Bandwagon Jumpers

 https://winteryknight.com/2026/04/08/new-study-adolescents-have-worse-mental-health-after-transgender-treatments/

At some point I was going to address this newest study.  WK did it first and there didn't seem to be any reason to do anything except post the link to his piece.   

What we seem to be seeing is that the headlong rush to "trans" anyone and everyone might not have been the best strategy.  Unfortunately we are now left with people who've been irreparably harmed by a political/social narrative that has been shown to be less than accurate, and a number of greedy doctors and therapists who saw a way to make big bucks.  If you supported this narrative and worked to make "transing" normalized, you bear a significant burden for those who've been mutilated because you jumped on a bandwagon.  

The Final Countdown

 https://x.com/esrtweet/status/2040557647796334879?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" Hello, Europeans. The first thing you need to understand about the rant I'm about to utter is that I'm not MAGA, not a Trumpite, but a libertarian who has in the past nevertheless been strongly supportive of US military presence overseas. Because I want the wars that defend this country to be fought in somebody else's country, as far away from me as possible with a nice big ocean in the way. Also relevant: I have a history of having lived in Europe and traveled there extensively. I was at one time bilingual in English and Spanish, and have been passably fluent in Italian and French as well. I could probably still find my way around London and Rome and central Paris reasonably well. So if you're tempted to tell yourselves that I'm some kind of parochial American hick, abandon that hope. All that was set-up. So that, when I tell you that almost the entirety of the US electorate, not just Trump supporters, is increasingly fed up with your shit, take me seriously. We've been cleaning up your messes and keeping the sea lanes open since 1917. And that was for you, not us - we, being very close to resource self-sufficient, don't need that investment so much. We've spent enormous amounts of blood and treasure on keeping you safe. We risked nuclear hellfire on our own cities for nearly 50 years to keep Soviet tanks from rolling through the Fulda Gap. Even since the Cold War ended, we've subsidized your socialist-playpen welfare states and disastrous immigration policies by taking the need to maintain militaries more effective than a sack of wet farts off the table. Now we've come looking for help keeping a bunch of rabid Islamic fanatics from getting nuclear weapons that are a clear and present danger to all of you even more than they are to us, and what do we hear? "Waah! It's another Republican president we don't like, just like the last half dozen of them! So we're going to sulk in a corner, except when we're biting at your ankles with crap like airspace restrictions." No. No, we're not going to take this anymore. It's not just conservatives who have had enough, it's moderates and people who used to be strong supporters of liberal internationalism. Our citizen's willingness to pay higher taxes to protect you was upward-bounded by your gratitude. Now that we know your gratitude has effectively gone to zero, so does our willingness. Don't expect this to change if the Democrats take power here. They are much less liberal-internationalist than Republicans now. While they might make mouth noises that soothe you, their overriding concern is the gaping, insatiable maw of their income transfer programs. They'll sacrifice subsidizing Europe's playpen socialism to feed their domestic version in a heartbeat. And there is no longer any significant Democratic constituency to argue against that. In truth, three decades after the Cold War ended there is no American constituency at all for the massive subsidies you get. It frankly surprises me they lasted this long, that we were this patient with your cowardice and your bitchy whining. This moment has been a long time coming. It's not Donald Trump sinking the transatlantic alliance, it is absolutely you."

 https://x.com/tkratman/status/2040614119506575429?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" From Martin Iles, reposted: Having lived in the USA for nearly two years, I've realised something. The USA and the remainder of the Western world are no longer aligned. We all laugh and mock when the Americans say, "Freedom!" because we truly think we're as free as they are. Wrong. We're not. Not even close. The laws, the mindset, and the behaviour, is totally different in this regard. Most of all, the governments are totally different. The USA's convictions around core freedoms are on a scale we do not share. Meanwhile, Donald Trump wins the popular vote, the electoral college, the House, and the Senate... a man who, in every other Western country, is held in open derision, if not contempt. For these and other reasons, we are not the same. Yet the West, including Australia, fully expect to rely on the USA for our very survival. If the world turns bad (which will happen - only a question of time), then the whole West, without America, is toast. So, you may ask - if we're not very aligned ideologically, then it must be that we bring something to the party militarily? Well, no... actually... we don't matter that much militarily. The USA has about 470 ships in its navy, including 11 aircraft carriers, 69 submarines, 75 destroyers... plus 110 new ships in the pipeline. Australia has about 30, including 3 destroyers, 7 frigates and 7 outdated submarines. The UK does a little better, with about 60. Meanwhile, the US has over 14,000 military aircraft. A staggering number. Australia has 252 military aircraft. The UK has 556. The US army has just shy of 1,000,000 uniformed personnel in its military. Australia has about 45,000. The USA spends 3.4% ($968 billion) of its GDP on defence. Australia spends 2% ($36.4 billion). The US spends as much as the next 15 largest military-spending countries (including China) combined. The USA has a fighting culture. The men shoot things (a lot) and hunt things, the veterans get favoured in everything from parking spots to boarding planes. A uniformed young man is thanked in the street a dozen times a day. "Oh, the Americans and their guns!" we say, in our smug way. Yes, they have a warrior culture. We do not. We don't have to, because we're a leech on theirs. How many young British men are willing to fight for their country? Now ask the same regarding young American men. The difference is about as wide as it could be. Militarily, we don't offer squat. Meanwhile, look at the way Australia works against America's interests by loving on China. China made us rich and we stay close. This is a Marxist regime with expansionist aims. Again, you have to spend time in the USA to realise just how vast a gulf there is between us on China. Europe, too. They let China have their way everywhere from Germany to Greenland, all the while importing Islam and sending their own people to court for saying hurty words. Somehow, we have landed the deal of a lifetime with the USA that says, "when the baddies come, you'll save us ok?" Because we can't save ourselves. And we live in peace. But we keep gnawing away at freedoms, keep enabling China, and get flabby and disinterested about our military because Uncle Sam's got it. And, let's be honest, Americans are widely looked down on. To add insult to injury, we don't think that highly of our protectors. So, the USA is finally saying "enough." I am here, I can tell you what the vibe is, and that's it. Trump is doing what people want in this regard. They're over it. And we come across all shocked and hard done by. We behave like people with no self-insight at all. Yes, the global alliance system is all over the place now. From America's perspective, it's about time. And I must say, though I be a proud Australian, I am forced to agree. Something has to change."

