Fire Pit Politics

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A Fine Evening at the Fire Pit

It was a perfect night for a little soirée. Six proud American Democrats gathered around the fire pit, trading stories and laughter while the stars blinked overhead. The talk ranged far and wide, but inevitably, we circled back to the pool vote — that sad reminder of just how deep Payson’s Hooplehead infestation has become.

The Hooples, as usual, were no match for the torrent of lies unleashed by the Three Stooges and their Tea Party handlers. Confusion spread faster than wildfire, and before long, the nonsense won the day.

Still, all is not lost. On the national stage, the Nod Father himself — Donald Trump — took another solid beating. Yet here in our corner of Arizona, the local Tea Party plans to keep promoting their favorite Russian echo chamber. Their latest star, Chip Howard, is peddling the line that Ukraine started the war.

If there’s one thing the Hooples can’t resist, it’s a well-packaged lie. Trump set the gold standard for deceit, and the local imitators are working overtime to keep up.

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The Grinch that stole the pool

 Payson will not have a swimming pool for at least three years, maybe never. The Otto gang ramped up the lies and misinformation. It worked, the Hooples are an easy bunch to scare and fool. "We will be taxed to death" was the message sent to the Hooples. It worked. Now, Otto gang has another scheme. The last town council passed a 1% sales tax to fund the town of Payson going forward. That tax was meant for a pool and other civic improvements. The Otto rats railed against the tax, and the Hooples loved it. That is how the Three Stooges got elected. Now, you would think the Stooges would recind the tax they so hated. Nope, not that devious lying scoundrel Otto and his cohorts Bell and Ferris. The Stooges want to use the money for their own pet projects. Using money they opposed to get elected now they are going to use it to polish their status with the Tea Party. 

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Trump Parties while poor people starve

Trump is so blatant with his lie and disregard for the working people. On the very day he takes food away from the poor he holds a lavish party for his lickspittles. The blind Hoopleheads just cannot see the corruption and deceit. Trump has raked in billions by abusing the presidency. History will no doubt make Trump number one as a con man, a liar, and a thief. Trump has mastered lying to the Hooples and they soak it up like a hillbilly dipping his bread in the gravy.

Use the Tea Party Hoopleheads like Trump exploits the Red Hats

The Flag-Shirt Mayor: Patriot in Costume Only

What kind of person runs for mayor on a wave of manufactured outrage, spreads lies like confetti, and bends the knee to the Tea Party as if it’s the Holy Roman Empire? The kind who wraps himself in a red-white-and-blue shirt hoping no one notices he’s selling out the very values that flag stands for.

That’s who currently sits in the mayor’s chair in Payson, Arizona.

Mayor Steve Otto loves to brandish symbols of patriotism — a cowboy hat here, a flashy flag shirt there. But real patriotism isn’t a costume. It isn’t something you wear to impress the right-wing crowd at KMOG or to signal loyalty to the local Tea Party influencers who truly pull the strings.

Real patriotism is honesty. Service. Respecting the community you represent.

Instead, our mayor freely lies about residents who dare to hold him accountable. He uses his radio appearances not to inform Payson citizens but to smear them. Then, when someone draws a harmless cartoon of him? Suddenly he’s the victim. The poor man can dish it out, but one sketch and he starts clutching his pearls like the Republic is under attack.

Let’s be clear: being mayor is supposed to be about improving the town — its infrastructure, pools, parks, libraries, and future. But the priorities of the current administration seem to be:

• Punish critics

• Reward loyalists

• Perform patriotism instead of practicing it

Meanwhile, the grandstanding continues. The attacks on the library — a political stunt. The attempts to hijack the 1% sales tax passed by better leaders — a hustle. The refusal to listen to the broader community — a failure of leadership.

Payson deserves better than theatrics and chest-thumping nationalism.

The flag isn’t a costume. It’s a commitment to truth and shared responsibility.

If the mayor wants to wrap himself in something, maybe he could try wrapping himself in integrity for a change.

Because this town is full of real patriots — the volunteers, the taxpayers, the teachers, the workers — who show up every day without needing a flag-patterned outfit to prove it.

And they are paying attention.

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The Dictatorship is here

The Alarms Are No Longer Warnings — They’re Reality

If you opened the New York Times today, you didn’t just read the news — you witnessed the obituary for American democracy being drafted in real time. For years, people comforted themselves with the fantasy that “it can’t happen here.” They believed the Constitution was a magical force field that protected us from tyranny. But look around: the force field failed.

The dictator isn’t coming — he’s already here.

Trump has followed the despot’s playbook line by line:

• Criminalizing political opponents

• Hijacking law enforcement as a personal weapon

• Punishing the press for reporting truth

• Turning propaganda into public policy

• Demanding loyalty to a person, not the country

Freedom of speech? It now comes with a warning label: You’re free to speak — as long as you worship the King of Lies.

Every day brings a new “unthinkable” that becomes normalized by lunchtime. What used to be outrage is now background noise.

This isn’t just political disagreement. This is the systematic dismantling of the democratic framework that kept this nation balanced for nearly 250 years.

Still think it can’t happen here?

Pick up today’s New York Times. The stories are chilling — not because they’re predictions, but because they’re happening. Right now. To us.

History will ask what we did while the American experiment was being smothered.

Let the record show: we saw the signs. We read the headlines. We knew the danger.

The only question left is whether we fight back — or simply turn the page.

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Why not admit Trump is mentally ill?

The Alarming Decline We’re All Supposed to Ignore

Across the nation, mental health professionals — psychiatrists, neurologists, behavioral experts — are sounding the alarm. They’re not whispering it anymore; they are writing openly, urgently, and repeatedly about the unraveling mind of Donald Trump. What was once dismissed as “eccentric behavior” has become impossible to ignore: the man is losing his grip on reality, and the country is losing stability right along with him.

Normal Americans can see it plain as day. The slurred speeches, the invented stories, the hatred and paranoia wrapped in word salads he proudly calls “weaving.” Trump insists there is genius in his gibberish — that his rambling conspiracies are strategic brilliance. But in the real world, what he calls “weaving” is nothing more than deranged lying. It is the rhetoric of a man whose thoughts no longer connect to truth, or reason, or even decency.

And yet, the Red Hat faithful remain hypnotized. They cheer the madness. They laugh when he mocks the disabled. They applaud when he confuses enemies and allies, threatens our own military, or invents victories that never happened. Loyalty to the cult has replaced loyalty to reality.

We are watching a national tragedy unfold: millions of citizens willing to sacrifice their own sanity to defend a leader who has lost his. A man who cannot speak coherently now speaks for them. A man who cannot remember facts now dictates their version of history. A man who has abandoned truth now demands their unquestioning allegiance.

The rest of us are left asking: How far must a leader fall before his followers finally see the cliff? How much damage must be done before they acknowledge the danger? A mentally unwell man is steering the ship, and his passengers refuse to notice the iceberg.

Democracy depends on clarity — on the ability to see what’s right in front of us. The warning signs are blindingly bright. We must choose whether we face them… or let delusion drive us into the depths.

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