“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.” —Frederick Douglass
“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.” —Anthony Bourdain
“Every one of us – Republican, Democrat, Independent – must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. This is the cause of our time.” —Liz Cheney
Elon Musk: Jonathan, the only reason I’m here is because you’re a friend . . .
Andrew Ross Sorkin: I’m Andrew.
1.
Besides the run for president next year there are many critical races worth watching; Governors, Attorneys General, Judges, House and Senate, Referendums…and many local offices that will make a difference. Bolts has identified and listed over 170 items across 31 states with more expected to be added.
2.
I mentioned Tucson mayor Regina Romero’s million trees project when I listed her accomplishments in my November 10th Dispatch. Romero solidified a pledge in 2021 to plant a million trees in Tucson by 2030, when she joined the 1t.org US Chapter Stakeholder Council, a group of public, private and nonprofit leaders committed to the restoration of 1 trillion trees globally.
This year, thanks to the Biden administration and congressional Democrats who supported the Inflation Reduction Act, Tucson is the beneficiary of a $5 million federal grant for the project. According to the Tucson Sentinel, Romero said the USDA grant "will ensure that the benefits of trees are reaching our most vulnerable residents: our seniors, children, and low-income communities. They are already feeling the effects of extreme heat." Tucson Urban Forestry Manager Nicole Gillette called it "a rare opportunity to fund tree planting and green infrastructure projects at the local scale like never before. I cannot wait to work with residents citywide to grow a greener Tucson."
Congressman Raul Grijalva said "Arizonans experienced our hottest summer on record as result of climate change, and now, more than ever, we need ways to mitigate and reduce its impacts in our urban centers. The City of Tucson's community-led and climate justice-focused urban forestry plan will increase the resiliency of vulnerable and environmental justice communities, create vital green spaces and spur sustainable economic opportunity."
3.
Saw this sticker on a car this week.
Of course, gas prices are mostly set my supply and demand, and giant multi-national corporations. Also I was thinking that Rethuglicans are SO electrified with the idea of freedom wouldn’t you think they’d be thankful that the folks at the top who are raking in billions are exercising their freedom to make way much more money than they or you ever will. Freedom! In reality world, ordinary people who vote GOP are always voting against their best interests. It’s the Rethuglicans and Libertarians who are the ones that are pushing the agendas to do away with government oversight and screw public services. Which way you gonna vote?
4.
Those wacky Republican Cochise County Supervisors, Peggy Judd and Terry Thomas Crosby, are finally getting a bit of a well-deserved spanking. An indictment filed in Maricopa Superior Court alleges that on Oct. 11, 2022 and Dec. 1, 2022, they "conspired to delay the canvass of votes cast in Cochise County" as part of the November 2022 general election. According to the Tucson Sentinel, they also pushed for a hand count of all the ballots in the election, and refused to complete the mandated duties under the law for days until a court ordered them to canvass the election and they did so on Dec. 1, days after the Nov. 28 deadline.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said "The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable. I took an oath to uphold the rule of law, and my office will continue to enforce Arizona’s elections laws and support our election officials as they carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices."
Judd, who attended the attended the ‘patriot party’ at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, claimed the incident was a "false flag" operation by "Antifa" activists and corrupt Capitol police officers, just to give you an idea of mentality of people who can hold office in this country.
5.
And in that light, how about that George Santos? Yes, anyone can get elected in the good ‘ol Freedom USA. Besides his lying about using donor money for purchases at Hermes, Only Fans, car payments, Botox, and personal travel, fraudulently collecting more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits during the pandemic when he was fully employed, falsely inflating his campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen, about where he went to high school and college, his work on Wall Street…other than that he’s probably an OK guy! Who knows what his politics are…who cares? But soon, maybe even today, he might just float away……
6.
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day
Songwriters: Jem Finer / Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan
Shane MacGowan died yesterday at the tender age of 65. All of which got me to thinking about my association with The Mollys during the 1990s, which had influences from the Pogues but also the likes of Flaco Jimenez. Quite the mix. Led by songwriter Nancy McCallion along with Catherine Zavala, onstage those two were unstoppable. And Nancy’s songwriting is as tough and honest as any you’ve heard. Geoffrey Himes of the Washington Post wrote “(Nancy McCallion) rivals Lucinda Williams and Iris DeMent as one of the finest Americana songwriters of the '90s and she deserves a comparable reputation...”
Witness ‘My Manda’ written in 2000 for the CD Only A Story:
My Manda
I swallowed the poison, I got on the airplane
Old woman just walk through the gate
For five thousand dollars, I sold them my insides
To die if the rubber should break
But I am an old woman, and die I am bound to
The years have been heavy for me
For five thousand dollars, the son of my own son
Could rise from the dust in the street
No llores, no llores
Your joy was all I sought
Take this, this my manda
For life with life is bought
These clouds all around me might fill me with wonder
If not for the thought of my dying
So small and so distant, the cities below me
Their invention but protests of time
I remember his sweet breath, the breath of a baby
That soured like the trash in the streets
And first as a mother, and then a grandmother
I ‘m asked to bear these defeats
And now am I bitter, it’s you who must tell me
I’m old and I’m poor and I’m tired
I come as a daughter, I come as a mother
I come for the life of my child
The coca is burning, it’s filling my belly
Oh grant me a use for this pain
For all of my anger, I beg no forgiveness
But my manda must not be in vain
And ‘Rosie’ was always one of my favorites to play:
Rosie
No one knows where old Rosie goes
No one knows where she gone
No one knows where old Rosie goes
But she gone she gone she gone
She got her name off a priest from Spain and that name is Rosie Garcia
She could pray in Spanish she could pray in Latin
and in English she could say “pleased to meet you”
She had her first boy when she was fifteen and she called him Miguel Garcia
He falls asleep flat on the floor after drinking a pint of tequila
She had her next boy when she was nineteen and she called him Robert Jose
He had a job for a while in town before he went away
He married that girl who said she was Spanish but looked just like Rosie’s sister
And he said he dated her seventeen times before he finally kissed her
Well Rosie she’s seen her share of dying and stirred her share of beans
Her people believe in observable justice but that ain’t what Rosie’s seen
The young girls they lay their plastic wreath down where somebody once rolled a truck
But Rosie’s too old to fall on her knees to the patron saints of luck
And, for grins, here’s the kind of energy the band exuded every night on stage:
Thanks for the amazing ride Nancy, Catherine, Dan, and Kevin. (Also thanks goes out to Mike Wolke for booking the bejeezuz out of the band)
And now…
Your musings bring comfort, thanks Gary. kw