Tag: No Kings

The second No Kings Rally in Mount Vernon, Iowa, on Oct. 18, 2025, was much better attended than the previous one. I did not count yet there were at least 500 people participating. The rally started off with a gathering outdoors at the First Street Community Center, then walked a block or so to line the streets at Highway One and First Street. Here’s what the rally looked like.

About all I heard from the speaker was, “something, something, Heather Cox Richardson.”

I found some farmer friends with whom I talked about apple trees. Former Iowa House member David Osterberg was there. He represented us when we first moved to Big Grove Township. Former Congressman Dave Loebsack arrived early to get a good perch. We reminisced about his first election to the Congress in 2006. Here are Dave and Terry Loebsack with their flags.

There were hundreds of people, and many signs.

The crowd stretched for blocks.

And these…

The clear autumn day was a backdrop for everyone to feel good about standing up for our rights. A lot of work remains to take back our government for everyone. Days like this make us hopeful. The feeling is infectious.

There are five different No Kings Mass Protest rallies close to me on Saturday. I plan to attend one of them, likely the one in Mount Vernon. It’s close and I want to see who else I know in that community. It is 60 minutes, so, long enough to find value, and not so long as to find it tedious. I understand there are day jobs available in Washington D.C. on Saturday where a person can wear a red hat and fill a chair for the big military parade for $1,000 in cryptocurrency. I’m not sure there will be chairs where I’m going.

When I was a teenager, Father took the three kids to the Municipal Stadium to see an “All Star Wrestling Caged Match” with two professional wrestlers. I am researching this for a later post that will argue the world in which we find ourselves today — in our media bubbles — is such a construct. We miss a lot of nuance by focusing on the cage match and can do better. I hope to explain that.

That’s all for now. My posting schedule is dicey the next few days. Maybe it’s time to take the last days of spring away from the computer interface. It may be the refreshing break I need.