Now a break from the gutter trash talk from Madison Square Garden: hundreds take to the streets for one of Orlando’s biggest Critical Mass bike rides, the pre-Halloween ride
All posts by luke
Burning Trump/MAGA trash with ten days to go until the election
As the sound of chain saws fills the air and wood smoke rises from burning debris, we took time out to burn some MAGA trash. Debris from a hurricane of hate burns over debris from a hurricane of wind and water.
D minus ten as this is written, are we ready?
Climate protesters show up at the 2024 Fall Meetings IMF and World Bank
(video by Hannah Webster)
As the IMF and World Bank once again met in DC, climate protesters marched on them. Demands included an end to fossil fuel subsidies and financing a transition to renewable energy instead.
archive.org update: site partially back up
As of Oct 24, much of the Internet Archive is back online in read-only mode. Video streaming and embeds are still offline as that requires javascript and a player engine which may not yet have been verified safe.
All the videos hosted at archive.org as of now can be downloaded from the site. Here’s how:
1: open the article and (in Firefox note that I do not use Chrome at all) right-click on the page and select “view page source.” When that opens, right-click again and select “select all.”
2: Paste that into a text editor window and run a string search for “archive.org/embed” to get the URL of the video.
3: Replace “embed” with “download” in the URL and navigate to that archive.org page.
4:This will show a list of files, download the video and play it locally in your video player.
5:Concerning local playback issues: MPV, VLC etc are all known to work well on Linux systems. I don’t have any windows or Apple systems but the only thing I get playback problem complaints about is iOS (iPhone) which I have no way to debug beyond making sure all files play with no reported errors when opening in mpv from terminal.
Overall scene at Orlando Pride cheery-but it this our last peacetime Pride?
The overall scene at Orlando’s Pride parade was as festive as ever. This scene (in the video) was especially nice.
The election though was just two weeks and three days away. Thus, I felt a dark forboding that this could be our LAST peacetime Pride.
Many others may have sensed this, though they reacted differently. Everyone I made conversation with did NOT want to discuss politics.
Eight years minus 15 days ago, I watched the 2016 election results roll in on the big screen TV at a Gay club. One of the first results in was some rural county in the Carolinas, going over 70% for Trump. The feeling we all had was that of sitting in a Berlin Gay club in 1932, watching Hitler get elected.
Fundamentalists show up at Orlando Pride, refuse to answer questions about what they advocate
A small number of fundamentalist Christians showed up at Orlando Pride. They seemed to avoid overt counterdemonstration. They refused to answer question about whether or not they support a return to the police raids on LGBTQ nightlife that the Stonewall Riot (which Pride commemorates) put a stop to.
Many out of town cops at Orlando Pride
While Orlando cops DID march in the Pride parade (how does this celebrate Stonewall?), a lot of the visible policing and patrolling at Orlando’s Pride parade was done by out of town cops.
This is NOT seen at Washington DC’s huge Capitol Pride festival, and it seemed that OPD’s actual policing was kept in the background.
This was especially true of their bike cops, who are notorious from their repeated harassment of and assaults on Palestine protesters. This is a guess, but I’m wondering if this is fallout from those incidents?
Also note that most of Lake Eola Park was fenced off, and the post-parade festival took place behind bag search checkpoints. I did not enter the controlled area for the usual reasons.
Treasonous Gay MAGA meatheads show up at Orlando Pride.
A few white and presumed middle class Trump supporters claiming to be Gay or Lesbian showed up at Orlando Pride on Oct 19. They called themselves “Homosexual Trump supporters.” Wonder where they got that language: attending a Southern Baptist church while buried in the closet?
Assuming they are not lying about their sexuality they are betraying their community with this stance.
Beyond the violent military raids on Latinx migrants Trump is planning (which these white folks don’t think will bite them), there is the reaction of Fl Governor DeSantis to consider. DeSantis is a Christian nationalist or cosplaying one. Trump in office OR a decision by himself and the FL state house not to recognize a Harris victory will remove all Federal restraints from anti-LGBTQ pogromist activity by the Florida state government.
I directly warned them that if Trump wins we should expect a return to police raids and arrests at LGBTQ nightlife venues. Thus, I judge them as directly betraying our community.
