Today, Saturday, March 28, there will be more than 3,000 No Kings demonstrations all across the country. They will be a celebration of our First Amendment right “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances.” We are a nation of laws and we want to stay that way, with free and fair elections.

Locally there are several options. Jamestown will be hosting a rally in Dow Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Chautauqua Institution is hosting one at 67 Bester Plaza from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Here in the North County Marchers will gather at Cottage Street and Central Avenue in Fredonia at 3 p.m. People who want to decorate their cars and drive on Central Avenue should meet in the parking lot across the street from the Clarion hotel in Dunkirk. Both marchers and drivers will leave at 3 p.m. and will reach the Gazebo at Barker Commons in Fredonia around 3:30. At the Gazebo there will be speakers and music.

Trump wants to label us “Domestic Terrorists” What is so terrifying about us?

I’ve been writing these letters for 30 years. In all that time my liberal message has been the same, Peace through negotiation not violence, Everybody deserves healthcare, food, clothing and shelter, we need to work together to make a better world.

Do conservative people really find that terrifying?

So come out and talk to us. You might see someone you know from 4-H, Scouts or Church. You can ask us why we are there. Ask us if we’re being paid. Ask us where we got our signs.

What motivates us to stand in the cold with our hand made signs? There are dozens of other things we can do on a Saturday.

We do it because Fascism is brutal, cruel and ugly. Fascism believes that some people deserve to live and others don’t.

Killing USAID the way they did, just cutting everyone off all at once killed over 300,000 people, mostly children. The Georgia factory that made special food for malnourished children closed and the farmers who had been sending their crops to that factory suddenly had no market. Hurting starving children also hurts Americans.

Trans people are a favorite Fascist target. Trans people ask for nothing more than to live as their most authentic self. Only the Trans person can say for themselves what gender they feel. Why should anyone else care? The state of Kansas recently passed a law that invalidated the IDs of everyone whose sex did not match their birth certificate. Suddenly Trans people don’t have valid drivers licenses or professional licenses. They are vulnerable to being charged with operating without a valid license. The police can arrest them for it. This loss of personal freedom is a threat to everyone

We are marching to stand up for people who can not stand up for themselves. We are marching against concentration camps. The fifth amendment of our constitution says “nor shall any person … be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law” If they can deprive one person of “due process of law” they can deprive anyone.

In 2025, more than 30 people died in ICE custody. Entering the country illegally is a civil offense, not punishable by death, but people are dying.

We are marching against the war with Iran. Consider the cascade that followed the bombing of Iran. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Trump thought it would be over quickly; they didn’t plan for the worldwide trade disruption that would follow Iran closing the Straight of Hormuz. Some 20% of the world’s oil flows through there every day. About 30% of the world’s fertilizer is made there. It’s planting time and the cost of fertilizer just rose 30%. There will be food shortages this fall.

Our own stockpile of oil reserves is very low. That’s the kind of thing that should be checked before dropping bombs. Unfortunately this was not the case.

However much you might agree with the president you must admit he didn’t think things through. That lack of foresight is dangerous.

They didn’t expect the Iranians to stand up to us. They didn’t expect this kind of warfare. The Iranians have hundreds of small boats that can mine the straight. They have hundreds of drones they can attack with. They are driven by ideology and they hate us. Their goal is to make this so painful we will never attack them again.

The rest of the world is not going to come to our aid. Why should they? They didn’t make this mess.

This mess is all ours to deal with. We are marching because we want to clean it up. We want to keep the liberties we enjoy. We want to keep our elections free and fair. We want this nation “of the people, by the people, for the people” to continue.

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com