Really rich Jake Hoffman calling public school teachers "psychopaths." After all, Jake Hoffman is the one who called Vice President, Mike Pence, on January 5, 2021 and told him not to accept Arizona's certified electoral votes for Joe Biden.
This is cross posted with my Facebook, but figured it could live here as well. Thank you for your reporting!
*When Facts No Longer Matter*
What’s happening in the Vail School District is turning into something ugly and it has become a true Halloween horror show.
Teachers wore “Problem Solved” shirts at a spirit event, which were the same shirts they wore last year. The 2024 photos were shared by well-known local Republican board member Chris King.
There’s no mystery here and no conspiracy. As it usually is, the facts are boring. At worst, someone might say fake blood is inappropriate at school. But these shirts have nothing to do with Charlie Kirk; it’s just a group of educators now being targeted and doxxed by people who refuse to believe what’s right in front of them.
And when the proof appeared soon after the first postings? Some said they didn’t believe it, that it was photoshop or AI. Others twisted themselves into knots to make it fit the story they’d already chosen. So few of those people waited to form an opinion before all of the facts were laid out. So many of them went for the rage bait.
This isn’t just a local scandal, it’s epistemic rot. When truth becomes optional, democracy itself starts to decay. Communities fracture, trust dissolves and divided we fall.
Like Macbeth grasping at the prophecy that confirmed his ambition, people cling to the story that flatters their fears, even as it leads them toward ruin. The tragedy isn’t that the truth is hidden, it’s that they no longer wish to see it. Refuse to, even. It has become a mark of pride to double down, and increasingly difficult to either pause and wait for more information or to admit you’ve changed your mind.
The cost here isn’t abstract. Teachers are being harassed, and a school community is under threat. Right here. These are OUR kids and OUR teachers. The national rage machine has infiltrated OUR community.
But here is what’s even more terrifying: If we can’t tell the difference between a dated photo and a convenient fantasy, how will we handle what’s coming? Deepfakes. Propaganda. Fabricated wars and targeted algorithms.
If people can’t believe this proof, how will they believe any proof? Will they even care about truth?
The defense of truth doesn’t begin in Washington or on a debate stage. It begins right here in Vail, in Tucson, in Pima County. It is in whether we can still recognize what’s real when it costs us our favorite story. If we want to preserve our democracy, we must first protect our capacity to pause, to see what’s true, and have the grace to change our minds if need be. And above all, invoking the power to love another.
I wrote Jake “the crooked snake” a vociferous email calling him a crook for being a fake elector in 2020 and he actually responded to my email acknowledging his criminal nature! Jake is the MAGAt psychopath and school teachers are the GLUE that keeps this society moving forward while reaching into their own pockets to keep their classrooms filled with supplies!!!
You know, I really wish the Hobbs campaign hadn’t gone with the slogan “Arizona First.”
On the surface, it sounds fine, I guess. Local pride, pragmatic focus, who could object? But as linguist George Lakoff has warned for decades, language isn’t neutral. When you borrow the other side’s frame, you end up reinforcing their story, not yours.
Lakoff puts it bluntly (and pardon me for fangirling all the time about Lakoff):
“When you argue within your opponent’s frame, you lose — because their frame defines the terms of the debate.”
He’s the same guy who wrote Don’t Think of an Elephant, and his point is that once a phrase has a meaning network attached to it, simply reusing it activates that entire network in people’s minds, even if you’re trying to redefine it. TLDR; co-opting a frame doesn’t work in your favor.
This is what worries me about using “Arizona First.”
“America First” was not born with Trump. It began in the early 1940s with the America First Committee, a movement that opposed U.S. involvement in World War II. While some members were isolationists, its most infamous spokesperson, Charles Lindbergh, delivered speeches that blamed Jewish people for pushing America toward war.
That’s not ancient history; it’s why the phrase “America First” has carried a stain of antisemitism and xenophobia ever since.
So when Democrats start adopting that structure “[State] First” even with good intentions, they’re not just creating a clever local slogan. They’re reactivating a moral and linguistic frame with a long, dark shadow.
I don’t believe Hobbs means any harm or to reactivate a frame that carries these implications. I believe she’s trying to communicate practicality and local focus, and maybe she’s trying to appeal to Republican and PND voters by using a familiar Trump frame. But to quote Lakoff again:
“The first frame gets the advantage.”
And this one was framed long ago by people whose vision of America was smaller, meaner, and more exclusionary than anything Hobbs stands for. It is used today by people who want a smaller, meaner, and more exclusionary America today. This frame can easily alienate whole swaths of our neighbors without even meaning to.
If Democrats want to talk about putting Arizona families, schools, and communities first, great, but they should do it in their own moral language, not one that echoes a slogan with 1940’s fascist fingerprints on it.
As frustrating as she is, just want to bring to your attention that you misspelled Keshel’s last name. Hoping she will be voted out in 2026 so we won’t have to worry about that much longer!
I've tried to find a way to explain the shirts, but I've heard two versions. One relates to the three body problem book/Netflix series. The other is just an exaggerated statement on how hard some math problems are.
Really rich Jake Hoffman calling public school teachers "psychopaths." After all, Jake Hoffman is the one who called Vice President, Mike Pence, on January 5, 2021 and told him not to accept Arizona's certified electoral votes for Joe Biden.
