Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Day 109: COVID-19 Sacramento Protest Report
As indicated in my prior post, I went to a third protest at the capitol building in Sacramento. This time my mother-in-law and I were on foot (previously we had participated only in the “drive around the capitol” protest). That’s my mother-in-law in the photo holding the sign I made: “We Need A Sanctuary For Work and Prayer.” California is famously a “sanctuary” state for illegal aliens. So our borders are open but our shops and churches are closed.
I had expected the protest to be scheduled for Saturday along with others in Southern California, but then I saw Wednesday that the group was protesting on Thursday. My mother-in-law insisted on coming along and we walked one circuit of the building and then she sat in the shade on my sign on the grass leaning against a bollard while we listened to speeches for a bit before returning home.
Yesterday’s protest was not as well attended as the May Day protest. That was disappointing and may give undeserved comfort to the forces of civil compliance. Nevertheless, the California Highway Patrol was well prepared and this time had the grounds cordoned off so that the protesters could not gather on the capitol steps as before. In the photo, you can see the line of spaced officers that faced outward. All walkways and any space that did not have a permanent fence had physical barriers erected to prevent entry to the grounds immediately adjacent to the building.
As you can see from the photo, my mother-in-law was wearing a mask, as was I. My protest is for individual decision-making, not for denial of any potential health risk. My mother-in-law is 90 and I am 70. So it makes sense to take easy and reasonable precautions. But no one should have their lives controlled by government unless they have been adjudicated a criminal or incompetent without an available family guardian.
Although the crowd was fairly small, they were passionate about freedom. The protest was publicized by an organization called “We Have Rights” but does not organize the events themselves:
We Have Rights posts events that are organized by many organizations, grassroots groups, and individuals. We encourage all who attend events to stand for your rights without violence. We Have Rights is not responsible for these events and notifies the public that they attend at their own risk.
All people are required to maintain CDC guidelines for prevention, including social distancing of non-family members.
We encourage those considered high risk stay home and protect their health if they deem it necessary.
We REQUIRE the sick to quarantine and not participate.
Please support us by sharing the data on this website.
We DO NOT CONDONE the use of force or violence by anyone.
Anyone committing violent acts is disavowed by WE THE PEOPLE and FULLY OPEN CA NOW Movement. They are plants and/or are acting independently and should be treated as such and not affiliated with this movement.
NOTICE: Wehaverights.com is not the organizer of events listed on the site but rather listing events in those areas put together by grassroots groups and provided to wehaverights.com for posting in order to connect like minded individuals so they may unite. Guidance for participation in rally’s are suggestions to ensure the rally you attend is successful and safe.
The group that showed up yesterday seemed to be primarily evangelical and the theme of freedom to worship dominated. There were about a half dozen “Proud Boys” and one guy was festooned in a costume as a hypodermic needle for vaccination.
The amplified sound system allowed speakers to lead the group in prayer and appeal to the riot-gear bedecked officers to abandon their enforcement of unconstitutional orders. Someone also spoke on behalf of the shuttered shopkeepers pointing out the hypocrisy of our leaders that “rules are for thee, but not for me” — doing the things that they deny to others.
Here are a few screengrabs from a video someone else posted on Facebook about the demonstration:
I hope the Southern California beach crowd shows up in force on Saturday. The people need to remind the politicians here and elsewhere who is in charge.
[Note: Links to all my COVID-19 posts can be found here.]
Published in General
Thank you for representing all of us who were not there. And your mother-in-law must be a pistol. Good for both of you!
Indeed.
Your mother-in-law in the picture is 90??! Wow! ! She looks amazing even with the mask. What’s her secret? I love this post – the protest itself is what is important, not the size. I love all the flags – this is a very good sign – especially in CA. You are doing a great job Rodin, and really enjoy your posts, including keeping us informed on the virus.
and who works for whom.
It is delightfully noticeable in Massachusetts whenever we have a Republican governor that the government works for us, not the other way around.
These protests will do more to quell the state of fear that is gripping the nation right now than anything else I can think of. It’s important that the press cover them and show pictures.
In large part because of the weather, the virus is going dormant now and will stay that way probably until next November. The numbers are all saying that. So it’s simply fear that is controlling the country and its local leaders right now. It is fear that was induced by the photographs in the media coverage that drove us to this point (the pictures out of Wuhan and Lombardy, then New York) of societal shutdown. We should be basking in that wonderful feeling that human beings experience when a storm is finally over. Or that wonderful feeling of getting a cast removed after six weeks.
Suppose you are walking through a desert with three friends. Your Jeep has died, and you need to get out of the blazing sun. You are thirsty, and a little voice inside you tells you that if you don’t find water soon, you will die. Suddenly you see a small pond of water. You have no way to know if that water is safe to drink or not. What you do know is that you’ve read that some of the water holes in this desert are poisoned. Not all of them, just some of them. But since you don’t know which are which, at this moment they might as well all be poisoned. You’re desperate but hesitant. One of your friends charges ahead and takes a drink. Hmmm. He’s not dead yet. Another friend does the same. He’s not dead either. Then another friend. At that point, of course you take a drink. :-)
We have been hardwired (by God, I believe :-) ) to watch others around us to give us a head’s up as to what’s safe and what’s not. The people protesting around the country and having their picture taken and shown on the news will do more to ease minds and restart the economy than just about anything else I can think of.
Glancing at the news, local and state and national, it’s hard to understand what is going on out there. I would have moved sooner than the government agencies at all levels did last winter. I would have probably restricted gathering sizes and insisted on informal masks at the beginning of February. But I would have lifted all of those measure two weeks ago.
It’s weird to watch. It truly is locking the gate after the horses have escaped.
It must be the press coverage driving this continuation of unnecessary restrictions. The press is probably addicted to the newfound revenue from their virus coverage.
No they can’t!
Posted on my FB feed, a video of the police in Sacramento, I think from early today:
https://www.facebook.com/harold.frink/videos/10157569026053401/?t=20
That’s what it looked like when I was there. CHP officers in riot gear deployed to the perimeter and periodically replaced by another phalanx.