It’s not just ‘Fire Nico.’ From the Mavs to the Gulf of Mexico, we’re losing freedom | Opinion
We thought America voted for more freedom and liberty.
But we got less.
Instead of more freedom to spread the gospel of Christ, criticize authority, celebrate or even read maps as we please, we are now told to silence complaints, stop preaching love and mercy and shut up about gender, race and the Gulf of Mexico.
From Dallas Mavericks games to the Tarrant County Commissioners’ Court and even to the White House, mild dissent suddenly draws a sharp response if not outright punishment.
We can’t even say the Mavericks should “Fire Nico.”
Or that the county judge or commissioners stink.
Or call a map feature by more than one name.
Suddenly, backtalk must be silenced.
That’s the complete opposite of what America stands for. And what voters wanted.
The most blatant example is the sudden turn against religious liberty by leaders who claimed to defend it.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton often portrays himself as a martyr and compares himself to Jesus Christ.
Yet he is trying to shut down a “weird” Austin church for serving the homeless and a Roman Catholic Church shelter in El Paso for helping those in need regardless of their immigration status.
In three weeks, the new administration in Washington has criticized U.S. Catholic and Episcopal bishops, called the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination a “money laundering operation” and frozen millions of dollars in funding for conservative evangelical churches’ World Relief.
This does not feel like religious freedom.
The ejection of a Dallas lawyer from a Dallas Mavericks game for his on-camera comment and sign calling for firing the general manager might seem trivial. But it’s another example of the hostile and belligerent response to any dissent.
After all, can’t a fan buy tickets and boo? What if you’re for the other team?
Even Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones isn’t this stupid.
At the Tarrant County courthouse, we have gone 176 years under two national flags without needing security doors or draconian “decorum rules” that ban “impertinent” remarks to Judge Tim O”Hare under threat of removal and jail time.
It’s because supposedly there was a threat.
But neither Fort Worth nor Southlake police nor county deputies have given any specific details. For all we know, it was a Facebook comment.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn’s office said the reason Tarrant County needs such rules now isn’t because of inept management or jailers’ poor training.
Why, no — it’s because of the public’s “negative commentary” about county officials.
And the sudden silencing of speech even extends to innocent celebrations like Black History Month, for more than 50 years an annual celebration of accomplishments.
Students at Tarrant County College were told that under Texas’s overreaching new anti-diversity law, they can celebrate. But not anyone in particular.
“This is an organization that teaches Black culture,” Black Student Union president Angel Valsin told The Collegian newspaper, “but we can’t even use words like ‘Black.’”
And let’s talk about the map.
Associated Press reporters were banned from White House events because the wire service uses the name Gulf of Mexico for that body of water instead of President Donald Trump”s new preference.
Look, in Texas we know names on maps don’t matter that much. The waterway along our southern border is the Rio Grande on this side and the Rio Bravo in Mexico.
Maps show both. It’s no big deal.
Meanwhile, hatred and bigotry against gender, age and race flourish.
Once-responsible elected officials almost compete to see who can bash Beyoncé, Taylor Swift or Kendrick Lamar for not being more like Kid Rock or Ted Nugent.
I don’t know about you.
But I do not feel more free.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 10:22 AM.
