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Showing posts with label No King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No King. Show all posts

Monday, October 6, 2025

A Crescendo


 

A Crescendo!

Think of that swell in the Hallelujah Chorus. Remember Barbra Streisand singing "Don't Rain on My Parade?"

And then there is *A Piece of Sky.

On a boat to a new country, an immigrant belts out:

"Papa, can you hear me?"

There is something about critical mass—to hear a speech, read a book, or make a dent in a belief system —the presenters need to reach a certain decibel level.

This example may be silly, but I'm using it anyway. I was speaking with my Naturopath this week, and she asked if I was still writing.

I said, "Yes, always. A writer writes." Then I quoted some wise writer who said, "I'm a writer like a dog is a dog. It doesn't mean I'm a good dog."

(I don't know who first said that.)

She laughed. I could see that she viewed me as a nice little writer, so I said, "I keep a blog going. Last month, I reached the one million page views mark."

Suddenly, she became animated and began congratulating me. I'm happy about my views.  I am grateful to all the readers who came to my site.

 I saw that the one million views were a decibel level that got her attention.

LOUD! A Crescendo!

It took a company slamming down the Jimmy Kimmel show to get people's attention regarding censorship. Boy howdy, people rallied. Even people who didn't like Kimmel wanted to preserve his First Amendment right to free speech.

Criticize the President?

Oh no.  

For heaven's sake, political cartoonists and comedians have criticized the President since the time of George Washington, and those Presidents probably didn't like it but took it in stride.

Political cartoonists and comedians are holding up a mirror to our times, they are forging the political waters, and trying to inject some humor into the mix.

Most people are aware that our current President is amoral, but that doesn't matter. He promotes their agenda.  

I finally got why he is President.

 

"The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means."

 –George Bernanos.

 

The conspiracy theorists and anti-vax proponents liked RFK, and the President opened the door for him. The debate over whether to vaccinate or not to vaccinate divided us. Instead of working together, hiring legitimate scientists who have no agenda except to find the truth. (Yep, I know, and to keep their jobs. Security comes first.)  Allow the researchers to study the situation and present their findings to us.

We need to study that damn COVID situation. Instead, it broke us.

Instead, we got lies, half-truths, and anecdotal evidence, with even the medical community operating in the dark.

We needed a Leader who would unite us, one who would give us courage to carry on, and what did we get?

The opposite.

The billionaires like him because they get richer. The President somehow got immunity, almost supreme power. (I guess no one considered that it would pass to the next person in line, who they might disagree with.) That baffles me, but I digress.

The present administration stacked the Supreme Court in its favor. He stacked the House and Congress. The Militant among us likes to kick butt. The Archie Bunker types among us like that; he says what he thinks without any diplomacy or apparent kindness. The White Supremacists like him because he promotes racism. Those who want to rid the country of Immigrants like him because he wants to sweep them away and leave us pure and white. The Christians like him because he claims to be a Christian, and they want a Christian Country. The people who believe in the Armageddon wish to bring about an end-war, so the people who do not think as they do will be swept away, and they will rule the earth.

Elon Musk virtually bought the Presidency for T, and both were in danger of indictments. You figure that one out.

And the first thing RFK does is blame women for taking a painkiller prescribed by their doctors. Women had long been blamed for autism. Every caring pregnant woman worries about doing the right thing for her baby.  It is a vulnerable time.

If RFK really wants to make us healthy, he would ban the use of Roundup on mature wheat—and other grains. 

Farmers spray wheat with Roundup to make it less susceptible to moisture.

I've wondered why so many people are troubled by the eating of wheat—The Staff of life—the substance that has kept people alive for eons. Have you ever heard of a diet of bread and water that kept individuals alive?

Many people claim to be gluten intolerant. Is gluten the culprit?

I contacted Bob's Red Mill and found that they make every effort to avoid using wheat that is contaminated with glyphosate, the active herbicide ingredient in Roundup. (It is hard to remain purely organic, for sometimes they get a drift from neighboring fields.)

There is one company that claims to be absolutely Roundup-free.

That company that is guaranteed Glyphosate-free is:

 One Degree Organic Foods (Displaying the BioChecked Non-Glyphosate Certified logo on our packaging is not a one-time thing—it is an ongoing commitment. We have one random sample from a specific oat farmer tested every month to make sure we continue to meet this standard.) “

I don't know how we are going to get out of our present situation, but I trust the integrity of the American People. And I know we need someone—a Leader—to unite us, not separate us.

We have scientists who want to get as close to the truth as possible. Medical professionals aim to promote health. Freedom-loving people want to see that people first have their basic needs met, including food, shelter, safety, and a means to support themselves. Then we can discuss philosophy, theology, whatever ologies.  Until then, it's a struggle.

The United States used to be strong in its middle class. We could count on them. What happened?

The voices of discontent are getting LOUDER. NO King! No dictator. No 2025 Playbook.

Little voices together can raise a ruckus.

Let's refrain from making any purchases on October 18, the day of the "No King March."

Get out. Make yourselves heard.

Create a Crescendo.

"Why settle for just a piece of sky?"

*Papa, can you hear me?!"

 

Sunday, June 15, 2025

The 3.5% Rule

From France:
 
Thank you France
 
 
 "Non-violent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change."

Really?

I didn’t know that. A blog reader suggested I look into the 3.5% rule, and I did.

Viola’, good news.

I didn’t walk in Eugene, Oregon’s No King’s Parade, on Saturday, but I, in my trusty pickup, crossed the bridge spanning the Willamette River to pick up my kids who did. Protestors lined the bridge, friendly waving, signs waving, people cheering, thumbs up upping. It was great. I was in a parade of cars.

Today, I found the 3.5% rule, which gave me hope. Way to go, Thank you, dear reader!

“The “3.5 rule” is a set of conclusions from research conducted by Erica Chenoweth and Matthew Stephan, authors of “Why Civil Resistance Works.” They reviewed historical data and found support for the notion that a government could not successfully withstand a challenge when 3.5% of its population actively mobilized against it.”

--Richard Seifman, June 11, 2025, former World Bank Health Advisor and U,.s. Senior Foreign Service Officer.

 

Non-violent protests such as the No King March held yesterday, June 14, 2025, allows people who are empathetic to a cause to bring their voices to the table in a non-violent way. It also fosters solidarity among diverse groups.

When a government or establishment portrays demonstrators as violent or aggressive, riling them with tear gas or the military instead of letting local authorities handle a violent outbreak—which can happen when people get seriously riled, it tells the world this is serious--It is a desperate attempt to squelch dissent.

Remember the 50s’ and 60s’ when individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr. championed non-violent tactics such as boycotts, sit-ins, and marches. They were met with resistance too, but they persevered. They changed people’s opinions. When people coalesced behind their leadership, legislative change happened. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came into effect.

The anti-apartheid movement in South Africa’s success, was mainly due to the non-violent strategies employed by Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. Their approach built a domestic coalition and garnered international support. That pressured South African leadership to end Apartheid rule.

In India, Mahatma Gandhi led several peaceful protests that encompassed “Satyagraha,” a philosophy of non-violent resistance emphasizing truth and love force over violence.

Watching tanks roll by? Spending 45 million dollars to do it? “Peanuts,” said the President.

Hey, I like peanuts. The people could use a few.


  

From San Francisco:


 Cool