School Board: Listening, But Not Hearing the Public [UPDATE 1]

 The Anchorage School Board met last night and in the public hearing time, there were parents there from two schools - Campbell STEM and Hanshew Middle School. 

Campbell Stem parents were complaining one more time about how their school - the only nationally accredited STEM school in Alaska - is scheduled for closure next fall because of budget shortfalls.  But parents raised issues that the numbers weren't really accurate.  They didn't count the five or six preschool classes Campbell has.  And the loss of sixth graders was a problem the Board caused when they moved sixth graders to middle school.  Parents (and one board member) questioned why they had almost no notice about the closure.  It was only announced on Friday of a three day weekend and the meeting was Tuesday.  That is the technical three day notice, but looks more like trying to sneak it past the public.  And there was no time to pass it by the Community Council.  I'm not sure that the Superintendent, who is relatively young and fairly new to Anchorage even understands the importance of Community Councils.  They are in the Anchorage Charter and are intended to keep politicians from doing things behind the local community's back.  

The Hanshew parents were complaining about a school administration that they characterized as secretive, uncooperative, vindictive.  One student (and his mother) complained that the son was suspended as retribution against the mother speaking out against the administration.  Another said the principal thwarted the PTA's efforts to organize parents, raise money for the school, and to help the school in general.  

So we had one school that really likes the school and teachers and program and another that really does not like their school and administration.  Neither felt heard by this board.  

Many years ago, for a TV production class, I made a movie about the closing of the Grandview Gardens Library.  The first half is about how the administration gathered a bunch of numbers which clearly showed it made sense to close the library.  It was too close to Mt. View Library and a new library was opening on Muldoon and the Loussac was opening.  So Grandview clearly should be closed.  

The second half was interviews with the public who used the library and they told with lots of emotion what the library meant to them and how they gathered signatures for a petition and took it to the Assembly after 4th of July weekend and the Assembly agreed to keep it open.  

I used this film as a case study in my graduate public administration classes.  After the first half, I asked students if closing the library was a good decision.  Most students agreed it was.  But then I asked the students the same question at the end of the second half, and many of them changed their minds.  

But there was a sort of appendix in which the head librarian said that after the fact, it turned out that the new Muldoon library attendance numbers were good, Mt. View library numbers were good, and that Grandview Garden library numbers even increased.  So everyone was happy and the planners' predictions didn't pan out.  

I tell this story because I think this is what happened with the School Board.  They got bad news from the State - their budget would continue to get cut.  They tried to figure out how to manage the cuts, and closing three schools was their answer.  It would allow the continuation of some sports.  Two of the closed schools would be taken over by Charter Schools.  

I volunteer in one of the schools that will be taken over by a charter school - Lake Otis.  Lake Otis is a Title 1 school.  It's very diverse and most of the kids get free lunch and breakfast because they come from low income families.  I'm guessing the parents were not at the school board last night because the parents aren't as politically savvy, and because many of them could be targets of ICE if they showed up in protest.  And if ICE isn't paying attention that closely in Anchorage, it's still a reasonable fear.  

I also suspect that members of the School Board had private meetings with the Charter Schools that will take over Lake Otis and Fire Lake.  How else could they know that the parents of those charter schools would want to move to the closed schools?  Why didn't that happen in public.  It's been publicly stated that the Rilke Schule, the German immersion school, had previously been paying about $600,000 in rent for the building they used to be in.  These are NOT parents with serious financial problems.  And they are not diverse.  Who negotiated and why was that not public?  Or at least publicly disclosed after the fact?

There are a lot of unhappy parents.  Both Lake Otis and Campbell Stem had been named in bond packages recently.  Voters approved the bonds because they wanted the improvements to those schools (and others.)  But now the Board is going to divert those funds to other projects than what people voted for.  

I'm rushing this post, because I want to post it before the Anchorage election results tonight.  I believe that the Board has grossly not listened to the public, to its students and their parents.  They've made decisions based on purely 'rational' number crunching (and probably on some side dealing with the two charter schools) and ignored the heart and spirit of the community.  

And I suspect that Bond proposal #! - for school bonds - is going to fail, in part because of the behavior of the Board in closing these schools.  There's a second bond for funding teachers.  It's a one time payment.  Will that go down too?  I don't know.  

