I wrote a political story the other day, and some online slob commented something like, Don’t you get tired of being so hateful all the time?
First of all, not hateful. The only thing I hate is coconut flakes. “George is getting upset!” is more like it.
For good reason. The country that most — most — of us love sinks deeper into fascism and destruction every day (all to appease Massa Putin), and the harsh truth can’t be salved by any amount of conservative spin. Even right-wing cro-mag with a kajillion followers Tucker Carlson agrees with me. The former Fox News blowhard recently called the attack on Iran “absolutely disgusting and evil” and said Donald Trump is failing on every single issue by every conceivable metric. Current polls have him hovering around 34% approval compared to over 60% disapproval. The 34-count felon is sinking faster than my first cold beer after I mow the lawn in July.
The time for kumbaya nonsense is gone.
You’re either for democracy, or you’re for fascism and non-Congressionally approved Middle East wars, and if you’re for fascism, expect to be punched in the mouth routinely by antifascists, Tucker Carlson, and our humble little rag.
Here’s the deal: This country is talking about bringing back the military draft, so if you are or know a man between the ages of 18 and 42 not named Barron Trump, say your goodbyes, because that kid’s draft-dodging daddy’s next assault on Iran will lead to lots of flag-draped caskets shipped to American families, all because the guy in the White House and his billionaire buddies allegedly raped and definitely trafficked children and want to keep covering it up.
We could look to Congress for help or leadership, but they’re on vacation for the next two weeks and the inside-the-box-thinking Dems are more useless and downright offensive than a snow cone in the Antarctic. Now since the GOP removed nearly a trillion dollars in federal health spending to offer tax breaks to the 1% and are going to propose gutting health care even further to help pay for a budget bill ballooning with as much as $200 billion to fund Donald’s illegal, losing Iran war and ICE, you can count on the Democrats to stay silent or abide by “decorum,” because like nearly every Republican politician, Uncle Chuck and Haha-keem and almost all the rest of the vegetable lasagnas on Team Blue are owned by the same billionaire donors.
There’s more. As TSA agents go unpaid, the price of gas begins to climb along with the national debt ($39 trillion-with-a-t and counting, now larger than the entire U.S. economy), voting stands to become harder, ICE continues terrorizing lawful citizens, AI drinks all our water, the Houthis join Iran in attacking us — and only us because our prideful president shat on all our former, formidable allies — and as the IRGC threatens American universities in the Gulf, human bodies, including U.S. soldiers and innocent Iranians, like 100-plus schoolgirls, stack up. Reading or watching the mainstream media with any regularity, we all know why nearly 9 million people marching in 3,300 events Saturday barely registered. The despot has neutered CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, the Times, the Post, all of them, threatening financial and legal retaliation for simply reporting facts or offering the tiniest bit of not completely pro-Trump coverage, like 9 million people taking time out of an erstwhile laid-back spring Saturday afternoon to tell you you suck.
Independent content providers are doing the work that craven legacy outlets can’t or won’t out of fear. Along with Meidas Touch, Raw Story, Democracy Docket, More Perfect Union, the Courier, and many others, I’d like to add our frequent contributions to the national dialogue, starting with our coverage of the No Kings rallies Saturday in Fort Worth and Arlington.
More than 7,000 people gathered in General Worth Square downtown, and the Abram Street area in Arlington attracted 600-plus. Like most of the marches nationwide, Fort Worth’s and Arlington’s were peaceful.
Arlington represented Karen Boone’s first protest. She was joined by two of her three children. The one missing had voted for Trump.
“I brought up three children to be independent thinking and to be accepting of anyone,” she said. “Anyone was welcome in my house, regardless of sexual orientation, religion, color, whatever. The only thing I do judge against is stupidity, and for my son to vote for Trump, I feel like it was a slap in the face. I was a single woman raising three kids, and I felt it was a slap in the face because we know Trump doesn’t like women.”
Though she said her son no longer supports Trump, she believes the president has wrecked the Republican party — and America — indefinitely.
“After ICE,” Boone said, “my boys helped me in the yard, and [my son] came over, and I had to come right out and say, ‘Do you regret your vote?’ He hung his head and said, ‘Yes, Mom. I regret it.’ It’s going to take generations to get back to normal. I will not see it in my lifetime. I hope my children do, but [Trump’s] done so much damage, if you ask me.”
In Fort Worth, Sheriff Bill Waybourn came under heavy attack. Since the year he was elected, 2017, more than 70 people have died in custody, most from medical neglect for untreated mental illnesses. One anti-Bill speaker was Amanda Arizola. The COO and co-founder of the social design studio CoAct who helped guide JPS Health Network through the pandemic discussed the cycle of jail deaths: Sick people go in but don’t always come back out.
“When someone moves from the county jail to a county hospital and does not survive, that is not two separate failures,” Arizola said. “That’s one system failing in two places, and we owe this community better.”
In Arlington, elderly U.S. Navy veteran Bobbi Patience wielded her megaphone like a longsword and led chants against Trump, the Ku Klux Klan, and fascism.
“I’m here today because I took an oath almost 60 years ago to protect this country and to follow our Constitution and to be here for every individual that walks on the land here in the United States,” she said. “I believe in what we stand for, and I believe in the freedoms of every individual, and that’s why I’m here today. I’m 70 years old, and I’ll be here until God takes me home.”
Saturday was the largest protest in the history of the United States, but you wouldn’t know that by watching or reading the now-state-owned mainstream media.
Stephen Cervantes and Zach Freeman contributed reporting to this column.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
