How to spend your next Saturday
Listen, I know that GOPsters are calling it a ”Hate America” rally. But let’s face it, MAGAns are all a little high strung these days, and they tend to get the vapors at the least little bit of pushback to their grand scheme to murder American democracy.
So you can’t really blame them for being a tad shrill.
I mean, the last “No Kings” demonstrations, in June, drew 5 million participants to more than 2,000 events across the country. With any luck at all, the next round of protests will draw twice that number.
So of course Trump loyalists are acting like they’re about to be administered a collective wedgie…again.
All I’m saying is that this coming Saturday, Nov. 18, will be a fine day to join your friends and neighbors at GVN’s next “No Kings” rally. Organizers are promising “a peaceful, nonviolent day of music, community, protest, and solidarity.”
Be there (or be square) at Cora Robertson Park, 600 SW 6th St., from 10 a.m. to noon.
For more details check out this link.
Pledge to free the Ocklawaha
For as long as I’ve been a Florida journalist, and that’s now more than half a century, I’ve been writing about efforts to free the Ocklawaha River.
It was once Florida’s loveliest free-flowing river – connecting Silver Springs to the St. John’s River. But it’s been dammed up ever since the ill-advised (and long since abandoned) post World War II engineering boondoggle to build the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
Last year, environmentalists thought they were finally getting somewhere when the Legislature passed a bill allocating $6 million to plan the restoration of the Ocklawaha. But The Great DeSanitizer vetoed it because…well because he’s The Great DeSanitizer.
(I mean we’re talking about a guy who’s been bulldozing rainbow crosswalks all over the state because, oh I dunno, he hates The Wizard of Oz or something. Our anti-Ron never needs an excuse to do the wrong thing.)
But The Florida Defenders of the Environment are gonna take another stab at restoration next year. In preparation, FDE President Steve Robitaille is asking Floridians to “take the pledge” to help. restore the Ocklawaha.
“State decision makers need our support now more than ever to make Ocklawaha River restoration a reality in 2026. Your voice will make a difference,” Steve says. “Working together we can ensure that the Ocklawaha River is restored, and new recreational amenities and economic opportunities are created benefitting Silver Springs, the St. Johns River, fish, wildlife, manatees, and the people of Florida.”
So please, friends, take a minute to take the pledge at this link. Steve would appreciate it. I’d appreciate it. And, really, it’s stupid to keep a river bottled up over a project that Richard Nixon killed two or three generations ago.
When pigs fly…fly along
But listen, life can’t be all about standing up for democracy and defending the environment. Folks just wanna have fun too.
The New Year is just around the corner. And that means yet another Flying Pig Parade is coming to downtown GNV.
And if you like to dress up in funny costumes, strut your stuff to the music, maybe wave a sign for your favorite cause and generally abandon all pretense to adulthood, the Flying Pig wants you.
Parade organizer Glenn Terry says the third annual Flying Pig Parade will kick off on January 3 at 2 p.m. It’ll proceed south on SE 1 St. from East University Avenue to the Hipp. The parade will be followed by a birthday bash in Bo Diddley Plaza, with live music and cake, from 3:00 to 4:30.
But here’s the thing, you can’t have a parade without paradees. So if you, your club, your bosom buddies, your poker pals or anybody other carbon based life form of your acquaintance want to participate, you need to register at the website FlyingPigParade.org.
For some reason I am reminded of my favorite Abe Lincoln quote about being tarred, feathered and paraded out of town on a rail: “If not for the honor of the thing I’d just as soon have walked.”
FreeGNV 