  https://x.com/msmelchen/status/2040418245073600621?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" May I offer a different perspective on the whole transatlantic family feud brewing over NATO. Europeans are furious at what they call American unilateralism and "wars of choice," while Americans are done subsidizing allies who won't lift a finger when Washington actually needs them. Given all the sentimentality and historical baggage, there’s been a lot of bad blood and high grade insults thrown both ways. A lot of pride here is at stake. But given that I am not American or European, what I can provide is an Asian perspective. The whole thing looks very different as there are no blood ties or cultural nostalgia to pull me either way. Because of distance, the default Asian lens on America has always been colder, clearer, and far more pragmatic than the European one. Asians have never lived under the illusion that their relationship to the US is one based on shared values. If they ever did, the illusion was shattered during the Cold War. Instead, Asian nations saw the relationship to America as a cold, interest-driven bargain in a dangerous neighborhood full of communists, insurgents, and bigger powers. Fast forward to today, and this lesson still holds. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia all partner with America because their interests (not values) align - especially when it comes to countering China. These nations have reasons to be alarmed about Beijing's ambitions in the South China Sea, around Taiwan, and across the Indo-Pacific. They don't need lectures about democracy or liberal international order to see the value in US forward presence, intelligence sharing, tech transfers, and security guarantees. It's a straight-up transactional deal: the US keeps the sea lanes open and the PLA at bay. Meanwhile, Asian nations host your bases, buy your weapons, and join your alliances (Quad, AUKUS, etc.). When interests diverge, they adjust pragmatically, without the drama and meltdown. Probably not many in the West know this, but one of the forces that shaped this attitude was the US pullout of Vietnam and the rest of America’s Cold War shenanigans. Lee Kuan Yew was one of America’s loudest cheerleaders in Southeast Asia. In 1967 he flew to Washington, testified to Congress, and begged Lyndon Johnson (and later Nixon) not to cut and run in Vietnam. He warned that a hasty US exit would trigger the dominoes - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and then pressure on the rest of Southeast Asia. Singapore became a logistical hub, providing a haven for US troops on R&R, oil refineries supplying the American war machine, and Lockheed servicing aircraft. At one point, US military-related spending made up 15% of Singapore’s entire GDP. Singapore didn’t support the war because it loved American democracy but because it kept the communists tied up and bought Southeast Asia time to build up its own economy and military. Then came the pullout - the Paris Accords in 1973 and then Saigon falls in 1975. Despite all the lobbying, despite the blood and resources America had spent, domestic politics in the US (the anti-war movement, Congress, Vietnam syndrome etc.) ended it. LKY watched in disbelief as the superpower that had promised to hold the line simply walked away. The lesson was that American commitments are real only as long as they serve American interests and American voters don’t get tired. It’s a brutal one to internalize. LKY was disappointed and noted American “unreliability” but Singapore didn’t collapse into panic or anti-Americanism. They just recalibrated and kept pursuing pragmatism by building its own deterrent, diversifying partners, and later offered the US naval logistics access (Sembawang port) when the Philippines kicked them out of Subic Bay in the early 1990s. Malaysia drew the same conclusion. The Tunku was pro-Western and anti-communist early on, but Malaysia never joined SEATO and pushed ZOPFAN (Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality) instead. When the British announced their East-of-Suez withdrawal in 1968 and Nixon’s Doctrine (1969) told Asians “you defend yourselves first, we’ll just help,” Kuala Lumpur accelerated its neutralist tilt. The message was clear - don’t count on Washington to bleed indefinitely for distant allies. South Korea is similarly pragmatic but it operates under far higher stakes due to baggage from the Korean War and the ongoing North Korean threat. American intervention literally saved the South from conquest, resulting in a bond that is forged in blood. While South Korea had to learn the same lessons - that the American umbrella isn’t permanent, sharing a border with a nuclear-armed adversary forces tighter coupling with Washington. The reverberations of Nixon’s 1973 opening to Beijing cannot be understated. It shocked the entire region that America, the great anti-communist crusader, suddenly would cozy up to Mao to counter the Soviets. If Washington could flip on core principles when interests demanded it, why should smaller states pretend the relationship was about anything deeper? The core Asian critique of the European approach to dealing with America is that it is entirely bound up in moral values and civilizational kinship. This means that every disagreement feels like a betrayal and breeds resentment on both sides. Because Europe is so hyped up on abstract values, it makes NATO feel like a sacred club that America is disrespecting. Asia's interest-based lens sees alliances as tools - useful until they're not. Maybe Europe thinks the Asian approach is cynical but the irony is that this is actually what keeps Indo-Pacific partners far more reliable counterweights to China than many NATO members ever were against Russia."