US Park Police attack Indigenous Trail of Truth riders in DC, attempt to sieze horses defeated
On the 14th of October, indigenous People’s Day, the Trail of Truth ride demanding Federal recognition for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe culminated in Washington DC. On the next day, the 15th of October, US Park Police launched a failed attempt to take their horses near the National Museum of the American Indian
There were several reported arrests and the US Park Police became quite violent, but in the end they were defeated. Muwekma Ohlone occupied the tops of their horse trailers, effectively preventing cops from moving them. At the end of the day it seems the cops threw in the towel, allowing them to come down in victory.
A lot of the reporting of this is on facebook where I have no access to it, but someone on the ground sent me two video clips. Shown is the defenders coming down in victory after the defeat of the police attempt to take the horses into custody.
THE MUWEKMA OHLONE NATION ALONGSIDE SEVERAL OTHER INDIGENOUS NATIONS EMBARKED ON A SIGNIFICANT THREE MONTH LONG JOURNEY ON HORSE FROM SAN FRANCISCO CA TO WASHINGTON D.C. IN A CONCERTED EFFORT TO GAIN FEDERAL RECOGNITION.THIS HISTORIC RIDE CULMINATED YESTERDAY ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY, WITH THEIR ARRIVAL.“MUWEKMAOHLONE HAS BEEN IN A 45-YEAR STRUGGLE TO GET OUR EXISTENCE ACKNOWLEDGED.” – CHARLENE NIJMEHDAY AFTER INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY, INDIVIDUALS OF THE INDIGENOUS-LED TRAIL OF TRUTH HORSE RIDE ARRESTED IN WASHINGTON D.C. WHILE PROTECTING THEIR HORSES FROM BEING DETAINED BY D.C AUTHORITIES.STAND WITH US✊🏾🪶
Christian Nationlist/ MAGA events in DC and PA show Trump again able to mobilize street soldiers
Two events one on the Mall in DC on Oct 12 and one at a warehouse-sized gun shop and shooting range in PA showcased Trump’s again rising ability to summon forth his street soldiers.
Update: NPR confirms DC event organizers Jenny Donnally and Lou Eagle are “connected” to NAR (New Apostolic Reformation).
The DC event was the “A Million Women” prayer event attacking abortion and the right of transgender folks to exist. Their “don’t mess with our kids” message is an explicit demand that the rights of trans kids NOT be recognized by school systems and heathcare providers.
Some pointed out that they missed their turnout goals big-time, filling only one panel of the Mall while their extra screens and speakers sat in empty panels. This is still thousands of Christian nationalists calling for genocide and for roundups over abortion though. Presumably all of these folks will be at least voting for trump and some of them fighting for him too. Lots of the fundamentalists on the Mass were videoed raising their arms in what sure looked like mass Nazi saluting.
An even more menacing event took place at Kahr Arms / TommyGun Warehouse in Greeley, PA:
www(dot)rodofironfreedomfestival.org
At this event, Rod of Iron pastor Sean Moon received what again sure looked like Nazi salutes from a crowded warehouse. Attendees included former US General Flynn, who called for military tribunals and even executions of officials who have stood against Trump. Ivan Railkin (who wants to be Trump’s “Minister of Retribution”) was videoed shooting a .308 rifle with an apparent suppressor, then talking about shooting the “deep state” in the heart.
This sort of talk and training has nothing to do with an electoral campaign and everything to do with a military one in the context of anything from a coup attempt to a civil war.
Speaking of civil war and secession, four days ago Frida Ghitis on threads (not linked from here as they are owned by Meta) predicted W Va would refuse to recognize the election results if Trump loses. I have received the same report from other sources.
We should assume Trump will be able to muster at least as many street soldiers this time around as in 2020, even with all those Proud Boys in prison.
On top of all else, at his Friday event in Aurora, Colorado, Trump brazenly invoked the laws used for internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII as legal grounds for mass roundups and mass deportations of migrants.
truthout(dot)org/articles/trump-pledges-to-use-law-behind-japanese-internment-to-conduct-mass-deportations/
There is nothing peaceful about any of this shit folks, and the election is still 24 days away.