This blog is dedicated to spreading news and information regarding the Village of Freeport, of New York. It is a nonpartisan, private-enterprise creation that aims to keep Village Residents in the loop. If you have any story leads or suggestions, feel free to contact its editor, Jesse Pohlman!
Hope you're all doing well. I'm pretty happy, all things considered, as today I'm happy to report on the sheer size of the Hands Off rally at the Nassau County Courthouse which took place just hours ago!
Let's Talk About The Event
The event was especially geared towards NOSH, a north-shore food pantry. See, food pantries and other help-the-poor projects were hampered by harsh funding cuts and support slashing. So the goal was to help gather a whole bunch of food, or at least donations to that organization.
NOSH isn't the only food pantry in the area. In fact, Freeport has one, the Long Island Food Pantry, that I'm sure could also use donations and other forms of support.
With that said, food banks weren't the only goal of the event: It was, after all, a protest!
I know that picture might be chaotic, but if you look straight at the center you'll see what is, in fact, a mobile billboard. There was a mobile billboard brought to bear. Neat.
In all seriousness - despite the rain, estimates are that about 2,100 people confirmed they would be attending. That number may have been predicated on people saying they'd go who later didn't, but it also included people who weren't on the e-mail list.
I missed it! How do I find out about future events?
First of all, insofar as it falls on me to tell you protests are taking place, I'm sorry I kinda dropped the ball on this one. My neck has been extra-bad, so I've been dropping balls. ...Okay that's ripe for a joke. Back to seriousness: Surgeon appointment near the end of the month, then we schedule a cut or two.
That said, I recently did a video on my Dystopian Review channel all about the various organizations and protest lists you can look up. That includes Mobilize.us as well as the Big List Of Protests.
These resources and others like it will help you stay in touch with local organizers who might be hosting an event near you.
With all that in mind, I'll try to do a better job of announcing these events ahead of time for the next one, but I'm quite sure there will be a next one.
What if I don't agree with the protests?
I dunno? Organize a counter-protest if you can find the people to do it? But you should probably be open to reconsidering your position, and this publication won't be helping you.
Jesse Pohlman is a retired teacher and former Rec Center lifeguard who now busies himself writing sci-fi/fantasy and political stuff. Check out his website here!
Just passing this information along as I get it. I know it's short notice, but you might be interested in it!
Basically, it's a meeting about (I assume) some recently-won changes to the way Nassau's districts are drawn, and the representation you'll get in the future.
Hope you're all doing fantastic. Life is okay - imperfect as always.
This is just a reminder that this Tuesday, March 18th, are the Village of Freeport elections.
Spend the next 48-ish hours getting together your information as to how you might wish to vote - then, vote on Tuesday!
Pretty simple, right?
So let's do a couple of updates.
Reminder on TWF's activity:
I really only publish one of these posts when I have something worth saying that relates to Freeport, be it a weather update or an event that's taking place - or maybe something that I cover directly, if for some reason I feel compelled to head back home.
So if you don't hear from me much, or hear from me twice in a row out of the blue and then hear nothing for a while, that's probably why.
If there is a charitable event that you'd like me to talk about, reach out to me (the best way to do this is through my Bluesky - and NOT just submitting your event through the comparative graveyard that is Facebook) and we can talk about if there's something I can do to help you out.
- I definitely won't share your religious event. (You probably aren't my religion, BTW)
- I probably won't share your business-related event. (That's called an ad. You wanna pay for one, reach out to me)
- I probably will share your fundraiser event. (That would be charity)
- I definitely will share Freeport's Pride events. (Because it's newsworthy and a good charitable thing, too)
If that helps lock you in when it comes to what I'm talking about when I mention charitable events, well, that's good. That's good to hear.
Important update to the "non-endorsement" rule:
First, as a blanket statement: The Weekly Freeporter does not endorse candidates for Freeport-only office. I don't live there anymore, so this will not change. I have little-if-anything to do with it except for fond memories.
However.
As non-partisan as The Weekly Freeporter began, it's time to make something clear: I am not, and have never been, impartial. I think you all knew that. But we live in a time when trying to be politically agnostic is impossible.
