The "No Kings" rally in Madison was very mellow. Lots of homemade signs and costumes. People milling and lolling about in the sunshine and shade.

The "Forward!" statue — photographed by me, yesterday — is back in its place of honor at the State Street corner of the Wisconsin Capitol Square.

Here's my post from June 24, 2020 about the toppling of 2 important (and progressive) statues during protest riots in our city. 

And here's my post from yesterday with a photograph of the other statue, of Hans Christian Heg, on the other side of the square. The Heg statue is especially meaningful to me because Meade tended to it on 3 different occasions during the Wisconsin Uprising of 2011: 3/2/11, 3/13/11, and 3/21/11 (video by me at those links).

The statue of Hans Christian Heg, restored to its place of honor at the Wisconsin Capitol.

Photographed by me, this morning. 

Click the "Hans Christian Heg" tag to scroll through many posts about this statue, which was torn down by protesters last summer and put back up this week. Keep going all the way back to 2011 and you'll find 3 different posts — March 2nd, March 13th, and March 21st— with my video showing Meade addressing vandalism to the statue during the "Wisconsin Uprising" (when taking over a Capitol building was celebrated by people of the left).

The statues that were torn down last summer — "Forward" and Hans Christian Heg — were restored to the Wisconsin state capitol square yesterday.

 From the Wisconsin State Journal: 

[O]n June 23, 2020, as protesters battered the “Forward” statue. A deep boom followed as the roughly one-ton bronze piece fell to the ground. Hundreds cheered. Shortly after, protesters tore down the Heg statue....

The night of unrest was prompted by the arrest of a local Black activist earlier that day after he walked into a restaurant carrying a baseball bat and swore at customers through a bullhorn.... 

The “Forward” statue, a replica of the original that is stored in the state archives, suffered abrasion damage from being pulled through the street, and some of the figure’s fingers broke off when the statue initially fell, [bronze fabricator Jay Jurma] said. The replica was also covered in red paint, a challenge to remove. 

The Heg statue was “far more severely damaged,” Jurma said. When protesters pulled it down, one of the legs detached from the rest of the statue, the base became twisted and the whole statue became crooked, as if Heg were leaning forward. At some point the statue’s head came off. What remained of the statue was filled with mud from Lake Monona. 

I did not realize the statues were about to be reinstalled. I'd been seeing the empty plinths, covered in plywood, for so long and felt outraged that the restoration had not yet occurred. Why wasn't it more of a political issue? What an awful sight — that blank plywood. What dismal symbolism.

That said, I do understand the protest. In that video and elsewhere, there are expressions of the idea that the protesters were ill-informed about the meaning of the statues and therefore made a mistake in targeting them. Quite aside from whether it's bad to destroy art and to damage public property, the protesters picked the wrong statues because Hans Christian Heg fought and gave his life for the abolitionist cause and "Forward" symbolizes the state's progressive values.

But the protesters had a theory of systemic racism, so the outward appearance of progressivism is part of the problem. To tear down the statues expresses outrage at the veneer of enlightenment that disguises and therefore facilitates the underlying evil. 

Bring us the head of Hans Christian Heg!

The Wisconsin State Journal reports: 

A criminal complaint charged Rodney A. Clendening, 34, of Beloit, with felony theft after police said they identified him as the driver of a car into which the head of the abolitionist statue was placed on June 23, after a group of people, using another vehicle to assist them, pulled down the statue of Heg during a destructive night Downtown. 

According to the complaint against Clendening.... He walked toward the Heg plinth, just out of the camera’s view, and came back into view alongside two other men who were carrying Heg’s head. One of the men put the head into the trunk of the Ford. After the trunk was closed, Clendening went back to the driver’s seat and drove off. The car was seen a short time later on video footage at John Nolen Drive and East Wilson Street. A man who appeared to be Clendening got out and ran toward South Blair and East Wilson streets. A short time later, he was seen standing near a man police say was the driver of the Nissan used to pull down the Heg statue....

Getting the head back is important, but they are already spending $51,600 to recast it, and the plan is to have the statue reinstalled by "the middle of the year." 

"They'd rather talk about thimbles."

