Friday Homestead Dispatch
Sticky Wicked Wickets
1.
Dave Hickey had a way of slicing up popular culture, the art world, the music business, and world political theater with his own peculiar verbal knife. In his essay, American Cool, from Art Issues #56 from February, 1999, he wrote of George Washington; The epitome of Washington’s cool was his serious reluctance to run for a second term. He was ultimately persuaded to do so, but his reservations speak volumes about the nature of cool. Washington’s argument was that, since his was a short-lived family, there was a good chance that he might die in office, and it was Washington’s one simple desire to be seen relinquishing power, that he might be the first American to be seen stepping down from office. He was ultimately seen doing so, and the world is better for it. Washington is greater for having done it, because giving away power is the essence of cool. You can always go get more power if you want to, and no one’s life is worse for giving it away.
Fuckleroy will never, ever be cool.
2.
What gives Fuckleroy power is a certain collective fear of him. It feeds him. He’s tossing wrenches here and there right now to sew confusion and anger, but many of the promises he’s made in his campaign ‘speeches’ may be difficult to achieve. We still have the rule of law and the court system—there are some judges with ethics—to use against his (and Project 2025’s) horrid proposals. Just this week he said about the price of groceries, a word he alone invented, "Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.” Groceries = Viagra.
Lee Papa penned even on a symbolic level, I want to see the groveling before Trump to stop. No Democrat should go to the inauguration. By going, you are ignoring his lies, and you might believe you are honoring the American tradition of peaceful transfer of power, but you're actually giving aid and comfort to someone who ended that tradition. You're forgiving a criminal who has show no remorse and you're abandoning everything that Democrats have fought against for the last decade And for what? For the hope that he maybe won't set a Kash Patel-led FBI after you for having opposed him? For a moment of his idiot hordes not inundating your offices with death threats? Being decent to indecent people is a fool's game.
Last Sunday the Fuckle gave his first interview as president-elect to NBC’s Kristen Welker. As Jay Kuo reports: the interview once again revealed an important truth about Trump: He’s an unserious man with seriously dangerous ideas. But nine years of Trump’s lies and gaslighting have taught us how to be resilient in the face of his threats and bluster. We know from experience that Trump says a lot of things but winds up accomplishing very little. The Border Wall. Infrastructure Week. Repealing the ACA. He’s a con artist whom fewer than half of the voters keep falling for, while the rest of us now know better.
In the interview he even trotted out that he has “concepts of a plan” for healthcare. Yes, we have concepts of a plan that would be better—let me explain. We have the biggest healthcare companies looking at it. We have doctors who are always looking. Because Obamacare stinks. It’s lousy. There are better answers. If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and everybody else, and I’d do something about it.
Solid.
And Liz Cheney is not going to just roll over to threats of treason. She responded in a statement: “Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power. He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave.
This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”
It’s also good to remember that Fuckleroy does NOT have a mandate. Trump’s margins—both in raw votes and in percentages—were small by historical standards, even for the past quarter century, when close elections have been the rule, including the 2000 Florida recount election and Trump’s previous two races in 2016 and 2020.
Isn’t it peculiar that the issue of election fraud, with 87 percent substantially or somewhat agreeing with the statement that voter fraud was a “serious issue” during the election, suddenly disappeared?
Hamilton Nolan writes: Here is the strongman’s trap: In order to do anything in his world, you have to bow to him. Everyone bows to him, and writes this off as a practical decision. But in doing so, you make the strongman stronger. Meeting his demand for loyalty, for not speaking plainly about his outrages, for flattery and obsequiousness—all of this serves to reinforce the unhealthy dynamic he has built. By paying the price to enter the halls of power, you ensure that the price will get higher. By agreeing to his rules, you cement his supremacy.
You need to punch this motherfucker in the face with your last bit of strength even as he piles the weight of the entire federal government on top of you. The political opposition in America is not fighting for itself right now—it is fighting for the millions and millions of working people and poor people and immigrants and women and others who are going to be oppressed more than usual beginning on January 21, 2025. The opposition is, right now, a minority. It is not in control. It is on the back foot. It is in a hard spot. And that is the time when you fight harder, or you take a knee. Don’t make the wrong choice.
3.
There are three not-yes GOP voters regarding RFK’s nomination to be the next US health secretary. You, too, can easily play a small part in reducing his chances by flooding their offices with your opinion on the matter. Here’s mine:
Please vote NO to RFK’s nomination to be the next US health secretary. He’s a conspiracy theorist and he should be rejected for his views on vaccines alone. For over 2 centuries, people have been vaccinated against deadly diseases, ever since the world’s first vaccine was devised against smallpox. We cannot afford to go backward with modern medicine as in the coming decades, we will need global cooperation, funding, commitment and vision to ensure that no child or adult suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease.
Contact Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
While you’re at it you can also let them know your dissatisfaction with the rapist, fraudster, traitor and 34 times felon’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth. You can find Senators’ phone numbers in this pdf. Oddly, the area code is not included. It’s 202. Web contact forms are available on most Senators' websites.
4.
Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), the most hated Democrats in the history of ever, gave the American workers a final FUCK YOU before leaving office. Good Lord, haven’t these two wrought enough damage? You won’t hear much about it in the mainstream media, because FUCK YOU.
Lauren McFerran needed both of their votes to be renominated to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which would’ve been a five-year term with a Democratic majority through August 2026. Appropriately, the FUCKING NEWS wrote: Instead, corporate America just captured the single most powerful ally workers have had. Republicans will now control the agency charged with protecting workers’ legal rights for the entirety of Trump’s presidency. Some of the NLRB’s changes in the last four years include barring companies from forcing workers to attend anti-union propaganda meetings. And ending non-compete agreements which prevent workers from moving to better jobs (and which also block companies from hiring those people).
Don’t let the door hitcha…
5.
In last Sunday’s post I addressed wealth inequality and the class system in the U.S. Kansan author Sarah Smarsh took this on in an interview broadcast on Amanpour and Company a while back…worth a listen.
6.
And don’t forget the mighty Morpholinos will be back this month at Monterey Court the night after Xmas…December 26 from 6:30-9pm. Make your table reservation and work off those overly-large portions of pie and mashed potatoes with us!
And now…
