Well good evening all you shiny, happy people.

Tis the Reverend Dare Cloud; who would’ve thunk it?

It’s Father’s Day in America, and possibly in other places around the world. I’m unsure if it’s an “Americans Only” holiday like The 4th of July, but I don’t care enough to Google it. Also, don’t comment the answer. I truly don’t want to know. It’s more fun to make up my own reasons in my head not knowing the true answer.

I got some cool stuff from the wife and chilled out watching Star Wars for Father’s Day. What did you guys get from hot/sassy Santa also known as “your significant other”?

Yesterday, I protested.

My oldest daughter, someone who fell for the GOP rhetoric and voted accordingly, is pissed and wanted us to march together for Father’s Day. I was going to go there to take photos anyway so it kind of worked out in everyone’s favor. There was no way any of her friends and neighbors – ninety minutes outside of Dallas – would’ve been caught dead in a big city protest, especially one that targeted Darth Doofus. I was asked earlier in the week by my best back-home buddy if I planned on leaving the house on Saturday. That’s how big of a deal it is to someone not living smack-dab in the middle of the chaos. It’s scary to someone not in the know. I know, because I used to be one.

History is watching, but the winners get to write the history. Bill & Ted rules. Unless the opposition gains some real leadership – and not just a loud voice trying to get Tik Tok shares – I’m believing history will be something studied by the next species who evolve on this planet. We’re doomed, but I digress. Again.

Let’s put this in political perspective. I was born into a conservative family and raised in a conservative town. The details are inconsequential. When I left home to join the Army, I became a closet liberal overnight. Again, the details are inconsequential. I stayed that way for twenty years with everyone I knew. Let’s call it Left-Leaning Conservative; possibly Independent.

Then I traveled the United States Non-Stop for four years. Dude. That’s all I can say about it. Dude. Some of you will know what I mean. Jack Black, maybe. Dude. Traveling every inch of this country opened my eyes to a world kept hidden from my soul. East, west, north, south; no two regions are the same in the United States. It’s a beautiful thing.

My kids grew up, I remarried young, and moved to the city.

Fast forward to today.

I’m a horror writer with gonzo tendencies, retired from the fine art biz, and a disabled veteran. I am all over the freaking board, man. People can’t figure me out. I sleep with a rifle inches from my hand every night with my arm around the most radically liberal woman I’ve ever known.

I know what it’s like to live on either side while pretending the whole time to be something you’re not. It’s a deep, guttural loneliness that will drive you to the most extreme of thoughts. I often imagine it’s somewhat related to, but nowhere near as excruciating, as being homosexual but living hetero in a straight community. It sucks to live a lie, and that’s why I don’t do that anymore. I won’t do it anymore.

That said, I strapped on my press vest, grabbed the fancy yet dusty camera, and headed to Dallas City Hall to meet my daughter. I’m fifty one years old now. It was hot as hell outside.

Cities are like giant convection ovens in the summertime and, even though it may be the same temperature as somewhere else nearby, the heat “feels” different. I think, in the country, even in the summer, it still feels like there’s some hope left in the world. Someone who was born in the sticks with an abundance of heat and humidity will understand what that meant. Sundown in the summertime meant relief and Lightning Bugs. That relief doesn’t come in the city.

Weather aside, I’ve been to my fair share of protests and marches since moving to Dallas six years ago. How was the June 14th, 2025 50501 “No Kings” rally in Dallas, Texas? Now that I’ve slept on it for twenty-four hours, this is what I experienced.

I’d never seen so many pseudo-treasonous Caucasian Gen-X/Boomers at the same place at the same time since a Styx/Foreigner/Def Leppard show I attended in 2010..and there wasn’t a Corvette in sight! It was like they all magically teleported from Plano like an angry near-senior citizen “away team”. Myself included. What I mean is, almost everyone looked like me. I’m not meaning this as an insult. Not in the slightest.

I apologize for the Trek reference – I usually don’t blurt out such things – but it was like looking in a mirror.

