Ho hum. The corruption of the republican party continues, growing by leaps and bounds. Ted Cruz, in particular, continues to roll down the evolutionary path and is becoming a slime mold.
This is our neighbor's hedge hog cactus next door, blooming up a storm. I'm not sure why the growth tips are that yellow, but I don't think it's good.
This is a short arm on the saguaro on the side of our wash. He's blooming. If you look behind the blossoms at that white area, that's the growth plate for the arm.
The lizard has been to see us. He's a pretty lizard.
This bird has the most amazing song. It goes on forever with a lot of variation. When we first heard it we thought it was a Hooded Oriole, who also have long complicated songs. However, it was this bird, which I can't identify.
The perfidy and malfeasance of the republicans in Arizona continues. The "audit" has to be winding down because they must be out of the coliseum on May 14. At present, they don't know where they will be taking the ballots. They also have no plan for tamper evident tape for the boxes of ballots, security, or anything else that is required by law. Until recently they had been demanding that Maricopa turn over the county routers. This would have taken down ALL of the systems in Maricopa county, including the police, and compromised security of everything. (Today it was revealed that in their custody, the voting machines have been hooked to the internet.) DOJ checked in with them and pointed out that their plan to go out and interview a selection of voters, who had been statistically selected by a method they couldn't articulate, could only be construed as voter intimidation. They've backed down on that plan. I still do not understand why they were able to get the ballots since federal election laws stipulate that the ballots remain with state election officials for 22 months.
Yesterday, our idiot governor signed a law changing the PEVL (permanent early voting list) to the AVEL (active early voting list). They want to purge voters who have not voted in four years. Seventy five percent of all AZ voters are on PEVL. The state automatically sends PEVL people a ballot for each and every election, some of which might be missed if one wasn't paying attention in the off years. The other law that's being passed is decreasing the number of days for curing mail in ballots on the Navajo nation. This doesn't affect white people in the rest of the state, just the Navajo nation. Sound discrimanatory much to anyone? This will end up in court asap. Consider the wrongness of this thinking. Their problem is that the Navajos vote primarily democratic.
Jim just told me that Republicans in the AZ senate and house only have a one vote majority each. Perhaps the Democrats could rise up and vote these suckers out.
So today the slime molds voted Liz Cheney out of her leadership position, because she will not sit still for the lie that the election was stolen. After a meeting of republicans with President Biden, Kevin was heard to say, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We’re sitting here with the president today.” If that's the case, why did they just toss Cheney?
So that is what is happening in the land of the wingnuts.
They eat their own and Liz is a tasty morsel.
ReplyDeleteThe cactus are so amazing in your neighborhood. Their flowers are all "come hither" but if you do, uh oh, stabbed!
Lizard is a rather sweet looking little rascal. Just going about his business.
cactus have such amazing flowers.
ReplyDeletehow did they get the ballots? because the republicans charged with keeping and protecting them just handed them over. they are all so corrupt. and that fucking Rafael Cruz, he is despicable. we almost got rid of him. and I hope Liz Cheney and the 100 or so republicans supporting her do start a third party siphoning off every republican with an ounce of sense and integrity (surely there are some of those?) and splits that party down to the clown show it is.
and I meant to add that the bird is a mockingbird. I love them. they sit on high perches here and sing their little hearts out. they steal bits from other birds songs. apparently the longer and more varied their song, the better chances of getting a mate.
Deletemockingbird I think! They take on regional "languages" and sometimes sing at night! We had one near our condo in Florida that would incorporate seagull sounds in it's repertoire
ReplyDeleteI hope Mitt Romney is right; they will loose voters over this. The kind who vote in elections.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers. I love to see cactus bloom - it looks so showy for something so spiny.
ReplyDeleteLike other commenters, I'm voting mockingbird. They're almost funny, the variety of songs they can sing. I hope that little hedgehog cactus is OK.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Repubs, this vote-auditing charade is SO out of hand. If they try to make something out of it, their case will simply be thrown out of court so it's a moot point. They're just trying to please their wingnut constituents.
I've taken to C-Span Washington Journal in the mornings. To the duped callers-in the Arizona recount will be all the proof they need to believe that the election was stolen. In fact most appear to already be convinced that it's fact. Your observations wouldn't begin to make a dent in their fantasies. Sad.
ReplyDeleteThis whole ballot mess is a farce. Why can't people figure that out? They are just sheep who jump on somebody's bandwagon that makes no sense. It's so ridiculous it's become sad. Love the flowers. But boy is the state dry. We are on the road as of yesterday and it is dangerously dry.
ReplyDeleteThe republican party seems to be killing itself with corruption and lies. Their racism is showing itself to the world. I'm sure not all republicans are like this but there are enough to make it disgusting. If the party splits into pro and anti trump republicans, it will divide and destroy the party.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are lovely though. Small mercies.
Stellar and salient summary of the lunacy, as always. I have been wondering whether Liz Cheney (who is still a Cheney) might be intentionally staking a claim for middle of the road voters, both Republican and Independents, and even a few Dems who read her willingness to call it as she sees it, courageous. My skepticism runs deep, but I do think, and rather even hope, that her gamble leaves her GQP colleagues in the dust.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about Mockingbirds is that they have no song of their own, but they manage to learn and mimic the song of many other bird species, local to wherever they live. They have fooled me more than once, when I hear a song I think is another local bird. There are also Tropical Mockingbirds south of the border, and while their songs are different, the principle is the same.
ReplyDeleteI would rather see cactus flower photos (beautiful) and talk about Mockingbirds than think about the republican party b.s. It's just too damn depressing and wrong.