The Dinger, Hoopleheads, and dolts

Toddlers With Keyboards

Kadizzle deals with a lot of people. Most are decent. Some are thoughtful. And then there is a special category that reliably crawls out from under the comment sections of social media: the poorly educated Tea Party typers.

You can spot them immediately—not by what they say, but by how they say it.

A reasoned response never appears. Evidence is never offered. Logic is nowhere to be found. Instead, the reply arrives like a toddler flinging mashed peas across the table: short, emotional, and proudly ignorant. These are not conversations; they are tantrums with punctuation.

The Hoopleheads never argue an idea. They bark a feeling.
They don’t explain—they react.
They don’t think—they type.

Thought is not their strong point. Emotion is their entire toolbox.

And when even emotion fails them, they do what the simple-minded always do: they lie. Easily. Casually. Reflexively. Facts are inconvenient things when your worldview is held together with duct tape and grievance. So the lie becomes the default setting—Trump taught them that much.

Which brings us to their hero.

Trump is admired by the simple-minded for exactly the reasons decent people recoil from him: his crudeness, his ignorance, his compulsive lying. They don’t overlook these traits—they identify with them. Trump gives permission to be dumb loudly, dishonest proudly, and cruel without consequence. To the Hooplehead, this isn’t corruption; it’s validation.

That’s why debate with these folks is impossible. Debate requires shared reality. Toddlers don’t debate—they scream until someone gives them a cookie or walks away.

So when a Tea Party typer replies to a thoughtful comment with a sneer, a lie, or a two-word insult, remember: you’re not witnessing disagreement. You’re watching intellectual immaturity trying to pass for conviction.

And like all toddlers, eventually they get tired.

Kadizzle recommends letting them.

Over on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog there is a breakdown of the Payson Tea Party you might enjoy. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Nonsense Magnified.

 Yesterday Kadizzle attended the town council meeting. It was a lesson in disfunction. The Three Stooges are in a mess. The Stooges are now trying to implement everything they opposed. Jim Ferris is the worst Stooge of them all. Ferris want to use the money he raised from selling aluminum cans to fix the old Taylor pool. Kadizzle went to the meeting to point out the idiocy of fixing the Taylor pool. The Taylor pool would be in the ramshackle Rumsy Park.  If Payson is ever going to have a nice full recreation center Rumsy Park is too small. The Stooges are Trumpers all the way. Trump tells us we are rich, money is pouring in from Tariffs, and prosperity. However, the Stooges act like we are already in a depression. Ferris and his duct tape solutions are insane to listen to. " I know how we can do it cheaper",  Of course bogus cost figures sprouted like weeds. The Stooges pretend to represent the town when in reality they represent the twisted minds of the Tea Party. Normal people need to wake up before the Stooges Trumpitize Payson. 

Attend your own funeral.

The Donut Tontine: A Fundraiser Where Everyone Dies (But Nobody Actually Dies)

Let’s be honest—raising money is hard. Bake sales flop. Raffles annoy people. And no one wants to hear the words “fundraising committee.” So Kadizzle reached deep into the dark, dusty basement of financial history and dragged out a strange old creature called a tontine.

Don’t worry. No one is actually harmed in this version. Mostly.

---

What in the Heck Is a Tontine?

A tontine was an old-school retirement plan from way back before Social Security, 401(k)s, or even common sense. Here’s how it worked:

• A group of people all put in the same amount of money.

• That money gets invested.

• Everyone splits the yearly interest.

• When one person dies, their share of the interest gets divided among whoever’s left.

• As people drop off, the survivors make more money.

• The very last person alive gets everything.

Yes—this worked great financially and terribly morally. Unfortunately, it turned out that when money increases with each death, people start dying a little faster than nature intended. Who could have predicted that? Because of the “light murder problem,” tontines were outlawed.

So naturally, Kadizzle thought: We can fix this.

---

The Donuts with Democrats Tontine (No Assassins Allowed)

Here’s the safe, modern, non-murdery version.

