No Kings in Northern VA
I'm happy to report that the two No Kings events I attended on Saturday were well attended, with peaceful, enthusiastic and determined crowds, and that Virginia Governor Bumpkin Trumpkin Youngkin has nothing to show for his calling out the National Guard aside from wasting the taxpayers' money and possibly ingratiating himself with the White House so that he can get an ambassadorship or something once he is out of office in November.
For two hours starting at 11: AM around 500 of us lined about a half mile of Reston Parkway, showing signs and waving to vehicles as they drove by. Judging from the numbers of vehicle drivers waving, giving a thumbs up or V-for-victory sign and/or honking their horns, I'd estimate that a clear majority, on the order of 2/3rds, expressed support. I personally received one thumbs down and five middle fingers over the course of the protest, so estimate that the vitriolic supporters of fascism were outnumbered by about 500 to 1. Of course, it is safe to assume that most of the people who showed no sign of support are opponents, but nonetheless most were on our side.
A No Kings rally took place in Leesburg an hour after the Reston demonstration ended. As partially depicted below, the grounds of the Loudoun County Courthouse were packed to overflowing to hear members of our County Board of Supervisors, local SEIU labor leaders and activists speak. As my habit has been to do my protesting mostly in DC, I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout and the quality of the signage and speeches. The estimated crowd size was 1700.
On the other hand, I was disappointed albeit not surprised to learn that our local sheriff, Mike Chapman, has signed an agreement with ICE and is actively detaining immigrants on their behalf. Although he claims otherwise, the Loudoun County Sheriff's office did not start this practice until 2024. Chapman has used his political influence over the years to frustrate efforts by our Board of Supervisors to establish a professional county police force. Perhaps his egregious behavior toward law abiding immigrants will finally lead to his undoing. This new knowledge about Chapman reminded me of the importance of endeavoring to “Think globally, act locally”.