Friday Homestead Dispatch
Friday Homestead Dispatch
Hoary Humanitarian Houndstooth
The situation in which a person, imagining fondly that he is in charge of his own destiny, is, in fact, the sport of circumstances beyond his control, is always fascinating. It is the essential element in most good theater from the Oedipus of Sophocles to East Lynne. —A Coffin for Dimitrios, Eric Ambler
1.
While we anxiously await the Supreme Court’s ruling on Biden’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt for approximately 40 million Americans, Justice Sonia Sotomayor managed to cut through the legal complexity to handily summarize the problems with the case: It ignores the vast advantages of generational wealth when it comes to paying for education and the hardship that borrowers without financial help will face if Biden’s program is cancelled—and, to top it off, cancellation’s opponents are asking the high court to engage in judicial overreach to shut off a program that they simply don’t like, as reported by Mother Jones.
If you’re not sure what the plan entails, borrowers with federal student-loan debt would be eligible for up to $10,000 in relief if they earn less than $125,000 a year, or under $250,000 a year for couples. The income limit applies to gross adjusted income from 2021 or 2020.
And people who received federal Pell Grants in college would also be eligible for up to $20,000 in forgiveness. Around 6 in 10 borrowers with any federal loans also received a Pell Grant and Pell Grant-recipient graduates hold about $4,500 more in debt than other graduates, according to a 2020 analysis of federal data by the Institute for College Access and Success, an advocacy group. Also, according to that group, Average student debt at graduation in 2020 ranged from $18,350 in Utah to $39,950 in New Hampshire, and new graduates’ likelihood of having debt varied from 39 percent in Utah to 73 percent in South Dakota. In nineteen states, average debt was more than $30,000, and it was over $35,000 in six states.
Sotomayor went on to say there are 50 million students who will benefit from this who will struggle…Their financial situation will be even worse because once you default the hardship on you is exponentially greater: You can’t get credit, you’re going to pay higher prices for things. They are going to continue to suffer from this pandemic in a way that the general population doesn’t.
And what you’re saying is now we’re going to give judges the right to decide how much aid to give them. Instead of the person with the expertise and the experience—the secretary of education—who’s been dealing with educational issues and the problems surrounding student loans, we’re going to take it upon ourselves, instead of leaving that decision in the hands of the person who has experience with these questions.
2.
The Salton Sea in Southern California is a strange one. It didn’t exist until, in 1905, Colorado River floodwater breached an irrigation canal being constructed in the Imperial Valley and flowed into the Salton Sink. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Salton Sea has become an extremely critical resource for many species of resident and migratory birds, including several species of special concern. Due to the significant loss of wetlands in California and other areas, the Salton Sea ecosystem has become one of the most important wetlands for birds in North America and supports some of the highest levels of avian biodiversity in the southwestern United States. But over the last several decades, portions of the lake have been drying up, leaving behind a desolate, toxic dust bed that has been all but abandoned.
Last week the New York Times detailed the crisis facing the Sea and the farmers in the Imperial Valley due to Colorado River water shortage. From the times I’ve visited the shores there it’s hard to believe that, at one point in time, it was a tourism hot spot for the rich and famous.
The Sea sits on the San Andreas Fault which makes it that much more precarious and interesting. Very few know this but I actually released a CD in 2020, the title cut being Waiting For the Big One which is based on a fictional account of buying a chunk of land there and it all going south.
I thought I'd like it fine here at the Salton Sea
Got this house for fifteen thousand, came with a tree
Bombay Beach was supposed to be heaven sent
But now I think the underworld was what they meant
Salt water lake right in my backyard
Eating up the paint this ain't no Christmas Card
My art installation's not going as planned
Yesterday most of it sunk in the sand
Guess I'm waiting for the big one
Waiting for the big one
I'm waiting for the big one
The artists and the hipsters with their plywood floors
Building houses using recycled windows and doors
This apocalyptic town might have some life in it yet
Toxic dust might be a bit of a threat
The Bombay Beach Drive-In is not what it seems
Nothing really is in this town of lost dreams
Got nothing but time plopped here at the bar
Might be time to light up my last cigar
I'm waiting for the big one
Waiting for the big one
I'm waiting for the big one
The San Andreas Fault is right under my home
My house might as well be made of styrofoam
Good thing I sold most of my worldly effects
Give me a call and pay your last respects
Guess I'm waiting for the big one
Waiting for the big one
Waiting for the big one
Gary Mackender: Lead Vocals, Drums, Accordion, Organ, Piano
Karl Hoffmann: Bass
Connor Gallaher: Pedal Steel
Kelley J Hunt & Kelly E Hunt: Harmony Vocals
3.
Sheesh, you’d think Scott Adams would just shut up. The creator of Dilbert, the mediocre cartoon that’s made him millions, came to attention in a video livestream where he declared “I resign from the hate group called black Americans. The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. Just get the fuck away. It makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help black citizens anymore. . . . It’s over. Don’t even think it’s worth trying.” According to the Bulwark, Adams then claimed that black people who criticized his rant were proving him right about the wisdom of segregation: The agreement comes in two forms. One form is black people saying I’m a horrible, horrible person and I should be canceled. That’s my point. . . . My point is that there are way too many . . . black people who have a very negative opinion of white people. That was my point. So the ones who are yelling at me and also black are also making my point. The writer for the Bulwark article, William Saleton, pointed out that This is a circular argument: I propose segregation on the grounds that black people are hostile to white people; black people denounce me, a white man, for this proposal; therefore, black people are hostile to white people, and my proposal is vindicated.
Good job, Dilbert…
4.
I’m hoping the loser Kari Lake is not spending taxpayer’s dough for all the lawsuits she’s filed trying to be a winner. According to the Arizona Mirror, she has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to review the decisions in her election contest case after the case was shot down by both the Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals. Please, may I have a cookie? Following the vile orangeman’s playbook, Lake has continued to claim that she would have actually won the election if not for intentional suppression of Republican voters and rampant election fraud in Maricopa County. And she’s still raking in donations (She raised in over $2.5 million after Election Day) to support her claim.
5.
Live in Tennessee? Republican (surprise!) Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill banning drag shows in public spaces, a measure that will likely force drag shows underground in Tennessee. Republican State Rep. Jack Johnson, who co-sponsored the bill, said "We're protecting kids and families and parents who want to be able to take their kids to public places. We're not attacking anyone or targeting anyone." While new laws typically go into effect on July 1, the bill was quietly amended in January to take effect April 1, just ahead of Pride month in June to ensure NORMAL Just Plain Folks aren’t exposed to the depravity of drag shows. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee released a statement saying “These laws are written so broadly and vaguely that they would allow government officials to censor performers based on their own subjective viewpoints of what they deem appropriate on any given day.”
Here’s Lee making the public announcement earlier this week…he and his pals then celebrated afterward with a jolly good book-burning on the patio of the Bear’s Den, a Republican white men only private club.
6.
I would be remiss if I did not post a couple pictures of the second snow of the season here in Tucson. Ours was light compared to what I’ve seen of other people’s FB posts but yet it was our second helping this year. In our part of town we’ve had about 1.5” compared with Flagstaff at 118” and the north rim of the Grand Canyon at 187”. Our Aleppo Pine thanks the SnowGods…
And now…
