Awaiting the demonstrations

What are you doing today?

Dear readers,

A career in newspapering made me respectful of deadlines, and the promise of The Upstate American is to deliver commentary to our subscriberes each Saturday. But there are predictions that today may produce the largest protests of modern years, notably addressing issues that are central to the focus of this column. That’s too big for me to ignore.

So I’m going to delay publication by a day, in order to get a sense of what No Kings Day means in the spring of 2026 and to incorporate some of the experience into what I send you.

To clarify: During my years as a fulltime journalist, I never participated in political activity, and I’m still not a member of a political party. That’s because my role, first as a reporter and then as a newsroom leader, was to independently cover the news and present it fairly to a diverse audience. These days I’m an opinion journalist publishing on a direct-to-consumer platform. While my commitment to truth-telling remains paramount, I am free in this role to express my personal views within the context of that fundamental ethical standard.

So I will be attending a No Kings Day 3 event near my home. I hope many of you will, too. If you don’t know how to participate, here’s a link to a site where you can find like-minded people near you.

Let me know what you see! And thank you for your commitment to our beloved land. Let’s do what we can for American democracy.

I’ll be back in touch with you tomorrow.

With hope and heart,

Rex