Friday Homestead Dispatch

Tepid Intrepid Trilemma

The weakness of businessmen was their belief that money was the point of the game; they worked 14-hour days in order to earn enough of it to buy cars with leather interiors, they thought it was a sensible recreation to play around with it in casinos–idiots, in short.
—Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson

1.
My heart goes out to the people in Southern California who have lost family and homes due to the fires still raging. This can happen anywhere these days, especially in the extremely dry Southwest where my wife and I reside. The map below was updated this morning.

Of course, the Democrats, and especially Biden, are to blame for the fires. And Fuckleroy will keep blaming the Dems for the next four years: “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. Let this stand as a symbol of the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newsom duo. January 20th cannot come fast enough!" ...brayed the Fuckle.

Newsom’s office shot back, “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration—that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said Trump’s comments do not reflect California’s complex water supply systems and just fan flames of political discontent. 

“Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people’s lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it’s happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency,” he said. “It’s not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It’s about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate.”

The mainstream media in our country won’t address the root cause of the horrific wildfires here, which Mark Gold named in the previous paragraph.

For a dose of observable reality check out this article by the BBC: The impact of a changing climate is evident in the bigger picture for the state. These "fire weather" days are increasing in many parts of the world, with climate change making these conditions more severe and the fire season lasting longer in many parts of the world, scientists have shown. In California, the situation has been made worse by the topography with fires burning more intensely and moving more rapidly in steep terrain. This area of California is also dominated by naturally very fire-prone shrub vegetation.

Professor Stefan Doerr, Director of the Centre for Wildfire Research, at Swansea University said, "While fires are common and natural in this region, California has seen some of the most significant increases in the length and extremity of the fire weather season globally in recent decades, driven largely by climate change.”

Thoughts and prayers go out to actor and climate-change denier James Woods who lost his home with no home owner’s insurance.

2.
And the winner of the short summation of the Jimmy Carter State Funeral is Susie Bright: The Kabuki Theater pantomime at Carter’s funeral today was off the hook! Karen Pence and Kamala Harris formed a curious duo — two women who refused to look at Trump, let alone shake his hand, even as the men around them “did their duty.”

George Bush sailed by Trump as if he wasn’t there, and proceeded to belly-bump Obama, who could barely suppress his laughter — Barack got the short straw, seated next to the Orange One. Melanie, an end-piece on the pew, had a mask of rage that could have given Medusa pause. Michelle wins because she didn’t attend at all.

Then, the Trumps got to listen to eulogy after eulogy of people who truly loved Jimmy C and found him to be the most decent and moral man they’d ever met. I’ve never seen such an effective, if not entirely planned, diss.

HCR gives us a more thorough and detailed report here.

3.
Wednesday, January 8, was the 14th anniversary of the shooting when a gunman attempted to assassinate Gabby Giffords, killing six and wounded 13 others at a "Congress On Your Corner" event at a Safeway store on the Northwest Side.

The Tucson Sentinel reported that clad in a thick purple coat, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords braved a blustery, freezing morning and asked for people to join her to "move forward together" and fight to make the country safer during a memorial to mark the 14th anniversary of the the Jan. 8, 2011, attack in Tucson.

Giffords was joined Wednesday by former U.S. Rep. Ron Barber and few dozen others at the "Embrace," the January 8th Memorial built just west of the Pima County Historic Courthouse in Downtown Tucson.

In case you have not seen/heard the musical tribute written by Mitzi Cowell, check it out here:

I was asked to play drums, and Mitzi also recruited a who's who of local musicians (including lead singer Sabra Faulk) to record her song in response to the tragic shootings of January 8th 2011. Bev Seckinger directed and produced the video along with Mitzi as co-producer. More credits listed on the Youtube link page.

4.
This is the kind of attitude we need amongst U.S. politicians. Witness Canadian politician, environmentalist, author, activist, and lawyer Elizabeth May, who is serving as the leader of the Green Party of Canada since 2022, rake the Fuckle over the coals about Parliamentary procedure along with calling out his notions of making Canada a “nice 51st state.” Mocking him she quipped, “Maybe California would like to be the 11th province. How ‘bout it, California? Oregon? Washington? We’ve got geography in common.”

5.
And in the reality check of Republican nonsense and hypocrisy, how about Congressman Mike Collins (R-Georgia) tweeting On #ThisDayInHistory in 2021, thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C., to take a self-guided, albeit unauthorized, tour of the U.S. Capitol building. Earlier that day, President Trump held a rally, where supporters walked to the Capitol to peacefully protest the certification of the 2020 election. During this time, some individuals entered the Capitol, took photos, and explored the building before leaving.

Since then, hundreds of peaceful protestors have been hunted down, arrested, held in solitary confinement, and treated unjustly. Countless hours and taxpayer dollars have been spent pursuing innocent grandmothers and raiding President Trump’s home, while terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants continue to cross our nation’s borders, causing havoc in our communities. Thankfully, President Trump has announced that, on day one of his presidency, he will grant pardons to nonviolent defendants.

I can’t even…a slight saving grace is that less than an hour ago the Fuckle was sentenced in his hush-money case to unconditional discharge, in which a defendant is not fined, locked up or given probation. This formalized Trump’s status as the first president or president-elect who is a felon. In his defense he said, “I got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. I just want to say I think it’s an embarrassment to New York.”

6.
If you’re interested in seeing a collection of my recent work in one setting, Saturday, February 1 is the reception for an exhibition I’m fortunate to be a part of…all the details in the flyer below.

7.
And next Thursday, Sunny Gable will be making a rare Tucson appearance at the Tap & Bottle from 8-10pm. I’ll be playing piano and accordion along with T. Greg Squires on drums, Karl Hoffmann on bass, Alvin Blaine on strings, and Syndenn Sweet on harmony vocals.

And now…