June 14 protests. Request for ideas.

Sign at Medford "Hands off" protest, April 2025:

"SO MUCH WRONG. SO LITTLE CARDBOARD." 

I bought white poster board and bright marking pens for this Saturday's protest.

What should I write?

Over 1,500 "No Kings" protests are planned for June 14. I will be at one of these, in Medford, Oregon from 10 a.m. until noon, on the sidewalk on McAndrews Road between Crater Lake Avenue and Biddle Road. 

This could work out very well for Democrats and others who consider Trump's actions to be illegal, unwise, and dangerous. It could be a huge counterpoint to the military parade with many times the number of attendees. It could make the military parade look like a waste of money, a vanity show, and a show of military strength by a guy using the military to look "alpha."  And all the No Kings protests could be peaceful, colorful, and fun. It would show fellow Americans that there are a great many regular, law-abiding Americans who are deeply troubled by Trump. 

Or it could go very wrong. There are idiots out there, and people who want to start fights, and people who feel angry and are inspired to do something illegal. Somebody thought it was a good idea to set fire to a Waymo car. Five of them were torched in Los Angeles. How stupid. How counterproductive. This guy, preparing to torch this car, changed the news from the Trump-Musk fight, the deficit-busting Big Beautiful Bill, the cuts to Medicaid (which provides medical insurance to the working poor in red states and counties), and what the Epstein files reveal about Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein -- good subjects for slowing Trump's momentum -- into a story of burning cars in L.A.

A burning car is a great visual for TV, shown on a continuous loop on Fox. Trump used the scenes of disorder to say he needed to federalize the National Guard to save Los Angeles from "burning to the ground." Trump wants to show that Democratic mayors and governors cannot make you safe but he can. Trump wins with that message.

There are risks in organizing protest demonstrations. But if there were no demonstrations, people could conclude that everyone is happy with Trump's actions. Silence implies consent. The alternative is specifically mentioned in the Constitution, "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 

 I will be among the millions of people peacefully protesting on Saturday morning. There's a lot to protest.

     1. Expanding Article II, taking actions assigned to Congress.

     2. Using pretexts of war and invasion to assume emergency powers.

     3. Ignoring court orders.

     4. Pardons of January 6 rioters and the corrupt exchange of pardons to contributors and purchasers of $Trump cryptocurrency.

     5. Cruel and dangerous cuts of medical aid to Africa, endangering Americans through spread of disease.

     6. Short-sighted cuts to medical research.

     7. Interference with universities

     8. Chaotic, job-destroying, tariff policy.

     9. Damage to our relations with long term, reliable foreign allies.

    10. Cuts to Medicaid, a program of special value to my own congressional district, which uses it extensively.

    11. Broken promise on immigration. ICE is rounding up and deporting the easiest people to find  -- often taxpayers at work -- instead of criminals.

I could go on.  So much wrong. So little cardboard.

Here is a request to readers: Send me a good message to put on my sign.

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