Breitbart BUSTED! Where we protested today!
I attended what was called a "Propaganda Protest" this afternoon on L.A.'s Westside. It was at the actual headquarters of Breitbart - something that many at the protest pointed out was kept very quiet. You wouldn't know by the building or its list of addressees who was in there, very nondescript. Hmmmmm... why are they hiding? What are they afraid of, that they can't proudly proclaim themselves in that neighborhood?
MOST interesting. I'd caught a cold on Friday and laid low all day yesterday, hoping I'd be up to getting out for this one. Glad I did!
There was, well, let's call it a large handful of trumpsters - I counted about 19 or 20 - maybe 22 all told. But they were loud and obnoxious, and intruded our protest with their megaphones and their sloganeering. They seemed to be trying to stir something up with a few of us who felt like confronting them. Mostly male, although there was one woman in a pink t-shirt that carried the slogan "Women for trump". Several of the men were big and beefy and white rough-n-ready types, large bellies, even heavy beards - a couple of 'em looked like they were straight out of "Duck Dynasty." They did not look like locals. Everything stayed peaceful - mainly verbal, but it definitely an argument, Police were on hand, and herded them over to the other side of the street from where we were. They had HUGE signs. Hand-painted with obviously large hardware-store-size paintbrushes. Big - like four-feet wide and in some cases 5x6 feet in dimension. (Overcompensating, maybe? - Hee hee hee!)
And where we were? Hard to count. Crowded the sidewalk corner with the crowd trailing down the sidewalk along the big boulevard. It was hard to count or estimate crowd-size. I'd say at least 80 people, maybe 100, maybe a few more than that. The usual assortment of attendees: every age, every color, dads, moms, and a few kids and dogs. Some of the kids had made their own posters and carried them around so we could all see. One kid held a poster he created that read: "BreitBart = Baloney, Blarney, Bunk, Bamboozle, Bullshit" and then a drawing of that little smiling pile-of-shit icon. Ahh, they grow up pretty fast these days... As always, the handmade protest signs were FABULOUS! I don't know how to post photos here anymore since imgur.com changed. Otherwise I'd post some of the photos I took. Hard to see in some of them because of the bright glaring sunlight, though.
But there was "IMPEACH" and many versions of "FAKE NEWS", "STOP MAKING SHIT UP", "EMBARRASSMENT" (with the "SS" written in the shape of the SS of the Nazi era), "BREITBART 'REAL' AS TRUMP'S TAN", "END WHITE NATIONALISM - BAN BANNON", "BREITBART SELLS FEAR", "BREITBART HIDING IN SAFE SPACES", "ALT RIGHT DELETE", "PUSSY GRABS BREITBART", "NO FAKE NEWS" many artistic renderings and caricatures of Steve Bannon, and one rather provocative sign that proclaimed "These are the leaks you should be investigating." Three guesses as to what that referred to...
Shit. "The President" is not just the Highest Alpha (Male) in the Land. "The President" is both person and thing. An intangible. Almost a Captain America kind of thing. The winner of the Mr. America or Mr. U.S.A. Pageant. The role model-of-all-role-models for all the good things. Like being upstanding, moral, trustworthy, wise, straightforward, patriotic, humble, honest, ethical, intelligent, well-educated, well-spoken, well-informed, congenial, thoughtful, loyal, kind, gutsy, brave, compassionate, and inspiring. All those things and more. You expect "The President" is someone you should always be able to tell your kids "that's our President - someone we can all look up to." Oh yeah? Not these days!
Evidently Breitbart doesn't reveal the company address, and a friend of mine who knew Andrew Breitbart said the only address known for Breitbart.com at the time was at a local mail box place, not an office, studio, or storefront. This was an office building: 11999 San Vicente Blvd, Suite 260, LA CA 90049. The event and its location was posted all over Facebook, so I'm not giving much away by posting it here. It was a busy afternoon around there, sunny, and warm. Lots of traffic. And lots of waving and honking approval. We had a celebrity drive-by, too. Waving and cheering from an open passenger-side window was Jill Stein.
The protest was scheduled to last several hours. I stayed for most of it. Didn't want to strain too much. I'm just getting over being sick. But it perked up my spirits, a lot. Had some interesting little conversations. One young man was dispirited thinking this shouldn't be all we could do, and it wouldn't be sufficient because the CONS hold all the cards. I told him - yes there's more you can do. Not only attend these and thereby help to show large numbers of people, but ALSO, Vote, Dammit! There's ground to be regained across the board and across the spectrum. Then I talked with a young bearded podcaster who was there with a large microphone. He interviewed me. I told him about the Powell Memo, among other things - which is the blueprint for what we've seen as a republi-CON take-over that's been carefully and meticulously nurtured for over 40 years. It'll take our side time to catch up and pass, but we can see what they built, and take several pages from it (as in the Indivisible Guide, for example).