Thus: Insofar as elections where Freeport and I intersect (I.E, we are both impacted), I will provide my political insights to the best of my abilities. This means I will consider endorsing for certain Nassau County, New York State, and Federal offices.
For the purposes of context as to what sort of coverage you might expect, I will report that I am presently a member of the Working Families Party. I figured you have the right to know that much.
As to how you can get endorsed by me? There's one way, really, and that's for me to know you, know your positions, and know I can trust you with power. That means either I'll do it without you ever knowing I'm planning on it, or - if you ask me - then I'll dig into your beliefs until I'm sure one way or another.
But if you're reading this three years from now and thinking about primarying Chuck Schumer or Kristen Gillibrand, then, your odds have gone up substantially.
It's time for the first article of the year from this once-weekly publication. As a reminder, I hiatus'd this project in 2015, so it's been non-weekly for almost a decade, now. Neat, huh?
But this news effects all of Long Island - the whole country, in a sense - so we're diving right in.
Up-front: I'm biased. Real journalism has biases. Deal with it, or just click off now.
What Were These Protests?
Protest on 2/5/2025, photo by Jesse Pohlman
In many ways, these protests were frustration-ventilation for those of us who are fed up with unelected not-even-bureaucrats getting access to our Treasury department.
But for a more focused take on things, the protests were held at the Senators' offices to encourage them to do something about this situation. The truth is, there are a few simple demands, some of which I'm sure I'm missing:
- No more approvals.
- Quorum checks.
- No more unanimous consent.
- No more voice votes.
Leeja Miller does a fantastic breakdown of what Democrats could be doing about the situation, for those who want the juicy details. She goes over how each tool would work, and all that jazz.
Now, would these decisions be a departure from the norms? Sure!
But we've already widely departed from the norms. Here's an interim U.S. Attorney dismissing charges against an accused criminal who was - at the time! - his client as a defense attorney. Picture that! Imagine if any criminal you don't like (I dunno, insert Osama Bin Laden for New Yorker anger) had a defense lawyer who, over the course of defending charges against them, got a job as a U.S. Attorney supervising their case.
They then dropped their own case.
So...Yeah. Norms? Those are long gone.
Is That All?
Well, no. Technically the protests were focused on Russell Vought, the Project 2025 co-author who wants to be in charge of the Office of Management and Budget. You know! That office Trump's been sued over? Look it up.
Anyway, the goal was to get the Senate to do the above things to slow down, if not totally block his appointment. A good goal. After all - didn't Trump run on Project 2025 NOT being his thing? We shouldn't be letting Project 2025 people in, then - right??
Also, coincidentally, there was a movement I'm aware of called "50501" which had the goal of hitting 50 state capitals in 50 states in 1 day. Obviously this wasn't an Albany-based protest, but it also was coincidental timing, wasn't it? Or maybe they knew that Indivisible, MoveOn, and The Working Families Party were doing events today, and just kinda winged it. Who knows? I approve.
What Can You Do?
The three organizations I just mentioned (Indivisible, Move On, and The Working Families Party) are all good groups to follow for more actions. You can always call your Senators, Representatives, and who-so-ever.
As part of another project I'm doing, I made a whole video with a few protest tips using my experience as a teacher/TA under the Taylor Law as an example of things to be aware of when trying to organize a movement.
That said, today's protest had about 400 people at it - and I know there were others like it in NYC, in Peekskill (though I believe that was on the 4th), and many more.
I've seen video of plenty of protests nation-wide, to boot. This wasn't just a New York thing, even if this article is about Long Island's end in the business.
But, anyway. That's all I have for you.
Well, other than the fact that the police threw us out of the Senators' office. I don't even know which Senators' office we were at, since they're separate but adjacent buildings. And...Well, let's just say they didn't want to face us.
Jesse Pohlman is an author from Freeport, New York, who will always remember his roots in Port Knox. The easiest way to reach him is through his Bluesky account.
Editorial note: I reached out to the protest organizers for comment about being thrown out, but they didn't get back to me. If they do, I'll update.
Update: I was notified by the protest organizers that they did indeed get to speak to representatives. So at least our message was conveyed. There's that.