• We recruit 26 brave donut patriots.

• Each person throws in $100.

• That creates a $2,600 Donut War Chest.

• The money sits in an interest-earning account.

• The interest helps pay for donuts, coffee, and the emotional support required after consuming that many pastries.

Instead of real death, we use something even more powerful:

Artificial Death (Also Known as “You’re Dead, But Please Pass the Sugar”)

• Every member’s name goes into a jar.

• At each meeting, one name is drawn.

• That person is now officially “Dead to the Tontine.”

• They stop receiving future interest shares.

• But they do not stop showing up, because this is not a cult. Probably.

---

The Funeral (With the Corpse in the Audience)

At the next Donuts meeting:

• The previously “dead” person shows up very much alive.

• A formal funeral is held.

• Someone delivers a eulogy listing:

  • Their good deeds

  • Their bad political opinions

  • And at least one mildly embarrassing personal fact

• The “deceased” sits silently and listens to their own life summary like a ghost at their own wake.

This continues for about two years, one death per meeting.

---

The Final Survivor (May God Have Mercy)

Eventually, only one symbolic survivor remains. This person:

• Becomes the Last Donut Standing

• Is crowned Keeper of the Financial Flame

• Does not get assassinated, poisoned, or shoved down a stairwell

• Does not get the money either—because this is a fundraiser, not a crime documentary

Meanwhile, Donuts with Democrats keeps the original fund and uses the interest for donuts and operations the entire time.

And here’s the beautiful part:

• Everyone gets some money back from interest during the process

• So the real cost to each person is less than $100

• Everyone gets donuts

• Everyone gets coffee

• Everyone gets publicly eulogized while still alive

This is what economists call a win-win with frosting.

---

Example Numbers (Because Even a Donut Cult Needs Math)

• 26 people × $100 = $2,600 total fund

• If the account earns 5% per year:

  • $2,600 × 5% = $130 per year

• Over two years:

  • About $260 in total interest

• That interest:

  • Offsets what each person originally paid

  • Helps buy donuts and supplies

• Donuts with Democrats still keeps:

  • The full $2,600

  • Plus the interest earned along the way

---

Act like nothing is wrong

The country is melting under the Trump dictatorship. Our local Tea Party and all the Republicans " Act like nothing is wrong".  How do they do it? The evidence is all there in plain site. Trump's idiots are destroying every aspect of our society. The lies pile up like snow. Yet, the lickspittles act like nothing is wrong.  Kadizzle loves the lyrics to the song below, because they perfectly frame the Republican mind set.

[Verse 1]
Ed Maguire was climbing up the corporation ladder
Access to the pension fund made Eddie's wallet that much fatter
Old Maguire was skimming off the top for twenty years
When the FBI caught Ed red-handed he broke down in tears
Eddie said, "I'm sorry I've been stealing for so long
Now get my lawyers on the phone and act like nothing's wrong"

[Chorus]
Act like nothing's wrong, everything's just fine
Hold your head up high and act like you don't really mind
If you're terrified like me of terrorists and crime
Please take my advice and simply act like nothing's wrong

[Verse 2]
Henry Ward was drinking every night until he dropped
One by one all of Henry's best and longest friendships stopped
Henry looked around and noticed that he was all alone
No one wrote him letters, no one called him on the telephone
Henry Ward was happy that his whiskey was so strong
Wall-eyed drunk it isn't hard to act like nothing's wrong

[Chorus]
Act like nothing's wrong, everything's just fine
Hold your head up high and act like you don't really mind
If you're terrified like me of terrorists and crime
Please take my advice and simply act like nothing's wrong

[Verse 3]
Now Mary Margaret Johnson was a good old-fashioned woman
Her daughter was an angel, she never saw it coming
Mary Margaret Johnson's daughter Sally was on crack
Sally took to turning tricks to keep herself well whacked
Sally disappeared into an old sad junkie's song
Mrs. Johnson knew just what to do: act like nothing's wrong

