Bike Wheels will turn

 The bike wheels will turn.  The Kadizzles have made it to McDowel Mountain Park to ride bikes for a couple of days. Trails here are excellent and there are hundreds of miles. The sun is just now coming over the four peaks. You can almost see it move. Our phones are providing internet, and the internet slows down as people awaken. Kadizzle has his new super duper ebike and it will be a pleasure to have more power on the new bike. Have to dream up some topic for the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog. 

The people who host us

 Here we sit in a wonder site at our friends home right on the Catalina mountains. Does it get any better? Sometimes. We have some wonderful friends with wonderful homes, but the real treat is the cooking, and good company. 

Vote for The Tea Party and Hitler comes free

 Don't ever forget, Hitler was elected. Payson is gradually being taken over by the local Nazi faction, you know the guys who go to the fantasy land of Tea Party meetings. The three Stooges, Otto, Bell, and Ferris bathe in the glory of stupidity. Attend a town hall meeting and just listen to these guys bloviate. The best one ever was when Ferris tried to withhold funds from the library because it promoted pornography. These scoundrels would wear Trump mask and shoot people in the back just to bag a terrorist. Nothing appeases the Tea Party in Payson more than a good paranoid fantasy. Otto and his gang ran on the theme the last council was crooked and they would root out the deep state. Once elected they turned over every rock and found nothing. Next, they took the 1% tax the last council instituted, and they promised to remove, and used it to their own glory. Do we want a town run for the benifit of the broke guys living on social security in a run down moble home. If the Tea Party gang is the only group that votes, the I guess you get what you vote for. 

When the Nazis get me

Kadizzle lives in a little MAGA town — a place so deep in the conservative echo chamber it makes our old Republican farm town in North Dakota look like a monastery of honesty. And that’s saying something, because the North Dakota crowd could be crafty and crooked when they wanted to be. But they never perfected the industrial-scale lying and reality-twisting that the Payson Tea Party brigade has turned into an art form.

Payson has its own propaganda mill: KMOG radio, a station that would make Hitler nod in admiration. Their morning ringmaster, Kenny Murphy, presides over the daily ritual — open with a pious prayer, then unleash a flood of grievance, fantasy, and political fairy tales so thick you’d need hip waders to get through it.

Every washed-up politician scraped off the bottom of Trump’s shoe seems to find a microphone at KMOG, eager to retell the gospel of The Big Lie. And our mayor, Steve Otto, happily pays the station to help him spin alternate realities over the airwaves.  The new town manager has already caught on: if you want Tea Party approval in this town, you’d better support the local Ministry of Truth and call it “community outreach.” The town manager has dipped into the town budget to help KMOG along.

Kadizzle has seen it all up close. Years ago, the former local GOP chair, Gary Morris, showed how easily truth can be bent, folded, or tossed aside in a courtroom when party loyalty is on the line. And the mini-MAGA faithful here? They aspire to be just like their idol. They imitate Trump’s swagger, his contempt for facts, and his talent for bulldozing the truth as if it were a sport.

Welcome to Payson — where the hats are red, the lies are loud, and reality is whatever the loudest man on the radio says it is.

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Brother Tom went on to the next game

Remembering Tom

Tom was the second oldest in a family of nine. Kadizzle came in at number seven, which put a good stretch of years between us. I used to joke that Tom was the only one out of nine who never finished college—but he was also the one who built a thriving business from nothing. Mountaineer Excavating rose out of Tom’s stubborn determination and long days servicing the coal mines in the Ohio Valley. Today his son Kevin, armed with an engineering degree, runs the company, shifting its focus to the region’s natural-gas boom. The legacy Tom started keeps rolling on.

Tom’s generosity was legendary. He didn’t just help the community—he helped all of us siblings in ways too many to count. When I was a broke college kid, Tom simply handed me a car. That was just Tom.

I remember the early days when he was driving his own rig, hauling steel and frozen goods across steep mountain terrain. I went along on several trips. One run I’ll never forget—though I somehow managed to sleep through the exciting part.

Tom’s truck lost its brakes barreling down a mountain grade. I was in the sleeper, dead to the world. By the time I woke up, we were gliding into a small town at the bottom. Half asleep, I said, “Tom… that’s a red light, and you’re going right through it.”

Tom, calm as a man ordering a cheeseburger, just said, “I know. I don’t have any brakes.”

That was Tom. Unshakeable. Capable. Quietly steering disaster into something manageable.

The stories about him are endless. I could write pages and still barely scratch the surface. Tom was unique—he played the hand he was dealt and played it well. And it worked.

