No Kings

Nearly 7 million people showed up to the No Kings rallies on Saturday to protest Trump administration policies and to stand up for freedom of speech and against fascism in America.

I was one of them.

Just me and Lady Lib, busy on a Saturday

Oh, no applause, please. I had to do something – if, for nothing else, my psychological well-being.

Though in actuality, it was much more than that. When donating money, calling and writing your representatives, and challenging strangers at the supermarket or at a random dinner party – all of which I do frequently (Note: And the latter two as recently as last week) – are not enough, it helps to get off your lazy, whiny, doom-scrolling ass, take to the streets and be counted.

In truth, it’s the least you can do for your nearly 250 year-old country, an experiment in democracy that was never expected to succeed.

As cynical as I am, it amazed me to hear the current Speaker of the House of Representatives publicly call this demonstration of freedom a “Hate America Rally.”

Demonstration and Dissent are the literal means by which our Democracy was founded. #TheThreeDs

Or as one of many hundreds of truly clever signs at the rally I attended in L.A. at Roxbury Park noted: “ NO KINGS – Our Founding Fathers Demanded It.”

The majority of the 2600 #NoKings rallies were in the United States but some extended worldwide – through almost all of Europe, as well as to Japan, Costa Rica and, of course, our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. (Note: Whatever they’re thinking, just quadruple it for me).

I attended with my sister, one of my favorite people in the world.

One of my other favorites, my husband, was down for the count after dental surgery but urged me to go as I planned instead of staying home with him because he thought it would brighten me up.

Also, I don’t know how much fun it would be post-surgery to have someone next to you simultaneously doom scrolling and cursing at the television while watching news coverage on MSNBC, so it could’ve been a bit of self-preservation.

Nevertheless, he was correct as usual.

I have long believed our political situation in the T—p Era is not the Dems vs. the Repubs or progressive vs. conservative. Rather, it so obviously seems to be democracy vs. fascism; multi-culturalism vs. white supremacy; Christian nationalism vs. everyone else

And on Saturday it was reconfirmed to me thousands of times over that I have by far not been the only person to feel this way.

Several thousand or more surrounded me and my sister, carrying signs and placards, chatting us up or chanting through bullhorns or to passersby variations of much the same thing.

Not only that, the pithy original slogan I had thought up to put on my own sign (Note: Had I thought to buy the posterboard and marker ahead of time) – “THIS QUEEN SAYS NO KINGS” – was literally being held high in the air by another queen right behind us.

Old people, young people, middle-aged people and people of the kind of indeterminate age you can only encounter in Los Angeles. They were all there. Wealthy, middle-class and I venture to say the not much money class. Millionaires and those on fixed incomes.

How do I know?

Well, see, contrary to popular belief, here in L.A. we do speak to each other. A really well-off woman shared with us a story of marrying a very wealthy guy decades ago when she was “younger and 20 pounds lighter” who was in real estate. Said guy took her to an industry event, introduced her to T—p and, as she put it, “he felt me up all over. He was disgusting even then!”

Of course, she didn’t just volunteer out of nowhere. She only came out with it when I shared that my sister and I were from his hometown in Queens.

Then there was the 80 plus year old smiley senior woman who several times drove her car around the block so she could honk in support of us protesters. Later on in the day she walked by on foot brandishing a ticket a policeman gave her for “cruising” in her car, and lamented about how she would pay it on a fixed income from a social security check of $748 per month she wasn’t even sure she was getting.

I wish that I’d had more than $23 bucks in my wallet or thought to say something encouraging before she moved on and found comfort somewhere else. Which she certainly did, given the crowd, the people and the “vibe.” (Note: #Bitchin’).

Speaking of comfort, you haven’t lived until you’ve stood at a curb holding a sign and received that many hundreds of wide smiles and waves from people in passing cars, that many extended and staccato car horns of support (Note: Sooo many different tones!, and found yourself met with more thumbs up and nods of approval than you have ever received in…well, your entire life.)

My favorite came from a handsome cop in an official Los Angeles police cruiser who tipped his hat slightly and nodded in approval of what we were all doing. I took it to mean, even though I’m in uniform, I still believe in democracy.

As did those in Mercedes, BMWs, Teslas, Toyotas, Hondas, Chryslers, Ford Trucks, Jeeps, VWs and various non-descript mini-vans and falling apart Kias.

In fact, the only negative reaction came from two different women in two different Porsches an hour apart. One gave a thumbs down and the other gave us the finger.

Make of that what you will but don’t give it too much thought.