[Chorus]
Act like nothing's wrong, everything's just fine
Hold your head up high and act like you don't really mind
If you're terrified like me of terrorists and crime
Please take my advice and simply act like nothing's wrong
Come on

[Instrumental]

[Outro]
Act like nothing's wrong, act like nothing's wrong
Stick your chin out, just pretend you're really brave and strong
If you're terrified these days like most folks you will find
Ignorance is bliss, dig this: act like nothing's wrong
Hear and see no evildoers, act like nothing's wrong

---

Nuremburg

If the Nuremberg Trials Played at the Payson Tea Party

Last night we watched a movie about the Nuremberg Trials—that moment in history when the world finally told the Nazi leadership: You don’t get to shrug this off. You don’t get to say “I was just following orders.” You don’t get to lie your way out of mass murder.

And all I could think was this:

What if that movie were shown at a local Tea Party meeting in Payson?

Would anyone recognize themselves in it?

Payson is full of people who, in another time and with a little brown-shirted uniform, would have thrived in the Nazi system. Not because they’re monsters in comic-book terms—but because authoritarianism feeds on the same traits we see today: blind loyalty, tribal rage, contempt for facts, and the absolute worship of a strongman who promises to crush “the enemy.”

The Tea Party movement in Payson is as close as we get to that political DNA. Wrap it in flags. Sprinkle in Jesus. Add some Facebook outrage and conspiracy theories. Then repeat the lie until it feels true.

History doesn’t repeat itself exactly—but it sure as hell rhymes.

At Nuremberg, Hermann Göring did what every authoritarian does when the bill comes due: he denied everything. He spun stories. He blamed others. He acted offended that anyone would dare hold him responsible. Sound familiar?

So does Donald Trump.

The Big Lie wasn’t invented in 2020—it was perfected in the 1930s. If you repeat a lie loudly enough and long enough, you can convince millions to distrust their own eyes. Trump didn’t invent that playbook. He just translated it into red hats and rage-filled rallies.

And here’s the part that should chill every thinking person in Payson:

The early Nazis didn’t think they were villains.
They thought they were patriots.
They thought they were saving their country.
They thought the courts were rigged.
They thought the press was the enemy.
They thought violence was justified because their side was “under attack.”

Sound familiar yet?

This is why the Nuremberg Trials still matter. They weren’t just about punishment—they were about truth in the face of propaganda. They were about documenting lies while the liars were still breathing. They were about telling future generations, “Here is what actually happened—no matter how badly you want to rewrite it.”

So let me ask the uncomfortable question out loud:

If the Nuremberg film played at a Tea Party meeting in Payson—
Would anyone see the warning sign?
Or would they just mutter, “Fake news,” and ask where the donuts are?

The scariest part of authoritarianism isn’t the dictator at the top.
It’s the ordinary people underneath who decide that truth no longer matters as long as their side wins.

Payson may think it’s far removed from the world of Nazi Germany.

It isn’t.

Not when you crush facts.
Not when you excuse cruelty.
Not when you chant lies in unison.
Not when you dismiss the rule of law as optional.
Not when you cheer for the man who promises to break the system instead of fix it.

History already showed us where that road ends.

The only real question left is this:

Do we recognize it now—or do we pretend we don’t?

---

It has been cold

Sitting with coffee cups in Arizona reading the news in the morning, Kadizzle thinks of the freezing weather in our old home of North Dakota. Old people migrate to warm climates, why not? This morning Kadizzle read an account of poor people in North Dakota without propane. Freezing in their own home with children is unacceptable, but North Dakota has 14 billion in the bank. That is what money does. The Republicans in North Dakota could eliminate poverty with the stroke of a pen, but the rich need more and the hell with the poor. That is the Republican motto. Let the poor bastards freeze. Trump calls people garbage, and the " Good Christians " applaud. What have we come to when 400 families own half the wealth and the poor are left to freeze.  