On "Morning Joe" this morning, Elise Jordan, a former aide to George W. Bush, criticized Trump supporters for talking about symbols (slurred as "thimbles") instead of substance. The symbols in question were statues, which was the topic of discussion as a result of this news report yesterday (I'm quoting the DCist):

A new D.C. committee recommended renaming, removing, or contextualizing more than 50 different government-owned spaces in the city, after studying the history of racism and oppression behind the namesakes. The working group, known as DCFACES (District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative Expressions), was commissioned by Mayor Muriel Bowser and began meeting in July. It identified figures like Thomas Jefferson, Francis Scott Key, Ben Franklin, and George Washington as problematic candidates for public-works dedications.

Of course, people fixate on symbols! That's why the symbols are attacked. You can't expect the pro-Trump side to refrain from engaging on what is a super-easy subject for them. Why should they?! Plus those of us who care about the traditional symbols are moved on a very deep level. I know how I've felt ever since Wisconsin protesters tore down the Forward! statue and the Hans Christian Heg statue in my town.

Speaking of superficial trivialities... I'm fascinated by Jordan's vocal slip: "thimbles" for "symbols." It underscores her point — symbols are small (compared to the big policy questions that government must decide). Now, I think some symbols are very big! This D.C. committee is recommending that the federal government "remove, relocate, or contextualize" the Washington Monument!

Jordan bemoans human nature. "We live by symbols" (to quote Felix Frankfurter).

But if symbols were thimbles... A thimble is a symbol — a symbol of smallness.

Just a thimbleful for me!

This morning at 5:55, I paid my respects to the empty plinth of the Hans Christian Heg statue.

I didn't insert the flags — only took the photograph.

Notice the bent up portion of the bronze in back. That damage occurred when the statue was attacked last week:

"These iconoclasts appeared on the Capitol Square to cover over the hate graffiti inspired by the fire bombers, looters, and window smashers."

"Their target was the WI Veterans Museum on W. Mifflin Street, which had been vandalized by the Free Yeshua Musa/Mayor Satya anarchists. The message of this motley group ran counter to the anarchists who toppled the statues of Freedom Fighter Hans Christian Heg, who gave his life fighting slavery and secession, and of Miss Forward, exemplar of strong womanhood 20 years before female suffragism. Or the beatdown of State Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee. Or the fire bombing of the City County Building.... Let’s just say the small gaggle of contrarians who posted signs declaring 'We Support Our Madison Police' were confronted with F-bombers worthy... As soon as the signs supporting police went up, many were torn down...."

Writes David Blaska, about his counter-protest activities in downtown Madison. Photos at the link.

The "Black Lives Mattered to Col. Heg" sign — at the base of the empty plinth where Heg once stood — marred by scrawled "Yeah, & the state is STILL RACIST."

Photographed by me at 5:59 this morning.

The most honored statues on the Wisconsin State Capitol Square came down last night.

Here are the photographs I took just before 6 a.m. this morning:









Here's a news article, "Protesters pull down Forward statue, Col. Hans Christian Heg statue outside State Capitol" (WKOW):

Protesters pulled down the Forward statue that normally stands outside the State Capitol and left it lying in the middle of the road. Demonstrators had been marching around downtown Madison, frustrated after the arrest of a protester earlier in the day. The same group also tore down the Col. Hans Christian Heg statue a short time later. The group then went on to throw the statue into Lake Monona. Heg fought for the Union during the Civil War and was a stark opponent of slavery during that time.

The Hans Christian Heg statue is lying headless in lake Monona. #wkow pic.twitter.com/0grawivgtf

— Michelle Alfini (@MichelleAlf) June 24, 2020

AND: "Madison protesters tear down Capitol statues, attack state Senator from Milwaukee as fury erupts again" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):

During the melee late Tuesday, Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter was assaulted after taking a photo of protesters.

"I don't know what happened ... all I did was stop and take a picture ... and the next thing I'm getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head," Carpenter told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter following the assault.

Protesters, chanting for the release of the man who'd been arrested earlier, also broke glass at the Tommy Thompson Center on West Washington Avenue, smashed windows and lights at the state Capitol, and set a small fire at the Dane County jail before police arrived just before 1 a.m.

