I've been through three stages, shock, despair and wanting to give up. Now I am s*** kicking mad. I'm an old cowgirl, we don't take s*** we kick it! Just ordered my resistance t-shirt today. Thank you so much for keeping me fired up! I am surrounded by the enemy!
The revolution will not be televised by Gil Scott-Heron. I protested the war in Vietnam, marched for Roe V Wade. I refuse to sit back and have a pity party. We must take to the streets. Protest in front of our local Congress and Senate offices. Keep making phone calls. Join resistance groups like Indivisible. Do something! I am.
I too, protested against the Vietnam War, burned my bra, and celebrated the Voting Rights Act. I will be damned if i am going to sit on my ass and do nothing! I say we hit the DNC up and demand they stop the fundraising bullshit and help us get real tough leaders to the forefront. Adam is correct in that AOC should be ahead of Connolly. And will somebody tell Chuck Schumer to bow the fuck out?
Marlene, I’ve copied/pasted the gist of your comment into a Fundraising Bullshit/Do Something contact for my use in writing to my reps and donation requesters. Thanks.
I too am from that era and am sick to see all the progress we made in the following decades disappear overnight! The civil war apparently has never ended.......and someone has let all the racist assholes from that time out of the asylum! Now is the time to fight for the future of our children......not just litigate!.
What is happening now is even sicker than what we were fighting for back in the day. Believe this I am still here to fight for what I have always believed in to my last breath I will fight to get this bastard out!
Pamela, I was just reading your post just dawned on me we were doing the same thing around the same time looks like there are a lot of us old broads on here we have lots of experience fighting for what we believe in. Just as ready to do it again.
Absolutely! I was never one to just sit back and complain. Like Michelle Obama said “ put your phone down and do something”. Tomorrow I will be protesting at city hall.
My favorite song therefore I have to correct you on the title because the name in The Revolution Will Be Televised. Only doing it out of love of the song
Tricky Dick shot 4 college protesters in cold blood. This should never be forgotten. This is what the lack of empathy looks like in the frontal lobe of these misfits.
Yes! I’m tired of speeches by the Dems. We have to fight every step of the way. I just read an article that compares Trump to Orban and a lot of what he’s doing is what Orban did when he took over in 2010. This absolutely cannot happen here!
Echo chambers can be difficult to escape, and losing credibility at events like Orange Con highlights the need for engaging with diverse perspectives. To break free, actively seek out varied viewpoints and ask follow-up questions to understand the motivations behind negative opinions. Constructive discourse is essential, as the truth often emerges from open and respectful dialogue rather than hostility.
Precisely. We have nothing left to lose; many of us have nothing left. I won’t quit, though. Don’t we claim to fight alongside people who overcame slavery? We must stop acting like pampered babies; resistance is never formed in a four-star hotel room.
Best one yet, Adam. If we can hold some scraps of this country together, let’s build a Democratic Party that we actually want. Not one chosen for us by George Clooney and Oprah.
The civil war was the feds against the states. This time it is the other way around. Guerillla tactics are essential as are the formal actions of governors and lawyers fighting back. There are a lot of boycotts planned over the next several months. https://bsky.app/profile/mariaehill.bsky.social/post/3liaywk46jk2u
I agree!!! I am still mindboggled about what to do!!! I've called the answering machines. I've sent emails and got responses about how wonderful this all is. I'm 72 and I have heart issues!!! Ugh!!! I want to DO more but what??? It's not even A MONTH!!! I am still doing my volunteer work. I'm commiserating with friends but the magas I know think this is all just dandy (although one mocked Gulf of America today, so I guess that's sort of a breakthrough). I HATE THIS!!! I wish I could do something to GET RID OF THEM ALL!!! I pray for lightening bolts on the golf course and cheeseburgers that choke. We were not prepared for how bad this is and how do we deal???