Well here we sit.

How Low Can We Go? From the Three Stooges of Payson to the Trump Mafia in Washington

The lying and deceit of the Trump gang remind me all too much of the Three Stooges wrecking the place — except in this case, the place is our own town of Payson. When you watch federal corruption and local dysfunction side by side, it feels like two versions of the same tragic comedy: one national, one municipal, both fueled by arrogance, incompetence, and a total disregard for the people they claim to serve.

We used to think the Three Stooges routine — tripping over ladders, smashing scaffolding, knocking down walls — was harmless slapstick. But when our local Stooges destroyed the hope for a new community swimming pool, it wasn’t comedy. It was civic sabotage. It was the crushing of a shared vision for health, recreation, and town pride. They weren’t defending taxpayers — they were defending their own narratives, their own petty politics, their own egos.

Meanwhile, on the national stage, Trump showed America something even darker. He demonstrated how easy it is to manipulate people clinging to a sinking boat — people desperate for leadership, desperate for meaning, desperate for someone who pretends to hear them. He weaponized their loyalty while enriching himself. In ancient Rome, emperors entertained the masses while their armies slaughtered for sport. Today, Trump praises war criminals, laughs at human suffering, and encourages violence as though it were prime-time entertainment.

What kind of America does that make us?

Take a slow drive around Payson. You’ll see hardworking people living in aging, ramshackle homes, families scraping by, elders surviving on fixed incomes while inflation eats away their dignity.

Then picture the other America: the wealthy lining up to place gold-brick tributes on Trump’s desk — not out of patriotism, not out of civic duty, but to buy favors, dodge consequences, and cement their place in the new feudal order. It’s the same old story: those at the top get gilded pathways; those at the bottom get potholes and platitudes.

Have we truly sunk this low? Yes — and we’re still digging.

Now the Trump mafia wants to strip health care from millions, cut vital programs, and funnel the savings upward — yet again — into the pockets of the rich. Every proposal is the same sleight of hand: take from the vulnerable, reward the powerful, blame the powerless, and congratulate themselves for “saving America.”

What have we come to when cruelty becomes policy, corruption becomes loyalty, and public service becomes a punchline?

Payson deserves better. America deserves better. Humanity deserves better.
But nothing changes until people look up from the sinking boat and realize the captain drilling holes in the hull is not their savior.

---

Payson can prosper in spite of the Three Stooges and the Tea Party, here's how

---

How a Charitable Tontine Could Work in Payson

An old idea with a new purpose

Most people in Payson have never heard the word “tontine.” It sounds like something from Victorian banking or an old Western novel, but the concept is simple—and surprisingly powerful when applied to community good.

In a town like Payson, where retirees, volunteers, and civic-minded folks make up such a large part of the community, a tontine could become a creative way to fund local needs for decades.

---

What Is a Tontine?

A tontine is a financial arrangement where:

1. A group contributes money into a shared pool.

2. The pool is invested and generates returns over time.

3. As members pass away, their shares stay in the pool, increasing the benefit for those who remain (or, in a charitable model, increasing the benefit to the town).

4. When the final member passes, the remaining principal goes to a designated purpose.

Historically, tontines funded everything from bridges to orphanages. Think of it as a longevity-based community endowment.

---

A Modern Twist: The Payson Charitable Tontine

Instead of a “last survivor wins” structure, a charitable tontine keeps the focus on community benefit.

Members would:

• Contribute a one-time amount

• Vote annually on charitable distributions

• Leave their principal invested

• Know their contribution becomes a legacy gift for Payson

Charities benefiting might include:

• Library programs

• Payson Humane Society

• Firewise initiatives

• Youth arts and sports

• Senior assistance programs

• Trail and park development

• Rim Country educational scholarships

---

Two Ways Members Could Be Rewarded While Alive

Traditionally, tontine members received all the investment payout as older members passed away. A charitable tontine takes a different approach, but there are two ways to structure member benefits while maintaining the charitable core.

