Today hundreds rallied in DC for America to enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine, effectively promising to shoot down Russian jets in that airspace.
The group played a "lullaby" video with images of babies and lyrics like, "If you don't close the sky, I will die."
Full lyrics:
"If you don't close the sky I will die
IYDCTS mom will cry
IYDCTS he'll lose home
IYDCTS there'll be doom
IYDCTS the sky will still fight
IYDCTS we'll feel the night
IYDCTS he [Putin] might win
Now look in these eyes and think again"
'Defending Democracy Together' Director @BillKristol praised "the people of Ukraine who are reminding us what free men and women can do under brutal assault from an aggressor, from a dictator who is violating obviously all the laws of war and norms of decency."
"I really do hope - we can quarrel about some of the details - but I think we can come. We are coming to the help of those fighting for Europe in the 21st Century."
This is Bill Kristol's full speech on Ukraine today (footage available to license)
"You promised us anti-aircraft weapons."
A video also shown at the #StandingWithUkraine rally featured a soldier calling out allies for insufficiently providing arms.
"You said you would help," he says. "You want another Aleppo?"
"Give Ukraine anti-aircraft weapons, please."
Ukraine-US Ambassador @OMarkarova warned "the world will be overcome by continued aggression and insecurity for decades" if Russia wins.
"Only helped and supported by defensive and offensive military assistance" from the US and other allies, Ukraine is enabled to win, she says.
Here is my full video of Ukrainian Ambassador to US Oksana Markarova's speech at today's #StandWithUkraine rally in Washington DC.
As always, all @N2Sreports video available to license.
The call to action from Ukrainian Pres @ZelenskyyUa was shown at the rally.
"Starting from March 24, exactly one month after the Russian invasion... come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life."
"Make yourselves visible and heard."
"Putin's inhumanity is on full display in Ukraine today" said @AdamParkhomenko at the rally.
"Putin must be defeated and driven from mainland Ukraine now. We cannot show weakness now. We cannot compromise with evil. Putin is war and crisis."
Full speech:
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VIDEO THREAD: Hundreds participated today in the Transgender Unity Rally and march from the United States Capitol to the White House.
"Protect trans kids!" they chanted. "Out of the closet, into the streets!"
"Trans rights are human rights!"
2) Bree Taylor, Executive Director of the Trans Unity Coalition, described inviting members of Congress to the rally, but none showed up.
"Where are they?" the crowd asked.
Senator Chris Van Hollen sent a letter which was read out loud: "One of the most despicable things about Donald Trump is that he goes after the most vulnerable members of our society."
"We are all Americans, and we all have the right to live as our true, free selves."
"These are wonderful words, and only that. Where the f*** are you?" asked Taylor, who called him hypocritical over a prior vote on an NDAA amendment defunding trans affirming care for minors.
"We cannot rely on those who have nothing but empty, hollow words," Taylor added.
3) "Hey hey, ho ho, transphobia's got to go!" chanted protesters as they arrived at the White House. "What do we want? Trans rights! When do we want them? Now!"
"This is our place to be free to be who we want to be!" one speaker described, beginning an open mic south of the White House at the Ellipse.
VIDEO THREAD: Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola as well as Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes had a "reunion" this afternoon outside the United States Capitol, beginning at the original January 6 breach point on the west side.
All were granted pardons or commutations by Trump following decade+ prison sentences.
"Whose house?" they chanted as they posed for a photo. "Our house!"
"Whose desk?" yelled Richard "Bigo" Barnett, who was photographed with his feet on Rep Pelosi's desk on January 6.
2) Tarrio calls the Proud Boys chapters not recognized on his website (such as those that marched on Inauguration Day) "not legitimate."
"They've created their own faction," he explains. "Those are not Proud Boys."
He wouldn't answer say if he's the National Chairman again.
3) As Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes walked around the Capitol, they joked "tactical formation, look out!"
"We don't want anyone to think we're stacking!" one said, referencing the Oath Keepers' formation on January 6, before Joe Biggs led the group in mimicking it.
VIDEO THREAD: Hundreds gathered including several members of Congress Tuesday outside the US Treasury to protest Elon Musk's access to a federal payment system.
Rep @MaxwellFrostFL said "an unelected billionaire and his team have been given full and unfettered access to our taxpayer money and our government."
"We're going to be the opposition!" he said to cheers. "We will fight, we will provide oversight, and we will win!"
All video in thread by @wallendupraw for @N2Sreports
2) Rep @JasmineForUS tells Musk and Trump "We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your asses, and we are gonna make sure you understand what democracy looks like!"
"Y'all about to find out!"
3) Senator @JeffMerkley asks "did anybody vote for a government of billionaires, for billionaires?"
VIDEO THREAD: White Nationalist group Patriot Front marched into Washington DC to hand out flyers and rally alongside the annual March for Life, their third time doing so in four years.
Thomas Rousseau, the group's founder, was among a few out of the approximately hundred who went unmasked.
He reiterated his group's belief to press that only people with "European" heritage qualify as American.
2) A man using a puppet to perform interviews criticized Patriot Front by calling them "law enforcement agents."
"If it's such a good cause, take off the mask!" he said to Rousseau through the puppet. "Take your mask off!"
3) Independent journalist @RichieMcGinniss asked Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau how he feels about Trump's FBI director nominee @Kash_Patel.
Rousseau said "I don't think Indians should be in charge of any departments of the United States, because he's a foreigner."
Pressed on why Patel is a "foreigner" despite being born here, Rousseau reiterated his platform (white nationalism) that only people with European ancestry qualify as American, regardless of birth or citizenship.
VIDEO THREAD: Activists dressed as contractors took down a banner outside the National Archives in Washington DC this morning and replaced it with their own demanding Biden publish the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) into the Constitution before leaving office.
The activists brought two additional banners which they had also planned to put up in the place of existing ones, but police arrived and confiscated them before the group could get those two up.
2) Kamala Lopez, founder and president of Equal Means Equal, explained that the ERA has already been ratified by 38 states, so she insists that Biden can be a "hero" by publishing it into the Constitution to be enforced.
Without doing this, she calls Biden a "zero."
3) Responding officers told the activists to sit down on the sidewalk and disputed whether their truck had been legally parked.
Additional activists arrived dressed as women from the science-fiction Dune series to advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment.
VIDEO THREAD: Craig Sicknick, brother of Brian Sicknick who died of a stroke the day after fighting on January 6, 2021, spoke at a rally demanding Congress refuse to certify Trump's electoral victory on January 6, 2025.
"I came here today to urge Congress to do its job and block Mr Trump from taking office just a few short weeks from now," Sicknick said.
"They can do this by upholding their oath of office and acting under Article III of the 13th Amendment which clearly states that no person who was involved in trying to overthrow our government can hold any office, state or federal."
2) @JessicaDenson07, a 2017 campaign staffer for Trump who ultimately sued him, is an organizer of this weekend's rallies demanding Congress block him from retaking the White House.
"Donald Trump is an adjudicated insurrectionist disqualified and the only mechanism to remove that disability is by a 2/3 vote of both houses. That's it. We don't need new legislation," she said.
"It only takes 1/5 of both houses of congress... to raise an objection and a simple majority to sustain it!"
She says there was "mixed" reception as she and others lobbies for this idea to members of Congress.
3) "Congresspeople, keep us safe, Hallelujah!" sang protesters demanding Congress block Trump from the White House on January 6.
"Do your duty to the states, Hallelujah!"
"Insurrectionists can't be president!" they chanted. "Call your representatives!"