Oh my gosh. I’m right with you. I feel every feeling. I’ve made calls, visits, and I can’t even remember how many letters and emails I sent. I too have resorted to wishing every evil thing I can think of on him/them. Every time he is on the golf course I pray for lightning. Every time he walks up a stair or two, I pray for a fall. When he’s walking in White House, I wish for a past president’s portrait to jump off the walls and give him a smack-down. I think next I shall consult a witch doctor. We are doing what we can at our age and I truly think that it’s more the Chuck Schumer and some dems are doing.
P.S. If I lived in PA I would be at Fettermans door demanding my donations back and giving him a piece of my mind. He needs a good lashing from a 70-year-old grandmother.
I think America was warned, but few if any listened. How many amongst you read even 1 chapter of Project 2025? It was all in there line, hook and sinker. I was lucky enough to be guided to it by Joyce Vance. I read about the rehab of the org, the terms of reference that his buddies wanted to ascribe to Trump, but worst of all the demolition derby being played out on your school system. I had a full copy and read over 300 pages of the damn report, and I don’t even live amongst you. Wake up America, before it’s too late. It’s almost midnight…..
This was published by a sportscaster come political enthusiast, but I support what he says about Canada booing American teams. It’s not kind, but the time to be kind to Trump and his ilk is long past. Please forgive me if I’ve offended your sensibilities. Trust me, we’re not normally this rude. 1/2
Many in the crowd at the U.S.-Finland 4 Nations game in Montreal on Feb. 13 booed the singing of The Star Spangled Banner before the game.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Image
At Euro 2012, organizers had the misfortune of drawing Russia in the same group as the co-host, Poland.
The path to the arena in Warsaw on that game day was a preapocalyptic film set. Urban tanks. Hundreds of cops in riot gear. They even had barking German shepherds straining at leashes. Once inside, you knew something bad was going to happen. The hatred was ambient.
The Russian fans somehow sneaked in an enormous banner – it stretched from the top of the upper bowl to the lower – that read, in English, ‘This is Russia.’ They unfurled it during the anthems.
That was a booing.
Compared to that, what Canada is doing right now is not booing. It’s an act of kindness. We are helping the average American understand that nobody likes them any more. I’d want to know, and I’m guessing you would too.
On Thursday, the Montreal crowd booed The Star Spangled Banner before the U.S.-Finland game. The American players, who’d been trying hard to avoid the topic, were forced to address it.
“I don’t like it,” the most American American on Team America, Matthew Tkachuk, told reporters afterward.
You think we do? You think we’re doing this because we’re bored? Canada is trying to tell you something.
Strict respect for another country’s anthem is reserved for high affairs of state and friendly relations. Neither of those scenarios applies at the moment.
You insult us. You threaten us. You break your promises to us. You dangle us along. Then you think you’re going to come up here and play your national fight song and we’re going to just, what, smile and nod?
I get that America thinks we’re chumps. If there’s a takeaway from the last few weeks, that’s it. They don’t respect us. Any of us. They think we are weak and soft and dependent on them.
They’ve made up their minds on that score. Now we have to make up ours.
Are we the sort of people that let you walk up, poke us in the forehead and laugh, and do nothing in response? That’s what the anti-booing faction is endorsing.
There are only so many non-violent, non-self-immolating ways we can express our strength at the moment. The first move is to make our displeasure obvious, and to do so unceasingly until it has evoked a satisfactory reaction.
In current circumstances, the question isn’t ‘Is it wrong to boo another country’s anthem?’
It’s ‘How can I lodge a complaint before this thing gets completely out of hand?’
You can write your MP, you can stop vacationing in Florida and you can boo. Only one of those things makes news that night.
Booing is your patriotic duty right now. It’s not very Canadian, and that’s the point. We’ve let this whole polite northerner shtick exist for too long. Some rudeness is in order. You know what rude people get? Service. They squeak, but they also get the oil.
Every refusenik in our ranks, every person worried about causing offence, everyone who tries to clap over the booers gives America the impression that we’re okay with how we’re being treated: ‘It’s Canada. They’re fine. Don’t worry about them. Look. They still like us.’
Booing is the most effective way to make clear that we don’t.
I would go further – we have a duty as global citizens to boo.