ALSO: Here's what the man who got arrested did (warning: the "n-word" is in the man's tirade):



And here's what the arrest looked like:

An atrocious sculpture has been recommended to be installed in our beloved Library Mall.

But it's not too late! The selection committee approved this thing...



I don't know what could possibly have convinced them that this thing belongs in the heart of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus — as opposed to some soulless glass-and-steel corporate plaza in a city — but the City Council must still vote for the thing. Please help keep this horror out of sacred space.

It's by RDG Dahlquist Art Studio of Des Moines, Iowa — art studio of Des Moines, Iowa! —  and they've titled it "Both/And – Tolerance/Innovation." And just that title makes me mad. Some design studio in Des Moines, Iowa is trying to use language to influence a bunch of politicians in Madison, Wisconsin. And they've decided there are 2 things to jerk them around over that embody what the university is hot to express right now: diversity and technology. And diversity gets to be a misshapen/unformed stone and technology is a row of sharp-edged metal plates.

If that thing gets erected — and it is phallic (and therefore disinclusive of women (or are we the lumpy stone?)) — the only question will be how to employ it in political theater and protest. Lots of places to hang signs and symbols. You know that's what we do in Madison. Here's a scene from the 2011 Wisconsin protests when somebody hung a "solidarity" t-shirt on the public sculpture that is the statue of Civil War hero Hans Christian Heg:



You see the State Capitol in the background. In Madison, Wisconsin, you're not allowed to build a building taller than the State Capitol. And yet this sculpture the Des Moines studio presents to us looks like the skyline of a city filled with skyscrapers.

Is this what we want in our city as we enter the era of the sky-scraper-building President, Donald Trump?

ADDED: How about a completely traditional bronze sculpture — like the one of Heg — of one notable graduates or faculty of the University of Wisconsin. Wikipedia has a big list of the possibilities. Just pick one. I'll get the discussion going: Lorraine Hansberry.

Meade drove me up to the Capitol Square to catch the "Guns Across America" rally.

I jumped out of the car almost before it stopped moving to catch up with this sign: "The Experts Agree/Gun Control Works":



"Rights Don't END Where Feelings Begin" — note the rifle-handle for the sign:



Not sure whether the Anonymous crowd is for gun rights, but the masked man's sign, not fully visible in the photo, said "The Only Criminals That Care About the Gun Laws Are the Ones in Office":

On the Capitol Square, today in Madison...

A Farmers Market day...



No protesters around the Hans Christian Heg statue. The sun is shining on the strings of peppers, and everyone seems pretty happy.



Around on the State Street side of the Square, there was protest activity...



... of a tired, embarrassing kind.

What it looked like today at the Tax Day rally at the Wisconsin Capitol.

I was there:



And Meade took some of the pictures, like this one of the big crowd:



See the Hans Christian Heg statue in the back?

"Walker fixed it/Let's not Falk it up/Wisconsin Can't Barrett" (references to the upcoming recall primary and election):



"Why do I have to work 'till I die so you can retire at 55?"

A year ago, Breitbart was here.



The other side of the "He's got nads!" shirt refers to Scott Walker, but it could just as well have referred to Andrew Breitbart, who was here today in spirit:

Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America" Super Bowl commercial features the Wisconsin protests.

Click to jump to the exact part of the commercial:



Say what you want about Eastwood's approval of the auto bailouts, I'm excited to see the statue of the Civil War hero Hans Christian Heg, which — you may remember — Meade defended on 3 separate occasions last year during the protests: March 2 (Meade removes a sign), March 13 (Meade removes a "Solidarity" T-shirt); March 21 (Meade washes off "Workers of the World Unite").

And, by the way, Clint Eastwood played a crucial role in getting Meade and me together, so there was also that.

"Beware: Republicans steal elections."

Chalking at the Wisconsin Capitol, seen today, near the statue of Hans Christian Heg.

Somebody has written "Workers of the World Unite" on the monument to Civil War hero Hans Christian Heg.

