Commentary: Dinosaurs, unicorns and 'raging grannies' — but no kings

[ad_1] SACRAMENTO — Hundreds of rebels gathered outdoors the state Capitol on Saturday, mindlessly trampling the garden of their Hokas, even because the autumnal solar in Sacramento pressured them to strip off their protecting puffer vests.

With chants of “No Kings,” many of those chaotic protesters spilled off sidewalks into the road, as if curbs held no energy of containment, no which means of their anarchist hearts.

Clearly, the social order has damaged. The place would it not finish, this reporter questioned. Would they subsequent be demanding passersby honk? Might they dare provide fiery speeches?

The reply got here all too quickly, when inside minutes, I noticed clear proof of the organized anti-fascist underground that U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi has been warning us about.

The “Raging Grannies of Sacramento” had arrange a stage, and had been testing microphones prematurely of bombarding the gang with tune. These girls wore coordinating aprons! That they had printed indicators — indicators with QR codes. If grandmothers who know how you can use a QR code aren’t harmful, I don’t know who it's.

Ellen Schwartz, 82, informed me this Canadian-founded group operates with out acknowledged leaders — an “worldwide free-form group of gaggles of grannies,” is how she put it, and I wrote all of it down for Kash Patel.

Inside moments, that they had robbed Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews of their most well-known duet: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” mutilating it into “tremendous callous fragile racist narcissistic POTUS.”

<img class="image" alt="Ellen Schwartz, 82, holds a sign that says: No Oligarchs, no kings" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/841a75b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/320x306!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f42b955/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/568x542!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/24e0fb7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/768x733!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e915cd5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/1024x978!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/dc03ea0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/1200x1146!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="1146" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/dc03ea0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x917+0+0/resize/1200x1146!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2F32%2F3f6243aa4f1e88b51a4c8e2e8c88%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-3.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Ellen Schwartz, 82, is a member of the “Raging Grannies,” a bunch that protested on the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento on Saturday.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Occasions)

To not be outdone by the Silent Technology, 2-year-old Rhea additionally confirmed up, first clinging to her mother, then toddling round on her personal as if she owned the place. This can be a child to control.

Since Rhea can not but discuss her political views, her dad and mom gave me some perception into why she was there.

“I’m unsure if we’ll nonetheless have a civilization that enables protest very lengthy, so I need her to at the least have a reminiscence of it,” mentioned her dad, Neonn, who requested that their final names not be used. Like many People, he’s a bit hesitant to attract the attention of authority.

Kara, Rhea’s mother, had a extra hopeful outlook.

“America is the folks, so for me I wish to preserve bringing her right here in order that she is aware of she is a part of one thing greater: peace and justice,” she mentioned, earlier than strolling off to see the dinosaurs.

<img class="image" alt="Kara holds her 2-year-old daughter, Rhea, at the rally in Sacramento." srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/da35400/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/320x209!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/dba236b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/568x372!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/498b5a8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/768x502!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/69de785/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/1024x670!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7053142/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/1200x785!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="785" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7053142/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1003x656+0+0/resize/1200x785!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc1%2F4d%2F94da0d094535a531cc4180e9e469%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-2.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Kara holds her 2-year-old daughter, Rhea, on the rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Occasions)

Dinosaurs, that’s proper. And tigers. And roosters. And unicorns. Even a cow hugging a chipmunk, which I imagine is now unlawful in a lot of the South.

Sure, of us, the Portland frog has began one thing. The place was filled with un-human members appearing like animals — dancing with abandon, stomping round, saying actually imply issues about President Trump.

In the meantime, the odor of roasting meat was plain. Folks, they had been consuming the recent canines! They had been consuming the grilled onions! There have been immigrants all over the place promoting the stuff (and it was scrumptious).

I spoke to a Tyrannosaurus Rex and requested him why he went Late Cretaceous.

“For those who don’t do one thing quickly, you should have democracy be extinct,” Jim Quick informed me from contained in the swimsuit.

<img class="image" alt="Two people in dinosaur costumes" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4a7d3dc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/320x257!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e370ebd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/568x456!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c36508c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/768x617!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/13721b2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/1024x823!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4969e42/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/1200x964!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="964" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4969e42/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x617+0+0/resize/1200x964!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3f%2F0d%2Fde3341034585a55ad0deecd9566c%2Fme-sacramento-no-kings-rally-1crop.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Jim Quick, left, and his spouse, Patty Quick, donned dinosaur costumes on the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Occasions)

His spouse, Patty, was ensconced in a coordinating swimsuit, hers brown, his inexperienced. Didn’t they fear about being labeled anti-American for being right here, as Home Speaker Mike Johnson and others have claimed?