The King Was In His Counting House

That's my sign saying,
"Honk if you love democracy"

At dinner on June 14, 2025, the day of massive rallies nationwide against the excesses of the Trump regime, I discussed events with the Common Household Husband.

Me:  Alt National Park Service estimated, at around 2 PM, that attendance at today’s No Kings rallies had already exceeded the 5.5 million for the Hands Off rallies.  That’s nationwide, and only half-way through the day.

CHH:  But was it more people than attended the 2017 Presidential inauguration?

Was it more people than watched Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg address on public TV?

Was Frederick Douglass in attendance today?

Me, lamely:  Um, was it more people than the number of tacos served at Mar-a-lago?

CHH:  Were there any taco stands today?  Was the taco the official snack of the No Kings rally?

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On No Kings Day I went to a small, unpublicized sidewalk rally 5 minutes’ drive from my house.  Because of annoying but non-life-threatening health issues, I couldn’t go to a big rally in the city.  I didn't have time to make a new sign directly related to the No Kings theme.

Despite it being unpublicized, there were more than 60 people participating.  We stood or sat and held our patriotic pro-democracy signs and our US flags for an hour, and then went home.  My arms got sunburnt.  My soul was rejuvenated.  Most of my political activity this year has been calling/writing my US Senator.  A rally is a welcome change from that singularly unsatisfying but necessary kind of communication.

This chart doesn't include any activity in June, because I've been too busy to update the chart.

This year the blue section in the above chart means a hell of a lot of letters and phone calls to my US Senators.  Mainly saying “WTF, dude?!”  One of ’em rarely shows up for Senate votes but has time to travel to a foreign country to suck up to a would-be autocrat/genocide purveyor.  The other spends his time sucking up to our home-grown would-be autocrat and amassing bitcoin.  Both have proved worse than useless.  

My goal was to communicate to at least one Senator once a day but that has proved unsustainable.

Democracy is not saved yet, but it isn’t gone either.  The clown-king has almost installed himself, but not yet. 

For the love of democracy, if you can, please call/write your Senators to stop HB1 the One Big Butt-ugly Billionaire Bailout Bulls#!t Bill.  If the clause in it concerning judges passes, we are one more step closer to autocracy.

Happy Flag Day