Inga wants us to come together

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I ran into Inga the other day, a familiar and well-liked figure among local Republicans. We had a genuinely pleasant conversation. No raised voices, no eye-rolling, no talking past one another. Just two people exchanging views. That part mattered. Talking still matters.

Inga said something that sounds good on its face: we need to come together for the greater good. I don’t disagree with the sentiment. But before we rush into hand-holding and kumbaya, we need to be honest about a few prerequisites. Unity without ground rules isn’t unity—it’s surrender to whoever lies the loudest.

So let’s start with rule number one: tell the truth. Not “your truth,” not a Facebook meme, not a Fox-News-after-dark fantasy. Actual, verifiable facts. If something didn’t happen, stop saying it did. If a claim collapses under even minimal scrutiny, drop it. A shared reality is not optional in a functioning democracy.

Rule number two: open meetings. Republicans, whenever they can, hold closed meetings and exclude Democrats. It happens routinely. Democrats, by contrast, allow anyone to attend, speak, and be heard. That difference is not accidental. Openness is a defining feature of a free society. Closed doors are the first instinct of people who are afraid of questions.

Rule number three: respect facts, even when they’re inconvenient. If someone spins a fairy tale—about elections, libraries, immigrants, schools, or history—let’s call it exactly what it is. A lie. Not “misinformation.” Not “another perspective.” A lie. Pretending otherwise doesn’t promote harmony; it rewards dishonesty.

Coming together does not mean pretending both sides behave the same way. They don’t. It does not mean agreeing to disagree about whether gravity exists. And it certainly doesn’t mean smiling politely while one side dismantles the basic norms that make democracy possible.

I appreciated the conversation with Inga. I appreciate anyone willing to talk instead of shout. But real unity requires more than civility—it requires integrity. If we want the “greater good,” we have to agree on truth, transparency, and facts first. Everything else is just noise.

The Earth Module is in service

 Seems like a long time since old Kadizzle sat in the Earth Module drinking coffee. Here we are with our ebikes readly to ride at nine. The Earth Module has all the comforts of home. Winky just made some good eggs for breakfast, the fake fireplace is keeping us warm, and of course we have internet. Would be so nice to awaken without Trump. Someone had a T shirt that said they can't wait for THE BIG BEUATIFUL OBITUARY.  So for now we are stuck with a mentally ill five year old. 

Remember those guys

 You know who they are, they guys who grew up to be ICE goons. In high school you saw the guys whose minds stalled out. Those guys brains just did not ripen. A hammer, a gun or punching someone was the only solution they ever learned. If you want to be a macho man what better to become than an ICE bully. You get to dress up and carry all sorts of things to attack weaker people. You get to pretend like you are on the right side. Of course you grew up in the might makes right school of thought.  You love the ideas of taking over countries, ignoring facts you don't like, and giving the finger, something your hero has now made part of his dictatorship public relations. If only my old classmates who thought I was a dud could see me now. Those losers that went to college read books and grew up, if they only know how I have become a patriot, a modern day gestopo for America, they would be so jeaulous. I get to carry a gun and shoot people unchallanged. I love it. 

Did You Notice

Did you notice this isn't the country it used to be. President Trump gives people the finger, and it is accepted as normal. Trump lies at the speed of light, who cares. It used to be somewhat honorable men ran the country, now Trump has picked the most despicable unqualified dolts to help him tear the country apart. The rich have purchased the government, and made peasants out of us all, but who cares, the house is warm, there is food in the fridge, and we have plenty of toiler paper. So what if they are now shooting white women. Uppity women are a problem, and we need to put them in their place. Imagine a country where people wear Trump hats announcing they are idiots. Who cares? I got mine, and I don't care if you have nothing, that is what we leaned in Sunday school. 

Now get on over to the National Association for th Advancement Humanity and read about Payson's three stooges. Three lickspittles in service of the local Tea Party. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Windy, but looks like it might be nice

Winky is biking with her friends down near Fountian Hills. Six cups of coffee just for Kadizzle. The script is written for the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity, and Kadizzle urges you to read it. The topic is " There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/  

How do you know when you are an old piece of junk? Kadizzle can give you a couple of signs, hearing aids are one sign. To get the main pair renewed Kadizzle needed something to get by with, so yesterday Kadizzle bought a pair of Ipods. They work pretty well as hearing aids and are a hell of a lot cheaper. Setting them up was a struggle. First took a hearing test on the phone. That was the beginning of long struggle to get them to work. For $249 they are a bargain for those who have a hard time hearing. The biggest downside is the appearance. People assume you are listening to music. 

Hoping that herd of eld will show up today. It was so nice to see 25 elk out the bedroom window. Need to get the readership up on the National Association blog. The Payson Roundup butchered the last letter Kadizzle had published. The editor must have been drunk. Words were stuck together. Words were missing. It looked like a five year old try to retype it. 

25 Elk in the backyard.

 Wow, 25 elk in the backyard. Mostly cows and a few young bucks. It is so much fun to see them. Had to chase one away from our plants. If lucky they will bed down nearby. The whole herd is here from Green Valley Park. They seem to eat everything. Attacked the woodpile, the birdfeeder. Love to see them cross the bridge. If ambition comes up will post some pictures. 

What do American want?

What the Republicans Know (and Democrats Pretend Not to)

Years ago, while traveling with singer Pat Boone and former White House counsel John Dean, Earl Butz was asked why the Republican Party had such trouble attracting Black voters. His answer—later reported by John Dean in Rolling Stone and confirmed by New Times—was as crude as it was revealing:

“I’ll tell you what the coloreds want. It’s three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit.”

It’s an ugly quote. Racist. Dehumanizing. And yet, it has always intrigued Kadizzle—not because it’s true, but because it exposes how Republicans actually think about voters. Strip away the slur and the obscenity, and what remains is the Republican worldview: people are simple creatures, easily managed, easily distracted, and satisfied with comfort, stimulation, and a place to sit quietly while power does what it wants.

That formula didn’t stop with race. Republicans applied it to everyone.

Give Americans a big TV, a six-pack, a fishing boat, and a pickup truck to pull it. Keep gas cheap enough, beer cold enough, and football loud enough, and they won’t notice the house next door is on fire. They won’t care if democracy is collapsing, wages are flat, healthcare is unaffordable, or their kids can’t buy homes. As long as their porch is intact, reality can burn.

Republicans understand this at a molecular level. They know exactly how many Hoopleheads there are, and they know how to talk to them. You sell fear. You sell guns. You sell grievance and conspiracy. You tell a MAGA voter that if they’re busted flat, it’s someone else’s fault—immigrants, liberals, trans kids, city people, professors, journalists, Democrats, anyone but the billionaire picking their pocket.

You sell them a cartoon version of themselves: rugged, wronged, and secretly powerful. A he-man myth where complexity is weakness and thinking is suspect.

Democrats, on the other hand, keep acting shocked—shocked!—by how many people fall for this. They talk policy to people who’ve been trained to distrust thinking. They talk democracy as an abstraction while Republicans tie identity to lifestyle, resentment, and tribe.

Democrats need to figure out how to explain democracy in terms that land. Maybe democracy needs to be tied to fishing: clean water, public land, access that doesn’t get sold off to the highest bidder. Maybe it needs to be tied to the pickup truck itself—roads that aren’t crumbling, wages that actually pay for repairs, healthcare that keeps you on the job instead of bankrupt.

Because Republicans already know the game. They’ve been playing it for decades. They don’t respect voters—but they understand them.

And until Democrats accept that reality, they’ll keep losing to people who are very comfortable selling a six-pack while the country burns.