Weekly protests on Wednesdays, 4:00 - 6:00 pm on the American Tobacco Trail Pedestrian Bridge near Southpoint Mall in south Durham. It starts Wed., March 26th. The link is on Mobilize.ushttps://mobilize.us/s/IN25yu
This is a new one for me, Blaise--and I can definitely stop by on my way home, if not this week then in future ones. Thank you for sharing it! Email me (belleboggs@gmail) and I will send you an audiobook of your choice!
We were at the Tesla protest on Friday as well! Sorry we didn't see you there. I've been calling our Representatives every day using 5calls. I also hear that another April 5th event is going to be organized for Durham, details TBA!
Spent part of the morning pulling together lists of our elected officials (Federal, State, County, and City) with contact information. Encouraging our adult children to start calling and writing their representatives to let them know we are fighting against the current power/money grab and fear mongering in D.C. My job makes going public with my outcry risky - but we can communicate our dissatisfaction in other ways. Thank you for pushing on!
I'm going to be in rural Tennessee doing a seminar this coming week, and hate to miss out on the Friday Tesla protest (which was SO wonderful). Talked to a couple of people who said this was their first protest ever. That gives me hope. And of course, I'll be at the Hands Off rally on April 5 in Raleigh! https://handsoff2025.com/
Thanks for linking to Hands Off! I have the state AAUP conference that day, I just realized, but I will ask Sarah Rose about the timing for the Durham April 5. And I will promote to people here at the NHC! I'll email you about your audiobook choice.
You protest Elon because you think he's this abnormal oligarchical figure in government, an anomaly of the Trump admin. You ought to protest him because he's the predictable epitome of gov't integrated oligarch/technocrat. He's a military and intelligence contractor - rockets and satellites. He owns social media network so he exerts some control over communications and mis/dis-information and propaganda. He wants to put a chip in your brain (neuralink). He didn't become rich by being a swashbuckling libertarian entrepreneur; he figured out how to be the fattest hog at the trough of gov't subsidies, using electric vehicles and leveraging climate change rhetoric for example. I support you to oppose Elon but at least do it in an informed and smart way.
Magpie Hollow Farm, it sounds like we disagree on some things but have common cause at least in our opposition to Elon Musk, Citizens United/corporate and wealthy donor influence on politics, and suppression of democracy and free speech? I think right now all of us who feel that way need to work together. Would be glad to see you at a DOGE or Tillis protest--let me know which one and I'll send you an audiobook.
Happy to digest an audiobook, written materials, or whatever you'd like to send my way. I'm no stranger to showing up at protests- been doing that since the pre-Iraq-war protests of the early 2000s. But tbh my preferred mode of engagement is building actionable alternatives. I have a lot more to offer on that front than just complaining about Musk or Bill Gates or George Soros or Peter Thiel or Warren Buffet or whatever the oligarchs are trying to do.
Thom Tillis recently made a big speech in congress in favor of continued US funding of the Ukraine war, in opposition to Trump's rhetoric about bringing an end to that conflict. My feeling as an NC resident is that if Thom Tillis is so impassioned about fighting alongside Nazis in Ukraine (and we are absolutely funding card carrying Nazis there) he ought to grab a rifle and head directly to the frontlines and risk his own life in the conflict instead of sending others to die. What do you think, should we be funding and arming Nazis in Ukraine? I assume you have been out protesting US funding of right sector groups in Ukraine at least since it began under Obama in 2014 with the CIA supported Maidan coup orchestrated by Victoria Nuland. It's unacceptable that our tax dollars have been used to fund and arm actual fascists and Nazis in Ukraine, right Belle?
We are supporting Ukraine because it is a sovereign, democratic country that was invaded by an imperialist dictatorship that assassinates dissidents and journalists, has committed war crimes against Ukrainians (e.g., the Bucha massacre), and aims to expand its territory through military aggression wherever it can in Europe and the mid-east. If Ukraine fails to Russia and we don’t otherwise honor our NATO commitments, our own national security is diminished. There are no American soldiers fighting and dying in Ukraine. They are doing the fighting and dying. Supporting them is a good deal for us. They are a peaceful country defending themselves against a country that is our long term, ongoing adversary. We are allies with common interests.
Right there in his name he is telling you that he is a bot ("Mark F Botts" is really un-subtle). This bot has never read Scott Horton's definitive work, "Unprovoked." Give that a read...
Haha. I am not a bot. "Botts" is my surname. You would assume that I am a bot because I have a surname that has English origins? Or perhaps I actually hail from a country in southern Africa called Botswana? Mark Botts from Botswana. Let's go with that. Also, it happens to be the case that botulism was named after me after I created it . . . in a Chinese lab, of course.
Weekly protests on Wednesdays, 4:00 - 6:00 pm on the American Tobacco Trail Pedestrian Bridge near Southpoint Mall in south Durham. It starts Wed., March 26th. The link is on Mobilize.us https://mobilize.us/s/IN25yu
where you can sign up and get the exact address.