School Board - Carl Jacobs in particular.  If the bonds fail, it's on you.  You shoved these closures through.  Your numbers - many of which the public has heard about in general, but not specifically, seem packaged to get what you decided was best for the public. And, I understand, how you could reason yourselves into this.  But a bizarre side effect of our seriously disturbed president's war on Iran, is that Alaska's income this year is going to go up, because of the increase in the price of oil.  And there will probably be money to keep Lake Otis and Campbell Stem and Fire Lake going for one more year.  And after that we will have a new governor.  

And there are sources of money other than the State that School Board members could have pursued.  We didn't hear about those efforts.  Extraordinary times call for extraordinary imagination and effort, not tired number crunching.  

OK,  I'm done before the first of tonight's  election numbers are in.  

UPDATE 8:40pm - I was wrong.  The first vote count was already in when I posted this.  With 17% of the vote counted and posted at 8:12, the school bonds were both losing.  It's close.  

Bond Prop 1 is yes 49.17% to no 49.49% (yes - 20,708; no 20,831).  

Bond Prop 9 is yes 48.94% to no 49.84% (yes - 20,600; no 20,978)

All the other bonds are passing, with only one - the special police area Bond - even close.  49.79% yes and 47.76% no. 

I'd note that 17% of thte vote, this early in the evening, is a pretty high turnout.  We've had many Municipal elections where the turnout wasn't much higher.  But turnout has been up significantly since the Municipality went to (mostly) mail in elections.  Last year (2025) the final turnout was only 25%.  Mostly because the regular polling places are not open, just a few places, lie City Hall, Loussac Library, and one in Eagle River.  There are drop boxes throughout the Municipality.  And I suspect the early reporting is due to early voting.  

I'd also note that that most of the more liberal candidates are leading, so the school bonds, in normal times, should be ahead.  One exception is in my district.  At this point relatively conservative Dave Donley is slightly ahead of more liberal  Janice Park (47.03% to 45.72% - 3,196 votes to 3,017 votes).  Donley has signs up all over while I have yet to see a sign for Park.  And Donley was one of two School Board members (he's termed out  this year) who voted against the school closures.  

But that doesn't mean these early numbers will hold.  We'll see.  

No Kings Anchorage

 There's still nearly a foot of snow on the ground.  Fortunately, the temperature warmed up during the day into the 20s so if you were standing in the sunshine, it was not too bad.  

This is a bit late because I was having trouble loading photos - you'd think after all these years that wouldn't happen.  

When I got there I moved up onto the hill on the south side of the Town Square.  There was about a foot of snow, some of it reasonably packed, but some steps had me sinking down into the snow.  The view from here was not conducive to a good view of everyone.  

So after a while I moved over to the steps at the Performing Arts Center.  (You can see people there on the far left about in the middle.  The view from there, while still not perfect was much better as you can see below.  

How many people were there?  Not an easy job to calculate from the ground.  There were clearly a lot more people than had been at a previous protest demonstration at the Town Square that had about 2,500 people.  I tried counting a cluster of 50 and then trying to see how many clusters there were.  It really was hard to do that accurately, so I'll leave a broad ranged guess of 3000-5000 folks.  

Why Was Stephen Colbert Told To Pull James Talarico Interview?

Fascist states censor. They want to control what people believe to be true.  

Stephen Colbert interviewed Texas state representative James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in Texas.  His opponent in the upcoming primary is Member of Congress Jasmine Crockett.  Both appear to be strong candidates.  Both have Democratic detractors.  Or bots doing it.  I've seen social media posts saying Talarico isn't really a Democrat and will be another Fetterman.  And there are those that say a Black woman can't win in Texas.

But, apparently the White House doesn't want Talarico to be the Democratic candidate.  Watch the Colbert show where Colbert tells us that CBS didn't let him play the Talarico interview, but that you can see it on Youtube.  (By the way, Colbert did interview Jasmine Crockett July 2025.)  (Googling "Colbert interview with Jasmine Crockett July 2025" gave me four pages of links to stories about the Talarico interview!!  I had to work to find the link to the Crockett interview.)

And then watch the interview that was blocked, on Youtube.  

I'm guessing that the Republicans are more concerned that a white guy who's a Christian pastor will be more more competitive against the eventual GOP candidate than a fiery, smart Black woman.  Or they think that it will be easier (and more fun) for them to smear the Black lady than the choir boy.  But there's backlash against Talarico from the left too.

"There's a definite battle waged on behalf of
the old guard "dems" who believe that a safe
white man is always the answer. . ."

I'm not sure they're wrong.  But I'm also not sure they're right.  

We've been told that Texas was going to go blue with Beto O'Rourke and then with Colin Allred , both formidable candidates.  So I'm not counting my Senators before they're elected.  

