Showing posts with label Arizona politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona politics. Show all posts

Monday, September 26, 2022

The All-Female KKK of Arizona Politics

 

Karen Fann, radical conservative Republican, who ordered an audit of the election results in Maricopa County, hiring a firm that was founded by a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist who promoted false claims of fraud. It cost Arizona residents $5.7 million. Fann made a false allegation, later amplified by Trump that Maricopa County election officials deleted the voter database after the election. Another lie by Fann confirmed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who oversees elections. Fann is not running for reelection.

Kelli Ward, after losing three Arizona elections, was chosen as chair of the Arizona Republican Party in 2019. Following the 2020 United States presidential election, in which incumbent President Donald Trump lost in 25 states, including Arizona, she filed lawsuits seeking to nullify the state's (AZ) election results. She had no evidence of wrongdoing in the election and by December 9, federal and state judges had dismissed all challenges against President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Arizona. She was also involved in the state's fake electors scheme. Once endorsed by Steve Bannon, she continued to support the Trump lie, in defiance of Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.


Kari Lake, the armpit candidate and a not so good TV news anchor at a no-news Fox TV station. She turned politician in 2021, when Arizona welcomed its newest lunatic politician. Republican, of course. I did a recent post, "Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona," where I pointed out the fact that 'Kari Lake compared herself to Jesus." Earlier I did posts on Twitter and FB of how Lake accused her opponent in the governor's race, Katie Hobbs, of a vote on legislation, completely false, because Lake can't read a bill. She is, of course, an ardent Trump supporter.

 Okay, this isn't a hanging but it is clear that these three totalitarians are doing their best to assassinate our democracy. Arizona is a hotbed of this kind of stupidity, as is Florida and Texas, with the GOP determined to take 2022 and 2024 elections and maneuver America to an eventual catastrophe. VOTE DEMOCRAT IN NOVEMBER AND AGAIN IN 2024!

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other lunacy in state politics

It wasn’t bad enough that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer issued an executive order that, even if young undocumented immigrants receive deferred action on deportation, they can’t have a driver’s license, The Arizona Department of Transportation agreed.  Many thought there was some leeway between Brewer’s order and what the state Constitution says.  The ADT conducted a review and the decision was also not to issue driver’s licenses.

Jan Brewer
Without them the immigrants cannot drive to work or school.  California will issue driver’s licenses for those in the program but, then, that state is light years ahead of Arizona in progress.  This edict would put 80,000 undocumented immigrants in the state in the position of either hitching a ride or just driving illegally.  Arizona will most likely face another lawsuit to add to SB-1070, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others.  Just another stupid move by the wicked witch from the Southwest.

The Gov. recently stated she is 100 percent sure she knows just what Mitt Romney meant when he told a fundraising dinner that 47 percent of the country “believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.”  The Gov. turned illusionist exclaimed he meant, “We want to make everyone successful.  We want everybody to be successful.”  This kind of statement is one you might expect from someone living on another planet.

But everything this fruitcake politician does cannot change the fact that she has pissed off many Hispanics in the state, and this kind of politics is projected to turn Arizona over to the Democrats in the not too distant future.  There are 589,000 Latinos registered to vote in Arizona and 265,000 of those are expected to vote Democrat. 

Depending on what poll you read, President Obama has a chance of winning Arizona.  To support that, he raised $859,000 in the state in August compared to Romney’s $676,000.  It was also his biggest month nationwide.

Jan Brewer and undocumented immigrant
And there are many ways that a governor can cast aspersions on the state they govern, one of them by insulting one of its largest corporations with corporate headquarters in the state.  It wasn’t bad enough that Brewer was blowing the state’s money needlessly on a trip to Paris, but she and two of her staff caused a $4,100 bill during the fiasco that included cancellation fees for a Best Western hotel where they thought the digs weren’t up to standard for such royalty. 

Moving on to the bigoted side of Jan Brewer and many state residents, she was asked not to attend the recent Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.  This was because the organization that sponsored it, the Family Research Council, is said to have spread demeaning untruths about the lesbian and gay community.  But Brewer not only attended but said she was honored to speak.  And what might we expect?  Other speakers included Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann.

And then there was the recent meandering interview with the New York Times where Jan Brewer showed the true colors of an Arizona fanatic.  Here are some excerpts.  She was hurt when wagging her finger in the President’s face on a Phoenix tarmac he walked off in the middle of her sentence.  Why Obama even took the time to acknowledge her at all is amazing.  She won’t even admit how stupid she was, which thoroughly irks several Arizona progressives.

Jan Brewer announcing
headless bodies
She admitted she didn’t have a clue where the U.S./Mexico border is when asked about her concerns over Arizona border violence; the FBI reported that violence had dropped.  She quoted figures for people who were murdered in Puerto Penasco, a full 60 miles into Mexico.  There was also the beheaded bodies found in the desert that weren’t really there.  And maintaining her stand on loose gun laws in the aftermath of Rep. Gabby Giffords severe wounding in Tucson.

