No Kings, but we do have a naked emperor

So Mango Mussolini had his Big Beautiful Birthday Parade, and the crowd was apparently quite underwhelming -- not anywhere near the 200,000 expected to show. The man who would be king/dicktator/Lord of All, but is really little more than a naked emperor, will no doubt spin this boondoggle as an immense success, although he himself was caught on camera glowering at times during the parade, and looking like he was about to fall asleep, and Queen Melanoma looked like she was asleep at one point.

By contrast, millions reportedly showed up for the No Kings demonstrations all across the USA -- including all over Trump's home state of Florida; Wikipedia is trying to keep up with the numbers, state by state, which are still being updated. And demonstrations supporting the No Kings movement happened across the globe as well, sometimes framed as "No Dictators" in countries that do in fact still have (largely ceremonial) kings.

There's reason for hope, even now.

There is also reason for great sadness, due to the apparently targeted shootings of Democratic legislators and their spouses in Minnesota, which people on both sides of the great American political divide seem to agree was politically motivated. Of course the two sides have sharply differing views of the suspect's actual political affiliation and motives. I'll have more about that in my next post. For now, my heart hurts for the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims.

And despite my statement above about there still being reason for hope, my heart also still fears for the future of American democracy. Even naked emperors can do a hell of a lot of damage.

We can't give up the fight.

Before you leave...
While money cannot make some nightmares go away, be they political or personal, it can make them far easier to bear. With my husband Ron's passing, I have experienced significant income loss and am scrambling to find more work, but in an industry increasingly being taken over by AI, it has been a challenge. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

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