And Meade is not happy with that. This evening at the Wisconsin Capitol:



2 protesters — a teacher and a lawyer — arrive on the scene, and a hilarious argument ensues. This might seem long, but don't miss the "teabagger" part.

Union thuggery against Althouse and Meade: "We will hang up wanted posters of you everywhere you like to go."

"We will picket on public property as close to your house as we can every day. We will harrass the ever loving shit out of you all the time. Campus is OCCUPIED. State street is OCCUPIED. The Square is OCCUPIED. Vilas, Schenk's Corners, Atwood, Willy Street – Occupied, Occupied, Occupied, Occupied. Did you really think it was all about the Capitol? Fuck the Capitol, we are the CITY... We have the numbers and we don't back down from anyone. We all know each other. We all know each other. We know each other from Service Industry Night at the Orpheum, because we're regulars at the same coffee shops, restaurants and bars, we know each other from the co-ops, we know each other because we've had a million jobs each (and we all worked at CapTel at least once), because we live in every shitty townie house in ever-changing groups of 2 – 7 people, because we are young and horny and screw each other incessantly, because we're all on facebook, and because we aren't anti-social, life-denying, world-sterilizing pieces of human garbage like the two of you. WE WILL FUCK YOU UP. We will throw our baseballs in your lawn, you cranky old pieces of shit, and then we will come get them back. What are you gonna do? Shoot us? Get Wausau Tea Patriots to form an ad hoc militia on your front lawn? That would be fucking HILAROUS to us. You could get to know the assholes on your side in real fucking life instead of sponging off the civil society we provide for you every single day you draw breath."

UPDATE: The document, which had been posted at scribd, was deleted soon after I posted, but not before I copied it. Here, then, is the full text:

Because of their extensive, lifelong, union freeloading (Althouse, the breadwinner of their pathetic, sexual-frustration driven “family” is an AAUP freeloader, a public sector secondary education freeloader, a University of Michigan freeloader, a University of Colorado freeloader and, most disgustingly to us, a University of Wisconsin Freeloader), their movement freeloading (they have greatly enhanced their reputation and social currency both within her nauseating Tory brotherhood they represent and across the  Op:countertroll Vs Althouse and Meade 3/18/11 11:41 AM currency both within her nauseating Tory brotherhood they represent and across the http://www.scribd.com/doc/50869881/Op-countertroll-Vs-Althouse-and-Meade Page 2 of 7 internet by wandering around Madison lying about all they see) their repeated lies and general commitment to irresponsible citizen-journalism (how dare they sneak around an ongoing citizen protest movement taking pictures of trash minutes before our volunteers clean it), their false claims to have infiltrated the movement despite the fact that as a decentralized, participatory and democratic movement #wiunion cannot be “infiltrated” and indeed welcomes the attention of hostile outside observers, their attempts to incite Tea Party Falangists to act on their sadistic and violent impulses against fourth grade teachers and their students, and their desecration of the statue of Hans Christian Heg Ann Althouse and Meade are hereby put on notice.

NOTICE – YOUR CITY OF MADISON PRIVILEGES HAVE BEEN REVOKED.

MADISON IS A #WIUNION CITY AND WE ARE MADISON.

Did you really think this could go on forever? That you could sit on the steps of our house, walk the streets of our city, lie about us to strangers, tell gun-toting rednecks from out of state and the Northwoods how depraved and deserving of punishment we are all while maintaining plausible deniability for any of the consequences that your actions might cause? Did you think you could fuck with HANS and get away with it?

This isn't a one way fight any more. We will take it from the internet right to [DELETED: My actual street address — parenthetical by Ann Althouse]. Do you have any idea where you live? Let us spell it out for you. We understand that you like to eat on the square. You like the Baked Potato at the Old Fashioned, do you? There were five of us in there last Tuesday. You like to eat at Fresco? We're in the Overture eating, serving, cooking, playing, and performing. At least twenty of us have worked for Food Fight. You like to fucking drink at FAIR TRADE do you? At FAIR TRADE? You are citizen-BANNED from Fair Trade. We will Walker you straight out of the place whenever you show up. We are at every coffee shop on State, open to close, all the time. We will hang up wanted posters of you everywhere you like to go. We will picket on public property as close to your house as we can every day. We will harrass the ever loving shit out of you all the time. Campus is OCCUPIED. State street is OCCUPIED. The Square is OCCUPIED. Vilas, Schenk's Corners, Atwood, Willy Street – Occupied, Occupied, Occupied, Occupied. Did you really think it was all about the Capitol? Fuck the Capitol, we are the CITY.

