SanJuans.Today to livestream portion of President’s Day protest in Olympia

Sunday, February 16, 2025
by Jeff Noedel

Tech gods willing, sometime in the noon hour Monday, SanJuans.Today will livestream a portion of the “Not My President’s Day” protest on the state capitol grounds in Olympia. And if there’s a counter-protest at the same time and the same site, we’ll cover that, too.

This is nonpartisan coverage of a partisan event. SanJuans.Today takes no stand on candidates or initiative elections. We’ve never endorsed one side or the other, nor will we. In fact, the IRS prohibits it of 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

But we do cover large expressions of First Amendment-protected free speech. And when we do, we try to explain who is protesting, how they are protesting, and what they are protesting for or against. We also try — sometimes impossible — to explain who organized the event.

And in the end, what is more American than a protest? If the Internet and smartphones existed in 1773, SanJuans.Today would have traveled to the East Coast to livestream The Boston Tea Party.

SanJuans.Today is a leader in livestreamed video among small news organizations in Washington. And it’s worth noting that our very first livestream (Saturday, March 16, 2024) was of a protest. San Juan Island’s Royce Meyerott led a protest at the proposed site of a proposed solar microgrid at Bailer Hill and Douglas Roads. A recording of our very technically-challenged experimental livestream is here.

Here’s what we know about Monday’s protest at the state capitol from noon to 2:00 p.m.

• The focus of the protest is generally in opposition to the new Trump Administration
• One name for the protest is “Not My President’s Day”
• As happens with many protests, it may wind-up being multiple protests at the same time
• The primary or initial sponsor of Monday’s protest is being organized nationally by #50501 “Fifty Fifty One Protests,” which stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one movement”
• Another group that is promoting the Olympia protest identifies itself as “No Kings”
• It is a national protest in urban areas across the U.S.
• Protests are also being attempted in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and other Washington urban areas, but the national strategy is to locate the largest protests in each state at its state capitol
• The protest is expected to occur on the state capitol grounds, close to the capitol building