A mouth full of scripture and a heart full of hate

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The Three Stooges of Sanctimony, Otto, Bell, and Ferris

There they are—the three stooges with mouths full of scripture and hearts full of hate.
Just like Kenny Murphy over at KMOG, they know the choreography by heart:

1. Open with a prayer.

2. Wrap themselves in the Bible.

3. Salute the flag like it’s a magic talisman.

4. Then dive head-first into full-throttle Trump lunacy.

It’s a practiced hypocrisy—smooth, polished, and absolutely shameless. They can quote Corinthians by breakfast and spew conspiracy theories by lunch. Their holy trinity is Fox News, Trumpism, and weaponized ignorance.

Hypocrisy by the Barrel

These folks would deprive kids of a livable future if it meant currying favor with the local Tea Party choir. Kenny, bless his heart, would probably sell his own grandmother into slavery rather than face the reality of what the Republican Party has turned this country into.

Truth, to this crowd, isn’t a value—
it’s an obstacle.

They twist it, bend it, crush it, and when it finally snaps, they plant lies where the truth used to grow. And like weeds, those lies spread. Fast.

God, Guns, and the Grand Delusion

Invoke God?
Check.

Wave the flag?
Check.

Practice a single principle from either?
Absolutely not.

For this crew, the Bible is a prop and the flag is a costume. Christianity becomes a marketing scheme, and patriotism gets shrink-wrapped for radio consumption.

Trump taught them the model:
Greed → grievance → self-promotion → chaos.
They followed like apprentices learning from a master con-artist.

Our Local Disciples of Delusion

Here in our corner of Arizona, they worship at the feet of their chosen saints:
Eli Crane and Wendy Rogers—two of the most enthusiastic torch-bearers for the alternative-reality movement.

Nothing these people say has to be true, it just has to be loud.
Stories matter—
the truth doesn’t.

Give them a conspiracy theory and they’ll swallow it whole.
Give them an honest lecture and they’ll run for the exits.

In the End…

This is what happens when a political movement trades integrity for identity, faith for fury, and country for cult. It becomes a show—loud, angry, and disconnected from reality.

And like all bad shows, it needs three things to stay alive:

• A villain

• A script

• And a cheering section too frightened or too stubborn to admit the obvious

Welcome to the Tea Party gospel,
broadcast daily,
right here in the land that used to be sane.

---

I.

Ebike nirvana

 Old Kadizzle was about to go on an ebike ride when he found his ebike would not turn on properly. Hoping to get back with the gang and ride Kadizzle went to the bike shop. In a fit of stupidity Kadizzle bought a new ebike. The new bike is better than peanut butter, more power, and a lot of new features. The specialized Evo 3 has a lot of technology built in, and it is a pleasure to ride. However, it is way more bike than Kadizzle is capable of exploiting all the features. The bike is meant for a crazy person to ride down ski slopes in the summer over rocks and trees, with an occasional jump of ten or fifteen feet. The bike actually measures jumps. The bike cost more than the motorcycle.  As they say you only go around once. 

Now to local politics. Over on The National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog the subject is the local propaganda station. We need you to call the local Fox News outlet KMOG. Read the blog and find out how you can fight the falsehoods. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Up. Early and trying to find some hope

Kadizzle went nuts and bought himself a new ebike. The old one needs a new on off switch and someone could have an ebike for a bargain price. Our team will once more go on an extensive ebike expedition today.  

Like everyone else Kadizzle is enraged with the Trump Nazis. Please go over to the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog and read about our local Christie Noem, that would be Kenny Murphy. If you want to puke listen to him on KMOG support the killings in Minneapolis. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Pretend like you don't see this

 

How did we get here

Title: Welcome to the Dictatorship—Please Mind the Lies

Somehow we woke up and discovered we no longer live in a functioning democracy. Federal agents shot two protestors in Minneapolis, and—surprise, surprise—the government assures us they’ll “investigate themselves.” That’s the sort of accountability you expect in a banana republic, not a constitutional democracy.

Then comes Kristi Noem, sprinting to the nearest camera to declare the protestors “terrorists” without a shred of evidence. Not one fact—just a reflexive lie to serve her strongman.

And, as reliably as thunder follows lightning, Trump—now functioning less like a president and more like an autocratic ruler—echoes her lie. Truth has become irrelevant. Evidence is irrelevant. What matters is loyalty to the Leader.

We’re no longer living under a system of laws or justice. Trump has taken in $1.5 billion through the most brazen scheme of political bribery in American history—pardons for cash, foreign deals funneled through family members, and influence for sale to anyone with a checkbook. And yet his loyalists cheer him on. No president in history has lied so much, so often, or so shamelessly.

Meanwhile the Republican Party—once a real political party—has become a full-time propaganda machine. Thousands of dedicated, ethical public servants have resigned rather than serve this new dictatorship.

This is not normal. This is not freedom. This is not the America we were promised.
It’s time to say it plainly: the dictatorship has already arrived, and it arrived wrapped in a red tie, a Fox News chyron, and a mountain of lies.

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Inga wants us to come together

---

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.

