Tag: free speech

A Wrap Up

A wrap up of some terrific posts by other bloggers about the October 18 No Kings II rallies.

#AntifaWasHere

Willow Croft has a good suggestion.

I know I’ve been a bit AWOL what with finishing up school, planning my move, and all that, but I had this idea. The MAGA goons/the Trump Administration is spewing out all this nonsense about Antifa, so what if we (the collective resisters) take the hashtag #AntifaWasHere and attach it to posts ranging from volunteer activities to random acts of kindness for friends, neighbors, elderly, etc. etc.?

No Kings … Then, Now, or Ever!

From My Less than Humble Opinion:

Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and other Republicans in Congress are calling today’s protests a “Hate America” rally sponsored by extreme leftists, pro-Hamas activists, hardened criminals, and terrorist organizations like ANTIFA.[2] Apparently, they’ve never read the first amendment to the Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

No Kings #2 Was A Success!!!

Jill wrote,

I think that We the People proved to the leaders of this regime that we will not lie down and let them kick us, will not give in and will fight to the death against their lawless attempts to  replace our democratic republic with a dictatorship run by a cruel and evil tyrant.  Remember these images next time you hear Felon Trump say that “everybody” loves him or “everybody” believes what he is doing is right.

Success!

Robert Hubbell wrote,

No act of resistance is wasted, and no act of resistance is unsuccessful. Because in resisting, we redeem ourselves, we consecrate ourselves, we reclaim our dignity, and we assert our agency as American citizens who control the destiny of our nation.

No Kings, the Rally Heard ’round the World

Earl wrote,

Yesterday’s No Kings Rally wasn’t just a protest — it was a reckoning. A mosaic of causes, signs, and voices, all bound together by one unifying thread: We the People have been stirred to action. Not by policy differences. Not by party loyalty. But by the cruelty, the malignant narcissism, and the corrosive influence of Donald Trump.

Fascism began as a Roman metaphor: a bundle of sticks (fasces) symbolizing strength through unity. One stick breaks easily. A bundle resists. Mussolini twisted that into authoritarianism. Hitler weaponized it. And Trump? He tried to make the bundle serve only him — demanding loyalty, punishing dissent, and mocking the vulnerable.

But yesterday, we reclaimed the bundle. Not as a tool of domination, but as a symbol of democratic resistance. Many years ago, Chief Tecumseh taught the same lesson with arrows. The Founders echoed it with E Pluribus Unum. And yesterday, the signs told the story.

No kings!

we said no kings
we’ve had enough
of golden thrones
and royal fluff

yet here he comes
in tie and spray tan
declaring:
“only I will, only I can!”

No Kings

Athena Scalzi wrote,

It was so amazing to see older folks and younger people alike coming together, and I saw a friend there who gave me a sign, so I was thankful for that. It was such a great feeling to look around and see everyone coming together for the same cause, to speak up against the tyranny and tell the world (or at least Miami County) “this is not okay.”

#NoKings Day in Brooklyn

Diane Ravitch wrote,

Thousands of people turned out to participate in the #NoKings March, which started at Grand Army Plaza and ended at the southern end of Prospect Park. We were surrounded by people carrying signs and chanting “Hey hey hi ho/Donald Trump has got to go.” Many signs were very clever. I couldn’t photograph them all.

I liked the little girl who had a sign that said, “I should be worried about tests/Not my rights.”

The Fight Continues for Democracy

From The Contrarian:

This No Kings Day was the one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history—with upwards of seven million Americans estimated to have gathered across all 50 states, with thousands more protesting across the world, to stand up against tyranny; stand up against corruption; and stand up for the ideals that make this nation exceptional.

And finally, The Borowitz Report:

Over 400 of Elon Musk’s Children Attended No Kings Rallies

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In yet another indication of the heavy turnout for the No Kings rallies, over 400 of Elon Musk’s children attended the protests, according to estimates released on Sunday.

Donald J. Trump, furious at the size of the No Kings crowds, claimed that the estimated attendance of 7 million “is much lower when you subtract all the people who were there to show their hate for Elon.”


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Thirstdaz Wandering Political Thoughts

It’s opposite day at the Trump White House. Again. If they say everything is great, you know enshittification is rising. In this case, they tell us that everything is going great at the national parks.

Daily Kos provides us with the deets.

Trump team claims national parks are ‘thriving’ amid GOP shutdown

And now for more look at the United States as the Trump Destruction Machine rolls.

