Girl with Kitten, by DaHeaven Art, Latvia

NPR: ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump planned nationwide to coincide with military parade.

About 2,000 “No Kings” protests are planned Saturday in response to the Trump administration’s plans to hold alarge-scale military parade this weekend, an event organizer told NPR.

Organizers are accusing the president of putting on the parade as a show of dominance and a celebration of his 79th birthday, which is also on Saturday. The Army has been planning some form of anniversary celebration for over a year, but the parade was a recent addition. It will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, and falls on Flag Day. A peacetime military parade is rare in the U.S. and has drawn criticism from Trump’s political rivals.

“No Kings” organizers describe the protests as a “day of defiance…to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like” on their website.

The statementcontinues, “We’re showing up everywhere he isn’t—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.” [….]

The demonstrations were put together by a coalition of more than 200 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Teachers and the Communications Workers of America. Protests are scheduled in every state, but not in Washington, D.C. Instead, organizers are encouraging interested D.C. residents to gather in Philadelphia — the flagship “No Kings” protest. Philadelphia was America’s first capital and was the birthplace of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence….

According to the organizers’ website, the protesters are avoiding the nation’s capital “to draw a clear contrast between our people-powered movement and the costly, wasteful, and un-American birthday parade in Washington.”

Associated Press: Cities brace for large crowds at anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ demonstrations across the US.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Demonstrators began gathering in cities and towns across the U.S. Saturday to rally against President Donald Trump as officials urged calm and mobilized National Guard troops ahead a military parade to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary that coincides with the president’s birthday.

Atlanta’s 5,000-capacity “No Kings” rally quickly reached its limit, while intermittent light rain fell as early marchers carrying signs gathered for the flagship rally in Philadelphia’s Love Park….

Protests in nearly 2,000 locations are scheduled across the country, from city blocks and small towns to courthouse steps and community parks, organizers said, but no events are scheduled in Washington, D.C., where the military parade will take place in the evening.

The 50501 Movement orchestrating the protests says it picked the “No Kings” name to support democracy and speak out against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration.The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement….

Reactions from authorities:

by Elizah Leighword

Governors and city officials vowed to protect the right to protest and to show no tolerance for violence.

Republican governors in Virginia, Texas, Nebraska and Missouri are mobilizing National Guard troops to help law enforcement manage demonstrations.

There will be “zero tolerance” for violence, destruction or disrupting traffic, and “if you violate the law, you’re going to be arrested,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told reporters Friday.

In Missouri, Gov. Mike Kehoe issued a similar message, vowing to take a proactive approach and not to “wait for chaos to ensue.”

Nebraska’s governor also signed an emergency proclamation Friday to activate his state’s National Guard, a step his office called “a precautionary measure in reaction to recent instances of civil unrest across the country.”

Organizers say that one march will go to the gates of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis warned demonstrators that the “line is very clear” and not to cross it.

Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin at MSNBC: The ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization debunks Trump’s biggest myth.

President Donald Trump wants to celebrate his birthday like a king: not with cake or candles, but with a $45 million military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. Officially, the parade is only to mark the U.S. Army’s birthday, not the president’s the same day; in reality, the military’s celebration, though long planned, did not include a parade until his administration got involved. On the day the Army was founded to defeat tyranny, he’s getting a parade and using your tax money to do so.

This chilling spectacle pulls us away from the ideal of nonviolence that has paved the way for freedom movements in this country for generations. That’s not freedom. That’s not democracy. That’s not American. So on June 14, we the people are rising up and declaring that in America, we do not have a king. Across every U.S. state and territory, in cities, towns, and rural communities alike, millions of us will join the “No Kings” mass mobilization.

The president is using the same playbook we’ve seen in other countries throughout history: concentrate power, crush dissent, target vulnerable communities, enrich yourself, and distract the public with shows of force. He’s moved swiftly to erode the guardrails of democracy. He’s attacked the press and public universities, purged civil servants, and ignored court orders. He’s slashing budgets for public services, moved to erase hard-won victories for civil rights, ordered the hounding of immigrants in schools, places of worship and job sites, and ignored due process while deporting migrants to dangerous foreign prisons.

Now, in the very same week when he dispatches the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles to silence protesters’ righteous cries for justice in the face of his cruel assaults on our immigrant brothers and sisters, he hosts a grand parade. We hold a parade of the people.

Trump’s power doesn’t just come from his title; it comes from the myth that he’s untouchable. That he can say and do whatever he wants, and no one can stop him. But that myth only exists if we let it. Authoritarianism feeds on fear and silence. It survives when institutions go along, and when people give up. Already, too many elected officials, business leaders, and civic institutions have fallen in line.

But since his inauguration, millions of Americans have rejected Trump’s myth. Thousands of protests around the country have denounced his authoritarian moves, his attempts to rewrite this country’s history and his moves to destroy our already tattered safety net. And the more people have seen of Trump’s lawless second term, the less popular he has become.

