Blog Archives

3/28/26

3/29/2026

A GREAT BIG ‘YEA’
FOR NO KINGS DAY

PART OF THE NO KINGS crowd as the protest took shape on West Main Road, Middletown. PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Jones

SATURDAY’S NO KINGS RALLIES were a huge success. I got to witness one of them.
The demonstrations took place in every state, in thousands of communities, and a bunch of foreign countries.
Size matters and, indisputably, there were millions of participants.
Some news sites reported that the “organizers” claimed that the total reached 8 million, up 1 million from the second edition last October, and 3 million more than the first during last June.
You can’t trust insiders’ counts, but what’s important is that lots of Americans cared enough about their country to do and say something about it and the multiple ways that Donald Trump is tearing apart democracy, decency and economy.
That’s huge.
Imagine if just a few people, or worse, no one, bothered to protest the evil that an unhinged president is attempting to impose on our impressive, if imperfect nation.

THE NEXT DAY QUARTERBACKING of the pundits was whether the demonstrations will translate into something practically and politically important.
One noted that there didn’t seem to be a single theme, policy or politician favored by the demonstrators that could counter the enormous damage Trump already has done.
What did the protesters protest against? The economy? The war? Mass deportations? Anti-democratic move?
All of the above, and more, of course. Trump has done a lot, meaning that there’s lots to complain about, to reverse, rebuild and reform.
The point is that substantial numbers of people were and are concerned about lots of things, and we should be grateful that do.

I WENT TO A DEMONSTRATION that drew people from Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth, the three communities that make up Aquidneck Island, which is the “Island” part of the State of Rhode Island.
I’m terrible at counting crowds, and I left early, just as the protest site on both sides of four-lane West Main Road in Middletown was filling up. I put the number at 500 to 1,000 and wouldn’t argue if advocates puffed up the numberto 2,000 and maybe more.
What I found just as heartening as the big numbers was the spirit of the participants. It was joyful event. People praised each other’s hand-drawn signs. Most were strangers, but didn’t act like they were.
It’s a cliché, but it really felt like family, probably because everyone knew why they were there, and it was the same reason everyone else was.
It was a sunny, but not a “nice” time to be outdoors. The National Weather Service put the temperature around the freezing mark, and the 10-mile-an-hour wind produced a windchill of 26 degrees.
But rather than discouraging folks, the cold seemed to give participants one more thing that they could agree on.

There are weekly protests at the on and off ramps to the Newport Bridge, and those participants skew old – really old – probably because retired people don’t have jobs or kids and other routines that take up lots of time.
The No Kings rally in Middletown surely did have lots of oldsters like me – I’m headed for 84. But they were a cheerful, resilient cohort. One lady raced her walker up a hill, and when she fell, lots of hands reached out to get her and her contraption to the top, with laughs all around.
There were also college students, “regular” Mom, Dad and the Kids nuclear groupings, and the lines stretched on both sides of the highway, from the Middletown Public Library to the Two Mile Corner, where West Main and East Main Roads intersect.
Sign carriers waved at cars, whose drivers honked approval. Thumbs up vastly outnumbered middle fingers.
One thing you have to remember about Newport and its neighbors is that they may comprise a world-famous tourist center, but a big part of the area’s hidden economy is military. The island is home to Navy education centers, including the national Naval War College, and there also are major big naval research activities.
What impressed me about the occupants of the cars and pickups who passed the No Kings protesters is that they seemed so supportive. I’m thinking that some were military folks, who have little taste for frivolous wars and a clownish Secretary of Defense. (Maybe, too, they keep their thoughts to themselves).
One thing that worried me was that demonstrators edged closer and closer the cars zipping by, making sure their signs were visible. But a No Kings monitor politely, but firmly, patrolled the sidewalk, moving the line back a few inches to safety.
It all worked, logistics and purpose.