 https://x.com/cristi_latin/status/2040378418517172507?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

 “Europe isn’t suffering from a single ‘problem,’ but three: three European nations grappling with an acute case of ‘post-imperial vertigo.’ First, the United Kingdom: That nation which voted for Brexit to ‘take back control,’ only to discover later that it has completely forgotten how to lead. The British identity crisis is like watching a retired lion trying to adopt a vegan diet. They’ve traded imperial confidence for ‘behavioral sensitivity’ training sessions worthy of a human resources department. Churchill’s land is now governed by a sprawling ‘nanny state’ bureaucracy so vast that it fears offending someone on X more than it does actual decline. As for the British police, once the envy of the world, they now seem to devote more resources to investigating ‘non-criminal hate incidents’ and painting patrol cars in rainbow colors than to solving burglaries. It’s a nation desperately clinging to the aesthetics of tradition—the Royal Family, protocol, tea—while ‘progressive rot’ has gnawed away at its institutions until they seem more radical than a University of California campus. They want the ‘prestige’ of the 19th century, but they’re paralyzed by the emotional fragility of the 21st. Next comes France: The bitter, chain-smoking aunt who refuses to admit she’s been out of work for decades. France’s ‘post-imperial vertigo’ manifests as a permanent state of rebellion masked as ‘citizen participation.’ Its identity is split between a delusional elite that still believes Paris is the capital of the universe, and a populace that expresses its joie de vivre by burning bus stops every Thursday. The French suffer from a ‘Napoleon complex’ without Napoleon; they demand the living standards of a conquering empire while working 35 hours a week and retiring at an age when most Americans are hitting their prime. They boast of ‘republican’ values and militant secularism, but the state has lost control over vast swaths of its suburbs. France, in short, is a stunning open-air museum where the curators are on strike, the guards fear the visitors, and the administration is busy lecturing the rest of the world on Grandeur while the electricity bills go unpaid. Finally, we have Germany: The jittery giant that decided the only way to atone for its history was to commit a slow ‘industrial suicide.’ Germany’s ‘post-imperial vertigo’ is a moral autoimmune disease; the country is so terrified of its own shadow that it has swapped national pride for violent self-flagellation and recycling laws. Its identity is built on being a ‘moral superpower,’ which in practice means shutting down perfectly functioning nuclear plants to burn dirty coal, all while lecturing its neighbors on carbon footprints. It’s a nation of engineers that has designed a society that doesn’t work. The German spirit, once renowned for its efficiency and discipline, has mutated into a paralyzed bureaucracy where filling out the right form matters more than the end result. They’re so desperate to avoid seeming like a ‘threat’ that they’ve essentially become a giant NGO that happens to own an army using ‘broomsticks’ instead of rifles, for fear that showing any backbone might be read as a regression to the past.”

 

BoT

 https://x.com/iamsean90/status/2040508730790314390?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

The current system of education seems to be one giant scam which is most beneficial to union officials, and most harmful to students.  

 https://x.com/shellenberger/status/2040425099417862385?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

When the narratives are proven false, what do ASPL have left?

 https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/2039463773723881947?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" Truth is now considered a right-wing conspiracy. That’s the chilling line from Melanie Phillips that stopped me in my tracks. She explains how we’ve reached a point where simply stating observable reality — whether it’s basic biology defining a woman or pushing back against blanket accusations that all white people are inherently bad — gets you branded as evil. Not wrong. Evil. Therefore you must be silenced, cancelled, or erased. No debate. No evidence allowed."

 https://x.com/houseofyogi/status/2040438783506543095?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

" Trump Derangement Syndrome: The Real Insurrection A businessman from New York who had never held office, never served in government, never been part of the machine, ran for president in 2016. The Clinton campaign wanted him to. An internal DNC memo from April 2015 called it the "Pied Piper" strategy: elevate Trump, Cruz, Carson. "Tell the press to take them seriously." They wanted him because they thought he'd be the easiest to destroy."

 https://x.com/skepticaliblog/status/2040220367952949545?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

 https://x.com/cbssacramento/status/2039900776064016837?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

California is incredibly corrupt or stunningly inept, in either case the ASPL desperately want Newsome for president.  

 https://x.com/thisisfoster/status/2040093190389202993?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

Interesting piece.

 https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWAawiGjHEg/

More fraud reporting. 

A Gift For Art

 Another failed DFL governor that the ASPL wants for president. 