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/
Everybody was orderly, particularly after the trumpsters and the rest of us were separated. It was great fun! I haven't joined in on Dylan songs to an acoustic guitar at a protest rally in a LOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNG time! The trumpsters worked up a few rounds of the National Anthem and "God Bless America" and such, through their megaphones of course. Over on our side of the intersection,we were way too busy waving at honking cars and enjoying the camaraderie.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Resist!
Persist!
Lots of good stuff.
I find myself smiling a lot about the ersatz "folk singers" we were. There was the guy with the acoustic guitar. He'd brought a music stand with him and a collection of lyric sheets. One was for "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall." He was playing away, and soon he was joined by this other guy with a white jacket and sort of a rainbow configuration in front of each shoulder - he seemed to be one of the organizers from what I observed him doing around the table with the email sign-up sheet, printed cards to fill out to send to Breitbart (now that we knew their address - 
), door hangers that matched the postcards, flyers, and more, plus a big jar of sharpies and other colored markers for filling out those cards.
I had one of those random "what the hell?" moments and stepped forward to join them. I sing harmony. That's my thing. I always make up my own - it's something I've just always been able to do, don't know why. So I put on a harmony. Besides, somebody needed to stand on the other side of the guitar player to hold his lyric sheets in place, because it was a little bit windy. Pretty soon we three were singing at the top of our lungs - AND there was one VERY exquisite moment we actually achieved three-part harmony. WAAAAAAAAY cool! I was the only "old hippie" among them, though. Felt old enough to be their mother.
I don't know if anybody else was paying attention. Didn't care. It was great. A feeling of genuine abandon sorta took over. And thank goodness for those lyrics. It's been a LONG time and I forgot some of 'em.
Everything was really orderly. Nobody stirred up any shit. There were lots of cops and cop cars parked all over the place. They stood in the street, by the curbs just being a presence and a couple of 'em looked like they were enjoying watching a crazy street circus on a Sunday afternoon. I guess it kinda was one!
I tell ya - if you ever have a chance to go to one of these, DO IT. I've been to several such things by now. The anti-trump crowd consistently seems to be peaceable, committed, pretty knowledgeable about the issues and current DC/White House/GOP failings and betrayals. You're guaranteed to see at least a few women of varying ages sporting the well-known pussy hat. You'll see some fiendishly clever and creative protest signs. Everybody is nice. Cooperative. Friendly. Not given to violent outbursts or nastiness or bullying behavior. Nobody's in-yer-face. You're among people of like mind, and it's incredibly validating! You might connect with some people with whom you can carpool to the next one. You might make a new friend. You might be invited to help out in some way. You might be one of those to start a chant (one of my personal faves is "Where Are the Tax Returns?"
. You might be interviewed for some podcast or be able to add valuable information to different conversations that go on at these things - stuff you probably learned HERE.
Julia Cameron, the author of "The Artist's Way" books, talks about taking yourself on an "artist's date." That's where you "fill up the well" of your creativity during times when your inner spirit has begun to feel depleted. The obvious suggestions are - take yourself to a new park or arboretum or some other green, leafy place where you've never been before, a nature walk somewhere, a pilgrimage to a big super-deluxe fabric store or flower mart, a flea market where the local artistic community shows its handmade wares, a secluded place with a great view where you can spend time meditating, zoning out, maybe reading a great book, the beach or farmer's market where there are lots of sights and sounds and neat smells and colors. Any place that offers outstanding people-watching. A place to go bird-watching - the different bird calls and the chirping and chattering can fascinate you for hours. A new bakery or gourmet foods store, a florist you never stopped by before, a new coffee cafe, a bead show, something where you can fill up the well. IT'S SOOOOO HEALING AND RENEWING AND THERAPEUTIC!!!! Like a tonic. One of those import places where they have lots of samples of fragrant oils. The student bookstore at a nearby campus. Or hell, just a walk through the campus. How long has it been since you did that? Or a museum or garden center or open-air "people's park" where you can sometimes find a bunch of people in a drum circle or singing and playing guitars, give in and GO!
THIS, TOO, is an "artist's date." And the people-watching is out-freakin'-standing!
C'mon. It's been kinda wild 'n' wooly out there lately. Many of us are still feeling spent or emotionally battered by what's been happening. Do it. Take a few hours and feed your spirit. And if it's going to a rally of others who share your views - it will really buoy you up and make you feel like you're actually doing something important, because you ARE.
DO IT.
You know you want to.
And welcome to DU! It's great to have you with us! 
I hope if Breitbart decides to move, someonne promptly rats out their new address.
<3
That's the one way I know how to render a heart.
But turned on its side, it could also be a cone-shaped bouquet of flowers.
Or, a pair of boobs wearing a pointy hat!
here's an obnoxious pic of the druggie BREITBART. Does everybody know the odd detail, that his father-in-law is Orson BEAN?!1 Just seems odd to me thinking that Eastern "intellectuals" were automatic Libs, not that having a son-in-law who is a wingnut means... Uh, I might as well exit here.
Love you, UTUSN!
