Transcript
Advocate for Planned Parenthood (0:01)
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USAA Auto Insurance Representative (0:28)
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Historian or Political Commentator (0:41)
USA very, very happy to have you here. Today is April 17th. This is the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts. When I say it is the Old North Church, I mean really old. The Old North Church is famous for something that happened in 1775. But in 1775, when that thing happened, the Old North Church was already old then. It was already more than 50 years old by that point. It was the venerable old landmark and importantly, very tall building where the rebels had arranged in advance to use their code. They had arranged in advance that at the Old North Church they would hoist either one or two lanterns into the steeple of that church. And that would be the code. That would be the coded signal. If it was one lantern, that would mean the British troops were coming by land. If it was two lanterns, that would mean they were coming by sea or at least by water. On the night of April 18, 1775, they hung two lanterns in that steeple. That was the signal that the British troops were indeed on the move and that they were not moving their troops into position for an attack by land. They were instead taking the more direct route toward Lexington and Concord. By sea or by water, they were crossing the Charles river in boats. That's what the two lanterns meant. Once the rebels had figured out what the British were up to, once that two lantern warning was hoisted, those in the know knew that it was time to move. Paul Revere and William Dawes and later Samuel Prescott, they rode off into the night, pell mell on fast horses because it was their job to go sound the alarm, to go convey the warning, to stand up the defense. And when the dawn arrived, when the next morning arrived, when the British troops arrived in Lexington, Massachusetts, that next morning, there was a welcoming party. There was the American militia, forewarned, forearmed, and ready to fight them. And what happened at Lexington and Concord were, of course, the first shots, right? And that was the start. And on that first day, the forewarned forearmed, prepared militia's success against the British, that first day, it soon swelled the ranks of the militia to thousands and thousands and thousands of Americans who literally took up arms to throw off the tyrant king. And of course, they won. And that's how we got here. And tomorrow marks 250 years to the day since the two lantern signal was hoisted into the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts at 6pm Eastern tomorrow, Old North Church in Boston, and churches and other houses of worship all over the country. And just regular people, regular Americans are going to ring bells 6pm Eastern tomorrow to mark this moment in our history. The day after tomorrow on Saturday. That, of course, is the anniversary of what happened at dawn the morning after Paul Revere's ride, right? That is this Saturday is the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, where America took its first radical, literally revolutionary steps to free ourselves from tyranny and establish ourselves as a democracy. This Saturday, this Saturday, April 19th, on that 250th anniversary, we are expecting another day with potentially thousands of peaceful protests at state capitals all over the country. We're expecting protests this Saturday very much along the lines of what we saw two weeks ago on Saturday, April 5th. And you might remember the theme, the sort of banner under which those protests were organized two weeks ago. That was hands off. This weekend, this Saturday, perhaps inevitably, given the anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War, this Saturday, the banner for this weekend's peaceful protests will be no Kings. No Kings. National protest, April 19th. No kings. Protests are expected, I believe, in all 50 states this weekend. Yet again, yet again, we are expecting thousands and thousands and thousands, likely hundreds of thousands of Americans to protest altogether this weekend in every state in the country, yet again, against our century's old North Church moment, right? Organizing our own efforts against the attempted authoritarian takeover of the United States government in our century. Americans figuring out what they can do. And of course, we are seeing protests every day, every day. I mean, these big days of protest like April 5th and this weekend, April 19th. But this was Augusta, Maine, yesterday, just on Wednesday. This was Augusta, Maine. Farmers protesting against Trump's massive cuts to USDA funding and programs. And you know, you know, farmers are busy, very busy people, particularly this time of year. Anytime farmers are protesting, it's kind of a thing. You can see that tractor there. The sign on the front of it says, weed out the fascists. Support farmers, not billionaires. That was Augusta, Maine. This was San Diego, California, yesterday. People protesting against cuts to the va, cuts to services for veterans, including lots of nurses out there protesting cuts to the VA from the Trump administration. This was South Dakota yesterday outside an event where South Dakota Republican Senate leader John Thune was speaking. People had tape over their mouths at this protest protesting John Thune's silence in the face of Donald Trump's destruction of the U.S. government and increasing defiance of the U.S. constitution. Red State, South Dakota yesterday, this was today in Washington. This was very dramatic. These are coffins, full size black coffins being piled up outside the headquarters of the US State Department. They brought 200 adult sized coffins and six baby sized coffins, each of which represents 100,000 people who may die because of what Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump did to the decades old, wildly successful PEPFAR program which was providing HIV medications to literally 20 million people around the world. And you know you can live a long full life while HIV positive if you receive antiretroviral drugs to keep the virus suppressed in your body. But President Donald Trump ended those treatments mid course for 20 million HIV positive people by cutting off that program with no warning. And there's no substitution for pepfar. There's nothing like pepfar except pepfar. And Trump and Marco Rubio killed it even while trying to say they weren't. And those antiretroviral medications have been cut off all over the world. And so these coffins today represent the death toll of this decision that they have made of what they have done. Legendary US AIDS activist Peter Staley conceived this protest today.