TWF 351 - Hands Off Protests At Nassau County Courthouse; Huge Crowd!

Hello, friends,

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've been to a number of protests at the courthouse and I've never seen it this crowded.  Or, if I have, it's been a long time.  Maybe one of the Roe v Wade protests matched it, but the Schumer/Gillibrand protests - though large! - didn't come close to matching what I saw today.

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.

Remember:  I'm not politically neutral except in matters exclusive to Freeport.

Thank you for reading.

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!