Click the link to read the rest.

The Wall Street Journal reports that MAGA groups are hoping to stoke violence: Far-Right Groups Buzz With Violent Talk on How to Respond to ‘No Kings’ Protest.

“Shoot a couple, the rest will go home,” said a meme circulating on Telegram channels of groups affiliated with the far-right Proud Boys. “You just have to impale a few of them…” another local chapter posted. One disseminated an online gun tutorial, illustrating optimal shooting techniques with the caption: “Riot season again!”

Organizers in more than 2,000 cities are mobilizing for “No Kings” rallies Saturday in opposition to President Trump and his military parade in Washington. Among those watching closely: extremist organizations on social media.

Saturday’s military parade in Washington will celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, but planning documents shared with The New York Times show a focus on President Trump, who turns 79 the same day. The parade, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., is expected to proceed even with rain and thunderstorms forecast in the late afternoon and early evening.

Thousands of soldiers will march from the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., to Washington while heavy armored vehicles slowly make their way north from West Potomac Park.

The Inhabitants, by Natalia Bagatskaya

The parade will officially kick off once the Army secretary, Daniel P. Driscoll, and chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, report to Mr. Trump in a small ceremony at his reviewing stand along Constitution Avenue.

There will be roughly 7,000 soldiers — some in replicas of Army uniforms from different eras, including the Revolutionary, Civil, Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as both world wars.

Heavy armored vehicles from previous conflicts will be followed by those from the modern era, including 70-ton Abrams tanks, 30-ton Bradley fighting vehicles and 20-ton Strykers.

These vehicles will be staged in West Potomac Park because they could damage the Arlington Memorial Bridge and leak hazardous hydraulic fluid as they move. They could also break down before they reach their destination, according to Army planning documents, which is why the service will have heavy towing vehicles called wreckers at the beginning of the parade route on a nearby cross street.

But for all of this planning and expense, the parade route is remarkably short — running less than 1,600 yards down Constitution Avenue from 23rd Street until the soldiers pass the president’s reviewing stand….

The president will sit in a 100-foot-wide reviewing stand constructed on the north side of Constitution Avenue. Mr. Trump will be joined by a number of special guests, including Army soldiers who have received the nation’s highest decoration for combat valor, the Medal of Honor.

At the end of the parade, the Golden Knights, the Army’s parachute team, will jump from the sky, land in the Ellipse, a park south of the White House, and present an American flag to the president on behalf of the Army.

Afterward, a country music concert is scheduled to begin nearby on the National Mall, followed by a fireworks show.

ABC News: This would make great TV’: How Donald Trump got the military parade he wanted.

In June 2024, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and his aides were at a Virginia military base where the service was putting on one of its live-action shows for kids and families.

The event — a decades-long tradition known as the “Twilight Tattoo” — was a spectacle. Soldiers from ceremonial units reenact the history of the Army, complete with Revolutionary War garb, music, theatrical vignettes and military pageantry, all meant to serve as a kind of salute to Army soldiers and their families.

George and his top communications adviser, Col. Dave Butler, were attending with several media executives, when one of them leaned over.

“This would make great television,” the executive said, according to Butler.

George and his staff had already been talking about how to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday. Maybe, they thought, the National Park Service would let them host one of their live-action shows on the National Mall, the officials thought.

Enter Donald Trump.

After President Donald Trump took office and the June 14 birthday was getting closer, the Army began to toss around more ideas. One idea was to add tanks or other iconic Army equipment to an exhibit parked on the National Mall where tourists could learn about the Army’s history of fighting the nation’s wars.

Lady with White Cat, by Sharyn Bursic

Butler said he doesn’t remember who first broached the idea of turning the Army’s show into a parade. But once the idea was floated, no one seemed to push back.

By June, the Army had a plan of what they would include: 6,700 soldiers, 150 vehicles, including dozens of tanks, 50 aircraft flying overhead including World War II-era planes and high-tech weaponry like rocket launchers.

Trump, a former media executive himself, seemed game to the idea. One official involved in the planning described it like “knocking on an unlocked door.”

“We wanted to reintroduce this nation’s Army to the American people,” Butler said. “To do that, we thought we needed to be in their living rooms and on their phones. We needed something that would catch the national eye.”

I don’t believe for one minute that anyone but Donald Trump suggested the parade. Give me a break.

More stories to check out if you’re interested:

USA Today: Trump brought in $57 million from crypto venture, millions from sneakers and bibles.

NBC News: Trump’s financial disclosures reveal tens of millions in income from guitars, bibles and watches with his name on them.

Peter Baker at The New York Times: Trump Relishes Troops in American Streets While Shunning Conflict Overseas.

Reuters: Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows.

The New York Times: Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed at HuffPost: Can Trump Prevent A Massive Middle East War?

CNN: Police arrest roughly 60 veterans and military family members protesting outside US Capitol after group crosses police line.

That’s it for me today. Have a great weekend, and if you’re going to a protest, stay safe.