This is a new one for me, Blaise--and I can definitely stop by on my way home, if not this week then in future ones. Thank you for sharing it! Email me (belleboggs@gmail) and I will send you an audiobook of your choice!
I have family in Virginia going to the protest in DC. I will try to make it to Raleigh.
Thank you Mark! I'll email about an audiobook. Can recommend or send you one of your choice!
We were at the Tesla protest on Friday as well! Sorry we didn't see you there. I've been calling our Representatives every day using 5calls. I also hear that another April 5th event is going to be organized for Durham, details TBA!
That line of protesters is long--a godo thing! I'll email you about an audiobook! :)
Spent part of the morning pulling together lists of our elected officials (Federal, State, County, and City) with contact information. Encouraging our adult children to start calling and writing their representatives to let them know we are fighting against the current power/money grab and fear mongering in D.C. My job makes going public with my outcry risky - but we can communicate our dissatisfaction in other ways. Thank you for pushing on!
Thank you, Bill--agreed! I'll email you about an audiobook!
I'm going to be in rural Tennessee doing a seminar this coming week, and hate to miss out on the Friday Tesla protest (which was SO wonderful). Talked to a couple of people who said this was their first protest ever. That gives me hope. And of course, I'll be at the Hands Off rally on April 5 in Raleigh! https://handsoff2025.com/
Thanks for linking to Hands Off! I have the state AAUP conference that day, I just realized, but I will ask Sarah Rose about the timing for the Durham April 5. And I will promote to people here at the NHC! I'll email you about your audiobook choice.
What actually are you protesting?
You protest Elon because you think he's this abnormal oligarchical figure in government, an anomaly of the Trump admin. You ought to protest him because he's the predictable epitome of gov't integrated oligarch/technocrat. He's a military and intelligence contractor - rockets and satellites. He owns social media network so he exerts some control over communications and mis/dis-information and propaganda. He wants to put a chip in your brain (neuralink). He didn't become rich by being a swashbuckling libertarian entrepreneur; he figured out how to be the fattest hog at the trough of gov't subsidies, using electric vehicles and leveraging climate change rhetoric for example. I support you to oppose Elon but at least do it in an informed and smart way.
Magpie Hollow Farm, it sounds like we disagree on some things but have common cause at least in our opposition to Elon Musk, Citizens United/corporate and wealthy donor influence on politics, and suppression of democracy and free speech? I think right now all of us who feel that way need to work together. Would be glad to see you at a DOGE or Tillis protest--let me know which one and I'll send you an audiobook.
I might have missed the link to the audiobook so please re-sen thank you....
Happy to digest an audiobook, written materials, or whatever you'd like to send my way. I'm no stranger to showing up at protests- been doing that since the pre-Iraq-war protests of the early 2000s. But tbh my preferred mode of engagement is building actionable alternatives. I have a lot more to offer on that front than just complaining about Musk or Bill Gates or George Soros or Peter Thiel or Warren Buffet or whatever the oligarchs are trying to do.
Thom Tillis recently made a big speech in congress in favor of continued US funding of the Ukraine war, in opposition to Trump's rhetoric about bringing an end to that conflict. My feeling as an NC resident is that if Thom Tillis is so impassioned about fighting alongside Nazis in Ukraine (and we are absolutely funding card carrying Nazis there) he ought to grab a rifle and head directly to the frontlines and risk his own life in the conflict instead of sending others to die. What do you think, should we be funding and arming Nazis in Ukraine? I assume you have been out protesting US funding of right sector groups in Ukraine at least since it began under Obama in 2014 with the CIA supported Maidan coup orchestrated by Victoria Nuland. It's unacceptable that our tax dollars have been used to fund and arm actual fascists and Nazis in Ukraine, right Belle?
We are supporting Ukraine because it is a sovereign, democratic country that was invaded by an imperialist dictatorship that assassinates dissidents and journalists, has committed war crimes against Ukrainians (e.g., the Bucha massacre), and aims to expand its territory through military aggression wherever it can in Europe and the mid-east. If Ukraine fails to Russia and we don’t otherwise honor our NATO commitments, our own national security is diminished. There are no American soldiers fighting and dying in Ukraine. They are doing the fighting and dying. Supporting them is a good deal for us. They are a peaceful country defending themselves against a country that is our long term, ongoing adversary. We are allies with common interests.
Right there in his name he is telling you that he is a bot ("Mark F Botts" is really un-subtle). This bot has never read Scott Horton's definitive work, "Unprovoked." Give that a read...
Haha. I am not a bot. "Botts" is my surname. You would assume that I am a bot because I have a surname that has English origins? Or perhaps I actually hail from a country in southern Africa called Botswana? Mark Botts from Botswana. Let's go with that. Also, it happens to be the case that botulism was named after me after I created it . . . in a Chinese lab, of course.