That's a tough one, Dick. What do we tell anyone? After Obama, Russiagate and Covid censorship, after Trump 1 and 2, and now the endless Russo/Ukraine slaughter and the Palestinian genocide, accompanied by anti-Semitic propaganda, self-censorship might be the only way to keep friendships and families intact, but it doesn't work for me.

You and I endured the chaos of the Vietnam War years and, unlike some of our friends, remarkably survived. I never thought it was going to end, but it finally did. Countless people took to the streets, with demands for peace. A frenetic, strategic, grassroots effort probably saved our lives, along with millions of Vietnamese freedom fighters.

I followed the buildup to the No Kings rallies, even attended a couple, but did not hear a single demand. They were clearly top-down, well-funded, get-out-the-vote rallies for the Democratic Party. Many of the participants could not tell me, definitively, why they showed up, except Trump, Putin, Musk, RFK Jr. bad.

How's that working? Indivisible and 50501 were fine with it. After all, they were playing a numbers game and the turnout nationally was incredible. For the time being, and maybe even by 2026, the status quo is safe.

One of the best commentaries I've read so far on No Kings protests was written by Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda Report. She compares it to the 1996 Million Man March which accomplished basically nothing for Black men. In fact, it was detrimental to their cause, in the wake of the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill and worse. 

 https://blackagendareport.com/no-kings-and-lure-spectacle

Kimberley in conclusion noted:

"The Million (Man) March is remembered as being a success, mostly because it took place at all. Yes, there were some individuals who organized together who ultimately did good work, but the impact of having a huge Black organized march should have been bigger and better. In 1996 Black people still voted for Bill Clinton in huge numbers. Clinton pursued and won media consolidation that destroyed Black radio, and financial services deregulation, which years later cost Black people their homes in the real estate bubble.

Political action must start out small and determined. Any victories must then be shared among activists, while big marches and electoral politics should be last on any agenda. If not, people will be in a crowd listening to numerological equations or following duplicitous political operatives who paved the way for Trump to be in office at all. Bigger is not always better. All politics are local, and those strategies must be mastered before the next No Kings spectacle. Surely there will be one, and hopefully there will be far fewer people in attendance."

And these future attendees might even have a clue why they are marching.

  

 

Carol, 

I went to two mostly boomer "resistance" protests hoping to start conversations, but quickly realized this was going to be pointless. We didn't get past "Orange Man Bad" or "Musk's a Nazi", the same weekend in June Elon Musk rescued our stranded astronauts. Both events in Bellingham were huge, but there were way too many TDS-afflicted participants to suit me. The people I spoke to did not seem to know why they were in the streets, except they did hate Trump, Musk, Putin and Tesla, for sure. But hating is not a strategy. Where were they when Obama, Genocide Joe and his cartel were killing, starting seven new wars, jailing journalists, or mass surveilling and censoring Americans, and more?

The corporate puppet masters and centrist "liberal" organizers are banking - and bankrolling - on chaos, even a fake rebellion, to pressure lawmakers and sway public opinion to support a war making status quo. The media, to say nothing of the MIC, are totally on board, all parroting the No Kings narrative while ignoring the shady funding behind it. It is the same playbook our hawkish Corporatocracy has used for years. 

I'm all for protests. I've even been arrested in a few of them, but they were genuinely grassroots, organic. No Kings doesn't make the cut.