Main photo: “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques-Louis David, public domain
We are a community of persons, based in the Kansas City Metro Area, who are lovers of truth, reason, and people.
“The solution has to start with the real story” Raoul Peck
(Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84206282809?pwd=THdkQlNBNENjZ3Bpbit5Z1grN3hEZz09
meeting location, map, and more Zoom options below.)
NO Program for Sunday, July 13, 2025
No Program this Sunday
No program scheduled for this Sunday.
Note that future programs for this summer may not be held at the university, because the meeting rooms are undergoing substantial construction changes include the computer and data access needed for Zoom meetings. So at least temporarily this summer any meetings may be scheduled in libraries.
(See coverage from June 15 No Kings/Parade below the program announcement.)
(Earlier) Program for Sunday, June 15, 2025
No Kings Protest, David Cay Johnston, MTN Network
To start the meeting, a half-hour video by David Cay Johnston: The One Thing Preventing a Full-Blown Dictatorship, Prof. David Cay Johnston on The Mark Thompson show on YouTube[2]. This was recorded before the No Kings day events and sets up the issues.
Report on Saturday’s No Kings Day protest[3]. Reports from the large event at Mill Creek Park on the Plaza, which organizers report having 2,000 people and others say could be as large as 10,000 people. (For comparison, NewsMax reported that the Washington DC Military Parade had 10,000 people!!). Other reports from far South, South Metcalf in Overland Park, and other locations.
Discuss coverage of the events and how they differed from predictions.
Maidus Touch Network[4] and other podcasts give excellent detailed breakdown analyzing situation.
If we have time we will examine some popular podcasts that cover legal and factual issues about the administration activities that are not typically covered in the regular media.
[1] No Kings website background, https://www.nokings.org/ fair use assertion.
[2] Mark Thompson Show, The One Thing Preventing a Full-Blown Dictatorship, Prof. David Cay Johnston. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VsYKOv5060.
[3] No Kings Day organization: https://www.nokings.org/, official organizers of protest on Saturday June 14, 2025.
[4] Meidas Touch Network (MTN): YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MeidasTouch. Liberal Media in Crisis? Not The MeidasTouch. It’s Bigger than Rogan.
“For real. The podcast by Ben Meiselas and his brothers regularly outdraws Joe Rogan’s. Their secret weapon? Reason. Imagine!”
https://newrepublic.com/article/194187/meidastouch-ben-meiselas-liberal-media-bigger-rogan.
Meeting Notes
(This will generally not have footnotes rather inline links for ease of use. Occasional reference to footnote above. This is not a report on what happened at the meeting rather a gathering of ideas stimulated and sometimes reporting on subjects or discussions of the meeting. We arrived at the traditional meeting room to discover the room had been striped of all equipment, masked for painting, and even new electrical cables pulled for data so no internet or screen was available and we made due with a notebook and minimal internet capability to operate the meeting on Zoom. Participation was lite but produced very useful reporting on No Kings protests and follow up activities.)
This report will cover the meeting as it was desired if there had been lots of time, with links to sources and commentary (not as the meeting occurred) but will include summary information from parts of the meeting. The intended subject matter was preliminary analysis of the authoritarian grab by the current president relating to protests before and on “No Kings” protest day June 14, Military Parade in DC (same June 14), analysis of the media coverage and links to interesting new media covering this subject, and how that could feed into possible long response in protecting democracy.
Abstract:
Analysis suggests that Trump wants to use the US Military against civilians and to project menace and power. Also to justify getting military on US Soil so it can be used to affect future elections and quell dissent as in the authoritarian playbook. The No Kings protest was largely successful and peaceful from the standpoint of the protest itself. Violence occurred, mostly against the protest and Democratic politicians were assassinated during the day. Local observations of the Greater Kansas City area No Kings protest match national reports of being peaceful and well attended, with some 5 million protesters in the US. The military sabotaged the poorly attended Military Parade in DC such that it actually appeared to celebrate 250 years of the military in the US, rather than projecting a menacing front on the birthday of the dictator to be. Attendance at No Kings protest, just in Kansas City area, was a significant fraction of the DC Military Parade and far outstripped the Parade nationally. Trump is loosing largely in the courts in a battle to maintain control of National Guard and potentially the military personnel for use in cities, presumably in the future for authoritarian power projection–however this process is tenuous and fraught with danger.
Article:
We opened the meeting with The One Thing Preventing a Full-Blown Dictatorship, Prof. David Cay Johnston[2], (Video 01) 25:52. Johnston, long time Trump analyst, outlines Donald Trump’s power grab in advance of the “No Kings” day protests.
Another interesting perspective analyzing the issues (not in meeting) is:
The Daily Beast Podcast: The Sinister Source of Trump’s Autocracy Playbook, YouTube 29:37. “Russian and American journalist M. Gessen, whose reporting from both Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America has made them a singular voice on creeping autocracy. Gessen explains why Americans’ faith in endless progress is misplaced—and how Trump, like Putin before him, overwhelms the system by attacking everything, everywhere, all at once: courts, media, universities, even law firms. They argue that the biggest danger isn’t sudden collapse, but slow adaptation—that Americans are already getting used to living in a crumbling democracy.” (The Daily Beast podcast can be found at https://www.thedailybeast.com/ and on YouTube.)
