The Rat and the Pardons

The Orange Rat and His Band of Criminals

The orange rat pardons criminals just for fun. It’s become his favorite hobby—some people collect stamps, Trump collects felons. If you’re a crook, a grifter, a con man, or a Capitol attacker, congratulations—you’ve got a friend in Donald J. Trump.

Any sane American remembers what happened when Trump pardoned the January 6 rioters—those “patriots” who beat police officers with flagpoles and smeared their patriotism on the walls of Congress. Instead of punishment, Trump handed them get-out-of-jail-free cards like candy at a MAGA parade. Since then, he’s doubled down, celebrating new waves of crooks and calling them “heroes.” Drug dealers, tax cheats, and white-collar scoundrels all line up for his blessing.

And what do the Hoopleheads do? They cheer. They wouldn’t recognize an asteroid if one hit their garden, and they certainly can’t see the moral crater Trump has left behind. These are the same folks who shout about “law and order” while waving flags for a man who turned the Oval Office into a halfway house for convicted liars.

Does the brain in a Hooplehead even work at all? Or does it just echo whatever the orange rat squeaks from his gilded cage at Mar-a-Lago?

Trump has turned crime into a loyalty test. The worse your record, the more he loves you. America used to honor people who told the truth and followed the law. Now, in MAGA world, the highest badge of honor is to be corrupt enough to earn a Trump pardon.

History will remember this era not just for the crimes committed—but for the cheering section that demanded more.

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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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