Everywhere else, if you want to voice your displeasure with American interference, you have to go to the U.S. Embassy. You do a bit of chanting, burn a flag, maybe get tear gassed. Doing so makes you look hysterical, and therefore easy to ignore.
Here, you can go to a sports contest most nights and, for no extra charge, you are provided with an opportunity to do the most basic sort of politics. Someone sings. You boo.
It is a harmless, but meaningful, gesture. Mexico, Panama and Greenland don’t have this luxury. Just us. We are exercising it on their behalf, as well as our own.
The main argument against booing seems to be that it’s not nice. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly called it “unfortunate,” the limpest adjective in the English language.
It’s also unfortunate that our manufacturing sector is going to be burned to the ground because America made a deal with us and no longer feels like keeping its word. I’d say one of those things is more unfortunate than the other.
Back in Warsaw, the Polish fans booed the Russian anthem. Later, they threw a few Russians in the Vistula River, but they didn’t kill anyone. I thought they showed commendable restraint.
Later in that tournament I flew from Kyiv back to Warsaw. A couple of Russian tourists jumped in front of me in the non-EU customs line. The Polish border guard spent a half-hour slowly flipping back and forth through their passports while boring his eyes into them. Then he let them go. No words had been exchanged. Small, meaningful gestures.
Sadly, Russia doesn’t seem to have picked up what Poland was putting down there.
America and Canada don’t have that same history of ugly antagonism. The Americans aren’t our enemy (yet), but they have become a bad friend.
The uncharitable thing to do would be to sit up here and seethe. Keep pretending that things are okay, when they aren’t. They won’t know it, and we won’t say it, and things keep getting worse. That’s how friendships die. The useful thing to do is to let your bad friend know you’re upset with them. Give them a chance make amends. That’s what real friends do.
If they don’t want to be friends any more, then that’s okay, too. Then you can stop booing, because there won’t be any point to it.
Until then, all we can do is keep telling America that we have a problem, and hope that they aren’t so far gone that they no longer care about having friends.
I was cheering the booing! I felt as though Canada felt our pain was significant, too. I wish every decent democratic country would do the same. We need help with the Madman who is running this country. He likes flattery, so this American appreciates anything you can do to show disgust. I love Canada and have spent many vacations there. The people are great and the country is absolutely beautiful. I will buy Canada every chance I get. I am ashamed to be called American.
Thank you for understanding we are not all like MAGA . Please don’t worry about our “sensitivities”. Do whatever it takes to help rid us of the evil that has its hold on this country. We need our allies to not forsake us but to help us in this horrible war.
@Cam- I hate the “booing”! I hate it because it’s embarrassing to be THAT country. But I get it! Your “boo’s” are your resistance to and as much as I hate booing, I appreciate the support. 🇨🇦
I’m 83 years old with my share of old folks illnesses. I wish I could be on the street protesting and being counted. What I “thought” I could do to help is sign petitions, make calls and send letters to my representatives protesting what’s happening to our country. It’s disheartening and disappointing to me that what I’ve devoted hours a day to is not helping. I have reached the age where I have nothing of value to give. I’ve lived too long.
Don’t say that! We have to do what we can, even if it’s signing petitions and phone calls. Every little bit helps. I’m going to be 69 next month, I refuse to give up for my granddaughter’s sake. I’m out in the streets every Friday, in front of city hall. We have a Christian Nationalist mayor and a bunch of us are doing what we can to get him out in November.
I love you, Barbara. Petitions and calls are NOT worthless. But Big Money is very powerful. So we are going to have to SHOW UP! I use a cane and can't march. But I can still go to my State Capitol with a little chair and a sign. Did it 2 weeks ago, and doing it again on Monday Feb 17. Sit in! Cheer. Show up.
Barbara— having turned 80, I understand your frustration. But I see that we go to the streets, organize Pro-Democracy rallies, boycott everything Trump and Musk — fucking Tesla tuna cans, anything with Trump’s name on it. No more purchases at Trump MAGA-billionaire crap. Keep the pressure on these crooks. Go to the Heritage Foundation and picket with signs decrying their Project 2025. Picket Congress as well. Tell them to stand up for democracy or get the fuck out of the way! Get the unions who will be throttled by Muskalini and Trumphuk to stand up.
