Smoking...
But NO KINGS!
Dear friends:
We did it! No Kings October 18th kicked Trump’s ass!
Confession, having attended almost every anti-Trump protest since January 21, 2017, (the inauguration day that will go down in infamy), it has been disheartening to see the waning protests during in his second term.
The June 2025 No Kings protests were the largest in US history, according to most reports, which was awesome. But the protests since have dwindled again, causing pre-protest doubts. What if October 18th was lackluster, like the 2024 elections? (NOTE: Democrats should have shown up in droves on November 5, 2024, but Americans are deeply sexist and will NEVER elect a woman POTUS. I said what I said.)
We are all traumatized by the ongoing Republican PsyOps messing with our heads. But the Saturday October 18th No Kings protests breaking all-time records erased most of the doubts about America’s resilience.
The Downtown Los Angeles protest felt much more like 2017 and 2018. A big lively crowd met at the designated place and time, City Hall, 1:45 pm. There were inspiring speeches and signs and music and displays, like these blocks of ICE with dance music.
And this beautiful, inspiring, funny lady who sat in the shade blasting the best soul music on loudspeakers while riffing into the mic, engaging the crowd. She had me dancing non-stop for about 45 minutes.
Then around 2:30, out of nowhere the marchers emerged! I never know where they come from, but this huge crowd converged from several directions on City Hall, then turned up 1st Street, walked up three blocks, turned right on Grand and went back down.
The procession took a full 45 minutes to pass me, meaning at least 100,000. There were large covered flat bed trucks carrying mariachi bands and other live bands and DJs. As always, the music at the DTLA protests is the BEST!
I could go on and on. But a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are some of my favorites from No Kings Day!
AND MY FAVORITE, SMOKING HOT STREET STYLE 🔥🔥🔥!
ABOUT THOSE KINGS
After three hours on my feet, sweating in 90 degree weather, I met my British girlfriend for a drink at our usual spot, the DTLA Conrad. She said the march moved her to tears. We chatted for a couple hours, agreeing on most everything.
However, we part company when it comes to “The Royals.” She told me she took exception with the choice of “No Kings” for the name of these protests, feeling it was disrespectful to their beloved King Charles III.
I reminded her that, although their current “Constitutional Monarchy” may not have governing powers (which is not even true, the monarchy still wields power), 250 years ago, we fought a bloody Revolutionary war to free ourselves from British Tyranny.
Mind you, my friend is a freelance writer for reputable journals including The Guardian. But Brits are irrationally protective of their royals. Nonetheless, this time, upon further consideration of my point, she conceded.
NOT QUITE A TIMELINE CLEANSE
The next day, I met with my wonderful Hermosa Beach volleyball group, still glowing from No Kings. But then this one guy who subs in when we can’t find a forth girl started talking about “a friend” who called him Saturday to see if he wanted to “get paid” to attend the No Kings protests. Of course I lost my shit!
“Oh yeah?” I said. “Who was going to pay you? George Soros? I guarantee, no one is paying us to go to the fucking protests. Are you MAGA?” (Okay, the GOP PsyOps have given me a very short fuse. But I will never hesitate to debunk these lies.)
My girlfriends were stunned into silence. I walked down to the shore, took some photos, picked up some trash and threw it into the bin, as is my custom. It cooled my anger a bit, and when I returned, we were back to normal. I asked the guy to take a few pics of me on the beach, my way of making up with him.
I figured the guy is just another lazy-minded American, with no critical thinking skills, who just absorbs the false soundbites fed by the oligarch-owned mainstream media. Maybe I got through to him. But I doubt it.
Anyway, we played three hours of very challenging volleyball. I won 4 of 6 games. Here are a few photos from my beach day. Stay strong friends.
TIMELINE CLEANSE
Today I filled out my ballot and dropped it in my local ballot box! #YesOnProp50!!
NAMASTE🙏🏻💙
Love you for this, Lorraine! I voted today, too!
Waning? The protests increased each time this year.
I’m pretty shocked to see you write that you think they waned when in fact they increased to over 7 mill this last weekend! Perhaps check that out. Thanks