We are hard-drinking, weed-smoking, rude, obnoxious, auto-didactic, uppity fucking TOWNIES. We know you hate us. We know you hate us because we ruin your imaginary, Men's Magazine, UW Admission's Pamphlet, Madison Magazine, Isthmus Arts vision of our City. You think that our town should be on perpetual vigil just in case you needalittlepeaceandquiet. YouthinkweshouldgodownquietwhileWalker economically rapes us because you want to lead a fucking tour group? Sorry babe, not gonna happen. And because you couldn't even show a modicum of fairness, integrity, or neutrality and because you had the iron fucking stones to try to pull this here, on OUR campus, in OUR city, in OUR state in OUR country (and that is about the only reason we have any grudging respect for you), now YOU are a target.

And guess what – we aren't SDS. We aren't fucking TAA. We aren't Timmy “olive branch” Cullen, we aren't yogi, granola-eating types you see at Willy Street or whatever. We are NOT radically nonviolent. We comply with the laws of the City because it is our City and we love it, but OH MY GOD do we hope Meade tries to get all tough with us. WE LOVE IT. LOVE IT. Just last night we saw a Jimmy John's worker who we know beat the ever loving shit out of some idiot drunk asshole who wouldn't be civil and polite in his workplace. We have the numbers and we don't back down from anyone. We all know each other. We know each other from Service Industry Night at the Orpheum, because we're regulars at the same coffee shops, restaurants and bars, we know each other from the co-ops, we know each other because we've had a million jobs each (and we all worked at CapTel at least once), because we live in every shitty townie house in ever-changing groups of 2 – 7 people, because we are young and horny and screw each other incessantly, because we're all on facebook, and because we aren't anti-social, life-denying, world-sterilizing pieces of human garbage like the two of you. WE WILL FUCK YOU UP. We will throw our baseballs in your lawn, you cranky old pieces of shit, and then we will come get them back. What are you gonna do? Shoot us? Get Wausau Tea Patriots to form an ad hoc militia on your front lawn? That would be fucking HILAROUS to us. You could get to know the assholes on your side in real fucking life instead of sponging off the civil society we provide for you every single day you draw breath.

Pay your dues or action will be taken. The action will be legal, peaceful, and nonviolent (on our end anyway – if you want to do it the other way fine with us. Meade is a tough guy on LGM or whatever but he's a chickenshit IRL. We dare you buddy. Double dog dare you.) but it will also be swift, decisive, direct, personal and effective.

Our demands are as follows. Choose a package. 
Package 1: Pay your damn dues, you Union Freeloading pieces of shit 

You are getting fat on union money. You are getting fat on our tax money. You are getting fat on an undeserved bully pulpit that you got from credibility won from the hard struggles of public sector workers, university professors and unions throughout history, and that increased dramatically in scope due to OUR MOVEMENT. So PAY YOUR DUES. Wedemand:

1) Because you have taken the words from our mouth - A complete recantation of all lies about #wiunion (not lies in leagalese – lies in the commonsense moral Op:countertroll Vs Althouse and Meade 3/18/11 11:41 AM http://www.scribd.com/doc/50869881/Op-countertroll-Vs-Althouse-and-Meade Page 3 of 7 definition of the word. Choose an ethical system that you believe is fair, run it by us, and we will let you know which posts violate it) posted on your personal blog, in all comments sections of all other blogs, on your flickr account and your youtube account, spoken in podcasts or on bloggingheads, or said out loud anywhere in Madison. Take it all back. We don't trust you, so we will draft a statement for you.