No Kings Day Protest:
Members at the meeting reported on Mill Creek Park (Plaza, KCMO), Metcalf and 119th (KS), Metcalf and 135th (KS), and Lees Summit (MO) (at end of meeting video).
Another view from a news organization with video is KMBC: Organizers estimate more than 2,000 people at Country Club Plaza for “No Kings” protest.
All participants reported a friendly atmosphere. Organizers distributing water and even picking up trash. Cars, trucks in all locations honking in support, with an interesting fraction of drivers who had time honking or giving thumbs up, while others ignored or would not face the crowd. Only very few, say 2-3 persons or vehicles per location, were negative. Mill Creek (Plaza, KCMO) had reports in news of 2000, or 7000, while visual estimates of participants allow for over 10,000 and easily 5,000. (This will be significant compared to Military Parade in DC.)
Military Parade in DC:
A fairly complete video record of the DC Military Parade of June 14, 2025, can be found at PBS on YouTube 2:54:45. Also the White House itself has a video, on YouTube 3:11:09.
Estimates on No Kings were for some 5 million persons across the US. Apparently NewsMax reported the count at the DC MIlitary Parade at 10,000, while all other news agencies were suggested to be afraid of reprisal and did not mention the poor attendence. The administration reported 250,000, after planning for 200,000–which is patently impossible because multi-sourced images show sparce attendance from many views so must be only a fraction of the planned 200,000.
MTN: Trump PARADE turns into DISASTER as NO ONE SHOWS, (Video 02) 12:48. Meidas Touch Network[4] Ben Meiselas comedic look at the DC Military Parade attendance. (Pure propaganda except based on truly occurring video evidence.)
BTC: Republican bill suddenly AT RISK amid MAJOR UPDATE, (Video 03) 12:55. (Bryan Tyler Cohen)
The Daily Beast podcast: Why Trump ‘Reamed Out’ Hegseth For Parade Fiasco, YouTube 35:06.
A most telling comment about the Military Parade:
“I think you guys missed the point. It was a silent protest. The march was called Foxtrot Delta Tango, as in FDT. They played Fortunate Son, which was an anti Vietnam War protest song. Because Trump famously got Daddy to get a Doctors note for Bonespurs, Trump didn’t have to go to Vietnam. The army was purposely walking, not marching for a dick tator.” (Verification on Snopes with video links to show correctness.)
Commentary on the parade from the video transcript (n:nn is timestamp), I am including a significant quote because it is so packed with useful information (my emphasis added in quote):
“3:35 I mean, nothing makes the man happy. And spending $45 million on a birthday 3:43 celebration, appears not to have made him happy, either. He’s kind of pissed off. 3:49 I mean, he’s pissed off at the soldiers. I mean, he’s accusing them of hamming it up. 3:54 And but, you know, and and by that, he seems to mean that, that they were having a good time, that they were waving, that they were, 4:03 that they were enjoying themselves and showing a convivial face 4:10 rather than a military face. Interesting. And he kind of reamed out Hegseth for this. 4:18 Apparently there there was a phone call and he was in, he said, and he said to Haig says, you know, the tone was all wrong. 4:25 Why was the tone wrong? Why? Why what what who staged this? 4:31 There was the tone problem. You know, Trump, he keeps repeating himself. So that was the word on that on that phone call was tone. 4:39 I would interpret that he, you know, he wanted something 4:44 menacing, I suppose, you know, something military, like something like, you know, we’re 4:51 we’re this is this is the most staggering force in the world. And maybe it will come for you instead of, you know, I think it appeared 5:02 to a lot of people that this was that there was a kind of festive air. 5:07 Everybody was was actually celebrating, celebrating something, 5:14 you know, the the 250 years of the US military, probably celebrating that more than Donald Trump’s birthday.
“5:23 But it didn’t send the message that he apparent really wanted, which is that that he was the commander in chief of this, 5:33 of this menacing enterprise. Well, certainly having soldiers dressed up in costumes from 200 years ago 5:42 would not send a menacing vibe to an enemy. If they were looking at this, I thought it had the vibes of a sort of trade show. 5:52 A trade show for the army, that the plinths that they were sitting on, this sort of, theater that the, VIPs were sitting 6:00 on, that Donald Trump was sitting on with next to us and, and, Melania, it looked like it had been put up overnight. 6:08 And it literally looked like something from a trade show. Yeah. No, no, I mean, it was not none of this was sending the message 6:17 that he seems to have wanted to send, which is that this which was a threat. I think that’s what he wanted. 6:24 And he got the opposite of that. He he got a kind of, you know, a kind of a Hampshire gathering. 6:31 Right? Which, by the way, no one went to the other thing.
“So. 6:37 So he’s insisted, you know, put it out. He said 250,000 people. 6:42 Stephen Chang put that out. Yeah, but but that that was from Trump. Put it out 250,000. 6:49 That is it. 250,000. He kept he kept saying this, you know, to everybody else saying but but 250,000 6:56 when in fact it was I mean the people I know there who were there said at tops, tops 7:03 maybe 40,000 and probably more like 20,000, you. Could see the empty bleachers. 7:09 You could see as the drones pulled back. Lots of empty lawn. You couldn’t. 7:14 Yeah. No, I mean, nobody nobody was. I mean, who would go. Yeah. No, I mean, let’s I mean, it’s hard to get anybody a draw to any parade.”
Psychologist Dr Russell Razzaque gives a comparison video: What Trump Wanted For His Military Parade vs What Trump Got…, YouTube 2:40. (Quite funny.)
So summary analysis of the Military Parade: The military apparently sabotaged the parade such that it actually appeared to celebrate 250 years of the US military, just as it had originally been planned. Rather than marching (menacing dictator marching army videos from past), at one point they were walking and played an anti-Vietnam song. Audience participation was estimated by Daily Beast at 20,000 to 40,000. (Compare to No Kings even in Kansas City alone possibly 10,000 people). Pete Hegseth was “reamed out” because the tone of the parade was all wrong, not apparently menacing as the would be dictator would like.
Battle over control:
Ninth Circuit ruling, staying order https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25974440-9th-circuit-ruling-in-national-guard-case/.
(Several events need to be added, the 9th circuit has stayed the order to return control of the National Guard to California. ….. )
Post No Kings coverage:
Tom Hartmann Report, June 17: Border Agents or Thought Police? When Did Words become a Crime?
Mark Thompson Show: Iran Conflict Deepens, Trump Flails, MAGA Base Starts to Regret, David Cay Johnston, YouTube 33:15. Post analysis, also including Israel-Iran conflict, and analysis of events related to No Kings. Johnston suggests need 3.5% of population protesting to gain traction, we had 5 million not enough. (According to Johnston, this is 12 to 15 million needed, not sure what that is percentage of but not entire population of all ages.) Rest of the world already views the US as a dictatorship, with masked men with no insignia taking people off the streets. If this estimate of participation, then only a 3X improvement by further recruiting is needed from current point to read that standard.
An appeal by Newsom to stop president from controlling National Guard in California is rejected by 9th Circuit, June 20: MTN “Legal AF”, Federal Judges Make MASSIVE RULING on Trump TROOPS IN LA, YouTube 10:18. Three judge panel of 9th circuit ruled against Newsom, courts “must give highly deferential view” to president. (This would, if kept in force, allow president to control National Guard in all states in all instances.)
Then Judge Brier ruled that arguments will proceed Monday regarding the Posi Kamatus Act issues in the National Guard case. As discussed in
June 20: MTN “Legal AF”, Trump Hit with MAJOR Legal TWIST Over Military Crackdown, YouTube 9:17, the 9th Circuit did not rule on that portion of the case and thus did not stay his ability to continue hearings.
BTC: Attorney Trump fears most issues BOMBSHELL WARNING about Trump, YouTube 17:24. (Bryan Tyler Cohen with Marc Elias) time position 14:58 (some editing of transcribed text for clarity):
“… because the thing that is driving me crazy is that I expect that from the White House i expect that from the administration. I’ve even come to 15:07 accept that within the the Congress there is not a Republican with a shred of backbone or dignity left. Fine!
“But the 15:15 legacy media has decided to normalize 15:17 this i mean they they treat these 15:19 arrests as if they’re on the up and up…”
Vlad Vexler figures out why Trump bombed Iran: Because Netanyahu was getting all the press credit (after his military parade failed and that was all that was going on.) Vlad Vexler Chat, The Real Reason Trump Bombed Iran, YouTube 7:40.
Future Programs
There are two ways to join our meeting (2:00 to 4:00 PM)
1. In Person: 312 Haag Hall, UMKC: (NOTE that for this summer 2025, the rooms are undergoing construction and any meetings will be held at libraries instead.)
Image components: Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/b3XtZV2LaBh8diM97
Our Sunday CoR meetings (have been) held in Haag Hall, 312, on the UMKC Campus. (Leaving this for edit restore when returning.) Free parking is plentiful on Sundays. It is strongly advised (because of the extreme convenience provided) that the parking building be used. Drive to level 4 of the parking building at the corner of 52nd and Rockhill Road. (The entrances are a little south-west on Charlotte street.) After parking, walk across the aerial skywalk to Haag and Royall Halls. The skywalk dead-ends in a hallway on the 3rd floor. After the reaching the hallway, turn to your right. Walk a few steps, turn to your right. Enter Haag 312.
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/b3XtZV2LaBh8diM97
Google and Apple Maps give accurate parking garage directions for “5211 Charlotte St., Kansas City, MO.” Spiral up the garage to level 4 on the west side, and use the east side to descend to the street level. (If on the way you wind up on Holmes, drive east on 53rd to Charlotte, as 52nd is one-way westbound, but to exit to Holmes use 52nd. Most will exit directly to Rockhill, and must use 53rd.)
OR
2. Zoom meeting at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84206282809?pwd=THdkQlNBNENjZ3Bpbit5Z1grN3hEZz09 (NEW–Click here for web browser or Zoom enabled cell phone.)
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For past programs, please check out our Monthly schedules page.