I’m not sure but I saw that nasty word “suicide” and want to assure you that definitely is not me. Sorry if I misled you. I have every intention of staying alive, God willing as long as I can cuz there’s one thing I can do, and that’s pray. I been practicing for a lot of years and I’m pretty good at it
Only if you insist He do it your way and in your time. He says to love our enemies, to pray FOR them. I figure until we start praying “Your will be done”, we’re on our own. I have learned to love and pray for those who voted for donald because of the price of eggs. They are not maga, they’re just poor, desperate, and misinformed. As far as the antichrists in power today, they are despised by God; therefore, I am not required to “cast my pearls before swine”. Mathew 7:6. I’m good with that.
I have the fight in my heart & soul but physically I'll count on my stronger brothers and sisters. I can make calls, signs and posters and help organize! No peace this time around!
I hate a fascist fake president sitting in the Oval Office w a doped up Nazi raiding our govt. It's time!
No more talking, no more placating, no more negotiating. Dems need to obstruct and push back no matter how much the GOP bitches, moans, accuses, and whines. Fuck those motherfuckers and their treasonous tribe. Fuck all of them.
You are preaching to the choir but I am so glad you are. I agree with you 💯. We can’t wait another second if we don’t come together and fight they will take our country and put us in labor camps or something similar. It scares me. How blind people are being. I’m in for the fight whatever
I’m tired of hearing the Dems aren’t doing anything- when many of them ARE FIGHTING BACK. Don’t keep your blinders on and ignoring the fact that MY Oregon senators are doing everything they can.
ALL OF THIS. I won’t reply to another fundraising text until I see our democratically elected officials get in the mud, get dirty and fight for the American people they claim to represent. I was horrified to learn that there was no plan of attack in the event that CF45 won. We’re in it now and the democrats are acting like keystone cops. There is no room for capitulating with madmen at the helm. We need creative, aggressive communicators that can throw sand in their gears. We need a strategy to live rent-free in their heads and make them squirm. We have to remind people of every heinous thing they do. Their cruelty must not be normalized.
Pambo, WE need to get in the mud, get dirty and fight! Get some antidote to FAUX News; try Meidas Touch Media. Look up Indivisible or 50501. There is much we can do. Get busy!
Most of us are doing all we can. When the tension mounts WE have to do what the South Koreans did and those who can be in DC to take OUR Capitol back ... must DO IT!
I've been through three stages, shock, despair and wanting to give up. Now I am s*** kicking mad. I'm an old cowgirl, we don't take s*** we kick it! Just ordered my resistance t-shirt today. Thank you so much for keeping me fired up! I am surrounded by the enemy!
Damn Robin!! Yes!! Yes!! And HELL YES!! Love this!! 🔥💪🙌💙
Love this! Can you link your Resistance t-shirt, please?
Sounds like you got four more stages to go through buddy.
We must fight fascism together. Civil servants like me are gathering evidence of the muskrat and his minions’ crimes. I have written a poem to inspire all who defend democracy: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/public-servant-poem-guardians-of-the-flame
Sticks in the spokes. New dem leaders first and foremost.
I'm retired almost one full year from NPS. I think of you every day.... My friends are going through hell. Keep on writing!!
Wow, what a fabulous poem.
Write a bunch of more poems see where I get you… dumb
ESL?
The revolution will not be televised by Gil Scott-Heron. I protested the war in Vietnam, marched for Roe V Wade. I refuse to sit back and have a pity party. We must take to the streets. Protest in front of our local Congress and Senate offices. Keep making phone calls. Join resistance groups like Indivisible. Do something! I am.
