Joan and I attended the No Kings demonstration on Oct. 18 right here on Victory Boulevard. The one in Manhattan looked jam packed and neither of us was feeling our best, both suffering from leg injuries that would need care the next week. So, we figured, keep it local.

We saw a lot of friends from all parts of our life on this Island. Doctors, musicians, a lot of theatre folk. A lot of people were our age, but there were also younger folks in attendance. It was as mixed an affair as one could expect on Staten Island, and quite sizable, too. Our local paper counted 600 folks but those of us who arrived a bit later counted closer to 1,000. In any case, it was bigger than the previous demonstration, held on a rainy day in June. Total attendance of all the demonstrations jumped from five to seven million. My guess as to why is that, in the intervening months, the current administration has done so much more to anger and insult the citizens of this country, including many who voted for them.

Quite predictably, the pundits were out in front of this one, calling it a “Hate America Rally.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Everybody in attendance at these demonstrations loves their country and wants it to do better. There were warnings of Antifa presences and violence. Antifa, by the way, means anti-fascist and all of us really do not like........

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