But Trump's heavy handed misadministration has set up 2026 to be the year of the Democrats. One could well argue that if it doesn't happen this year, it's not going to happen.  But it will eventually, given that the demographic shifts continue.  And that's one reason ICE is trying to deport as many people as possible.  

But non-citizens can't vote and don't vote (no matter how loudly the GOP yell about the need for every voter to prove they are citizens), so at this point they aren't thinning the rolls through deportation.  Though the SAVE Act would have a massive impact on elections.  [The SAVE Act link goes to a post from May last year, and there have been some changes, but you can see this is intended to prevent as many people as possible from voting, particularly those more likely to vote blue, like women.]

From what I've seen, both Talarico and Crockett are formidable candidates.  Will Talarico get more white Christians and maybe get votes from Republicans?  Possibly.  But will a white candidate cause Black voters to skip voting because he beat their bright and most in-your-face Black candidate?  Will Crockett get out the Black vote that other candidates haven't reached?  

Step one is the primary, which has already begun in Texas.  From the Texas Newsroom via the Texas Standard:

"Texas voters can now cast their ballots early for the state’s March 3 party primaries. The results of these elections will determine who represents Republicans and Democrats on the ballot in November.

Despite the important role party primaries play in state politics, Texas has consistently seen low voter turnout for them. Take 2022, during the last midterm election year. During those primaries, only 3 million Texans cast ballots — just 17% percent of the state’s registered voters at the time.

Because relatively few of Texas’ more than 18 million eligible voters show up for these elections, that means those who do vote have an outsize influence on the Lone Star State’s political landscape."

Somewhat relevant to all this is the video below I came across of Texas Rep. Barbara Jordan telling us what impeachment is all about in 1974.  I've been a giant fan of Barbara Jordan since I first came across her about that time.  Just listen to the authority in her voice.  But with no condescension or sarcasm. (or am I missing it?)  If I were doing a movie that had God as a character, her voice would be perfect.  

Full Blown Police State In Minnesota

 I can't figure out how to simply copy this Bluesky post, so here's a screenshot and a link to the post so you can watch the whole video.   This sort of video is all over social media.  It's appalling that the GOP in Congress have no consciences, not a shred of courage.  But this is the United States at the beginning of the year 2026.  A faltering democracy.  

Some liken this to Jim Crow in the South when thousands were lynched.  Is it different?  I was going to say that now these terrorists are wearing what some call law enforcement uniforms, whereas during Jim Crow they were wearing white cloaks and white hoods.  But some of those in the white hoods were law enforcement.  And law enforcement stopped cars with Black folk in them and treated them like this.

So this isn't new in the US, but it's new that

• it's federal agents
• lighter skinned people are being targeted
• it's in broad daylight in the north with lots of witnesses

Again, here's the link.  It's not pretty, but we have to look and change Congress in November.

https://bsky.app/profile/noturtlesoup17.bsky.social/post/3mcdab3qrvs2g

We have a white nationalist Nazi wannabes acting as immigration prosecutor:

"In February of last year, the Texas Observer reported that t James “Jim” Joseph Rodden—an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas—operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the Observer matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

The account has over 17,000 followers and has routinely posted hateful statements, including that “America is a White nation,” that “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and that “All blacks are foreign to my people,” in addition to posts with apparent praise of Adolf Hitler." (From Texas Observer)

While this is just one example, the fact that he's back in court after a complaint, reinforces the idea that not only is this reasonable in the eyes of the Trump administration, it's, in my opinion, the dream of Stephen Miller, who is rabidly anti immigrant, especially those whose skin is darker than Scandinavian.  Here's a 2018 article referencing his uncle's condemnation of Miller.  Here's an MSM article saying Miller's target is 3000 arrests per day, and not criminals, but any undocumented immigrant.

From the Libertarian
leaning CATO Institute

3000 per day.  That's 90,000 per month.  That's over a million a year.  The campaign rhetoric about criminals, rapists, murderous gangs, was simply rhetoric.  Somalians eating pets was pure fiction.  But they are Black.  And Miller and others want to protect the "purity" of the white "race."  And they also want to protect Republican candidates who they feel will lose more and more elections if the population gets less pure white.  It's hard to attract people of color to a party that welcomes white nationalists and Nazis.  

So combine Miller's fanatic racism and the GOP's fear of losing future elections, and exporting a million or so darker immigrants makes cruel sense.  