Americans are awake, alert, angry and pissed-off.

Especially in L.A.

Not to mention Creative.

Man, once again the signs.

My favorite was the woman holding a large poster with a small photo of Anne Frank surrounded by the big bolded words:

WHY PROTEST? Because It’s Easier Than Hiding A Family In My Attic…..

L’Chaim, America.

And here are some snapshots.

Pavement – “No More Kings”

08.17.25

by notesfromachair

The Macabre of it all

It is not lost on me that that the only two TV series I’m watching at the moment are Wednesday and Dexter.

Though why wouldn’t you want to keep up with a snide, too-smart-for-the-room malcontent who can’t completely bend the world to her will despite her vast intellectual powers, or the dark passenger of good guy serial killers who only kills the bad guys?

So many of us are frustrated that well-reasoned, fact-based logic no longer works. And I’ll bet even more fantasize about the countless ways we could do away with the truly evil bad guys who are wreaking havoc on our streets, or from inside buildings of rarefied power.

Though, well, perhaps it’s just me.

Let’s face it, these are macabre times.

If you are of the baby boomer (1946-1964) or Gen X (1965-1980) generations it’s particularly strange to see U.S. soldiers in an airfield on their knees rolling out a literal red carpet to the president of Russia and all that implies.

From an ongoing nuclear arms race to a free democracy vs. autocratic dictatorship stance, the dangerous differences between us allowed polite constructive conversation for the good of the planet but never a glad-handing, subservient welcome wagon.

It’d be like Dexter greeting David Berkowitz, the Notorious “Son of Sam” killer in NYC in the 1970s, at a dinner party with a bear hug and a back slap.

At best, Dex would politely nod at him in order to keep the peace, and then spend most of the rest of the evening listening to suss out the danger and to quell any potential violence on the immediate horizon.

And if that analogy sounds like a reach, it should be known this season’s Dexter: Resurrection actually has our amiable anti-hero at a serial killer dinner party, assembled by a fictional tech billionaire played by Peter Dinklage, for his own amusement, with help from his icy assassin assistant in the form of Uma Thurman.

And yes, Dinklage wears a Doctor Evil suit

It seemed like a bit of a stretch at first, but as world and domestic events unfold in 2025 one can’t help but wonder how many secret confabs of real world baddies go unnoticed right under all of our collective noses.

Of course, it depends on what your definitions of bad and good; heroes and villains are. And for that definition I couldn’t venture a guess on anything timely enough to satisfy a majority of Americans, never mind the world’s population.

This is what happen when there is no longer an accepted baseline of what is acceptable in a country that is often touted as the actual leader of democracy in the free world.

We’re all tap dancin’ with Sutton because Anything Goes #hyuckhyuck

As for Wednesday, she lives merely on television, in a community of people who are “different” from the norm (Note: In her case, a school for gifted teenagers with supernatural power, aka Outcasts), located in a town of so-called “normies.” It’s a place her parents bring her to so she can be educated and thrive in a free environment and thus ultimately have a better life.

Sure, it sounds good on paper, but in practice…. well, let’s just say the school and the town is loaded with barriers of pre-judgement and predators, often coming from the upper echelons of power at the school itself.

Though not entirely.

And how can we be mad when the outfits are Bewitched levels of amazing?

Wednesday may be tough, smart and possess unique powers that could benefit those around her, but her difference proves too great. Her elders see her as a threat to the current social order and their futures. Too many in her community find her confidence and looks off-putting. And she does herself no favors in how little tolerance she has for any of it – or anything else.

At another time and in another place, she might even be referred to as “uppity.”

No one believes Wednesday Addams will always do the right thing or turn out to be one of the “good” ones once she is an adult. But a principle premise of the series is that she, and the rest of those society snap judges to be “outcasts” without any proof their differences equal danger and justify contempt, should be given a chance in a world that purports to run on freedom.

It’s the argument for democracy.

It’s the argument for immigrants.

It’s the argument for free and fair elections on an even playing field in a country that professes to be emancipated.

Just as no one believes Dexter Morgan, a guy whose skill at slicing up the human bodies of his victims into a dozen neatly wrapped freezer bags and then thrown into the nearest ocean or trash compactor, is the best role model we have for moral virtue and decision-making.

What’s scary is that these days, at the end of one of our maddeningly endless “news” days, their choices are beginning to look not half bad.

“Bloody Mary” – Lady Gaga (sped up via Wednesday)

notes from a chair

Tag Archives: democracy

No Kings

The Macabre of it all