‘No Kings: Vote Early’ on Saturday

The No Kings events on Oct. 17 are “the next step of reclaiming our power after a year of mass mobilizations. It’s a day of nonpartisan voter participation, being in community with each other, and making sure every eligible voter has a plan, knows their options, and is ready to make their voice count,” the organizers say.

I’m happy to see the events listed on Saturday’s No Kings map for the suburb next to the one where I grew up in California, for the town in Florida my mother-in-law lived in at the end of her life, the numerous events available near my house in Washington, D.C.

And I’m particularly happy to see there’s a No Kings event being held in the Rust Belt town where I was born, New Castle, Pa. — and it’s even, for the second time in a row, on the street where I lived before my parents and I moved to California when I was seven years old.

Last night, I came across an article from the Dec. 26, 2024, Washington Post about New Castle, titled “After backing Trump, low-income voters hope he doesn’t slash their benefits.”

New Castle once was known as the “tin plate capital of the world” (tin plate, used in stoves, lanterns, candlesticks, coffee pots, cooking pans, eating utensils, cans for preserving food, and toys, was made by rolling steel plates and dipping them in molten tin).

It was a wealthy town, where the Warner Brothers started their movie business and Amelia Earhart inspired my relatives to learn to fly when she spoke at their high school.

But industry changed and New Castle now has half the population it had in 1950.

The 2024 Post article says, “More than 1 in 4 residents live in poverty, and the median income in this former steel and railroad hub ranks as one of the lowest in Pennsylvania.”

I’ve always admired many of the old mansions in New Castle and, as some of you know, use them as my index of New Castle’s distress.

This well-preserved 11 bedroom, six bath, 9,500 square foot mansion recently sold for $668,000.

The quotes of Trump voters in the Post article make me sad.

“I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us,” one woman says.

“We are old and tired and just want to be taken care of, and Trump has too much common sense, so I don’t think he is going to do anything to hurt us,” says another woman.

“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.” — late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., civil rights activist

Here are regularly updated voting rights resources for the November midterm elections, on John Dineen’s briefing.center website. And here is John’s daily quick commentary on his briefing.center home page.