 

 

 

" 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐙𝐊𝐄𝐑: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐒 I’m generally annoyed by people in the public eye who I find to be hypocritical about who they are, what they believe, and their documented past and behaviors — so like the Newsom post I made yesterday, I decided to pick a couple new targets. Let’s start with good ole J.B. Pritzker. He likes to see himself in the spotlight, so let’s up the wattage on that and take a look at what’s there. Pritzker is a $𝟑.𝟗 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 Hyatt hotel heir who wants you to believe he turned Illinois around. Before he launches his next political vanity project, every American deserves to see what he actually did to the fifth-largest state in the union. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐱 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞 Before he was governor, Pritzker bought a $𝟑.𝟕 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 next door to his Gold Coast home in Chicago. In 2015, he had 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 so the Cook County assessor would classify it as “uninhabitable” — dropping the assessed value from $𝟔.𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 $𝟏.𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 (Cook County Inspector General). The inspector general called it a “𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥” taxpayers. Total savings from the scheme: $𝟑𝟑𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 in property tax refunds and reductions (Fox 32 Chicago). He repaid it. Federal investigators later opened a criminal probe into the tax appeals (Illinois Policy Institute). No charges were filed — but the man who would go on to lecture Illinoisans about paying their “fair share” literally removed toilets from a mansion to dodge his own property taxes. 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐬 Since 2000, Illinois has lost a net 𝟏.𝟔 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 to domestic outmigration (IRS). Under Pritzker alone, the bleeding accelerated. IRS data for 2022 shows 𝟖𝟕,𝟑𝟏𝟏 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 in a single year, taking $𝟗.𝟗 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 with them (IRS Migration Data). The income gap between those leaving and those arriving grew from $5,519 per person in 2010 to $𝟑𝟕,𝟗𝟐𝟐 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 in 2022 — meaning Illinois is hemorrhaging its highest earners. In 2024, 𝟗𝟓% 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 fled to states with lower tax burdens (Wirepoints). Illinois already lost one congressional seat after the 2020 Census — it is on track to lose another in 2030 (Illinois Policy Institute). 𝐓𝐡𝐞 $𝟏𝟒𝟓 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 Illinois has $𝟏𝟒𝟓.𝟓 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 in unfunded pension liabilities — 𝟔𝟐% 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 than California, the second-worst state (Equable Institute). Its pension systems are funded at just 𝟓𝟎.𝟖% — the lowest funding ratio in America. Unfunded liabilities as a share of GDP stand at 𝟐𝟏% — by far the worst figure in the nation (Americans for Prosperity). The median Illinois household already pays $𝟏𝟑,𝟎𝟗𝟗 in state and local taxes per year — $𝟒,𝟒𝟕𝟐 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 than the national average (Tax Foundation). And Pritzker’s pension “reform”? He’s sticking to a plan that won’t fully fund the systems until 𝟐𝟎𝟒𝟓 (Capitol News Illinois). That’s not a fix. That’s a 20-year prayer. $𝟐.𝟓 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 — 𝟑𝐱 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 An estimated 𝟓𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 arrived in Chicago from the southern border. By the end of 2025, Illinois will have spent over $𝟐.𝟓 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 on their care — roughly $𝟒𝟗,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 (Illinois Policy Institute, Fox 32 Chicago). Over $1.6 billion went to migrant healthcare alone through July 2024 — “𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥” (Illinois Comptroller). For context, that $2.5 billion is roughly 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 what Illinois spends on veterans’ services (IL House Republicans). The state is spending three dollars on someone who crossed the border illegally for every one dollar it spends on someone who served the country. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝 Boeing. Caterpillar. Citadel. Tyson. Guggenheim Partners. TTX. All gone. Boeing moved to Virginia. Caterpillar — headquartered in Illinois for nearly 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 — moved 230 jobs to Texas. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin took his $36 billion hedge fund to Miami, citing crime and a hostile business environment. Since 1994, Illinois has lost 𝟐,𝟔𝟏𝟔 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 to other states, with the rate 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 (Illinois Policy Institute). The Tax Foundation found Illinois’ business climate dropped 𝟏𝟎 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬 in five years — the only Midwestern state to decline — after Pritzker imposed $𝟔𝟓𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬 during a pandemic recovery. When asked about Ken Griffin leaving, Pritzker’s response was essentially “𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸” to Florida (Free Beacon). That’s the governor of the fifth-largest state celebrating the departure of his wealthiest taxpayer. 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 From 2013 to 2024, Illinois increased K-12 education spending by $𝟏𝟎 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 — 𝐚 𝟒𝟒% 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 — while enrollment 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟎% (Illinois Policy Institute). Chicago Public Schools saw instructional spending per student jump 𝟒𝟖% in four years — from $10,314 to $15,274 (CPS Data). The result? Roughly 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 of Illinois fourth and eighth graders score at or above proficiency in reading and math on the NAEP — a rate that “𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 20 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴” (NPR Illinois). Both reading and math scores were 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃. They spent billions more. They got the same results. In some cases, worse. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 $𝟓𝟖 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐱 In 2020, Pritzker spent $𝟓𝟖 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 pushing a graduated income tax amendment he called the “Fair Tax” (NPR Illinois). Illinois voters rejected it — it got just 𝟒𝟓% of the vote, far short of the 60% supermajority needed to amend the constitution (WTTW). A $3.9 billion man spent $58 million trying to raise taxes on everyone else. The voters said no. His response? He warned of “𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘴” — as if the state’s fiscal ruin was the voters’ fault for rejecting his plan. 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐲 While Pritzker imposed a statewide stay-at-home order on 12.7 million Illinoisans, his wife and daughter were in 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚. When they returned, they went to the family’s 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧 (Pantagraph, NBC Chicago). His defense? Taking care of horses is “𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” (CBS Chicago). Meanwhile, small business owners were being fined for opening their doors. Restaurants were shuttered. Churches were locked. But the billionaire governor’s family was in Florida, then tending to their horses across state lines. Rules for thee. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄-𝐓 𝐀𝐜𝐭: 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 Pritzker signed the SAFE-T Act, making Illinois the 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 to abolish cash bail entirely (ABC7 Chicago). In November 2023, a suspect with 𝟕𝟐 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 who was out on electronic monitoring was caught on video 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 on a CTA train (ABC7 Chicago). Law enforcement across the state warned the law would put dangerous criminals back on the street. Pritzker dismissed the criticism. 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 Despite 10 credit upgrades under Pritzker, Illinois 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 of any state in the nation (Yahoo Finance). Its Moody’s rating of A2 sits 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬. Over the prior 15 years, the state received 𝟐𝟒 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 (Illinois Policy Institute). During the Rauner-era budget impasse, both Moody’s and S&P dropped Illinois to one notch above junk — the 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞. Pritzker inherited a dumpster fire and brought it up to a controlled burn. It’s still on fire. This is J.B. Pritzker’s Illinois. The toilets were removed. The businesses left. The taxpayers fled and took $9.9 billion in one year. The pension debt is $145 billion and climbing. The migrants cost $2.5 billion — three times what they spend on veterans. The schools spent $10 billion more and got the same failing scores. He blew $58 million of his own money on a tax hike voters rejected, then blamed the voters. His family went to Florida while yours couldn’t go to work. And through it all — every dollar lost, every business gone, every resident who packed up — he still has the lowest credit rating in America. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬’ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟗 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫."