This is cross posted with my Facebook, but figured it could live here as well. Thank you for your reporting!
*When Facts No Longer Matter*
What’s happening in the Vail School District is turning into something ugly and it has become a true Halloween horror show.
Teachers wore “Problem Solved” shirts at a spirit event, which were the same shirts they wore last year. The 2024 photos were shared by well-known local Republican board member Chris King.
There’s no mystery here and no conspiracy. As it usually is, the facts are boring. At worst, someone might say fake blood is inappropriate at school. But these shirts have nothing to do with Charlie Kirk; it’s just a group of educators now being targeted and doxxed by people who refuse to believe what’s right in front of them.
And when the proof appeared soon after the first postings? Some said they didn’t believe it, that it was photoshop or AI. Others twisted themselves into knots to make it fit the story they’d already chosen. So few of those people waited to form an opinion before all of the facts were laid out. So many of them went for the rage bait.
This isn’t just a local scandal, it’s epistemic rot. When truth becomes optional, democracy itself starts to decay. Communities fracture, trust dissolves and divided we fall.
Like Macbeth grasping at the prophecy that confirmed his ambition, people cling to the story that flatters their fears, even as it leads them toward ruin. The tragedy isn’t that the truth is hidden, it’s that they no longer wish to see it. Refuse to, even. It has become a mark of pride to double down, and increasingly difficult to either pause and wait for more information or to admit you’ve changed your mind.
The cost here isn’t abstract. Teachers are being harassed, and a school community is under threat. Right here. These are OUR kids and OUR teachers. The national rage machine has infiltrated OUR community.
But here is what’s even more terrifying: If we can’t tell the difference between a dated photo and a convenient fantasy, how will we handle what’s coming? Deepfakes. Propaganda. Fabricated wars and targeted algorithms.
If people can’t believe this proof, how will they believe any proof? Will they even care about truth?
The defense of truth doesn’t begin in Washington or on a debate stage. It begins right here in Vail, in Tucson, in Pima County. It is in whether we can still recognize what’s real when it costs us our favorite story. If we want to preserve our democracy, we must first protect our capacity to pause, to see what’s true, and have the grace to change our minds if need be. And above all, invoking the power to love another.
I wrote Jake “the crooked snake” a vociferous email calling him a crook for being a fake elector in 2020 and he actually responded to my email acknowledging his criminal nature! Jake is the MAGAt psychopath and school teachers are the GLUE that keeps this society moving forward while reaching into their own pockets to keep their classrooms filled with supplies!!!
You know, I really wish the Hobbs campaign hadn’t gone with the slogan “Arizona First.”
On the surface, it sounds fine, I guess. Local pride, pragmatic focus, who could object? But as linguist George Lakoff has warned for decades, language isn’t neutral. When you borrow the other side’s frame, you end up reinforcing their story, not yours.
Lakoff puts it bluntly (and pardon me for fangirling all the time about Lakoff):
“When you argue within your opponent’s frame, you lose — because their frame defines the terms of the debate.”
He’s the same guy who wrote Don’t Think of an Elephant, and his point is that once a phrase has a meaning network attached to it, simply reusing it activates that entire network in people’s minds, even if you’re trying to redefine it. TLDR; co-opting a frame doesn’t work in your favor.
This is what worries me about using “Arizona First.”
“America First” was not born with Trump. It began in the early 1940s with the America First Committee, a movement that opposed U.S. involvement in World War II. While some members were isolationists, its most infamous spokesperson, Charles Lindbergh, delivered speeches that blamed Jewish people for pushing America toward war.
That’s not ancient history; it’s why the phrase “America First” has carried a stain of antisemitism and xenophobia ever since.
So when Democrats start adopting that structure “[State] First” even with good intentions, they’re not just creating a clever local slogan. They’re reactivating a moral and linguistic frame with a long, dark shadow.
I don’t believe Hobbs means any harm or to reactivate a frame that carries these implications. I believe she’s trying to communicate practicality and local focus, and maybe she’s trying to appeal to Republican and PND voters by using a familiar Trump frame. But to quote Lakoff again:
“The first frame gets the advantage.”
And this one was framed long ago by people whose vision of America was smaller, meaner, and more exclusionary than anything Hobbs stands for. It is used today by people who want a smaller, meaner, and more exclusionary America today. This frame can easily alienate whole swaths of our neighbors without even meaning to.
If Democrats want to talk about putting Arizona families, schools, and communities first, great, but they should do it in their own moral language, not one that echoes a slogan with 1940’s fascist fingerprints on it.
As frustrating as she is, just want to bring to your attention that you misspelled Keshel’s last name. Hoping she will be voted out in 2026 so we won’t have to worry about that much longer!
Fixed. Thank you!
That group photo from 2022 should be subtitled "The Four Losers of the Apocalypse". What a goon squad. Not a skill set in sight.
Obviously anyone tying these costumes to Kirk has lost their grasp of reality or not acting in good faith. Or both.
But what was the original joke? I just can't figure out what a bloody shirt has to do with math.
I've tried to find a way to explain the shirts, but I've heard two versions. One relates to the three body problem book/Netflix series. The other is just an exaggerated statement on how hard some math problems are.