THAT'S ME before my early retreat. CREDIT. C.B. Jones

I LEFT EARLY, only after about a hour. Despite three layers and an L.L. Bean parka with an insulated hood, I felt the cold felt like it was making me sick, down to my bones.
Later at home, it took me hours, with the help of a woolen cap, an Irish sweater, a bedtime comforter and too much hot chocolate to start to feel warm.
I cursed my aging body that could not seem to tolerate an even moderately New England winter-like day, even for a patriotic cause.
But I was also grateful that the old thing at least took me back and forth, to witness one of the landmark days of the country’s crusade for freedom and democracy.

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If you want to see some of participants and their clever signs at other R.I. No Kings events, go to the Substack site of Steven Ahlquist, who does an impressive job of covering progressive local politics. Here’s the link: https://steveahlquist.substack.com/

1 Comment

3/27/26

3/27/2026

3 Comments

WITH THE SWIPE OF A SHARPIE,
TRUMP DEBASES THE DOLLAR

DONALD TRUMP, the American unhinged president. PHOTO CREDIT: Screenshot of White House video

ONE QUESTION about adding Donald Trump’s signature to the nation’s paper currency is whether it will be the pubic-hair version that he used to sign his birthday card to the late pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
Or will the signature be the longer scrawl that the unhinged president of the United States typically uses for executive orders and other official documents.
Either way, placing Trump’s name on bills instantly will transform American currency into dirty money.
Whether it’s a meager $1 bill or a hefty $100 note, the bill with Trump’s signature will defile wallets and purses across the nation and, indeed, the world, which values American cash.
The move, announced March 26, is the latest instance of Trump graffiti, plastering his name and image on official buildings, coins and ships.
There’s the Donald J. Trump Institute for Peace, the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, the Donald J. Trump 24-karat gold commemorative coin and the “Trump-class” battleships being designed by the Navy.
You can imagine that if Trump weren’t the elected president, he would be some crazed man running around the nation’s capital with a bag full of cans of spray paint he'd use to defile national monuments.

AT THIS POINT, you are correct to ask whether any of this name-tagging is important.
After all, Trump’s long list of actual crimes and misdemeanors is far more consequential.
There’s the illegal war he launched with Israel against Iran and now is trying squirm out of, after killing many civilians and, at last count, 13 American soldiers.
There are the January 6 insurrectionists he’s pardoned, the Gestapo-style “agents” he’s unleashed against immigrants and U.S. citizens, the climate-saving efforts trashed, the U-turn on civil rights and the poisoning of American manners and culture.
"Good. I’m glad he’s dead,” Trump crowed on his social media platform after the death of Robert Mueller, the storied war hero, FBI director and special counsel, who carefully investigated Trump’s sins during his first campaign.
I’m still shocked at the cruelty of Trump’s remarks, although by now we know there is no bottom to his hatred.

IT'S WORTH THINKING a little about the money-signing gambit, because it touches on several of Trump’s shortcomings that have dire consequences on national and world affairs.
The Trump signature itself hints an egotistical brain. It’s an outsized jumble of Sharpie strokes meant to dominate whatever piece of paper on which it lands.
The signature drew a lot of attention last year when the Wall Street Journal disclosed that it had appeared in a collection of good wishes compiled by Epstein’s associates in 2003 for the sex ghoul’s 50th birthday.

The image (see above) showed the outline of a naked woman, encompassing a birthday message; Trump’s ragged signature appeared as pubic hair. Trump denied the message and signature were his.
Indeed, as reporters looked into the history of Trump’s signatures, there were two versions. He tended to sign his first name, ending with a line trailing off to the right, as in the Epstein birthday card. Whereas Trump’s more formal signature appeared to replicate his full name.
Below is a screenshot of a Times compilation of "Donald" signatures, as in the Epstein card.

Here is the signature using Trump's full name, via Wikipedia.

In either version, Trump has liked to use a Sharpie pen, which produces broad, thick lines, all the better to make a splash.