You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
And skip out for beer during commercials, because
The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you
By Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle
And leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams, and Spiro Agnew
To eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary
The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre
And will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because
The revolution will not be televised, brother
There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mae
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner
At 8:32 on report from twenty-nine districts
The revolution will not be televised
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young
Being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
There will be no slow motion or still lifes of Roy Wilkins
Strolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jumpsuit
That he has been saving for just the proper occasion
Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction
Will no longer be so damn relevant
And women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane
On Search for Tomorrow
Because black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be televised
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news
And no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists
And Jackie Onassis blowing her nose
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys
Nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash
Engelbert Humperdinck, or The Rare Earth
The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be right back
After a message about a white tornado
White lightning, or white people
You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom
The tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breath
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat
The revolution will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run, brothers
The revolution will be live
Ohh so good you got it right. You know this is from way back in the day.
I was a high school freshman. I’m old 😂😂
I remember getting goosebumps the first times I heard those lyrics.
Yep
I too, protested against the Vietnam War, burned my bra, and celebrated the Voting Rights Act. I will be damned if i am going to sit on my ass and do nothing! I say we hit the DNC up and demand they stop the fundraising bullshit and help us get real tough leaders to the forefront. Adam is correct in that AOC should be ahead of Connolly. And will somebody tell Chuck Schumer to bow the fuck out?
Marlene, I’ve copied/pasted the gist of your comment into a Fundraising Bullshit/Do Something contact for my use in writing to my reps and donation requesters. Thanks.
Dumb
I too am from that era and am sick to see all the progress we made in the following decades disappear overnight! The civil war apparently has never ended.......and someone has let all the racist assholes from that time out of the asylum! Now is the time to fight for the future of our children......not just litigate!.
What is happening now is even sicker than what we were fighting for back in the day. Believe this I am still here to fight for what I have always believed in to my last breath I will fight to get this bastard out!
Pamela, I was just reading your post just dawned on me we were doing the same thing around the same time looks like there are a lot of us old broads on here we have lots of experience fighting for what we believe in. Just as ready to do it again.
Absolutely! I was never one to just sit back and complain. Like Michelle Obama said “ put your phone down and do something”. Tomorrow I will be protesting at city hall.
My favorite song therefore I have to correct you on the title because the name in The Revolution Will Be Televised. Only doing it out of love of the song
Thank you for the correction! I get on a rant and my brain goes to mush.
I totally understand.
Fixed it!
🤣
Omg… 😆 sooo funny… 😶 Dumb
Yeah, another protest. nothing says I know what I’m doing like another protest. Dumb.
You must be a millennial
Tricky Dick shot 4 college protesters in cold blood. This should never be forgotten. This is what the lack of empathy looks like in the frontal lobe of these misfits.
I so agree!
Yes! I’m tired of speeches by the Dems. We have to fight every step of the way. I just read an article that compares Trump to Orban and a lot of what he’s doing is what Orban did when he took over in 2010. This absolutely cannot happen here!
Trump was picking Orban's brain the whole time, trying to get tips on how to become a dictator.
So was that what the orange con was doing with Putin behind closed doors too?
Echo chambers can be difficult to escape, and losing credibility at events like Orange Con highlights the need for engaging with diverse perspectives. To break free, actively seek out varied viewpoints and ask follow-up questions to understand the motivations behind negative opinions. Constructive discourse is essential, as the truth often emerges from open and respectful dialogue rather than hostility.
Precisely. We have nothing left to lose; many of us have nothing left. I won’t quit, though. Don’t we claim to fight alongside people who overcame slavery? We must stop acting like pampered babies; resistance is never formed in a four-star hotel room.
Best one yet, Adam. If we can hold some scraps of this country together, let’s build a Democratic Party that we actually want. Not one chosen for us by George Clooney and Oprah.
Time to take it to the streets
The civil war was the feds against the states. This time it is the other way around. Guerillla tactics are essential as are the formal actions of governors and lawyers fighting back. There are a lot of boycotts planned over the next several months. https://bsky.app/profile/mariaehill.bsky.social/post/3liaywk46jk2u
Including in homes across Canada.
Tell us where and when. I will be there.
