Anybody go to a No Kings rally today?
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We went to the previous two. Skipped this one; Ms. RP is sick (caught it from me) plus I wanted to go to a concert in the evening, and it would become too much to do in one day.
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Yes! It was a gorgeous day in Portland, Oregon. A rally at the waterfront, and then a march. So many signs!
Always more fun to protest with friends.
The unions meet before the main rally, and marched in over the bridge together.
My group didn’t actually march; we participated in a performance art piece with umbrellas on the Burnside Bridge. If you zoom in, you can see us with our white umbrellas at the top of the second E in the word KEEP.
That’s my protest umbrella/parasol/sign. Very handy! I made it for the first No Kings event, and just keep adding to it.
Did anyone else go?
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Wonderful! Wow.
I couldn't have gone anywhere, haven't been to one, and the only one I heard about was at The Villages of all places.
I live in an evangelical Christian neighborhood in Clearwater. It's not an experience I plan to have again.
I'll bet there was one at USF in Tampa.
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I didn’t go, but I wanted to. Besides the fact that my foot makes that kind of activity pretty much impossible these days, a long time ago Mr. SK asked me not to attend protests, because he worries that if something happened to me, he wouldn’t be able to help. Which makes sense.
My mother (almost 82 now) also wanted to go but didn’t (concerns about her age etc.)
So we support in other ways…
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We live pretty close to the area in downtown Chicago where many of the rallys take place. We didn't go this year. Traffic was slow getting out of the neighborhood to attend a family birthday gathering. Thinking about the event I was reminded about something I read by John Pavlovitz recently on how they are most important for those protesting, not so much about making any change to the minds on the other side.
"We’ve already had two massively successful No Kings Day events, and as cathartic and encouraging as they were, things here are far worse than they were then.
The Constitutional crises are piling up.
We’re immersed in unnecessary and unwinnable wars halfway across the world.
This Administration’s disregard for legality and morality is escalating.
The complete Epstein files are still concealed, the monsters within them still evading their reckoning.
ICE is still ravaging our communities with impunity and with taxpayer funding.
And our traitorous, cognitively-decimated, sociopathic Predator-In-Chief has become more unstable, more violent, and more unhinged than before.
We’re a hair’s breadth from full-on fascism.The last No Kings Day protests didn’t stave off the chaos that is now here, and it won’t prevent what this regime has planned, unless we all do more than show up on Saturday.
Rallies and protests are powerful, important things.
They are a necessary visual reminder that we’re not alone.
They help provide a sense of agency in dark days, to help our minds right-size the threats that seem so towering and so beyond our reach.
They give us a chance to stand with a chosen community and be a tangible response to the things that burden us.
They connect us with people we live, work, and study alongside and give us the chance to forge partnerships and build coalitions."snip
"We need to remember that transformative activism is found in sustained movements, not in soothing moments, and we need to find our place in the messy and local battles throughout this nation until we actually strike fear into the oppressors and oligarchs, and upend the new order they are constructing where we are truly powerless."
https://johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/no-kings-day-is-coming-but-does-it
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It was 17 F here yesterday morning, 21 F in the valley where I attended a rally. Didn't want to get out of bed, to be honest, but I did and I'm glad I did. I don't think there were quite as many as at the first rally (I missed the 2nd one), but it was a good turnout anyway, considering a town of 5,000. We marched from the armory to the town square where there were speakers and music.
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Wonderful! Wow.
I couldn't have gone anywhere, haven't been to one, and the only one I heard about was at The Villages of all places.
I live in an evangelical Christian neighborhood in Clearwater. It's not an experience I plan to have again.
I'll bet there was one at USF in Tampa.
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We live pretty close to the area in downtown Chicago where many of the rallys take place. We didn't go this year. Traffic was slow getting out of the neighborhood to attend a family birthday gathering. Thinking about the event I was reminded about something I read by John Pavlovitz recently on how they are most important for those protesting, not so much about making any change to the minds on the other side.
"We’ve already had two massively successful No Kings Day events, and as cathartic and encouraging as they were, things here are far worse than they were then.
The Constitutional crises are piling up.
We’re immersed in unnecessary and unwinnable wars halfway across the world.
This Administration’s disregard for legality and morality is escalating.
The complete Epstein files are still concealed, the monsters within them still evading their reckoning.
ICE is still ravaging our communities with impunity and with taxpayer funding.
And our traitorous, cognitively-decimated, sociopathic Predator-In-Chief has become more unstable, more violent, and more unhinged than before.
We’re a hair’s breadth from full-on fascism.The last No Kings Day protests didn’t stave off the chaos that is now here, and it won’t prevent what this regime has planned, unless we all do more than show up on Saturday.
Rallies and protests are powerful, important things.
They are a necessary visual reminder that we’re not alone.
They help provide a sense of agency in dark days, to help our minds right-size the threats that seem so towering and so beyond our reach.
They give us a chance to stand with a chosen community and be a tangible response to the things that burden us.
They connect us with people we live, work, and study alongside and give us the chance to forge partnerships and build coalitions."snip
"We need to remember that transformative activism is found in sustained movements, not in soothing moments, and we need to find our place in the messy and local battles throughout this nation until we actually strike fear into the oppressors and oligarchs, and upend the new order they are constructing where we are truly powerless."
https://johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/no-kings-day-is-coming-but-does-it
I disagree with John Pavlovitz on this one,
Thinking about the event I was reminded about something I read by John Pavlovitz recently on how they are most important for those protesting, not so much about making any change to the minds on the other side.
Trump is more unpopular than ever before (36% approval from Reuters, and 68% disapprove of the illegal war in Iran being waged by two war criminals), special elections continue to wipe the floor with republicans by large margins (mostly). Things are changing. As Daniel posted, even The Villages had what looks like a huge turnout yesterday. The mere fact that the turnout for No Kings has grown is also a good indication that things are changing.
The fact that Trump hunkers down and sinks ever lower and lower (and there is no low too low for him when it comes to the Constitution) is quite possibly one indication of how cornered he sees himself regarding his games with Netanyahu. He knows he's in a pickle. Look at how many times times his story has changed. It's so utterly transparent. The whole thing was built on a pack of lies and everyone knows it. Look at the infighting now taking place in maga world. Some of the pictures coming out of CPAC this week are pathetic.
I think I know what John Pavlovitz is getting at: We aren't seeing mass demonstrations affecting politics very much. I got back from the march yesterday to discover that 3 House Democrats voted for the DHS funding bill put up by little Mikey, and that 8 were absent! That news was a bit deflating. Why bother if our elected reps are just going to ignore us? Well, they can't ignore us forever. These marches, in my mind, are as much about sending a message to fence-sitting (or worse: Fetterman) Democrats as much as it is a show of solidarity against the christian nationalist white supremacist program of 2025. Also, there are a number of vulnerable gop congress critters up for re-election this fall. I believe this No Kings momentum can help get people out to vote.
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Seems a little silly since SCOTUS shut his emergency powers tariffs down and he hasn't been able to get around that. Every president in our lifetimes has tried to expand executive powers, but the guardrails are intact. If you want to protest it should be against Congress. Trump is just a symptom of that dysfunctional body.
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