Squidfry 01.14.21: Cutouts Cut Out

CUTOUTS CUT OUT… Squid cautiously left the lair on Sunday, Jan. 10, in search of fresh fish for a batch of Grammy Squid’s world-famous cioppino. But while tooling down Del Monte Avenue en route to the wharf, Squid took note of an unusual scene at the Monterey County Republican Party headquarters. Whereas there was a small assembly of the pro-Donald Trump/Back the Blue/masks are for pussies gang doing their usual Sunday afternoon gathering at Window on the Bay, down the block at the GOP building, all traces of Donald and Melania (remember her? Trump’s wife?) had been erased. And by traces, Squid is referring to the life-sized cutouts of the couple that have stood vigil in the window for years.

It got Squid thinking – were the GOPers afraid their windows would be vandalized? Were the cutouts spirited out of the country on a plane to Moscow?

As it turns out, some of the above. Lyle Skeen, a member of the Monterey County Republican Central Committee, initially told one of Squid’s colleagues that the cutouts were taken down on Jan. 7, after the election was certified. But then he reached out to update the info; he was told someone threw something at the window and the cutouts were removed to prevent further vandalism.

It’s not clear what was thrown. Perhaps a muffin from next-door Aloha Coffee, which had its health permit yanked and was slapped with a restraining order for its continued refusal to enforce mask policies?

THE NTH DEGREE… Since Squid couldn’t get a muffin (see above) Squid took a masked stroll around Monterey, through the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, affiliate of Middlebury College in Vermont – and, Squid learned, apparently the one-time affiliate of Rudy Giuliani.

In 2005, before he made a career of dispensing bad advice to President Donald J. Trump, Giuliani was known as the mayor who helped New York City recover from 9/11, and for that he was invited to deliver the commencement address at Middlebury, where they bestowed him with an honorary degree.

Such a degree is purely symbolic, but after Giuliani urged insurrectionists on at the U.S. Capitol, Middlebury leadership acted, at the urging of students. On Jan. 10, college president Laurie L. Patton said: “I asked us to renew this work with mutual respect and the building of trust across difference, which are core values of this institution. As we pursue these goals, we must not be indifferent to the actions of those who are actively working against them, and opposed to our institutional values.” On Jan. 12, the college revoked Giuliani’s honorary degree.

In solidarity, Squid raises a symbolic muffin to the administration for taking a stand.