I agree!!! I am still mindboggled about what to do!!! I've called the answering machines. I've sent emails and got responses about how wonderful this all is. I'm 72 and I have heart issues!!! Ugh!!! I want to DO more but what??? It's not even A MONTH!!! I am still doing my volunteer work. I'm commiserating with friends but the magas I know think this is all just dandy (although one mocked Gulf of America today, so I guess that's sort of a breakthrough). I HATE THIS!!! I wish I could do something to GET RID OF THEM ALL!!! I pray for lightening bolts on the golf course and cheeseburgers that choke. We were not prepared for how bad this is and how do we deal???
Oh my gosh. I’m right with you. I feel every feeling. I’ve made calls, visits, and I can’t even remember how many letters and emails I sent. I too have resorted to wishing every evil thing I can think of on him/them. Every time he is on the golf course I pray for lightning. Every time he walks up a stair or two, I pray for a fall. When he’s walking in White House, I wish for a past president’s portrait to jump off the walls and give him a smack-down. I think next I shall consult a witch doctor. We are doing what we can at our age and I truly think that it’s more the Chuck Schumer and some dems are doing.
P.S. If I lived in PA I would be at Fettermans door demanding my donations back and giving him a piece of my mind. He needs a good lashing from a 70-year-old grandmother.
I think America was warned, but few if any listened. How many amongst you read even 1 chapter of Project 2025? It was all in there line, hook and sinker. I was lucky enough to be guided to it by Joyce Vance. I read about the rehab of the org, the terms of reference that his buddies wanted to ascribe to Trump, but worst of all the demolition derby being played out on your school system. I had a full copy and read over 300 pages of the damn report, and I don’t even live amongst you. Wake up America, before it’s too late. It’s almost midnight…..
This was published by a sportscaster come political enthusiast, but I support what he says about Canada booing American teams. It’s not kind, but the time to be kind to Trump and his ilk is long past. Please forgive me if I’ve offended your sensibilities. Trust me, we’re not normally this rude. 1/2
2/2
Many in the crowd at the U.S.-Finland 4 Nations game in Montreal on Feb. 13 booed the singing of The Star Spangled Banner before the game.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Image
At Euro 2012, organizers had the misfortune of drawing Russia in the same group as the co-host, Poland.
The path to the arena in Warsaw on that game day was a preapocalyptic film set. Urban tanks. Hundreds of cops in riot gear. They even had barking German shepherds straining at leashes. Once inside, you knew something bad was going to happen. The hatred was ambient.
The Russian fans somehow sneaked in an enormous banner – it stretched from the top of the upper bowl to the lower – that read, in English, ‘This is Russia.’ They unfurled it during the anthems.
That was a booing.
Compared to that, what Canada is doing right now is not booing. It’s an act of kindness. We are helping the average American understand that nobody likes them any more. I’d want to know, and I’m guessing you would too.
On Thursday, the Montreal crowd booed The Star Spangled Banner before the U.S.-Finland game. The American players, who’d been trying hard to avoid the topic, were forced to address it.
“I don’t like it,” the most American American on Team America, Matthew Tkachuk, told reporters afterward.
You think we do? You think we’re doing this because we’re bored? Canada is trying to tell you something.
Strict respect for another country’s anthem is reserved for high affairs of state and friendly relations. Neither of those scenarios applies at the moment.
You insult us. You threaten us. You break your promises to us. You dangle us along. Then you think you’re going to come up here and play your national fight song and we’re going to just, what, smile and nod?
I get that America thinks we’re chumps. If there’s a takeaway from the last few weeks, that’s it. They don’t respect us. Any of us. They think we are weak and soft and dependent on them.
They’ve made up their minds on that score. Now we have to make up ours.
Are we the sort of people that let you walk up, poke us in the forehead and laugh, and do nothing in response? That’s what the anti-booing faction is endorsing.
There are only so many non-violent, non-self-immolating ways we can express our strength at the moment. The first move is to make our displeasure obvious, and to do so unceasingly until it has evoked a satisfactory reaction.
In current circumstances, the question isn’t ‘Is it wrong to boo another country’s anthem?’
It’s ‘How can I lodge a complaint before this thing gets completely out of hand?’
You can write your MP, you can stop vacationing in Florida and you can boo. Only one of those things makes news that night.