No Kings 5

 https://x.com/bskimike22802/status/2040463588242944477?s=51&t=cLq01Oy84YkmYPZ-URIMYw

 

"Let me be honest with you. When I first heard about 8 million people flooding the streets on March 28th chanting "No Kings," I had one reaction. A genuine, involuntary, sustained laughing fit. Not because of the turnout. Turnout was impressive, I will give them that. No, I laughed because in the history of political self-owns, what happened that Saturday is going to be studied in classrooms for decades.

The "No Kings" movement handed us EVERY argument we needed and then asked us to thank them for it.

So I will.

--- THE MATH PROBLEM THEY CANNOT SOLVE ---

Let us start with the number that should end the conversation before it even begins.

77,302,416.

That is how many Americans voted for Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Seventy-seven million, three hundred two thousand, four hundred and sixteen individual human beings who showed up, stood in line, and cast a ballot in a FREE and FAIR democratic election.

The "No Kings" protest claimed 8 million participants nationwide.

So let me make sure I have this right. You had 8 million people out in the streets demanding the removal of a man who was chosen by 77 million of your fellow citizens through the exact democratic process you claim to be defending. That is not a protest for democracy. That is a protest AGAINST it.

Quinn's Law Number 22: "Liberals love democracy unless it doesn't go their way."

There it is. Hanging in the air like a failed chemistry experiment. Every sign, every chant, every Instagram post from that Saturday was the living embodiment of that law. You don't get to claim the mantle of "democracy defenders" while simultaneously demanding that 77 million votes be thrown in the trash because you don't like the result.

Madison called this a "faction" in Federalist Number 10 -- a group so driven by passion or interest that it cannot subordinate itself to the rights of others or the good of the whole. He warned us that democracies historically self-destruct because of exactly this dynamic. Hamilton reinforced it in Federalist Number 9, celebrating "legislative balances and checks" specifically to prevent a loud minority from steamrolling a quiet majority.

The Founders built this system knowing YOU were coming.

--- CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST PROVED HE IS NOT A DICTATOR ---

Here is my favorite part of the whole spectacle. I want you to think about this very carefully.

You marched. Freely. In 3,300 locations across the country. You held signs. You livestreamed. You posted on X and Instagram and TikTok without a single consequence. You called the sitting president of the United States a fascist tyrant on national television and nothing happened to you. You went home, had dinner, and tweeted about it the next morning.

Do you understand what that MEANS?

If Donald Trump were actually the authoritarian dictator you spent Saturday insisting he is -- if he were even a FRACTION of the tyrant you have been screaming about for a decade -- you would not exist right now as a functioning political opposition. The organizers would be in federal detention. The websites would be dark. The social media accounts would be suspended. That is what actual authoritarians do. Ask the protesters in Russia who criticize Putin. Ask the people in Beijing who tried to organize in Tiananmen. Ask the Venezuelans who marched against Maduro. How about the 20,000–36,500+ protesters/civilians killed in Iran for protesting, with 40,000–53,000 more detained (and the left, the party of democracy, the party of compassion, is against helping Iran... sad). They did not go home and tweet about it afterward.

You went home and tweeted about it afterward.

You provided IRREFUTABLE, INCONTESTABLE, EMPIRICALLY DOCUMENTED proof that Donald Trump is not a dictator. You did our job for us. I could not have asked for a more thorough demonstration. Forgot to pay your logic bill this month, did you?

--- SINCE YOU BROUGHT UP KINGS, LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT KINGS ACTUALLY DID TO PROTESTERS ---

You want to invoke kings? Fine. Let us do a brief history lesson. Because I am a science teacher and I cannot in good conscience let that level of historical illiteracy go unanswered.