And these arrests, like the one in the Bluesky post above, are violent and intended to intimidate.  These ICE agents have been given a license to be roaming domestic terrorists.  

But the US is nothing but a country of immigrants.  Except for the indigenous peoples who lived here before Europeans came, every one is an immigrant or descendent of one.  

Everyone should be outraged.  Everyone should make a plan to find ways  they are comfortable with, to fight this administration.

For some that may 

• be writing post cards to voters.  
• giving money to candidates who have a record of courage and fighting for people, not corporations. 
• marching in protests.  
• working with refugee and immigration rights groups.  
• joining local groups fighting to save democracy
• volunteering for pro-democracy candidates
• writing letters to you representatives and senators
• pick something from Robert Reich's list of ten things to do

Just feeling helpless will worsen one's anxieties and make one feel hopeless.  Joining a local group of activists will connect you with like minded people and show you ways to fight back.  The recent Democracy Fair in Anchorage showed people a dozen or more such organizations.  This is where internet is you friend.  Just search for "local progressive activist groups in _[your town]_"  I got this FB page, for example, when I put in Boise, Idaho.

found posted multiple times on Spoutible, not sure of the author/creator

While many claim all these current events - kidnapping the president of Venezuela, threatening to invade Greenland,  ICE thugs violently dragging people out of cars and sending them off into a black hole are distractions from the Epstein files.  

Given how much has already come out in the Epstein files, I'm not sure that additional files will change many people's minds.  (But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be continuing to demand their release with pedophiles unreacted.)  

But it's possible that in a perverse way, the Epstein files are a distraction from the authoritarian takeover of the US.  

Democracy Fair Draws Crowd To Loussac

The League of Women Voters sponsored a Democracy Fair at Loussac Library in Anchorage Saturday. 

On the 4th floor there were twenty tables staffed by employees and volunteers for Municipal agencies and non-profits.  

email: alaskamarchon@gmail.com

Facebook:  Alaska March On

Bluesky:  @alaskamarchon.bsky.social

In the Marston Auditorium there were speakers most of the day.

And in the Moose Room, they had two showings of the film The Officials about election officials who, despite all the the attempts to challenge the 2020 elections stood firm.  

The Anchorage Equal Rights Commission takes complaints about discrimination in housing, employment, and other areas in businesses and in government agencies within the boundaries of Anchorage.  

equalrights@anchorageak.gov 

it was a good way to meet a lot of people from a wide range of groups who are working to preserve democracy in the United States.  [I know, that sounds bizarre, but that's where we are.  The outcome is uncertain.]  Each group has its own key issue and approach, but my sense was they were all open to working together when that made sense.  Ultimately they all have a common goal.  

My personal goal is to work to get as many non-voters to vote, with a particular focus on young voters.  Not much is going to change in Alaska politics unless we engage the people who have decided that 'voting is not my thing' or 'every party is equally corrupt so why vote?’  A huge swath of people eligible to vote, regularly do not vote.  They can make all the difference.  There are several groups that seem to be working toward that goal and I will follow up with them.   

Normalcy In A Time Of Terror [Updated]

 [Scroll to bottom for update]

Imagine having to worry that masked thugs could come to your home, your work place, your car and just drag you off in handcuffs, put you on a plane to prison, and possibly ship you to another country's prison.  

A growing number of people in the United States don't have to imagine this.  They're living it.  And it will get worse now that the US Congress approved 

". . . more than $160 billion that are going to immigration enforcement and the deportation operation. So when you break it down, that means $46.5 billion to building the rest of the border wall, $45 billion to immigration detention centers, nearly $30 billion to hiring and training ICE staff, and $3.3 billion to immigration court judges and attorneys." (from Laura Barron Lopez NPR)

But there are different amounts cited by different outlets:

The annual budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone will spike from about $8 billion to roughly $28 billion, making it the highest funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.  (NYTimes July 13, 2025 - paywalled)

Since those numbers are way beyond what most people can comprehend, here are some comparisons:

• Senate appropriators tack on $22 billion to defense spending bill for $853 billion topline   
• USA Facts says the Department of Education spent $268B in 2024 and was 4% of the Federal budget
• While most of Social Security’s benefits are funded by the payroll taxes collected from today’s workers, the program has also accumulated $2.8 trillion in trust fund reserves over the past four decades.[3] During that period, Social Security’s income exceeded its costs, and the program invested the surplus in interest-bearing Treasury securities. Over the next nine years, those reserves will make up the difference between Social Security’s income and costs.

