No Kings 18 October 2025
Oct. 19th, 2025 01:55 pmFirst let me say how very pleased I am that frogs are now a symbol of resistance to tyranny.
And not just because it's convenient for my existing wardrobe and props.

The main No Kings rally for New Orleans was on Lafitte Greenway Great Lawn. I saw a smaller rally was scheduled for St. Charles Avenue in front of Audubon Park. Ms H and I planned to go to that one, mostly as it looked much easier with our partial disabilities; it was much closer as well. Shortly before we were to go out Ms H said she was not really feeling up to going out today, so I drove there on my own.
This satellite rally was even smaller than I expected, with about 20 people when I arrived (including 2 inflatable unicorn costumes), gradually growing to about 30 by the time I left half an hour later.

Still it was good that it was there, as passing cars honked approval, people waved and thumbs-upped from tour buses, and streetcar riders erupted into cheers while passing. The more No Kings in more places, the better!
Since I was on my own, I then drove out to the main rally, as expected no places to park right near by, but I watched from various places around the periphery in my car (and at a couple places where I could stop for a good while elevating my frog umbrella out the window).


NOLA com (aka the Picayune Paper) gave an estimate of the main rally as 12,000 people. Impressive! While that's good in "blue" New Orleans, I'm even more heartened by news of smaller but significant rallies in deep "red" areas, including Steve Scalise and Magat Mike Johnson's districts. Reportedly over 7 million nation wide!
Meanwhile, the Felon-in-Chief, or whoever is running his social media, posted an AI video (no, I'm not going to link it, you can find it if you really must) depicting Trump wearing a royal crown piloting a military jet labeled "King Trump" bombing crowds of Americans in cities with feces. Really. In anything close to normal times, that sort of depiction would be considered a rather vicious editorial attack *against* the POTUS. Somehow they think this is positive? Another example of how far gone over the edge they have become - along with those repeating the talking point that opposition to Trump is "paid protesters". They can't even conceive of people voluntarily standing up for the USA and freedom. Their minds can't comprehend that other people might want to do good without being bribed.
This called to mind something from WH Auden’s review of Lord of the Rings:
"Evil, that is, has every advantage but one—it is inferior in imagination. Good can imagine the possibility of becoming evil [...] but Evil, defiantly chosen, can no longer imagine anything but itself."
And not just because it's convenient for my existing wardrobe and props.

The main No Kings rally for New Orleans was on Lafitte Greenway Great Lawn. I saw a smaller rally was scheduled for St. Charles Avenue in front of Audubon Park. Ms H and I planned to go to that one, mostly as it looked much easier with our partial disabilities; it was much closer as well. Shortly before we were to go out Ms H said she was not really feeling up to going out today, so I drove there on my own.
This satellite rally was even smaller than I expected, with about 20 people when I arrived (including 2 inflatable unicorn costumes), gradually growing to about 30 by the time I left half an hour later.

Still it was good that it was there, as passing cars honked approval, people waved and thumbs-upped from tour buses, and streetcar riders erupted into cheers while passing. The more No Kings in more places, the better!
Since I was on my own, I then drove out to the main rally, as expected no places to park right near by, but I watched from various places around the periphery in my car (and at a couple places where I could stop for a good while elevating my frog umbrella out the window).


NOLA com (aka the Picayune Paper) gave an estimate of the main rally as 12,000 people. Impressive! While that's good in "blue" New Orleans, I'm even more heartened by news of smaller but significant rallies in deep "red" areas, including Steve Scalise and Magat Mike Johnson's districts. Reportedly over 7 million nation wide!
Meanwhile, the Felon-in-Chief, or whoever is running his social media, posted an AI video (no, I'm not going to link it, you can find it if you really must) depicting Trump wearing a royal crown piloting a military jet labeled "King Trump" bombing crowds of Americans in cities with feces. Really. In anything close to normal times, that sort of depiction would be considered a rather vicious editorial attack *against* the POTUS. Somehow they think this is positive? Another example of how far gone over the edge they have become - along with those repeating the talking point that opposition to Trump is "paid protesters". They can't even conceive of people voluntarily standing up for the USA and freedom. Their minds can't comprehend that other people might want to do good without being bribed.
This called to mind something from WH Auden’s review of Lord of the Rings:
"Evil, that is, has every advantage but one—it is inferior in imagination. Good can imagine the possibility of becoming evil [...] but Evil, defiantly chosen, can no longer imagine anything but itself."