In 1381, English peasants marched on London in what history calls the Peasants' Revolt. They had genuine grievances -- poll taxes, serfdom, economic misery. Young King Richard II actually rode out to meet them. He made promises. He seemed to listen. And then, once the immediate threat passed, royal forces hunted down the leaders and executed hundreds of them. The rebel leader Wat Tyler was killed on the spot at Smithfield. The promises evaporated. That is what a king does to protesters.

In 1536, Henry VIII faced the Pilgrimage of Grace -- a mass uprising across northern England protesting his dissolution of the monasteries. Over 40,000 people marched. Henry offered pardons to divide them. Then, once they had dispersed and gone home trusting his word, he executed the leaders anyway. Hundreds of them. He used their trust as the weapon. That is what a king does to protesters.

Louis XIV -- the Sun King, the one the left might aesthetically enjoy because of the gold furniture and the dramatic outfits -- was actually a boy-king when the Fronde rebellion broke out in 1648. Parisian mobs and nobles rose up against royal centralization. The royal court literally fled Paris. And once Louis got his footing back? He spent the rest of his reign systematically dismantling every institution that could ever challenge him again. He revoked the Edict of Nantes. He persecuted Protestants. He built Versailles specifically to trap and control the noble class. His response to opposition was to make sure opposition could never happen again. "L'etat, c'est moi." I am the state. That is what a king does to protesters.

Peter the Great of Russia crushed the Streltsy revolt by personally overseeing the torture and public execution of over 1,000 men. He displayed their bodies as warnings. He did not call it a "therapy session." He made sure the next group thinking about marching would remember what they were looking at.

King George III responded to colonial protests with the Proclamation of Rebellion in 1775, formally declaring the Americans to be traitors to the crown. He mobilized the British Army. He hired Hessian mercenaries. He authorized the burning of towns. He did not tweet that the protests were "grassroots astroturf." He sent warships.

And in the modern era, when people ACTUALLY live under authoritarian rule -- when they face the kind of leader the left spent Saturday pretending Trump is -- here is what happens to them. Tiananmen Square, 1989. Chinese students gathered peacefully, just like you did, demanding political reform. The government sent tanks. Hundreds to potentially thousands of people died in a matter of hours. Nobody went home and posted on social media. Some of them ARE still in prison.

Venezuela. Maduro's government has killed over 100 protesters, imprisoned hundreds more, and used colectivos -- government-sponsored armed gangs -- to disperse crowds with live fire. The opposition leaders are in jail or in exile. That is an actual authoritarian response to protest.

So when you hold up your "No Kings" sign and go home to your house and tweet about it from your iPhone, I need you to genuinely sit with the fact that you just compared the man who LET YOU DO THAT -- peacefully, freely, without consequence -- to people who would have had you shot, hanged, tortured, or imprisoned for trying.

The gap between your slogan and reality is not a slight exaggeration. It is a canyon. And the only way you can stand at the edge of that canyon holding that sign is if nobody ever taught you what is on the other side.

Which brings me to something I have been wanting to say for a while.

--- KINGS DON'T GET VOTED OUT AND COME BACK ---

Let me explain something that I genuinely think a substantial number of the people out there Saturday do not know. The word "king" has a meaning. A specific, historical, verifiable meaning.

A king inherits power by birthright. A king rules for life. A king does not face term limits, midterm elections, congressional oversight, judicial review, or the possibility of impeachment. A king cannot be voted out. A king does not leave office peacefully after losing an election and then run again four years later in a free and open campaign.

Donald Trump did EXACTLY that last thing.

He served four years. He lost an election -- a real one, contested, audited, and certified by Republican and Democratic officials alike in state after state. He left the White House. He went to Florida. He played golf. He called in to podcasts. And then, because we live in a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC and not a monarchy, he ran again. And won again. By more votes the second time than the first.

Can someone -- ANYONE -- name a historical king who did that? I will wait.

Charles I did not lose an election and come back. Louis XIV did not step down and campaign for re-election. King George III did not say "well, I lost the popular vote so I'll try again in four years." The very THING that makes Trump's presidency the opposite of monarchy is the thing you are using to protest it. He got ELECTED. By more people than voted for the other candidate. That is not what kings do. That is what PRESIDENTS do. In REPUBLICS.

--- THE REAL MONARCHS WERE IN CONGRESS THE WHOLE TIME ---

Now here is where I need you to pay attention, because this is the part that actually matters.

While 8 million people were in the streets with "No Kings" signs aimed at a man who has been in federal office for less than five years combined, the following people were quietly sitting in Washington enjoying their permanent thrones.

Nancy Pelosi. In Congress since 1987. Thirty-eight years on the taxpayer dime. Her net worth, by various estimates, has ballooned past the hundred-million-dollar mark during that time, fueled significantly by her husband Paul's remarkably well-timed stock trades in companies directly affected by legislation Nancy was voting on. She resisted a congressional stock-trading ban for years. Fought it. Explained it away. You can call Trump a king while a woman who has been accumulating power and wealth in Congress since REAGAN was president keeps her throne. Amazing. Truly stunning.