But don't trust these numbers too much.  It's hard to find consistent numbers online, and I don't really know how much of the money goes to contractors, particularly contractors who make significant campaign contributions.  Consider those just vague comparisons. 

If Donald Trump and the Republican Party in general have their way, they will use their government power to go after any and all who oppose them.  They've already begun.  All the people who were fired from the US government for example.  

The integrity of our institutions is disintegrating quickly (think about the Congressional and US Supreme Court roles in checking the power of the president), and our elections (See Texas remapping its election districts to eliminate five Democratic seats).  [Do I really need to put in links on the Supreme Court and the Congress?  Okay - here and here.]

Acting Normally

Meanwhile, most people in the US are going about their business as if things were normal.  They  assume that the worst violations of human rights will not affect them personally.  And for the time being they are probably right.  

But the government's shadow is getting closer.  Universities are being forced to pay protection money to Trump.   Media outlets that criticize Trump are being attacked.  Ask Stephen Colbert.  

But we do have to go about our lives.  Yesterday I went to the post office and mailed a package to my son for his birthday.  I dropped off some books at the library and looked at the new books section.  

People go to work.  They buy groceries, clean their houses, mow their lawns.  Walk their dogs, go to their kids' soccer games.  

In Nazi Germany people kept their lives as normal as possible under very abnormal circumstances.  But nearly every German family was impacted.  Hitler Youth sucked up most of the genetically suitable kids, including girls:

"The League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel [BDM]) was the female section of the Hitler Youth, its role was to indoctrinate girls into the beliefs and ideals of the Nazi regime.  The BDM focused on developing girls into women who were dedicated to Nazism, dutiful housewives, and whose role within in society was to become a mother. Girls were to grow-up with an unquestioning understanding of the intended role of women in the Third Reich. BDM members were required to have German parents, be in good health, and conform to Nazi racial ideals."  [From a British Holocaust Museum.]

Check out Victor Klemperer's book, I Will Bear Witness.  There are two volumes of his journal during the Nazi period and WW II.  (The link takes you to the Internet Archive where you can read Volume I online.) Of Jewish ancestry, but a Protestant since his family had converted when he was a child, and married to a gentile, this WW I veteran and university professor felt safe.  

But as we go about our daily lives, we must also pay attention to what is happening and find ways to prepare and to resist.  All authoritarian regimes want you to obey.  To comply before they even tell you to.  The more that people resist, the harder the regime has to work.  The people protesting ICE raids across the country make a huge difference, especially people filming ICE agents acting like the Gestapo and breaking car windows and beating people up.  Sharing the video clips online helps people understand.  The people of Nazi Germany didn't have tiny video cameras or social media to post the things they saw.

For those, like myself, who are not darker skinned and whose citizenship is based on being born in the US to US citizens, we may be safe for now, unless we have a job that seeks to figure out truths - whether it's climate science, US history, female anatomy and health care, reporting the news, or even using social media to spread truths.  

All those camps the Immigration Mafia are building.  What do you think will happen to them once the first wave of immigrants have been shipped off to authoritarian regimes to be forgotten?  The next level of enemies of the state will fill them if Trump (and his evil advisor Stephen Miller) gets his way.  

I advise everyone who may be 'safe' now to start finding ways to resist.  

I've been taking letters every Monday to the downtown offices of my three US legislators offering them information and my thoughts about pending legislation.  The picture shows a day when the door was locked and people left their letters under the door at Senator Sullivan's office.

I've gone to demonstrations.  

I've attended forums where issues and legislation have been discussed. 

And I've donated money to organizations I think are most effectively fighting back.  

Sometimes I wonder if these things make a difference.  But I know they do.  Minimally they signal to other resisters that there is opposition they can join.  Even if my legislators don't do as I want, I know that their staffers are reading the letters and learning something.  

My one body protesting won't change the world. But hundreds of bodies in Anchorage, thousands in Alaska, and millions in the US will make a difference. Remember, Trump is obsessed by crowd size.  

I'm retired so I have more time than most.  But everyone can find ways to slow down the erosion of democracy, stick their fingers in the holes of the dike holding back fascism.  

