Friday Homestead Dispatch

“Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”
— Denis Diderot

1.
I attended the Democracy Unites Us peaceful protest this morning at Pima and Swan in Tucson, just outside traitor Juan Ciscomani’s office. Over 450 people showed up!

A special thanks to Mitch and her husband Phin who organized this event.

This video will give you an idea of the crowd attending.

And here is a little thank you link for attending with actionable actions!

2.
There are tongues wagging this week with a congressional vote that would’ve significantly slashed military aid to Israel. The measure was defeated in the House by a 104-314 vote.

Thomas Massie, the only Republican on board, actually proposed the amendment which would’ve put a halt to $3.3 billion in aid. $3.3 billion.

With more than 100 Democrats on board, it’s a sign of the success and work of grassroots organizations nationwide . Just over two years ago, only 37 House Democrats — mostly on the party’s hard-left flank — voted for a similar bid to crack down on U.S. aid for Israel.

As Jen Rubin reports, even Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has been among the leading voices denouncing “a terrible process of brutalization” in Israeli society, including the epidemic of brutality and lawlessness in the occupied West Bank. Marauding bands (https://tinyurl.com/3wf7rpwm) of violent thugs now routinely attack and murder Palestinians and burn property in what can only be described as routine pogroms, which the government either tacitly encourages, denies, or rationalizes. The absence of a robust U.S. reaction to this unfolding horror raises serious questions about our ability to influence events in the region, not to mention our standing internationally as the supposed leader of the “Free World.”

I have been for plugging the money funnel to Israel even before the October 7th massacre. I also realize that many Democrats take AIPAC money, as do most Republicans. Here’s the AIPAC Hall of Shame.

I am hoping that this does not drive a non-voting wedge come the mid-terms. As a mere peon I will continue to discourage any elected official from taking money from both foreign countries and corporations. I advocate getting money out of politics altogether, as I am a foolish dreamer. SHUT UP, ACCORDION BOY!!

Seriously, we still need to vote BLUE to take back the House and Senate. First things first. Duct taping Mike Johnson’s mouth will be a real pleasure.

For a deeper read check out Sarah Kendzior’s essay on Substack:

For over a decade, top US officials have declared their allegiance to Israel (https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/bearing-witness-to-the-disappearing) with a fear and ferocity that far outweighs their concern for American life. AIPAC funds US candidates — including seditionists — to the point that US representatives no longer serve their districts, but a foreign country. Unlike every other foreign lobbying group, AIPAC is not required to register under FARA, despite a history of espionage.

The few representatives that oppose funding Israel — whether a right-wing libertarian like Thomas Massie or a left-wing Ferguson activist like Cori Bush — are ousted through smear campaigns and massive donations to candidates selected for their obedience to the lobby. American civilians who criticize Israel’s wars risk losing their jobs, particularly if they work in education, media, or law. Jewish-Americans who criticize the Israeli government are deemed traitors: to Israel.

America has never been a free country, but not since 1775 has it been less of a sovereign one.

3.
Damn…

4.
And lastly, I cannot bring myself to listen to, or even look at, *rump. So I didn’t ‘attend’ his speech last night.

Two writers I respect did take on the thankless and herculean task of wading through his incoherent grievances to write down their thoughts.

Jim Wright: Highest inflation in the G7. Explosive diarrhea. Can’t afford meat. Can’t afford gas. Can’t afford rent and sure as hell can’t afford to buy a house. The country is at war, again, still, whatever the term is for this shitshow. Farms in foreclosure because farmers can’t sell their crops, can’t afford seeds, can’t even get fertilizer. Government goons kicking in doors without a warrant, detaining people without due process, murdering citizens in the street. Rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer.

And Trump goes on TV to complain about imaginary fraud in an election six years ago where the only provable fraud was Trump himself attempting to extort a state into “finding” him enough votes to win.

(Click on the link to read in full)

Michael Jochum: It’s almost 10:00 tonight, following Trump’s latest grievance fest, and you would think exhaustion would finally set in after listening to nearly an hour of bloviating, score-settling, and endless victimhood. Instead, I find myself more unsettled now than I was before he stepped behind that podium. I can’t shake the comments I’ve been reading across social media, nor can I ignore the analyses from journalists and constitutional scholars whose work I respect. Long before Trump returned to office, many of us warned that Project 2025 was never some academic exercise or campaign talking point destined to gather dust on a shelf. We understood exactly what it represented: a governing blueprint waiting for the opportunity to become reality. Tonight’s dog-and-pony show, his beautiful big bullshit spectacular, only reinforced what has become impossible to ignore. Project 2025 is no longer a proposal. It has become embedded in the machinery of government and increasingly ingrained in the American consciousness. What once sounded alarmist to some now feels like a daily headline. That reality leaves me with one unavoidable conclusion. The only thing capable of reversing this trajectory is not another strongly worded editorial or another cable news panel discussion. It will take a political earthquake, a landslide of historic proportions, a tsunami at the ballot box in the midterm elections that sends a message so unmistakable that even the architects of this agenda cannot pretend the American people endorsed what they have done.

The future of the American experiment has always depended on citizens participating, questioning, debating, and voting. Whatever direction the country ultimately takes will not be determined solely by presidents, judges, or political strategists. It will be determined by the American people themselves.

(Click on the link to read in full)

Believe it. We all need to open our eyes and wake up. My day to day life, besides some higher food and gas prices, is largely unaffected as I am an invisible white male senior citizen. I don’t raise red flags as my skin is lily white and I haven’t broken too many laws.

But my eyes, ears, and mind are open to an unprecedented time in history that does affect millions of people world-wide. Donald Trump and his family are executing corruption at a scale never previously contemplated in the American experiment. If we are to ever graduate from this era of brazen graft, the first step is to notice.

And now…

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