“Dear PoPville,
Was leaving the Home Depot in Brentwood today [Friday] and saw this woman at the corner of Rhode Island Row. As a woman and her daughter, who could not have been more than five, walked by she picked up the poster with the graphic image on it and tried to block their way on the sidewalk. She got within two feet of them and kept moving as they tried to avoid her, it was painful to watch the daughter look at the poster and then look up and say something to her mother. As a bonus the woman had no mask on.
Regardless of how you feel about abortion, that is f’d up.”
And on Sunday morning: Read More
Photo by Victoria Pickering
Last week we had a hot debate over “Should I return to school and teach on August 31st or not?”. Thanks to all who passed on this powerful article from The Atlantic:
“America’s teachers are caught in a trap, set by indecisive and conflicting sectors of failed leadership that have never been in their position and can’t possibly relate to the unique challenges they face. I wouldn’t trust the U.S. secretary of percussion to tell me how to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” if they had never sat behind a drum set, so why should any teacher trust Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to tell them how to teach, without her ever having sat at the head of a class? Read More
A reader reports: “This was taken at midnight on Bates St. The protestors are now speaking outside Anita Bonds’s house. Have these protests been taking place late at night in other parts of the city?”
“these are real actors” Freedom Plaza, 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Courtesy Bryan Buckley
From an email:
“Today marks the official launch of the Trump Statue Initiative (TSI), a way for artists to share their point of view on our 45th President’s legacy in a way he can truly relate to: through realistic “heroic” statues highlighting the self-serving, narcissistic and racist moments that have notoriously defined his presidency. Read More
Thanks to A. for sending this: “front yard sculpture drawing a lot of attention in Capitol Hill (Northeast).” Read More
Awesome. Thanks to Sean for sending:
“We are on social distance-friendly vacation in Little Compton, Rhode Island. I was riding my bike with my son along a random gravel road. I stumbled upon a small farm with tons of DC love! They even have a flag on their barn. Very cool. Very random.” Read More
Photo by Martha Wilson
Thanks to Martha for sending: “Morning, @PoPville! The barricades are up for #July4th (I’m assuming). Didn’t stop the ducks from frolicking, though.”
Ed. Note: Last week we learned, incredulously, that the ‘Salute to America fireworks’ display on the National Mall was still coming this 4th of July.
Photo by Morgan Barna
From the Mayor’s Office:
“Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 232-180 to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), the first time a chamber of Congress has approved a bill to make the District the 51st state.
Today, with this historic vote, DC is closer than we have ever been to becoming the 51st state.
More than 160 years ago, Washingtonian Frederick Douglass told us: Power concedes nothing without a demand. As Washingtonians and as taxpaying American citizens, we are demanding what is owed to us – the rights guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution.
It is past time to fix this injustice. It is true that DC is more brown and more liberal than many other states. But the issue of taxation without representation was settled more than 200 years ago through the Declaration of Independence, and disenfranchising more than 700,000 taxpaying Americans is wrong no matter our politics or demographics. Who we elect is our business, and denying us statehood based on who we might send to Congress is both undemocratic and un-American. Read More
Photo by Jim Havard
From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today managed the historic debate on the House floor on her District of Columbia statehood bill (H.R. 51) . In her opening statement on the bill, Norton said, “As we approach July 4th, it is long past time to apply the nation’s oldest slogan, ‘no taxation without representation’ and the principle of consent of the government to D.C. residents.”
Norton’s opening statement, as prepared for delivery, follows.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Floor Remarks on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act
June 26, 2020
The United States is the only democratic country that denies both voting rights in the national legislature and local autonomy to the residents of the nation’s capital. As we approach July 4th, it is long past time to apply the nation’s oldest slogan, “no taxation without representation,” and the principle of consent of the governed to District of Columbia residents. H.R. 51 would do so, and Congress has both the moral obligation and constitutional authority to pass the bill.
H.R. 51 would admit the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth into the Union and reduce the size of the federal district. Read More
Photo by Erin
From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the owner of the National Football League’s (NFL) Washington team, Daniel Snyder, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to change the team’s racist name, an issue she has long pressed.
“I again call on Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington football team and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to recognize this historic moment and change the offensive, racist name of the team,” Norton said. “The name has cost Snyder far more than it could possibly be worth. The racist name stands in the way of the team playing in the nation’s capital at the RFK Stadium site, Snyder’s preferred venue. My bill (H.R. 1883) would allow the District of Columbia to buy the RFK Stadium site, which is federally owned. However, the Congress has been clear it will not approve the bill to sell this site to the District as long as there is a chance the Washington football team, with its current name, would use the site. Read More
