt raised some eyebrows. The overall action was called “stop the gaslighting” as the gas industry is being charged by activists with quite literally gaslighting the public about the safety and brutal environmental costs of fracked gas.

And to think I seriously considered shitcanning the rest of my DC deployment to get to Ft Lauderdale to deal with these losers..

Last year I was able to get right in the Proud Boy’s faces and none of them had the guts to do anything more than squawk at me. Total losers and cosplaying wannabe SEALS. Most of their best fighters are rotting in prison, what we got last year was the dregs and apparently this year only a shadow of even that.Photo by “Floridisto” via Birdchan

(video: confronting the transphobes, 1st person perspective)

On the 21st of October, some kind of pharmaceutical industry or medical event was held at the DC Convention Center. For some reason it drew bigoted, anti-trans protesters who denied the very existance of trangender folks.

Across the street was a second group of protester nominally protesting circumcision, but with them yelling about babies being “raped” they seemed to overlap with the Qanon/groomer protest set.

On the 21st of October, another major march for Gaza assembled near the Washington Monument and marched on the US Capitol. The march stretched for several blocks on Constitution Ave, sometimes while stretching all the way across the road