Equipped to demonstrate

What better way to spend a Friday off from work than standing in the sub-freezing cold on the National Mall in Wasington DC with a half-million of your closest friends, then walking a few miles?

Kind of like being in a refugee column except everyone is courteous and smiling. Still, probably a situation any prepper type worth his salt would avoid like the plague.

Lesse, I brought a daypack with water, snacks, a fleece blanket for emergecies and various odds and ends. The hand warmers got good reviews from the family members I passed them out to. Multiple layers plus some kept me warm enough for the most part. Luckily there are many free museums in the vicinity so you can go in to warm up or use the bathroom if needed, so I'll probably skip the blanket next time. One person in our group carried a distincive standard aloft which was essential in keepig together. Many other groups standardized on orange hats, yellow scarves, etc. but with that many people there's a good chance that someone else has the same "uniform".

Thought you folks might find it interesting, but please no public comments on the subject of the event in order to prevent the inevitable flame war.

The peaceful inauguration of a prezzie, whether you agree with his (or her) agenda or not, is a triumph for a democratic, stable society. What is it they say? - "Democracy is the worst form of government, except that it is better than all the other systems that have been tried."


Glad it wasn't too cold....

Oh, wait.... You were there on Sunday, not Inauguration Day! Same principle applies....

Just for the record, I was there this past Friday Jan 25th.

Why is that? There are a multitude of other activities that are riskier to one's life.

Indeed. We attended the Inauguration on January 21, and we felt quite safe. Depending on whose estimate you read, there were somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million people there. The crowd was generally good natured and well behaved. Not surprisingly, considering the nature of the event, security was very tight. Lots of advance notice about what you could and could not take through the security check points. The security folks (Secret Service, DC Police, NPS Law Enforcement, Military, various other Police units from around the country, etc) were all very polite yet extremely professional.

First aid responders, and other help were stationed throughout the area on the Mall. Signage was good so that you knew were to go, depending on what type of ticket you had. They had installed numerous extra portable cell phone towers, so that we were able to use our phones with few problems, despite the number of people. Overall, I was very impressed with how well the whole thing worked, and how few snafus there were.

The only real hassle we had whole time we were in DC was on the Beltway. A friend who lives in the area picked us up one evening and we got stuck in a big traffic jam due to a wreck on the Beltway. Makes me appreciate the comments people have made about "Carmageddon", as it clearly wouldn't take much of a snow storm to make a huge problem on that road!

I'm not even sure what was being demonstrated that day, but thanks for leaving it out!

My comment about the plague was mainly tongue in cheek, although I could imagine a stereotypical tinfoil hat survivalist type getting the nervous shakes over the "Golden Hordes".

I was surprised that the cell service worked fine - perhaps they also had extra towers set up.

Yeah, we got snow at the end of the day and traffic was very, very, slow on the way out. I'm sure the snow didn't help but the traffic volume alone was enough.

It is just impressive to see that many people in one place. Not that you can see very far from eye level, but at the foot of capitol hill you can see Constitution Ave. packed with people and as you start up the hill you can look back and there are more people as far as the eye can see.

Best estimate is 500,000 people, DELETED FOR POLITICAL CONTENT

Yup,pictures far more reliable than news outlets guesstimates that includes their slant on the topic being presnted.

I sure wish news was reported without agendas,wonder if it ever was?

Post deleted for political content

Actually, we didn't. And we'd best not, here. I wonder if violates forum rules to talk about the politics of a polital issue without talking about the issue itself?

But I think we violently agree about media bias. Ferinstance, the lead image at the head of the AP story on the event I attended was a photo of counter-protestors. Sheesh.

Oops.I was going to comment further on my news reporting opinions but too far for thread drift.

Don't know what the protest was about. Don't really care. As a Canadian it's probably none of my business....But I gotta ask.

A counter protester? What the hell is that? Someone protesting the fact that people are protesting?

I think it's more like people coming out to march/support for the opposing cause. For example, if there is a pro-life march, then a pro-choice march in the same proximity would be a counter-protest.

Any more political content and this thread will be locked. PM me if you have any questions.


chaosmagnet

Is it so tough to be "equipped to demonstrate"? Most demonstrations happen in urban areas. Near the National Mall, you can easily get your survival needs taken care of at the nearest restaurant or hotel. The only thing I'd worry about is what to do if violence should break out. What if you get pepper-sprayed, for example?

Stay away from politics, guys and gals.