The majority of the people looked like the 2020 election’s Kyle’s & Karen’s who got duped again in November ’24, and are attempting to redeem themselves at the zero hour. It’s kind of like those Atheists who pray to God at the last minute and get a pass to go to heaven, even though they butchered their own family with a salad fork. My daughter, who is twenty years younger than I am, and fits that description, said the same thing to me completely unprovoked. She thought they mostly looked like her.

There was a noticeable absence of black and Hispanic men. Every other demographic was represented equally. Lots of white people and women of color. Why?

After speaking with several black and Hispanic men in my own community, there is a common misconception that Trump is some kind of financial genius deal broker they look up to. Kind of like Scarface after eating fifty plus years of McDonalds.

In the end, I give two poops and a poke who’s helping me push back, but don’t expect me to forget what you did. I’m digressing multiple times at this point, folks. Stick with me.

That was at the rally itself. I saw one black guy, and we immediately bonded over Star Wars. Then, this little Latino dude heard us say that Clone Wars was “prime Star Wars”, and he jumped into the circle as well. Fellowship, my brothers and sisters, wears many masks. Some of them help the characters breathe. Fictionally.

What I’m getting at is that I can love anybody, except someone who wants to prevent anyone else from doing something they want to do; even if it doesn’t break a law or harm anyone. Those are my political views. Stop looking through my keyhole; I like to do freaky things in there. Catch me?

Because the majority of the participants, aka the people who look and dance like me, don’t have any rhythm, the thing wasn’t popping like the other protests. This was yet another observation brought to my attention via a twenty year younger and likeminded individual.

Then, the rally ended and the walking started.

It was as though thousands more people came from the adjoining streets and added a surprising amount of color to the march. I’m not sure how they pulled that off, potentially some half-time Super Bowl choreography minus any wardrobe malfunctions, but the protest brought on much more life when it moved. Not with shenanigans in mind, it was just trippy how that happened. Almost like how you can’t tell the forest for the trees kind of thing, dig?

At ground level and stationary, we all seemed to gravitate within our own circles. When we mobilized, it all came together like a perfect storm. The symbolism behind this detail was inspiring.

As the energy and the afternoon heat skyrocketed, my aging body began to show warning lights. Come to find out, wearing a safety vest atop your clothes while carrying a stuffed camera bag does not remove degrees from the surface temperature. I let the people do their thing, and I headed home to edit photographs.

In hindsight, I’m proud nothing horrible happened in Dallas. Let’s be honest; they shoot and kill presidents here, not just kiss them on the ear and kill the innocent bystander who unluckily sat behind. Truth be told, Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife married one of my uncles after the Kennedy assassination. I only remember meeting her once and I was very young. Anyway, I’m just saying, Dallas has a history of going to the rifle range. Also/Also, riots get costly in Big D. Lots of property damage.

Final verdict?

Overall, I was deeply moved by the amount of care that was put into the planning of this protest and the many others around the country which happened simultaneously. The only standoffs I saw were between a religious nut with a bullhorn and the Dallas police officer who was attempting to shut him down. I even offered several of the officers water. None accepted, but they were cool about it.

Disclaimer: Even I can take the label off of a Magnesium Citrate bottle and stick it on ice, but I digress. Again. Again, again.

We interrupt this Yelp review of the US government to bring you this.

That’s what I wanted for father’s day dinner. It’s a guilty pleasure meal I may only eat once every couple of years. It’s not that I don’t like breakfast; I just don’t like breakfast-culture. Let’s continue.

I know it seems like a myth now, but Dallas sports teams once won championships. Yes, it happened within my lifetime, too. When they would do such things, this town would rip itself to shreds. Because of this little fact, I feared for the public’s safety prior to this protest. I’m glad we proved me wrong. The only thing I found there to fear was heat stroke.

As an army veteran who was flat-out pissed about Trump’s mimic of a military dictator’s parade, the Dallas “No Kings” rally gave me a bit of hope. I’m not saying that to be all sentimental to the reader at the end of the article to portray some kind of “feel good”, Hallmark Channel, Walmart down-home goodness; I truly mean it.

We’ve got a long way to go, and we need direction drastically, but I truly mean it. I felt hope.

Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.

Palpatine did it better IMO.