Friday Homestead Dispatch

Pacable Quixotic Ridgeling

Apr 22, 2022

1.
If you watch just one video today, or all of next week, let it be Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow standing up to the accusation of being pro-pedophile. Yes, Republican Klan Moms like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Michigan Sen. Lana Theis are tossing around the pedophile poop stain like Gerber on a baby’s bib. Theis, for instance, slung this pile of doo-doo in a campaign fundraising email: “These are the people we are up against. Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t teach, can’t groom, and sexualize kindergarteners or that 8-year olds are responsible for slavery.”

This is all Republicans have. This is what they do. Women and men just like this are in every state; far-right, white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorists who seem to think QAnon is the Bible. Just. Vote. Blue.

2.
There’s hope for them-thar young’n’s when they bypass Cancún for Spring Break and instead give a hand to Tucson’s Watershed Management Group. This video (Arizona Illustrated) documents their work to remove Arundo donax (giant reed), from Tanque Verde Creek in east Tucson. Arundo is classified as a noxious weed by the state of Arizona and can out-compete native plants for access to water and sunlight. It can increase flood risks and even carry wildfire.

Donating just a little bit of money to this important environmental group goes a long way.

3.
Several hundred people have posted on a food safety website, iwaspoisoned.com, complaining of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting after eating Lucky Charms. Well, fucking DUH. Maybe I’ll start a website called donteatcrap_vom.it.

4.
Crime author Don Winslow in a recent interview in the Guardian:

Was the Trump era an aberration?
We need to fight him harder now than ever before. You can hear the sigh in my voice. I think we thought for a brief time after the election that it was won. And then came the insurrection. And then came the unbelievable non-reaction to it by the Republicans. The open collusion in trying to overthrow a democratically elected government of this country. I think Trump – I hate saying his name, by the way – will run again. I think he has to be beat again and he has his coterie of imitators that need to be defeated. So we’ve got a fight on our hands.

PS: I’ve read his novels The Kings of Cool and The Power of the Dog and am currently reading The Cartel.

5.
And in the spirit of removing those pestilential Phrump followers, you can help to remove Paul Gosar right now. Gosar, you know, the guy who, along with Congressman Mo Brooks, Congressman Andy Biggs, and Ali Alexander, came up with the Jan. 6 idea and formulated the strategy for the day of touristy sight-seeing.

BTW, Prescott Indivisible, where I found the petition to remove Gosar, is a bastion of hope in the red town of Prescott, Arizona. Founded in 2017, P.I. is a diverse group of community activists, social justice advocates, and others that have volunteer ties to non-profits and religious organizations, and who work diligently to make their voices heard by making thousands of calls and mailing thousands of postcards to the legislators in Arizona and in Congress.

6.
The Washington Post recently noted that the ‘liberal’ media consistently fails to ask Republicans who appear for TV interviews the right questions. Of course, all of this is only Jennifer Rubin’s opinion, but judge for yourself.

She lays out, in brief, these six changes that might tie up some Republican tongues:

1. They should provide regular updates on efforts to suppress voting, ballot and election chaos created by new laws and candidates running for key state-level offices (e.g., secretary of state, attorney general, governor) who still support the “big lie” that the election was stolen.

2. The media should ramp up coverage of civil and criminal prosecutions stemming from the attempted coup, including the investigation underway by the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga.

3. When Republicans are mentioned in print or introduced on air, their position on challenging electoral votes, the “big lie”, the attempted coup, voting rights legislation and the Jan. 6 commission should be noted. This is relevant information to determining whether these people have credibility and are pro-democracy.

4. Republicans need to be pressed about their plans if they take majorities in the House or Senate. Will they try to impeach Biden? Do they think they are entitled to block a Democratic president’s qualified nomination to the Supreme Court if a vacancy emerges? Etc…

5. When major news breaks about the attempt coup — such as revelations that a senator lied about the extent of his involvement in the effort to overturn the election and badger state legislatures into overriding the will of their voters — the media should demand comment, both from the person implicated and from GOP leadership.

6. Republicans who refuse to show up for debates, such as Senate candidates Herschel Walker in Georgia and Rep. Ted Budd in North Carolina, should be asked at every opportunity why they are hiding.

To me this seems like Journalism 101 but if you watch any network news shows you quickly understand everything is tightly pre-scripted. I posted fairly extensively on this last June.

And from now until the 2022 mid-term elections, it will nothing but outright lies and smear campaigns brought to you by the Death of Shame originating from liar-face numero uno, the Nasty-Orange-Man.

7.
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis just beat up Mickey Mouse after Mickey condemned the “Don’t Say Gay” education law that gives the Republicans woodies.

8.
Monterey Court is for sale. Greg and Kelly, in the ten years since this project began, transformed a run-down motor court on Miracle Mile into the best musical venue happening in town. It’s the only place in town I can call up and get a gig without producing a full press kit with five videos and eighteen references. Yes, I’ve developed somewhat of a musical reputation in town after thirty-two years, but when you’re an old guy with an accordion strapped on, your previous ‘success’ record has little bearing. Bah, humbug, and the like.