Right now I'm thinking through two things:

1. How do we find the most effective actions to take within our time constraints and abilities?  I'll try to post those ideas when I think through them.  At this point I can see three basic goals:
1. Gum up the works, slow down the destruction - law suits against all illegal actions help here and ordinary people can help this by financially supporting those organizations on the forefront of suing the regime.  It doesn't have to be a lot.  But it has to be a lot of people giving $5 regularly.  Organizations like the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, and attorneys like Marc Elias.  These folks were well prepared for the Trump regime and have been winning suits against the government.
2. Inspiring others to vote, to get politically active, to get folks stirred up.  Large rallies that get lots of publicity help.  But I'd like to see rally organizers do more than get people out.  They need to sign them up and get them committed to regular action.  
3. Getting those who didn't vote to vote.  The Environmental Voter Project identifies people with an environmental interests, but who don't vote.  Then they train volunteers to call them and get them to vote.  Their self reported evaluations suggest they are quite effective.  
2. Developing a score card for a person's activism.  It's easy to burn out on going to rallies and writing letters or post cards to legislators and voters.  I'd like to develop a weekly (monthly?) check sheet or score card where people can check off things they've done.  I have a target of how many km I want to bike this summer and knowing I'm adding kliks gets me out more often and going further.  Apple watches get people to walk 10,000 steps. Something similar for activists would help inspire people to be regularly active.  

When I get this better thought out I'll post it.   

For now, everyone should try out some forms of resistance as often as possible.  Start with, maybe two kinds of action repeated once or twice  a week.  Some actions that are reasonably comfortable, and then slowly increasing the number of actions each week.  And then start stretching your comfort zone.  Below are some links to get you thinking about what you can do that fits your time constraints.

• Here's Ten Ways You Can Resist Now
• Don't Just Do Nothing. Here Are 20 Things You Can Do To Counter Fascism
• How to Legally Fight Fascism in Your Community
• Fighting Fascism in Italy
• 40 Ways to Fight Fascists:  Street Legal Tactics For Community Activists

I'd note that keeping one's life as normal as possible is good for everyone's mental health.  Do fun things when you can, but also resist when you can.      

[UPDATED August 1, 2025, 2pm:  I forgot to include this chart (from the CATO Institute , a conservative - Libertarian 'think tank' ) that counters Trumps campaign claims that the immigrants were all rapists, murderers, and gang members and that he was going to get them.  

65% have no criminal record at all!  If they were all criminals, ICE shouldn't have trouble finding them.  But they can't.  Because it was all campaign fiction to stir up resentment and anger.  

Anchorage NO KINGS - "So many problems, so little cardboard"

 Counting the crowd seemed impossible.  There wasn't a spot for me to get higher so I could see the whole gathering.  The May 1 rally had probably over 3000.  This seemed larger, but I couldn't really count.  There were people up on a parking garage nearby and I considered going over there, but instead stayed wandering through the crowd.  The Anchorage Daily News said "thousands" which isn't wrong.  

The crowd was seriously angry about what's happening to the US, but the mood among all these other people who felt the same was cheerful and friendly.  I didn't see any law enforcement uniforms.  I also didn't see a lot of non-white faces.  There were some, but it was pretty white crowd.  And dogs.  And a number of kids.  

These folks at Vet memorial.  On the right
"so many problems, so little cardboard"

The Vet Memorial is on the park strip, a few blocks from the main rally that was on L Street in front of the building houses the offices of our two US Senators.  

There were lots of people headed to L St. with signs as I biked there.  

Mostly I'll let the pictures do the talking.  

  

This one repeats the 'so little cardboard' sentiment, and how I feel.  The president (and his team) do so many impeachable acts, that they all become a blur.  And then someone says something like, "Well, different people have different numbers."  

Well, yeah, but the damning ones are right on the mark or close to it.  This president's done more things before lunch on any one day, that would have gotten any other president in serious trouble, if not impeached.  

So I like this sign - "Ugh! Where do I  Begin?"

On the back he did begin a list.  

I marked the approximate locations of the Anchorage offices of Alaska's two (GOP) Senators.  

It's Alaska, so we don't reject all kings.

That's a chain saw the guy with the clown nose is carrying

You can get a sense of how big the crowd is by looking at how close I am to that building.  The lots we were on were crammed with people, from here up to right in front of the building.  See the closer picture above with the Senators' offices marked on the picture.  

There's the parking garage where I could have gotten a better crowd size picture.  There were folks up there already.

The window washer was cleaning windows up above us and when I watched him, he was ignoring us and working busily.  

The green sign is the back side of "Ugh!  Where do I Begin?"

There are more photos, but you get the picture.  There were speakers, but unless you were on that block, you really couldn't hear them.  

When the hour or so was up, the crowd marched to the Park Strip and joined the folks at the Juneteenth celebration.