2) Because you have taken the bread from our table – a 5,000 dollar donation (each) in your own names and made public to the Industrial Workers of the World general fund, the Bradley Manning Defense Fund, the Recall Alberta Darling effort, a group of our choosing that advocates for the pro-democracy movements in #libya, #algeria, #iran or in Pizza for the Protesters (we prefer Ian's, the Nickel or Roman Candle, but any friendly place will do – if you attempt to order us shitty pizza or pizza from an unfriendly restaurant we will eat it and consider are demands still unmet).

3) Because you have attempted to take our very safety and indeed our lives, because you have incited violence against us and above all because you have proven yourselves inadequate to the grave and solemn responsibilites of Citizen- Journalism – Your silence. You want to make everyone shut the fuck up? Be the change you seek. We demand ZERO more posts about us, ever. We demand the admin pw for all of your shit to be publicly posted on a movement friendly facebook group or 4chan. We demand to be allowed to vet everything you post before you post it and edit it for any and all lies related to #wiunion, #wewarewi, #union, #usuncut #opesr #wikileaks #solidarity and #allthatisgoodandholyonthisearth. We demand that you Delete Fucking Everything.

4) You will never, ever, ever, ever in your motherfucking life come within 20 feet of the statue of Hans Christian Heg. Althouse, you are a job-hopping carpetbagger from New England. Meade, you are an obnoxious right-to-work Zombie from southern Ohio who only lives here because its apparently the only place in the world you can get laid. Heg is OURS. We are WISCONSIN. You don't fucking touch Hans Christian. Ever. And that goes double for the Lady on the other side.

Package 2: Move the Fuck out of Our City 

Get out, and stay out. Far out. Meade - You ain't no man for this city. We're out on the streets every day, all day. The 77 square is not for y'all. You say we're from out of state? Bullshit. You're from fucking out of state. We'll show you just how fucking Madison we are. Althouse, we will ruin your goddamn career, your comfort, your pocketbook, your sense of safety and wellbeing, and your life.

And don't try to pull up at another one of our cities either. Don't like your AAUP card? Turn it in. If you want to carry water for Koch and the Chamber, they can foot the fucking bill for it. Get a job on the Tea speaking circuit or with AEI or some other garbage think-tank in DC or Claremont or whatevs. We have friends everywhere. All land-grant University towns are occupied. All major cities are occupied. Everywhere with a critical mass of smart, uppity people is Occupied. If you want to advocate for national internetless, right-to-work rural fortress state hell with no transit in or out, you can live in it. If you want to defend Falangist Michigan, move to Pontiac. If you want to make us all work for Olive Garden you can fucking eat there. Why don't YOU go shop at Wal-Mart. Because the shit you wear looks like it comes from places like Jazzman and Bop and we work there too and we aren't having it any more. No more free rides, baby.

If you have not acceded to our demands within a week, it is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG. WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE. EVER. WE LIVE HERE 100% OF THE FUCKING TIME. YOU CAN'T BAN MADISON FROM LIVING IN MADISON, BUT WE CAN SURE AS SHIT BAN YOU. WHO ARE YOU GONNA CALL? COPS FOR LABOR? THE CHICKENSHIT TEA ASSWIPES WHO ARE SCARED SHITLESS OF THE TEAMSTERS TRUCKS? THE NATIONAL GUARD? SCOTT WALKER? NO ONE IS GOING TO COME AND CRACK DOWN ON US FOR YOU. THERE IS NO CAVALRY. ITS US VS YOU ON THE STREETS OF THE CITY GOING AS FAR AS IT HAS TO GO UNTIL A) WE WIN OR B) DOOMSDAY.

Meade climbs up on the monument to Civil War hero Hans Christian Heg to take down a "Solidarity" T-shirt.

On March 2d, Meade removed a sign — "I fought for the Union/You should too" — that was tied to the foot of this statue. Today, we found the monument desecrated once again, and Meade sprang into action:

Friends of Dorothy/Protest Pug/Dead Badger Hat.

Meade begins with a shot of that statue of Hans Christian Heg, as the march proceeds in the background. Then he finds me asking a guy with some "Wizard of Oz" signs if Scott Walker is a "friend of Dorothy." The guy laughs and says "no." Next comes an adorable pug in a tutu, and a protester — a union carpenter — wearing a fur hat complete with real (dead) badger head.



ADDED: The "Wizard of Oz" signs: