Attendance Required for Scheduled Protest,
By Marla Vex, Senior Correspondent for Sentiment Affairs
October 15, 2125 — Citadel City
Citizens must attend, chant on cue, and pass biometric scans to prove their outrage is authentic. An official close to the planning committee said, “I am delighted with the beautiful affirmations of the Sunday protests. Compliance has improved dramatically in Q2–2125.” Attendance Required for Scheduled Protest has been a game changer.
By directive of the Citadel Civic Council and Vexton Administrative Authority, all residents aged fourteen and older are required to attend the weekly protest against monarchy. Attendance is verified via biometric scan. Personal slogans are permitted but scored; subpar slogans may negatively impact one’s Social Credit Score. Passion and volume are measured. Subjectivity is penalized. The protest is scheduled. The rebellion is mandatory.
Yada yada yada. Mandatory attendance was declared years ago. Only the diehards show up. Everybody else finds a way to be elsewhere.
The Existential Threat of Cognitive Dissonance
Vexton isn’t a king. He’s a petty war lord in control of the former Berkeley, CA. Pointing out the obvious: Vexton acts like an authoritarian king. Because more control, more aggressive enforcement will engender better compliance. But you can’t state the obvious inside the Citadel and stay out of jail. No one is allowed to say Vexton isn’t king.
These two contradictory statements coexist inside the Citadel: Vexton behaves like a king, and his subjects are required to protest against kings. But you can’t protest Vexton and keep your freedom. The mental contortions needed to live in the Citadel are epic.
Rational, clear headed thought and feelings are an existential threat inside the Citadel. The art of peaceful citizenship is to read the fickle winds of the castle and either placate or avoid being noticed. Perfectly normal, am I right? The closer you are to Vexton Primaris Solenne the harder this is. Multiple identities become survival.
My Truth is Truthier
The facts as held by Trump’s opposition are these: he is authoritarian and nationalist. These are attributes of Hitler’s Germany. Add these to prior accusations of convicted felon (true), sexual predator, and capitalist pig. The rational move is to protest his position as POTUS. Utopia will manifest once Trump is pushing up daisies. These are the frame that Trump 47 is placed in.
There is such a stark contrast on the other side of the ideological fence. Trump isn’t Hitler for us. He’s more like a dad who catches his daughter in the arms of a boy and the distinct air of weed perfuming the family room. Busted.
Over there, on the Woke True Folk side of the fence, everyday dawns to fog, drizzle and high humidity. Even the weather seems to be simpering. There is no love, everybody names their grievance, malady, kink, addiction, and fealty to atheism ahead of stating their name. The five pillars are that important. And the orthodox identity needs a boogeyman like Fanta Fascist.
Sunrise Dawning Over Lies
Sunday morning. Some of the slogans for the protest: No Crown, No Cage, We Remember Real Protest, This Isn’t Freedom, Silence Is Violence, Stop the Show. Rich, from the useful idiots who show up Sundays protesting Kings. They chant, “No Lords, No Lies, No Freedom in Disguise!”. Consequences happen to those who fail to chant with enough vigor.
It’s a familiar liturgy:
- Invocation
We gather this morning to remember our righteous cause in the battle against evil. The demons we face are as strong as ever, and the devil Vell still spreads lies about this beautiful city. But we are the victors, building a thousand-year future on the words of saints like Bakunin and Marx. Let us bow our heads in reflection and prepare to march with clarity and fire. - Drum Circle
- Struggle Session
Citizens, fulfill your duty to the revolution: confess your privilege, state your pronouns, and kneel at the altar of freedom. Three must testify their disloyalty to our Dear Leader Vexton Primaris Solenne. Then, name one who has failed the revolution. Who will be first? - Future Vision from Our Youth
Today is your day! You are the future—bold, brilliant, and burning with purpose. Study the Manifesto with fire in your heart. Seize the day, defy the drag of time, and rise against the machinery of despair. Viva la Revolution! - Solidarity Song
- Affirmation of Doctrine
We are the architects of serenity, the stewards of justice, the hand that lifts the weary. Let our protocols guide you to peace, our forms shield you from chaos. You are not alone—you are the frontline of history, the calibrated breath of revolution. Together, we will dismantle the machinery of greed and silence the spectacle of empire. Compliance is courage, and your loyalty is liberation. - Call-and-Response
- Communal Ration Ritual
Eat what’s there. The Commissary selected food for optimal nutrient density and ideological alignment. You will express gratitude. - Final Chant
No Crown, No Cage, No Snacks for the Stage! No Kings, No Lies, No Freedom in Disguise! Stop the Show! Let the Sovereigns Flow! - Sending Forth
Go forth with revolutionary fire. Carry today’s passion into every struggle ahead. Let your steps be fierce, your loyalty unwavering, and your purpose clear. Vexton sees you, honors you, and trusts you to bring down the towers of greed. The future is yours to ignite.
Clown Move
The fashy thing to do lately is LARP as a revolutionary. If enough people cause enough chaos Persimmon Toddler will step down and Queen Clitorun and her consort Willie can be coronated to assume their rightful seats in the Oval Orifice. So . . . the chant is “No Kings!” and the money and energy behind the protest is exploiting the passion to win a color revolution and establish a dynasty.
What are we doing? Why are we throwing tantrums to unseat an elected president to satisfy our frustration with his vibes? We must be so hysterical that protecting the narrative is an existential necessity. I noticed. Others have noticed also. That those still eating bitterness and drinking hysteria create the very authoritarian chaos they blame for the hot mess lives they live.
Trump, wielding the powers Congress gave him, becomes the symbol of forbidden vibes. The protest is about aesthetic violation. And the organizers? Bougie imperialists in revolutionary drag. But we can’t say that. No—the emperor is wearing clothes. Look at the boutonniere. So handsome!
Sunset
There are only five countries left with Socialist governments—China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. Maybe six if you count the European Union as a country. It’s a mixed bag. Countries that allow some level of capitalism tend to do better than those that enforce strict state control. A corrupt black market fills the gaps where strict state control is the orthodox method.
No Kings . . . but you evangelize for political leaders who give authoritarian vibes. We keep getting news stories about corruption and voting irregularities perpetrated by the Blue Tribe. When the stories come out the answer is that it is those evil Red Tribe, MAGA assholes who are cheating. MAGA’s leader is a disgusting, racist, Nazi, predator who is driving us into imperial hell. Truth.
I’m not so sure. From where I sit it’s a pleasant Fall Day. All the enemies of the Blue State are following through on Don the Con’s campaign promises. Again, the daughter caught by Dad in the living room, on the couch with a boy who has his hands down her pants. Daughter accuses Dad of being a Nazi and not understanding. Right.
Five Centuries
On or around the 1990’s I was trying again to make cab driving pay a living income. I’d recently married my son’s Mom. She wasn’t having this Hail Mary attempt to make driving for dollars work. Two decades later I have to agree with her.
Happy am I? Kind of. But not because Uncle Sam is so wonderful or Trump is kind enough to live out the dystopian nightmare his opposition claims he is aliving. Because I keep surprising those who agree with me each time I cry about the latest scary predicament.
I was at the Berkeley BART station at Center and Shattuck parked on the cab stand. The five of us were hanging out on the sidewalk. I asked one of the other cabbies if he thought USA was doomed, and soon. He said it wasn’t. His number was 500 years. It’s 2025 as I write this. By his number we are halfway there.
Your Turn
“The Age Issue: More of Congress Is 70-Plus Than Ever Before.” Conven.org, More of Congress is 70+ Than Ever Before
The 70-and-older cohort makes up more than a fifth of the members of Congress. By the time the legislative body adjourns in January of 2027, if every current member stays in office, there will be closer to 140 members aged 70 years or older across both chambers.
When the current Congress was convened in January, there were nearly 120 members who were 70 or older — 86 in the House, including nonvoting delegates, and 33 in the Senate. This number, which is unmatched in modern history, included 14 octogenarians in the House, five in the Senate, and 91-year-old Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa.
Number of members 70 years or older in each chamber of Congress
In the House, 86 members were 70 or older at the start of the current Congress, a majority of them Democrats.
Seniority and longevity have long been rewarded, both at the polls and internally within the two major parties. Even so, some of the country’s oldest lawmakers have faced scrutiny in recent years over age and fitness to serve after very public episodes of what looked to be disorientation or decline.
Not Gone Yet
I’m more than halfway there as of this post. My walk from mewling babe to second childishness is in its final third. So, the fall of USA will happen after I’ve gone home to have beers with Jesus. The torch has been or should be passed to my son or my grandchildren. I get to step aside and grump about the mess those damned kids are making of things.
Kids, I’m not in control of the grand opera we are living in. I have to trust the things I cannot change to you. It does appear that the pain which drove anarchist and socialist political theory is healing. Leaders who trade on the five pillars are losing Riz. I don’t know what’s ahead. But it feels better than a tantrum painting my kin with my adjectives as the boogeyman causing all the drama. I have faith in you, young one. Attendance Required for Scheduled Protest? Nah. My recliner is calling.
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