Bernie Sanders. In public office since 1981. Forty-four years. Senator for nearly two decades, sitting on the Senate Budget Committee, authoring legislation, drawing a government paycheck, railing about millionaires and billionaires while owning three houses. His net worth is estimated between two and three million dollars. Fine for a regular American. Interesting for a man who has built his entire political identity around class warfare.

And then there was the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour. Oh, this one. This is my personal favorite exhibit in the museum of liberal hypocrisy.

While traveling the country to tell you that the rich have too much and the system is rigged, Bernie Sanders was asked why he flew private instead of commercial. His exact response, and I want you to read this carefully:

"You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United... while 30,000 people are waiting? No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about."

He will not wait in a security line with the rest of you. The man whose entire political identity is built on the idea that wealthy people are your oppressors will not sit in coach with the working class he claims to champion. He flies private and he is not sorry. Not even a little.

You marched against the guy who has been in office for a few years. You did not march against the people who have been running this country as their personal career for half a century. Curious choice.

--- $294 MILLION IN DARK MONEY AND A COMMUNIST PARTY LOGO ---

Let us talk about who actually organized this thing.

Multiple investigators and journalists confirmed that the "No Kings" protest network was funded in part by a web of progressive dark money organizations, with reports citing hundreds of millions of dollars in organizational backing from groups tied to George Soros and other left-wing billionaire donors. The CPUSA -- that is the Communist Party USA -- was listed as a co-sponsor, literally displaying the same hammer-and-sickle imagery the Soviet Union used for decades. Antifa flags were present at multiple events. Hezbollah flags. Hamas flags. Palestinian flags.

Wait, wait. Hold on. I need to ask a clarifying question.

The people holding Hezbollah and Hamas flags and the Communist Party USA banner -- are those the democracy defenders? I just want to make sure I have that right. Because when I look at a hammer-and-sickle flag and someone tells me "this is what democracy looks like," the only honest response I have is that you have never opened a history book.

In 1963, Congressman Albert Herlong read into the Congressional Record a list of 45 Communist Goals for America. Goal Number 15 called for capturing one or both of the political parties in the United States. Every communist symbol flying at a mainstream Democrat protest represents the degree to which that goal has been achieved. This is not a conspiracy. This is photographic evidence.

Here is something else worth noting. At approximately 1:00 PM in New York City, the protest dispersed. Almost simultaneously. All at once. Almost like a shift ended. Almost like someone's paycheck stopped being direct-deposited. I am not saying anything. I am just saying: organic grassroots movements do not have coordinated clock-out times.

--- THE INTERVIEWS WERE THE CHERRY ON TOP ---

If you watched any of the street interviews from the protests, you saw the most accidentally educational content produced in years. Reporters walked up to protesters with a simple question: what specific thing has Trump done that makes him a king?

The results were remarkable. And I am not editorializing here. I am going to let them speak for themselves.

"Trump's a-- Yeah. Why is that? I don't know. He's just -- We don't like him. That's the word around here. Any particular reason why you don't like him? No clue at all. I'm just going what everybody else saying."

No clue at all. Just going along with what everybody else is saying. Eight million people. Marching. For that.

Then there was this exchange, which I have read three times and it still does not fully compute: "Well, this is called No Kings. So what does that mean to you?" And the response? "It means we got to get rid of him. He's not a king. He's not a king. He's not a king."

So -- you marched to say he is not a king... and therefore you need to get rid of him. I teach logic to teenagers and even they would catch that one.

How about this gem: "Can you give me a specific example of Trump acting like a king?" The answer: "There's a million of them all put together. There's no one example. It's exactly just one or two. There's more than one or two." Follow-up: "Can you give me one or two examples?" Final answer: "Not off the top of my head. I mean -- I guess I'm just at a loss."

I am at a loss too. Just for different reasons.

And here is a reporter asking a woman why she is protesting Trump: "Is there any decision in particular you disagree with?" Her response: "We're okay. So I would start with um --" And then silence. Actual, filmed, documented silence. The reporter could be heard waiting. The internet dubbed it simply: "We're waiting, Karen."

A mom brought her daughter. Sweet. Civics in action. The daughter explained that they were there because "they silence us and they don't get to do that." The reporter noted -- correctly -- that Trump had just won a democratic election. The girl's response: silence. The reporter said, gently, "Trump is keen, says people freely protesting in a free country." And the interview ended.

The most honest moment of the entire weekend came from this man: "What do you make of the fact that he was democratically elected, even won the popular vote? How does that make him a king?" His answer: "It doesn't make him a king. Makes him a president, not a king." And then someone in the crowd continued the "No Kings" chant anyway.

That man understood the argument better than the protest he was attending.

One last one. Seventy-four-year-old woman, on camera, clearly terrified: "I'm just so scared. I'm 74 years old. I worry about everything and I'm just so scared."

And I have genuine empathy for her as a human being. I do. The fear is real. But the fear is the product of three years of media telling her that fascism is coming, that democracy is ending, that the worst is inevitable -- and not a single day of anyone sitting her down and explaining what the words they were using actually mean.

That is not her fault. That is a failure of information. And it leads me to something I have to say.

Quinn's Law Number 6: facts are the enemy of liberalism.

When you cannot name a single example of the thing you drove to the city on a Saturday to protest, you are not a political activist. You are a prop.