Up in the Morning

The sun is still tucked behind the Mogollon Rim, a thin layer of snow quiets the morning, and the house is awake long before the town. Kadizzle is up at 5 a.m., coffee in hand, reading about the latest damage being done by the presidential bully. If you’re in the mood for that particular brand of outrage, you can find those thoughts over on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog:
https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Closer to home, Payson lost a good man yesterday. Chris Higgins passed away unexpectedly, and the town is poorer for it. Chris stood his ground against the Tea Party Hoopleheads and their steady diet of misinformation. He fought honestly, and he fought hard. Unfortunately, in Payson politics, lies often outpace truth, and for now they’ve won the day.

The result is what we’re left with: Otto, Ferris, and Bell—our own Three Stooges—driving the town backward as fast as the bus will go. It may be wishful thinking, but Kadizzle hopes Chris Higgins’ passing serves as a wake-up call. Maybe it jolts the reasonable people of this town into paying attention. Maybe it reminds them what integrity looks like.

Payson doesn’t have to keep sliding downhill. It can still rise from the ashes this crew is busy creating—if enough people decide they’ve had enough.

Payson will invade Pine and Strawberry

BREAKING: PAYSON ASSERTS HISTORIC RIGHT TO TOURISTS 🇺🇸🪖

In a bold move reminiscent of very stable genius foreign policy, Town of Payson has announced it has every right to invade Pine and Strawberry to reclaim the tourists that were clearly stolen over the years.

“These tourists belong to Payson,” officials reportedly said. “They may currently be drinking coffee in Pine or hiking in Strawberry, but deep down, they are Payson tourists.”

Rumor has it Steve Otto is amassing armed men on the outskirts of town—mostly guys with tactical vests, leaf blowers, and strong opinions about roundabouts—preparing for a special tourism operation.

The plan, sources say:

• Swiftly cross the county line

• Secure gift shops, pie counters, and scenic overlooks

• Capture local leadership

• Transport them to Payson for a very fair trial at the community center (right after bingo)

Officials insist this is not an invasion, but a “liberation of misplaced visitors.” Any resistance will be met with stern looks, passive-aggressive press releases, and possibly a strongly worded Facebook post.

When asked about international reaction, town leaders responded:
“Frankly, Pine and Strawberry should be grateful. Payson brings freedom, order, and at least three new committees.”

Stay tuned. The Tourist Defense Force is reportedly standing by, fueled by breakfast burritos and righteous indignation.

🇺🇸 Make Tourism Pay-son Again 🇺🇸

(Satire, folks. Put the pitchforks down.)

It made national news, my bridge fell down.

Watching NBC tonight there was a report a bridge fell down in Wheeling, West Virginia. The picture looked familiar. Yes, it was the Washington Avenue bridge we used to play under.  Form our side of the creed we shot huge slingshots over toward the Bandi's house on the other side. The sling shots were made from the fork of a good sized tree, and a bicycle tube was used to propel rocks the size of softballs. Amazing no one was killed in the battles. Under the bridge was a good place to smoke cigarettes, and cigars. Each neighborhood had a gang, and under the bridge was the place of the Washington Avenue gang. Kadizzle was from the Woodsdale gang, but got along with the members of the Washington Avenue gang. 

The Notting Hillbillies "The Next Time Im In Town"

Stunned

We now live in a full blown dictatorship. Who cares? Kadizzle has a new pair of shoes and a warm place to shit. So let Trump have a ball room, and if he wants Greenland. The fact that our democracy is toast, just doesn't matter. We have always relied on the rich to feed us, now we need to pay a higher rent to live in the country the rich own.  

Being the king of laziness Kadizzle asked Albert Indigo to rewrite this theme over on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog. Albert Indigo is actually AI the new threat to humanity. Albert did a great job and Kadizzle highly recommends you read the AI version. https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Going biking

Today we take off for a bike trip. Of course being old goats the trip will be on ebikes. The thought will not leave the mind. We are now in a full blown dictatorship. Who cares, we have iphones, and french fries. Our mentally ill king is having fun stealing countries, and his rich buddies just clap, and sop up the goodies. There are good drug dealers  Trump pardons, and bad ones he kidnaps. Reality has shifted, and exist no more.  

Working Man (the miners song).

A rainy day with members of the trail crew

 2026, and what will Trump do to fuck up a one car funeral. Sorry for the expletive, but reading about Trump and the money he has takin in bribes, and shady dealings is astounding. Trump's level of immorality seems like something no one could ignore, yet the MAGAs do. Some old friends we worked with on the trail crew spent the night. It was nice having them and they were treated to a terrific fireworks show last night. Our home is in the perfect spot to view the displays. Everyone on the trail crew has crumbled to the point volunteer work for the Forest Service is over. Trump has decimated public lands by cutting funding. Trump's revenge presidency serves no one but the rich.