TRUMP’S OBSESSION WITH SHARPIES came into focus March 26 during a cabinet meeting where the Iran war and other life-and-death matters were being batted around by Trump and his sycophants.
But, as he often does, Trump detoured from subjects of state to expound for five minutes or so on the wonders of something else, in this case the Sharpie and its bargain-basement price.
“I came here,” Trump explained to the cabinet, according to the New York Times. “They have thousand-dollar pens, and you know, you hand pens out, you’re signing and you hand them out. You’re handing them with all these people, sometimes you have 30 or40 people and they were $1,000 a piece.”
Whereas, he said that Sharpies go for $5. Of course, even when it comes to pens, Trump cannot be believed. The New York Times said some previous presidents used pens made by A.T. Cross, a Rhode Island headquartered company, which retail not for a grand, but between $99 to $270 each.
Sleep well, America. Trump, who demolished the East Wing of the White House so it can be replaced with a $400 million ballroom (albeit funded by private donors maybe looking for favors) knows a good deal on not-so-fine writing instruments.

THERE ARE LESSONS, which we already know, but are forced to relearn day after day.
The unhinged leader of what is still the free world cannot discuss something important without drifting into something that’s not.
And even then, he can’t tell the truth, even about the cost of something that nobody cares about, except a deranged man who wants to put his mark, his face and his name on your money, your buildings and anything else that comes into his not-so-Sharpie mind.
Fortunately, there’s a No Kings Day demonstration near you Saturday (March 28).

DESIGN of commemorative coin featuring Trump's image.

3 Comments

3/7/26

3/8/2026

7 Comments

TRUMP’S WAR OF WHIMSY MOVES INTO WEEK 2

AN APPARENT Iranian rocket lodged, unexploded, in a field in Syria. PHOTO CREDIT, Baderkhan Ahmad, The Associated Press

IN THE SECOND WEEK of the Iran War of 2026, the most urgent question is: When will it end?
The only certainty is that the war will end as it began on Feb. 28, at the whim of Donald Trump, the unhinged president of the United States.
There is a host of other questions, both frivolous and profound.
Will Trump announce the conclusion of the war as he began it, wearing a “USA” baseball cap, speaking from a recorded video posted on social media as most American’s slept?
Will “victory” be proclaimed from Trump’s Southern castle, Mar-a-Logo, 1100 S Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, Florida or at a slightly more official mansion, maybe the construction plot of his East Wing ballroom, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington?
How much mayhem and mischief will have been generated by the time Victory Day in Iran is reached?
As of this writing, Iran counted 926 civilian deaths – a pittance compared to the thousands of Iranians that the regime itself had slaughtered for protesting economic distress a few weeks before the war began.
Israel, the USA’s eager military partner, had killed 217 in Lebanon, although as I was writing this the radio said hundreds more died in continuing attacks, but I didn’t catch the exact number.
So far six American soldiers – all Army Reservists – have died, and their bodies were returned to the United States earlier today, as Trump, wearing his stupid USA baseball cap, looked on.
Considering the scope of the war, you can almost hear Trump and his henchmen thinking “only” six, which might be tolerable politically.

TRUMP HAS DRAWN a fair amount of criticism for not more formally addressing “the American people,” to outline his reasons for starting the war and to explain his goals for finishing it.
I’m not sure I understand this, since Trump is a serial liar.
Why would anyone want to hear from someone who never tells the truth? Trump says one thing one day, another on the second day, so whatever he says on any day is meaningless.
In this, the second week, there is only one reason for the war, and it’s the same as on Day One: there is no reason.
The war on its first day was illegal, and remains so today, since only Congress can declare war and it has done no such thing, despite some feeble attempts in the Republican-controlled Congress.
By the time the war is finished, little will have changed except the extent of the horror.
There will be more deaths, more mangled bodies, more ruined real estate, more refugees, more haunted psyches and more reasons for one enemy to hold a grudge, and the same for the other side.
It’s not likely much will be different for everyday Iranians after the country puts itself together.
If there is such a thing as regime change in a dictatorship, the new one likely will be as odious as the one it replaces.
By then, Donald Trump will care less.
Depending on the war’s eventual toll, and how seriously Americans regard the price, Trump will move his capable and obedient military to his next target, whatever nation or region has somehow displeased him.
Cuba. Greenland, Canada. Spain.
There seems no end to Trump’s Wars of Whimsy, fought on a single, continuous battlefield that so far has no limits.