---

Option 1: Pure Charitable Tontine

All investment earnings go directly to Payson charities each year.
Members receive no personal income, but their contribution grows into a permanent community gift.

This is the cleanest and most charitable form.

---

Option 2: Charitable Tontine With Annual Member Return

This is the alternative you asked to include—and it’s a smart bridge between personal and communal benefit.

Under this model:

✔ Each member receives the annual investment return on their own share
For example:
If a member contributed $5,000 and the fund earns 5% that year, they receive $250.

✔ The principal (“the capital”) stays in the tontine
They can enjoy the yearly earnings for the rest of their life, but they cannot withdraw the principal.

✔ When a member passes away, their principal does not leave the tontine
It stays in the pool, increasing the charitable power for future years.

✔ The charitable distributions grow over time
As members pass, their capital continues working for the community.

This version offers:

• A modest income benefit to members

• A strong long-term gift to Payson

• More incentive for people to join

• A predictable, steadily growing charitable impact

It’s a win-win structure.

---

Example: How It Would Work in Payson

Let’s imagine a Payson Tontine with the dual-benefit option.

Initial Setup

• 100 members each contribute $2,500

• Initial pool: $250,000

• Invested at a conservative 5% return

Annual Payouts

• Each member receives 5% of their own contribution each year

• A $2,500 share pays $125 annually

Charitable Distributions

Members could vote to donate:

• A portion of the pooled return

• Flat amounts each year

• Growing amounts as the pool expands due to deceased members' shares staying in the fund

After Members Pass

Their $2,500 stays in the fund forever.
The annual charitable pool increases each time, creating a snowball effect that could eventually fund significant community projects.

Final Gift

When the last member passes, the full fund—possibly $500,000 to $1,000,000+—goes to the designated charity or endowment.

A long-lasting legacy for Rim Country.

---

Why Payson Is Especially Suited for This

• Older population with interest in legacy

• Strong volunteer culture

• Deep civic pride

• Local charities that need stable, long-term funding

• Community frustration over inconsistent town priorities

• Many retirees wanting to “leave something behind” without giving up their assets right now

A tontine leverages all of that into something meaningful.

---

Legal and Structural Notes

A Payson Tontine could be set up as:

• A 501(c)(3) foundation

• A charitable remainder trust with tontine rules

• A special fund inside the Rim Country Community Foundation

• A standalone local endowment

Members would sign an agreement clarifying:

• No withdrawal of principal

• Annual payout rules

• Voting procedures for charity distributions

• Final gift designation

Simple, transparent, and fair.

---

A Legacy for the Rim Country

At a time when Payson debates every tax increase, pool project, and bond measure, a tontine offers something rare:

A way for citizens—not politicians—to directly shape the future.

Everyone puts in a little.
Everyone gets a little income.
The town gets something permanent.
And someday, a major charitable gift bears the names of the ordinary citizens who built it.

The mother of all thieves

No gangster, King, or thief in history has ever come near the stealing ability of Donald Trump. Trump's entire family is engaged in robbing the country. Trump rapes children, but also citizens. Kadizzle urges you to go to the National Association for the Advancement of humanity blog and watch the video there. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

OK, back to ordinary things.  Days of sunshine have returned. Siting in the warm sun like a turtle on a log has become Kadizzle's new pose. Yesterday Kadizzle took a motorcycle ride into the National Forest. The fire wising is astounding.  Several thousand acres have been cleared of brush and fire prone material.  A hair cut for the forest. Areas Kadizzle rode through many times looked entirely different, just like the grandson did with his hair stripped off. 

Lately we have been enjoying our fire pit on the patio.  When the kids were here for Thanksgiving we sat around the fire several times. Wood for the fire is plentiful in the forest where the fire wising has taken place. 

Interesting article in the New York Times about how people don't mind paying property tax to up the neighborhood.  The Three stooges in Payson should read the article.