{"id":15807,"date":"2025-10-21T12:35:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/15807\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T12:35:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:35:05","slug":"readers-across-socal-share-their-experiences-at-no-kings-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/15807\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers across SoCal share their experiences at \u2018No Kings\u2019 rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oct. 21, 2025 5:30 AM PT <\/p>\n

To the editor: I wish to share with my Angeleno friends and former neighbors my experiences and thoughts about the rally here in Petaluma (\u201cSoCal \u2018No Kings\u2019 protests draw tens of thousands alongside massive rallies nationwide,\u201d<\/a> Oct. 18).<\/p>\n

Among my fellow marchers were a woman in her 40s on crutches and with a boot on her foot; a paraplegic boy, about 12, in a wheelchair, with his parents; and several elderly folks using canes or walkers.<\/p>\n

After the rally, I congratulated two elderly women, a mother (with walker) and daughter, for participating. The eldest one told me, \u201cI wanted to march twice before, but I figured the third time was the charm. I was only able to go three blocks today, but I\u2019m so glad I did.\u201d Then she added with a grin, \u201cI feel like a kid of 80!\u201d Said her daughter: \u201cShe\u2019s 90, and a lifelong Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signs were snarky, funny and varied. The rally organizers suggested wearing yellow as a sign of unity, which I found arbitrary. I emailed the organizers: \u201cAt the next rally, I think we should all wear blue \u2014 baby blue, royal blue, navy blue, any blue \u2014 because team blue ain\u2019t yellow!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Canning, Petaluma<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: I am an 82-year-old who protested at the \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally in Oakhurst on Saturday. According to House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump, that basically makes me an anti-American terrorist. According to several in the GOP, I must have been paid to be there. I haven\u2019t seen the check yet, though \u2014 maybe lost in the mail?<\/p>\n

I served our country for 44 years, beginning with designing landing trajectories for Apollo to the moon, Galileo to Jupiter and most every U.S. space mission in the solar system. I retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2012 as the chief engineer for flight mechanics. I am proud of my country and will fight against the fascist takeover to my last breath.<\/p>\n

Dennis Byrnes, Oakhurst<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: We had thousands at our \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest in the Los Angeles area. All of the people were peaceful, and none expressed hatred of America, contrary to deliberately false claims of what would take place made beforehand by Speaker Johnson on Fox News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those protesting are people who see Trump acting unlawfully and showing extreme disregard for, and disrespect of, our Constitution, a view supported by the many judges ruling against Trump\u2019s actions. Our founding fathers dumped a king two and a half centuries ago. Now, it\u2019s our responsibility to preserve our democracy by protesting this wannabe king. Where are you, Congress?<\/p>\n

David Michels, Encino<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: I had an unexpected emotional moment on Saturday attending the \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally here in Venice, not far from my home. For the first time since my father gave it to me, I wore a cap that commemorated the crew of the USS Lawrence, a destroyer on which my father served in 1939 and early 1940. I have treasured the cap for many years, but never wore it because he served, not me.<\/p>\n

Well, this past weekend, I felt he would have been honored for me to wear his cap at this rally. I imagine he would have been there himself if he was still with us. When a woman stopped to say, \u201cThank you for your service,\u201d I found I couldn\u2019t speak for several moments as I teared up. Finally I said, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t me, it was my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Ryavec, Venice<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: I went to the protest in Westchester and saw some printed signs saying \u201cNo kings in America since 1776.\u201d<\/p>\n

I disagree with the statement \u201cNo kings in America\u201d as a whole. America did once have a truly great and popular king; his name was Elvis Presley, \u201cThe King of Rock and Roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he said, \u201cDon\u2019t Be Cruel.\u201d America needs a lot more \u201cI Want You, I Need You, I Love You\u201d instead.<\/p>\n

Robert Samuelson, Marina del Rey<\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: It\u2019s great that so many people were united enough to protest on \u201cNo Kings Day\u201d Saturday, but unless these people go to the polls on the midterm elections, the protests will be all for naught.<\/p>\n

We cannot allow our country to become a dictatorship, so hopefully the polls will have a record turnout once the midterm elections commence. It\u2019s up to us.<\/p>\n

Liz Brown, Simi Valley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oct. 21, 2025 5:30 AM PT To the editor: I wish to share with my Angeleno friends and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7625,7363,2072,9576,6314,664,48,52,51,47,50,49,13740,592,3020,2058,10118,595,11466,3293,1557],"class_list":["post-15807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-america","tag-country","tag-editor","tag-experience","tag-father","tag-king","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-no-king","tag-people","tag-president-trump","tag-protest","tag-rally","tag-saturday","tag-sign","tag-thousand","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}