The Great Reopening! Get Off Your Knees!
The cries of the Worldwide Rally for Freedom were heard in Port Townsend on Saturday, March 20, 2021. About 40 people gathered on the plaza at Tyler and Water Streets without masks, but with musical instruments and songs and greetings on their lips. Others held signs encouraging people to think for themselves and be fully informed about lockdowns, vaccines, and what they say are overstated claims of the lethality of COVID-19.
The gathering was loosely connected to other Rallies for Freedom held in at least 40 countries. See below for links to some of the coverage. A friend from Albuquerque, New Mexico jubilantly informed me that they had over 200 people at their event
“It was fantastic,” said Hannah McFarland, one of the Port Townsend event’s organizers. “This was all word of mouth. We really don’t have an organization. It’s as grassroots as it can get.”
But an organization with the purpose of repeating the Rally for Freedom on a weekly basis is being born. Enough names and contact information were collected that this coming Saturday, March 27, 2021, at 11:30 a.m. the crowd will return to the same location. McFarland is hoping for an even better turnout.
In addition to those rallying on concrete, a Freedom Flotilla was in the waters off shore. One of the mariners came ashore to shake hands. 
I participated as one of the musicians. I asked McFarland, a Port Townsend resident for 13 years, “Which is the real Port Townsend? Is it the people jogging by themselves, walking by themselves, biking by themselves and wearing masks, fearful of other human beings? Is it the harsh looks directed at someone walking along Water Street without a mask? Or is it live music performed on the street, with strangers greeting each other, happy to be around other human beings?”
That was a rhetorical question.
“We got multiple, ‘Oh, my gosh, thank yous!” from passerby,” McFarland said. “Or, “‘It’s a relief to see you out here.’ People are just so isolated. [Their] fear of death has been so exploited they stop using their rational mind.”
What are the goals and hopes for weekly Freedom Rallies? “We want to connect with people who have already seen through the misinformation, who have been able to study and learn about the issue for themselves without just accepting the word of big media and the medical establishment. And to others, we want to reach out and share in a loving, kind way what’s really going on. This virus is not as lethal as we’ve been led to believe. Shutdowns and masks are not needed.”
She’s worried the next move will be mandatory vaccine cards that will be required to be in the company of others. In fact, the topic arose at a meeting of the Jefferson County of County Commissioners. “It is extraordinary how people believe all this,” she said.
Port Townsend Free Press has been questioning the lock downs, highlighting the arbitrary and senseless nature of Governor Inslee’s orders–indeed the favoritism evident is many of his decrees, the unnecessary costs imposed on working families, the destruction of small businesses while large companies were never shut down. We’ve reported the good news on mortality rates from the CDC, and published thoughtful, carefully researched articles on the need to know precisely what those “case” numbers mean so we can determine whether infection rates are overstated and consequential fears overblown. We’ve been at it since April 2020. You can find our coverage using this site’s search function.
I will be at this week’s event, again with my guitar, joining other Port Townsend residents in enjoying life, and not being crushed by exaggerated fear. I worry about those gloomy, depressed people walking the Larry Scott Trail alone with masks, or hiking Ft. Worden trails and pulling on a mask when they approach another human at a distance of a quarter mile. Those people who drive alone with windows rolled up and wearing a mask and rubber gloves–I think they embrace the abnormalities of the past year. It gives them an excuse to crawl even deeper inside their own problems. I worry especially about the angry young people who wear their masks like uniforms or badges of conformity. I fear they’re more afraid of the pandemic ending than they are of a virus with a 99.7% survival rate, higher for those very same young people. A Pew study finds the lockdowns have caused “devastating” psychological problems among young people.
Just look at this headline from USA Today: “Why we’re scared for the pandemic to end: It feels strange, the idea of being together in the world again.” People need to see other people being normal. These Freedom Rallies are group therapy for a community that has lost its lighthearted joy, love of freedom and irreverence toward authority. It is past time to remember what it means to challenge the dominant paradigm.
Have we been lied to? Have we not been told the full truth? Has the story kept changing? Have government and “the experts” gotten it wrong? Have people been hurt unnecessarily? Has the suffering not been shared equally, and is there no just reason for those inequities? Are our fundamental freedoms being eroded by the exploitation of fear and acquiescence in authoritarian control? The need to keep asking those questions and seeking answers never ends, except by surrender. So bring on those Rallies for Freedom. We need them desperately.
Here is some of the coverage on Rallies from Freedom around the world. Just click on each highlighted word for the link. Thanks to PTFP contributor Stephen Schumacher for the research, and the photo:
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our “About” page for more information.
Jim-I am a long time subscriber and anxiously await your missives from you and your contributors. With a glimmer of the end of the virus controlling our leaders and our lives in the rear view mirror, I think it is time to rise above those that condemn us and simply quit condemning them. What do we really care if someone wants to wear a mask by themselves on the beach? Does it harm us? Let’s save our energy for those that wish to rule us without foundation. With greatest respect, M
Michael – You make a solid point that everyone should have the right to make their own health choices and fashion statements… so much evil has been done this past year quarantining and demonizing the healthy for no good reason, as if their very presence were somehow a threat to others. But I don’t feel Jim was condemning those who have been hoodwinked so much as pointing out the extent to which our neighbors have been cruelly terrorized and psychologically damaged and anti-socially isolated by unceasing barrages of baseless propaganda.- Likewise with respect, Stephen
Michael, What Stephen said. Thanks for reading our stuff and sticking with us. Respectfully, Jim
Michael, I certainly hope you are prescient with your rear-view mirror analogy 🙂
Like Stephen, I found no condemnation in Jim’s observations of what have become tragically common behaviors. You ask a valid question — does it harm us if someone wears a mask while alone on the beach? The answer is quite possibly Yes. Fear is far from benign. It is a powerful energetic frequency that extends well beyond the individual. When we see masked people we are reminded that there is (supposedly) something in our midst to be afraid of. This has an especially detrimental effect on children. When fear rules us, it impacts all of our relationships, crippling our ability to deepen empathic bonds and loving connections.
Biologically, fear elevates cortisol levels, dampening natural immune function. This contributes to illness of all sorts, from insomnia to cancer. Chronic illness is a significant societal issue.
May we all have enough energy to compassionately bear witness to the mass psychosis now present in our communities, as we simultaneously confront the totalitarians that employ these psychological operations in their strategy to divide and dominate us.
If you do not subscribe to this publication, at least read this months piece from Dr Scott Atlas. https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/ Fits very well with Jim’s narrative.
Join James Corbett for this week’s edition of #SolutionsWatch as he explores how freedom fighters are using flash mobs to carve out a space for normal human interaction in these increasingly insane times.
https://www.corbettreport.com/flashmobs-for-freedom-solutionswatch/
I watched some of the flash mobs that Annette mentions above. Wonderful!
About a week ago in our beautiful sunny weather, I drove by a young girl, maybe 16 or 17, skateboarding along the street alongside the golf course, all alone and fully face-diapered up. Why? Where’s the “science”? Who told her that nonsense was a good idea?
Are these our future leaders of an allegedly-free nation, or just sheep who unthinkingly do whatever some government parasite cooks up week-to-week?
Let’s see what we can do to promote Flash Mobs for Freedom, like the ones described above. Don’t let the government stupify any more kids.
Wonderful and hope-filled article, thank you! The only thing missing was the information on future “weekly rallies.” I would like to go.