Booing is your patriotic duty right now. It’s not very Canadian, and that’s the point. We’ve let this whole polite northerner shtick exist for too long. Some rudeness is in order. You know what rude people get? Service. They squeak, but they also get the oil.
Every refusenik in our ranks, every person worried about causing offence, everyone who tries to clap over the booers gives America the impression that we’re okay with how we’re being treated: ‘It’s Canada. They’re fine. Don’t worry about them. Look. They still like us.’
Booing is the most effective way to make clear that we don’t.
I would go further – we have a duty as global citizens to boo.
Everywhere else, if you want to voice your displeasure with American interference, you have to go to the U.S. Embassy. You do a bit of chanting, burn a flag, maybe get tear gassed. Doing so makes you look hysterical, and therefore easy to ignore.
Here, you can go to a sports contest most nights and, for no extra charge, you are provided with an opportunity to do the most basic sort of politics. Someone sings. You boo.
It is a harmless, but meaningful, gesture. Mexico, Panama and Greenland don’t have this luxury. Just us. We are exercising it on their behalf, as well as our own.
The main argument against booing seems to be that it’s not nice. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly called it “unfortunate,” the limpest adjective in the English language.
It’s also unfortunate that our manufacturing sector is going to be burned to the ground because America made a deal with us and no longer feels like keeping its word. I’d say one of those things is more unfortunate than the other.
Back in Warsaw, the Polish fans booed the Russian anthem. Later, they threw a few Russians in the Vistula River, but they didn’t kill anyone. I thought they showed commendable restraint.
Later in that tournament I flew from Kyiv back to Warsaw. A couple of Russian tourists jumped in front of me in the non-EU customs line. The Polish border guard spent a half-hour slowly flipping back and forth through their passports while boring his eyes into them. Then he let them go. No words had been exchanged. Small, meaningful gestures.
Sadly, Russia doesn’t seem to have picked up what Poland was putting down there.
America and Canada don’t have that same history of ugly antagonism. The Americans aren’t our enemy (yet), but they have become a bad friend.
The uncharitable thing to do would be to sit up here and seethe. Keep pretending that things are okay, when they aren’t. They won’t know it, and we won’t say it, and things keep getting worse. That’s how friendships die. The useful thing to do is to let your bad friend know you’re upset with them. Give them a chance make amends. That’s what real friends do.
If they don’t want to be friends any more, then that’s okay, too. Then you can stop booing, because there won’t be any point to it.
Until then, all we can do is keep telling America that we have a problem, and hope that they aren’t so far gone that they no longer care about having friends.
I was cheering the booing! I felt as though Canada felt our pain was significant, too. I wish every decent democratic country would do the same. We need help with the Madman who is running this country. He likes flattery, so this American appreciates anything you can do to show disgust. I love Canada and have spent many vacations there. The people are great and the country is absolutely beautiful. I will buy Canada every chance I get. I am ashamed to be called American.
😢 It hurts to lose such a long time friend, but we understand your anger. Believe me, we do😡
Ditto Cam. If only Canada didn't sell out the Avro - the beginning of our military dependency.
I love your moniker.
Thank you for understanding we are not all like MAGA . Please don’t worry about our “sensitivities”. Do whatever it takes to help rid us of the evil that has its hold on this country. We need our allies to not forsake us but to help us in this horrible war.
@Cam- I hate the “booing”! I hate it because it’s embarrassing to be THAT country. But I get it! Your “boo’s” are your resistance to and as much as I hate booing, I appreciate the support. 🇨🇦
Cam, ❤️❤️❤️. Some of us read it. I am so sorry, Canada. I was born there. Wish I'd stayed.
✋
Look for your local indivisible group. Join resistbot. Emails and phone calls won’t do it. We need to be in the streets!
I’m 83 years old with my share of old folks illnesses. I wish I could be on the street protesting and being counted. What I “thought” I could do to help is sign petitions, make calls and send letters to my representatives protesting what’s happening to our country. It’s disheartening and disappointing to me that what I’ve devoted hours a day to is not helping. I have reached the age where I have nothing of value to give. I’ve lived too long.
