Free Republic

I was standing outside the state capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where gun-toting defenders of President Donald Trump were supposedly going to start marching at noon. I could see cops, I could see National Guardsmen, and I could see dozens of reporters, but actual protesters were scarce. I did spot a fellow in a Gadsden Flag facemask and a woman whose shirt displayed a slogan about rebellion against tyranny, and as they passed behind me I heard him crack a joke: "I should walk up to the photographers here and say, 'Excuse me, can you direct me to the armed insurrection?'"...

Examining a photo from the middle-of-the-night deed, you expect to spot beer cans. The gang of 20-somethings had just hoisted Lady Liberty onto her perch atop an old railroad pier in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Yet no beers were cracked until later. Now Stilp is marking the 25th anniversary of the statue, located on a stretch of river just north of Harrisburg. He arranged a commemorative stamp cancellation and a commemorative coin, and he’s conducting a contest for a song about the statue. “Of all the replicas across America, it’s one of the larger ones,” says Stilp, 61,...