But the clincher was Brewer’s reaction to the law she signed to allow concealed weapons in bars.  The interviewer questioned this reasoning and she replied, “I think a bartender knows who’s drinking and who isn’t.  But he doesn’t know who has a concealed weapon was the retort.  Her only answer was how responsible gun owners are, not how irresponsible they might become after a few drinks.

Arizonans have to live with this on a daily basis, and many still support this incompetent poor soul.  Unfortunately it has caused ridicule of the state that will take years to repair.  Disgraced State Sen. Russell Pearce, a Brewer buddy and author of SB-1070, was thrown out of office.  There’s still a chance for Jan Brewer and many progressives are looking for just that.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Arizona government…the epitome of how not to run a state

If you think your state has problems, just look at the charade of participants, below, that make up the Republican governor’s office and GOP controlled legislature in my home state of Arizona.  This is a great state and doesn’t deserve the ridicule it receives from the antics of these wingnuts.  It is both laughable and tragic, but makes some of the best non-fiction reading in politics today. 


Jan Brewer finger wagging

The epitome of epitomes, Arizona Gov. Jan brewer wagging her finger in the face of President Obama just minutes after he had deplaned in Mesa, Arizona.  Within days a local music teacher, Leonard Clark, filed papers with Sec. of State Ken Bennett to recall Brewer.  In his words: “The whole finger wagging incident crystallized it.  She is embarrassing our state.”  A lot of Arizonans agree.  See the “Brewer Doesn’t Speak for Me” site. 

The Daily Beast concurs with Harry Reid (below) that this airport tarmac incident was “emblematic of the Arizona GOP’s increasing extremism, and it may be turning off voters.  But that’s not all.  The state GOP created a T-shirt with the encounter image on it with the phrase under it “Just one more year!”  Aside from being tacky, it is in complete bad taste, extending the disrespect pseudo Gov. Brewer showed the President, but indicative of Republican taste in Arizona.

Arizona will be forever known in the sports world as the place where one of the most prestigious annual college sports events, the Fiesta Bowl, was almost brought to its knees by a corrupt chief executive.  This wasn’t an underling to blame; it’s the top guy, the one who can be credited for much of the bowl’s success.  John Junker was caught with his hand in the political donation cookie jar. 

Junker was charged with reimbursing staff members with bowl money for making contributions to local and state candidates who helped the bowl to obtain financial subsidies.  This is illegal.  Gary Husk, bowl lobbyist and Junker associate, is also being investigated.  Current and former Fiesta Bowl employees have alleged that Husk was involved in the scheme with Junker.  The Fiesta Bowl has since recovered from the fiasco under new management.

National Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say the GOP is now controlled by extremists like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.  The Gov. is linked with other zealots like former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce, who was the sponsor of the state’s anti-immigration bill, and who was recalled from his Senate seat, the first time ever. 

He is joined by Kris Kobach, current Kansas Sec. of State and fierce anti-immigration critic, who actually wrote the Arizona law SB-1070 with the American Legislative Exchange Counsil (ALEC).  Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, failed 2008 presidential candidate, says nobody pays any attention to Reid, whom he characterized as not “totally rational.”  This from a man who chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.


Russell Pearce with J.T. Ready

So what does former State Sen. Russell Pearce do when they boot him out of the Senate?  He goes on talk radio, of course.  Pearce is known for his hateful and racist ways, having befriended fellow racist J.T. Ready, who is also a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi.  Stephen Lemons of The Phoenix New Times described Pearce’s show as xenophobic, self-adulation, and delusional in the host’s “radio cafeteria of hate.”  Lemons actually tuned into one of the shows.

Expecting the worst and getting it, it was Pearce at his best ranting and raving over illegal immigration, completely demonizing Latinos.  His phone guest was former Congressman Tom Tancredo from Colorado who described the struggle against immigration as “a matter of the survival of Western Civilization.”  Lemons commented on the two as engaging “in an aural love-fest better left for a room at a Best Western.”  Pearce plans to run again for the Senate in November.


Sheriff "Joe" Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the baddest in the West, has a volunteer posse that he constantly raves over.  Some carry guns, and can even make arrest under the supervision of a regular deputy, but can also be former criminals themselves.  A local TV station, KPHO, investigated the posse and found arrests for assault, drug possession, domestic violence, sex crimes against children, disorderly conduct, impersonating an officer and more.  Most are still on the posse.

Douglas Clark is a posse member as well as constable who rolled a county vehicle at 91 mph in a 45 mph zone, used his siren while not on a call, and used the red/blue lights installed on his personal vehicle to look for his wife’s lost item on the road.  He also detained a driver and passenger at gunpoint who had backed into his car when he was off duty.  The posse does not receive a salary but is covered under county insurance.

There’s more, much, much, more on Arizona that I will cover at a later date to keep you laughing and wondering.  I am also interested in the shenanigans going on in your particular state so please use the “comments” to tell me about it.  Sorry, but no anonymous entries, just use an online name.

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