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Flooding the Zone

The troubling trend of false news isn’t new. Trump is a false news god. Been practicing it since he was a young one still dodging military service with bone spurs. But now, the shit is getting deep. Earl has a good post on it that I’d like to share. Cheers

Don’t Believe Me, Just Watch
Don’t Believe Me, Just Watch
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Accessorize!

“Paper Clip Mutiny”: An Easy Way to Show Your Opposition…

Rise up and clip together in solidarity. Annie shares information about using paperclips in a political way.

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Sundaz Wandering Political Thoughts

More bizarro thinking keeps emerging from Trump’s reality divergent existence. He also proves he friggin’ stupid and ignorant of history. His latest is this gem:

“Trump, 79, Insists George Washington Would’ve Voted for Him”

Trump says President Washington would’ve voted for Trump because, Trump said, “On the world stage, we are once again putting America first. That is what we do, we help others, but we have to put America first. Exactly as George Washington would have wanted. He would have voted for us.”

  1. Trump does not put America first. Trump puts himself first. He’s enriched himself through grift and graft since taking office. George Washington strikes me as intelligent and would have been aware of Trump’s self-serving principles and practices of lying and bragging.
  2. Trump is usurping powers, leaning hard on the right-wing Roberts Court to provide him cover. Trump is trying to pretend he’s king. George Washington emphatically rejected the idea of a king in the United States.
  3. Trump advocated overturning the legal results of the 2020 election, when he lost his bid to remain in the Oval Office to President Joe Biden. Despite all of the legal rulings and evidence against Trump’s stolen election claim, he refuses to accept the truth and continues to push it as an alternate reality. As part of his efforts to resist leaving office, Trump actively pursued various extralegal methods to stay in office, including encouraging supporters to overthrow the election and bringing in false electors. George Washington walked away from office with dignity.
  4. George Washington willingly served in the military and did not seek trumped up reasons to avoid such services, such as bone spurs.
  5. In 1793, speaking to members of the New Church in Baltimore, Washington said, “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition.” h/t Wikipedia.org. Trump avoids truth and reason while pushing bigotry as a staple of his support, another reason why President Washington would not have voted for Trump.

I wonder, too, how President Washington would have viewed Trump’s indictments and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

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Swear, Cry, and Sigh

Saturday Memes … Food For Thought

Jill Dennison has done it again. She’s collected some memes that definitely need to be shared with more folks. Some made me swear, some made me cry, and some were rewarded with heavy sighs. Sometimes, I did all of that at once. Here a few to whet your interest. They show, with these simple words and images, how far we’ve been twisted by Trump’s alternate reality in the United States. Head to Jill’s site to read ’em all. Cheers

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Satyrdaz Wandering Political Thoughts

I’m struck by Trump’s vision for the United States. He’s sending the military into cities and states, even if it’s just national guard units at this point. That makes it feel like he knows he’s unpopular, that his popularity will worsen, and he’s ready to attack We the People with weapons.

He wants manufacturing and factories to return to the United States. These will supply jobs. Yes, but imagine the jobs which factory work will provide. Having never worked in one, I’m dependent on others’ experiences to provide me with any sense of how it is. I understand they’re often noisy, that the work is frequently tedious, and that the repetitive style of work causes mental, emotional, and physical issues. So it sounds like Trump’s dream for our citizens is of a weary, broken people locked up in buildings, slaving for others.

Along with that skewed vision, his regime is removing protections to keep the air, water, and earth clean and safe. We can assume, since actions speak loudest, that he’s okay with people and animals getting sick from a polluted environment. Children and the elderly would be most vulnerable, so he obviously doesn’t give a toss about their health. That’s one reason why he’s letting RFK, Jr, wreck our health systems, too. An unhealthy population will struggle to fight back. They’re too busy just trying to live. Thanks to their actions, diseases will rise again.

Trump doesn’t like protests. He dislikes dissent, such as free speech. He wants everyone to agree with him and idolize and adore him. He enforces this through his regime’s demands on the press, states, cities, universities, and businesses to align themselves with his policies, or else they’ll pay some price. We can basically discern from that that his United States would have little to do with the Bill of Rights and the freedoms embedded in them, other than amendment number 2. Trump’s staunchest MAGAts love their guns.

To make it all work, to make United States citizens willing to accept being sick and working in factories for little pay, Trump is cutting education for the public and the poor. Trump doesn’t want a thinking, intelligent electorate. He wants an ignorant and malleable population.