--- THIS IS A FAILURE OF EDUCATION AND I WILL NOT PRETEND OTHERWISE ---

I am a science teacher. I have spent my career in a high-need career tech district where the public schools largely gave up on the students I fight for every single day. I wrote the textbooks for my own classes because the existing ones were not good enough. I take education seriously in a way that a lot of people who CLAIM to care about education simply do not.

So let me be direct about something.

What I watched on March 28th was not a political disagreement. It was not a difference of opinion between informed citizens with competing values. It was EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE who do not know what the word "king" means marching to prove it on camera.

And that is not their fault. Not entirely.

A king. What is a king? This is not a difficult question. It is a sixth-grade vocabulary word. A king is someone who inherits power through bloodlines, rules for life, answers to no one, and maintains that power through force. No elections. No term limits. No peaceful transfer of power. History is FULL of examples of exactly what kings do and how they operate. We have been writing about it for 3,000 years. It is not a mystery.

And yet. Eight million people applied that word to a man who was voted in, voted out, went home, came back through another election, and operates under the most thoroughly documented system of checks and balances in human history. The Constitution that limits his power is a public document. You can read it. It is not long. The 22nd Amendment that caps him at two terms is sixty-eight words.

But nobody taught them that. Or they were taught it and the curriculum spent so much time on feelings and social justice frameworks that the actual content -- words, their meanings, their historical context -- got squeezed out. I have watched this happen in real time. Teachers who learned it incorrectly and passed that incorrectness to the next generation like a virus. Students who graduate knowing how to feel about injustice but not how to define the terms they are using to describe it.

You know what else teachers often get wrong and students carry for the rest of their lives? That there is no gravity in space. That blood is blue until it hits air. That Albert Einstein failed mathematics. That you only use 10 percent of your brain. These are myths so thoroughly embedded in American education that millions of adults believe them as settled fact. Because a teacher said it. Because nobody corrected it. Because the feeling of having an interesting fact was more appealing than the work of verifying it.

The "Trump is a king" idea operates the same way. Someone in authority said it with confidence. The media repeated it. The algorithm amplified it. And eight million people went to the streets to protest a concept they cannot define, aimed at a man who is the living disproof of the concept they are protesting.

I teach kids who come to me with years of misinformation baked in. I know what it looks like. I see it every day. And I am not angry at the protesters -- I am angry at the system that sent them out there that underprepared, that under-informed, that confidently ignorant of the very words on their own signs.

That is a CATASTROPHIC failure of American education. And the same party that funded, organized, and showed up to that protest has controlled the teachers unions, the curriculum boards, the education bureaucracy, and the Department of Education for decades.

So. To summarize. They built the machine that produced these protesters. They aimed the protesters at the people trying to fix the machine. And then they called it a grassroots movement.

--- CANADA HAD TO RENAME THEIRS ---

I am saving this because it is the dessert of this whole article and I want you to savor it.

A group of Americans living in Madrid, Spain, organized their own "No Kings" protest to demonstrate against American authoritarianism. In Spain. Which is a constitutional monarchy with an actual royal family. The irony has not been confirmed to have harmed anyone physically, but I remain hopeful.

Even better: the "No Kings" protest in Toronto, Canada had to be renamed. They called it "No Tyrants" instead. Do you know why? Because Canada is part of the British Commonwealth. Canada HAS a king. The King of England is their king. They could not chant "No Kings" in their own country because their country literally has one and their prime minister swore an oath to him.

I could not write this. No one could write this. Reality just handed me material that satire cannot touch.

--- WHAT THE ADMINISTRATION SAID ---

The White House called the protests "Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions."

No policy changed. No executive orders were reversed. No legislation was pulled. The administration continued doing exactly what 77 million people elected it to do, while 8 million people stood on sidewalks holding signs that accidentally proved our side's arguments for us.

You organized the largest single-day protest in recent American history and the policy outcome was nothing. That is not nothing as an insult -- that is a factual description of the result. The constitutional republic functioned exactly as designed. A temporary elected official with term limits, checked by courts and Congress, continued his elected agenda while the loyal opposition freely and openly opposed him without consequences.

James Madison would have called this a success story.

--- THE BOTTOM LINE ---

Eight million people proved on March 28th that Donald Trump is not a dictator. They proved that the First Amendment functions as written. They proved that Quinn's Law Number 22 is as reliable as gravity. They proved that a protest funded by hundreds of millions in dark money, co-sponsored by the Communist Party USA, flying Antifa and Hezbollah flags, organized by people who could not articulate a single grievance, dispersing simultaneously at 1 PM like a paid shift ended -- is what the media calls "grassroots democracy."

And they aimed ALL of it at the wrong target.

The career politicians with the stock tips and the private jets and the forty-year tenures are still in office. Untouched. Unbothered.

Fortunately, we live in a constitutional republic. Not a democracy. Not a monarchy. A republic, as Madison described it in Federalist Number 10 -- a system filtered through representatives, checked by enumerated powers, designed specifically so that a loud faction cannot override the legitimate will of a majority of 77 million voters.

The Founders built this system with people like Saturday's protesters in mind.

They got it right.

But what do I know -- I am only a science teacher who actually teaches the Federalist Papers, a man who spent 23 years in the Army taking an oath to defend the Constitution instead of a king, and someone who reads the primary sources before forming an opinion rather than just going along with what everybody else is saying."