Don’t say that! We have to do what we can, even if it’s signing petitions and phone calls. Every little bit helps. I’m going to be 69 next month, I refuse to give up for my granddaughter’s sake. I’m out in the streets every Friday, in front of city hall. We have a Christian Nationalist mayor and a bunch of us are doing what we can to get him out in November.
Brava, pamela!
I love you, Barbara. Petitions and calls are NOT worthless. But Big Money is very powerful. So we are going to have to SHOW UP! I use a cane and can't march. But I can still go to my State Capitol with a little chair and a sign. Did it 2 weeks ago, and doing it again on Monday Feb 17. Sit in! Cheer. Show up.
You are loved ❤️
Babe, no! You are doing everything you know to do and giving it your all! Take heart, it matters
Barbara— having turned 80, I understand your frustration. But I see that we go to the streets, organize Pro-Democracy rallies, boycott everything Trump and Musk — fucking Tesla tuna cans, anything with Trump’s name on it. No more purchases at Trump MAGA-billionaire crap. Keep the pressure on these crooks. Go to the Heritage Foundation and picket with signs decrying their Project 2025. Picket Congress as well. Tell them to stand up for democracy or get the fuck out of the way! Get the unions who will be throttled by Muskalini and Trumphuk to stand up.
I’m not sure but I saw that nasty word “suicide” and want to assure you that definitely is not me. Sorry if I misled you. I have every intention of staying alive, God willing as long as I can cuz there’s one thing I can do, and that’s pray. I been practicing for a lot of years and I’m pretty good at it
I pray for a ketamine/hot tub party.
Praying does nothing, sorry to say.
Only if you insist He do it your way and in your time. He says to love our enemies, to pray FOR them. I figure until we start praying “Your will be done”, we’re on our own. I have learned to love and pray for those who voted for donald because of the price of eggs. They are not maga, they’re just poor, desperate, and misinformed. As far as the antichrists in power today, they are despised by God; therefore, I am not required to “cast my pearls before swine”. Mathew 7:6. I’m good with that.
I'm a resister from back in the,
🎵YOU say you want a Revolution days.🎵
I have the fight in my heart & soul but physically I'll count on my stronger brothers and sisters. I can make calls, signs and posters and help organize! No peace this time around!
I hate a fascist fake president sitting in the Oval Office w a doped up Nazi raiding our govt. It's time!
This is a bar room brawl for democracy. We need fighters not orators.
No more talking, no more placating, no more negotiating. Dems need to obstruct and push back no matter how much the GOP bitches, moans, accuses, and whines. Fuck those motherfuckers and their treasonous tribe. Fuck all of them.
You are preaching to the choir but I am so glad you are. I agree with you 💯. We can’t wait another second if we don’t come together and fight they will take our country and put us in labor camps or something similar. It scares me. How blind people are being. I’m in for the fight whatever
I’m tired of hearing the Dems aren’t doing anything- when many of them ARE FIGHTING BACK. Don’t keep your blinders on and ignoring the fact that MY Oregon senators are doing everything they can.
ALL OF THIS. I won’t reply to another fundraising text until I see our democratically elected officials get in the mud, get dirty and fight for the American people they claim to represent. I was horrified to learn that there was no plan of attack in the event that CF45 won. We’re in it now and the democrats are acting like keystone cops. There is no room for capitulating with madmen at the helm. We need creative, aggressive communicators that can throw sand in their gears. We need a strategy to live rent-free in their heads and make them squirm. We have to remind people of every heinous thing they do. Their cruelty must not be normalized.
Pambo, WE need to get in the mud, get dirty and fight! Get some antidote to FAUX News; try Meidas Touch Media. Look up Indivisible or 50501. There is much we can do. Get busy!
Most of us are doing all we can. When the tension mounts WE have to do what the South Koreans did and those who can be in DC to take OUR Capitol back ... must DO IT!
Absolutely right. My liberal friends are either ignoring the news because it’s too stressful or they’re waiting to see what everyone else does.