So that’s his vision for We the People: uneducated, poor, hungry, and sick work slaves struggling through filthy air, drinking poisoned water, all so we can sell more goods in other nations and enrich the already wealthy and well-to-do.

I think it’s one of the cruelest and ugliest visions a human being can devise. It doesn’t matter what Trump says. This is what he’s doing.

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Frida’s Wandering Political Thoughts

We have violence escalating in the Middle East and the United States as the Ukraine-Russia War burns on. This is the forefront. In the momentary background are tariffs and trade wars, climate change and natural disasters like wildfires. Always thinking ahead *cough cough, yes, that’s very thick snark*, a Florida right wing sheriff is threatening to kill protestors, Gov. DeSantis in Florida beams and tells drivers that it’s okay to hit protestors with their cars (anyone remember Charlottesville, VA?), Gov. Abott in Texas is calling out the National Guard, and so is Gov. Kehoe in Missouri. That First Amendment and its right to assemble really terrifies the right wing. Which, I guess we can infer means that We the People terrify them.

The current situation isn’t triggering joy and optimism in me. I could play whatif games about Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu being more restrained and diplomatic. These games are as pointless as wishes Kamela Harris won the election in 2024. Or Hillary won in 2016. Or Gore in 2000. Or that spineless Republicans like Mitch McConnell stood up, did his job, and impeached Trump in the latter’s first term. Or the Roberts Supreme Court didn’t behave like an overindulgent absent father and ruled to appease the right wing. We’re beyond those things mattering, except the ripples are still going.

That’s the thing. I, we, gotta ride the ripples. Do what I can, what we can, to mitigate their impact. Survive and help others do the same. And seize the opportunity to help change the world — again — when the chance comes.

Stand up this weekend. Stay calm. De-escalate violence but stand for your principles. Be reasonable in the face of absurdity. It can be painful. It will take courage and strength. It can be done.

No kings. No fascism. Not in the United States of America. Not now. Not ever.

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Frieda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I read a headline out to the my wife.

Why the American consumer is fed up

“That’s CNN,” I add for her. “I know why I’m fed up but I want to see if CNN knows why I’m fed up.”

This is an Analysis by Harry Enten. I don’t recall the name. Doesn’t mean much for me. I may have read Harry Enten’s work before but didn’t realize it. I’m often ignorant in that way.

Harry Enten began, ‘Americans just feel like they can’t catch a financial break. You know the feeling. You go to the grocery store, you look at the prices and you want to channel your inner Vince Lombardi: “What the (heck) is going on out here?”’

I read that to my wife and subject her to my opinion. “He’s a little wrong on that. I know what the heck is going on. It’s inflation, protecting profits, supply and demand, tariffs, among other things.” Yes, I’m in a quarrelsome mood. That often takes place as I read the news in 2025.

The analysis continues.

“Worst of all, it feels like it’s only going to get worse. There’s a very good reason for that: Americans may, in a way, get taxed more when they go to buy things – more than they have for a long period of time.

“No matter what some people will tell you, tariffs are, in fact, taxes. When you combine the potential tariff rates that the Trump administration could impose on us, the consumer, with the inflation that raged out of control coming out of the pandemic, it feels like things have gotten away from us.”

That earns an eye roll from me. “Yes, no kidding.”

“Take a look at a recent report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. It estimates that under President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, the effective tariff rate will be 8% in 2025. That’s so high that it would go off the page if you were charting tariff rates over the last 55 years.”

“Yes, but those are facts and history. Trump deals in prejudices and myths,” I tell my suffering wife.

She relates a story abut Wall Street. “This says that men working on Wall Street are happy with life under Trump because they’re free to sexualize women again.”

I grunt dismay and keep reading the CNN analysis. Prices are going to go up. Yes, no kidding. I read aloud, “Keep in mind that an estimated 25% to 30% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.” Right, I know.

Of course, what I’m doing is validating my opinions. Experts tell us that’s one reason why politics are so divisive these days. While I’m reading this, people reading Red State read nothing about prices and tariffs. They’re busy writing up Trump’s glory, how great his cabinet is doing, and demonizing Democrats. Their targets these days are Fetterman, Pelosi, and Walz.

I finish the CNN article and resume my doomscrolling. Arctic ice has shrunk to a springtime record low but don’t you dare talk about climate change. Non-U.S. citizen Elon Reeve Musk is trying to buy votes in Wisconsin. Ohio is further narrowing what can be discussed in classrooms. Looks like it’s gonna be another quarrelsome day.

More coffee, please.

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