The morning of the No Kings Protest, I walked down to STA Plaza to get up north to BA Clark Park. My bus card still worked! It had been months since I used it. It’s not that I am using the bus less because I am driving more. I am walking more. I forgot how much I love Spokane’s bus system and find it really relaxing to just ride and listen to my favorite podcasts or to KYRS through my hearing aids.
BA Clark Park is about three miles north of downtown. It’s kitty corner from the laundromat. This laundromat was a favorite haunt of mine when I was a teenager and into my twenties. It wasn’t a laundromat then. It was a record store.
The local radio stations, in the 70s played no punk rock or anything alternative. I would go to this record store and buy albums based only on the names of the songs and the names of the bands and the artwork. Oftentimes, the first time I would ever have heard the music is when I got it home and put it on my turntable and prayed the record wouldn’t skip.
Spokane was so isolated in the 1970s. You had to work hard to feel connected to the rest of the country. Even Saturday Night Live was tape-delayed by an hour, so people could watch reruns of Johnny Carson every night of the week at 1130. Really. I called KHQ about that and they told me that they delayed the start of SNL until 1230 in the morning so people would have the comfort of having Johnny Carson on every night of the week after the news. I told them I couldn’t believe the network would let them do this. I then contacted the network. Finally, KHQ reluctantly acquiesced.
It seemed that most Spokane institutions conspired to keep us out of the world. Maybe the one exception was PM Jacoys. The now-rundown convenience store downtown used to be a peppy, clean, bustling place that stocked just about every newspaper from around the world.
Spokane, thanks to the Internet, is as connected as any other place in the United States. And here I was crossing the street from my old record store to BA Clark Park to join with other Spokanites connecting with the world in protest of the fascism which has gripped our entire nation.
I was scheduled to speak and was pretty early because I always worry that organizers might be a little anxious about people showing up to do their jobs. We were told that our speeches had to be under three minutes and mine was.
I think it went pretty well and a lot of people came up to tell me they liked it. One woman who was covered in fake blood told me that I was beautiful. I told her that I thought she would clean up good, as well. Here's what I said -
Hi my name is Maeve Griffith and I am a transgender woman.
I want to talk to you about truth and justice. Like most of you here, I have tried to live an honorable life. I have served my country, my church and my city in my chosen professions - all my adult life. The concept of service and honor mean something to me and to you. LGBT people who are out have told an uncomfortable truth. They have valued truth over their own comfort and safety. Truth, however, is the enemy to Jeffery Epstein’s best friend and his brainwashed minions. Maybe that is why they hate us so much.
Our nation will never recover until we bring to justice those who worked to destroy America. This means truth-telling, tears and trials for many who now hold power. We will fix what they have broken by taking money away from the billionaires who instigated and then profited from our nation’s destruction. When justice comes we will watch the highest cabinet members to the lowest Ice agents rat each other out to try to evade justice. I hope they all know that this is what will happen. We’ve seen this before. It will be the Nuremberg Trial on steroids.
Bringing this justice should be the only thing any politician running for office promises right now. Without this justice America will never recover.
Not long ago, our Representative Baumgartner would never have seen himself supporting an insurrectionist who pardoned cop beaters, a convicted felon who tried to steal an election, an adjudicated rapist, a self-admitted sexual assaulter, a traitor, and serial liar as president. Michael could not have seen himself protecting a pedophile by stalling legislation and then promoting legislation that took away his constituents’ healthcare. He would have never supported tariffs and deportations that are destroying farmers and those who harvest our food. He would have never supported unconstitutional acts by a president hellbent on destroying democracy, ruin Americans’ lives and secure a fascist state through the misuse of our military - all so he could have power, money and get off on cruelty. Something sinister happened to Michael Baumgartner. He sold his integrity, his honor and his faith to be in the cult.
We can help restore justice, truth and honor in America. Today is a step in that direction right here in Spokane Washington. The next thing we need to do for America and Spokane is to ensure that Michael Baumgartner is not reelected next year. For the sake of the nation and for his sake too - to help him escape the cult and find dignity and honor again - we must do this. We must vote him out.
Release the Epstein Files! Boycott Amazon and all corporations who take part in America’s destruction and vote! Thank you.
Right after the speech, I switched over to my role as a roving reporter for KYRS and I told folks in the studio what I was seeing. If you want to listen to any of the audio you can find it here - October 18th, from 1 pm to 4 pm. I was told that the feed of my speech to the studio was garbled. Was I being jammed??! I wish.
The Portland Frog had inspired a lot of people to wear inflatable costumes. Actually, it is a brilliant idea. The Fascist Trump dummies get off on thinking that they scare people or make them angry or sad. Their thirst for Libtard tears is unquenchable, so much so that they continually punch themselves in the face to get us to feel sad for them. The inflatable costumes are silly and do a good job of silently and peacefully making fun of them and it really pisses them off. The costumes give me a weird sense of hope because no one saw this costume thing coming, and their effect has been transformative. As the path to neofeudalism and the enslavement of us all by billionaires seems unstoppable, I am hopeful that something weird happens like this to save humanity. Maybe a pack of AI-driven rabid robot dogs will do in the Peter Thiel tech turds. Wouldn’t that be something? My fingers are crossed.
It was hard to tell how many people were there because the park is so flat. I did climb up a little knoll on the north end and I would say that the estimates of “at least ten thousand people” were correct. The park was packed and the sidewalks were filled on both sides of Division from Empire and down south a ways. From what I have been told there were crowds up to Wellesley and even up to Franklin Park. That is over a mile. Wow! I kept running into people from all the different parts of my life. Neighbors, former coworkers, friends. My buddy Rich was there. He and I graduated high school together, were roommates in college, graduated from college together, were at USAF officer training school together and were stationed at Fairchild AFB at the same time. Then when we were turning 40, we both went to the fire academy and graduated from that together - Rich working for Spokane Valley FD and me working for the Spokane FD.
After reporting, I went to the bus stop. I waited 40 minutes for a bus that is supposed to arrive every 15 minutes. When one finally showed up, the driver opened the door to tell us that the bus was full. He might have said more but my hearing aids didn't pick it up.
So I thought maybe I will just walk the three miles home. I started walking down Division and started thinking about all the stores I used to go to there and all the stuff I had seen and what used to be where. I get incredibly nostalgic about Spokane in the '70s. I called Sarah to tell her I would be late, and she volunteered to pick me up. That was really nice and a few minutes later two busses drove by. STA had sent more busses or maybe they were ones that had been clogged up by the crowds. Sarah picked me up in the Staples parking lot. Now what used to be here?
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