Kari Lake, You Lost...Now Please Go Away

 

Kari Lake didn't run a good campaign and Katie Hobbs ran a lousy campaign but she won because the people of Arizona realized Lake is a lunatic with a maniacal agenda. She is a Donald Trump avid supporter and most important an election denier who ranted through her campaign with a string of lies that would make Trump proud. Here is Salon's scenario...

"Lake, a former news anchor who was backed by former President Donald Trump, became one of the most prominent election deniers in the country but ultimately lost like so many other election deniers that the former president backed in key battleground states. Fellow Arizona election deniers Blake Masters and Mark Finchem also lost the U.S. Senate and secretary of state races, respectively."

Last Monday, Kari Lake tweeted, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." And they did by electing Democrat Katie Hobbs and sending Lake to the showers, or worse. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., agreed, tweeting, "As it turns out, yes, yes they did," in response to the beaten candidate's comment. Another, "Totally true, as the vote shows," jabbed Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo...

shared a letter Lake sent to her in October thanking her for an "in-kind contribution" to her campaign by campaigning against her. "You're welcome," Cheney wrote. 

Do you believe this?...

"Kari Lake told a legion of John McCain supporters across Arizona that they could go to hell. Tonight, [election nite] they returned the favor," an anonymous GOP strategist told CNN.

Even the dumbest of Arizona Republicans knows that you do not attack John McCain in this state. And, Arizona gun nuts came out in force...

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Maricopa County Election Center over the [past] weekend after dozens of GOP supporters, including some that were armed and wearing ballistic vests, staged a protest and carried signs claiming "Kari Lake Won" and "Hobbs is a Cheat." But there was no repeat of the aggressive 2020 election protests at the vote-counting center, said Sheriff Paul Penzone, and the protest cleared out after about an hour.

"Former Republican strategist Tim Miller said Lake's tweet that 'Arizonans know BS when they see it' was 'unintentionally' right." Miller wonders now just how far Kari Lake might go, since she is so Trump-indoctrinated; could she continue this battle about the Arizona governor's race into the future? The state is full of MAGA Republicans capable of a statehouse insurrection and with some of the loosest gun laws in the country, it could be a bloodbath.

 Katie Hobbs Defeats Kari Lake To Win Arizona Governor’s Race...

The HuffPost came up with a long line of tweets mocking Kari Lake's tweet, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." One of my favorites is Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a Republican who has established himself as anti-Trump, who said, "Clearly. That's why they rejected you." While Trump cries election fraud, we have this from the New York Post...

"She [Kari Lake] is the latest Trump-endorsed MAGA candidate to be rejected by voters in the midterm elections, which failed to unleash the “red wave” of GOP victories that Republicans had predicted.

"From Pennsylvania to Nevada, a parade of Trump’s handpicked candidates vying to become senators or governors faltered, among them Dr. Mehmet Oz, Blake Masters and Doug Mastriano.

"Likewise, all the Trump-backed hopefuls running for secretaries of state in key battleground states met the same fate."

Trump's purpose in winning Sec. State offices is because they control elections, thus, would be under his thumb. You might remember that in the 2020 election, Trump demanded the Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win. Here's the scenario...

"In an hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, [Jan. 2, 2021]President Donald Trump falsely claimed it was "not possible" for him to have lost in The Peach State, and asked the secretary to "find" the exact number of votes he would need -- just one vote over the margin that he trailed President-elect Joe Biden by -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts confirmed he lost."

And...

Raffensperger, a Republican who supported the president's reelection but has maintained Georgia's election was legitimate and accurate, rebuffed the president's allegations, saying the data the president is citing to claim tens of thousands of illegal votes, "is wrong."

You may also remember the Georgia's AG investigation of Trump's interference covered in Newsweek...

"It wouldn't surprise me for Georgia to become the first jurisdiction to indict a former president on felony charges. I doubt it'll be the last. And I think the charges will stick," Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University.

Tribe's remarks came as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ramps up her investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost the state by a narrow margin of 0.23 points.

So, it's over for Kari Lake and Donald Trump. Now, if we can only get rid of Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy. Any ideas? 

Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona

In the Second Coming, the belief is that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. In a recent church setting, standing behind a pulpit, Kari Lake compared herself to Jesus. Trump did it and no one was surprised. Then why would it be different when a lunatic Arizona politician does it? This state seems to thrive with off-the-wall lawmakers and those who wanna be. Kari Lake wants to be governor and replace bush-league state head, Doug Ducey.

I don't want to be sacrilegious but I can't determine if Lake is "coming" or going. Here's the scenario...

While complaining about President Joe Biden’s speech condemning radical MAGA cultists, Lake said, “You can call us whatever you want, Joe. You can call us extremists. You can call us domestic terrorists. You know who else was called a lot of names his whole life? Jesus.”

Lake also compared the gang of misfit Republican MAGA thugs with Jesus, along with herself, which in itself is a sacrilege. Arizona columnist, E.J. Montini, goes on to paint the picture of a Christian turned un-Christian by saying and doing un-Christian things. Kari Lake clearly places herself in the latter category by her rants over migrants, Montini exclaims...

"As Lake did from behind that same pulpit, smugly echoing her Dear Leader’s disdainful remarks about migrants, saying, 'The media might have a field day with this one, but I’m just going to repeat something President Trump said a long time ago and it got him into a lot of trouble. They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. And they are rapists and that’s who’s coming across our border. That’s a fact.'”

To utter this rubbish in a church setting, supposedly populated by Christians, is beyond bizarre. Just as scary is Mark Finchem, Arizona candidate for Sec. of State, a position that gives him control over elections. This maniac joins with Lake in her never-ending accusation that the 2020 election was rigged. Here's Montini's take...

"When Lake and Finchem filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to require hand-counting only for ballots in this November’s election – without providing proof that the system had been compromised – the judge tossed the case and let the less-than-dynamic duo know that they had wandered firmly into Lloyd and Harry’s simpleminded 'Dumb & Dumber' territory."

Kari Lake HUMILIATES Herself On Stage With Trump Supporter Comparison...

But it didn't stop there. They "appealed the judge’s ruling, saying they plan to take their case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals." As a result, "the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, dominated by Republicans, has asked that Lake, Finchem and their attorneys face financial sanctions." Note that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is dominated by Republicans. These two idiots are fighting their own party. Arizona residents are the losers...

"The taxpayer-funded hand recount conducted by the Cyber Ninjas, a group specifically selected by Republican Arizona Senate President Karen Fann with the expectation of finding fraud, instead found that President Joe Biden’s margin of victory was even larger than the official 

count."

Laurie Roberts, another top Phoenix columnist leads her column with...

"Kari Lake just demonstrated a level of ignorance about state government that is both astonishing and hilarious."

It seems that Lake promised an exposé about Katie Hobbs the former felt was so alarming she had her team triple-confirm; like a Republican ever confirms what they claim to be facts. And then came Lake's "Bad Stuff"...

"announcing that her opponent, Hobbs, fought to keep the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution out of Arizona’s classrooms."

Profoundly not true. Roberts confirms with the statement that Lake couldn't read, referring to the legislation she was quoting from. Then, Lake, in a campaign video "showed a document proving that Hobbs … did no such thing." It seems that Hobbs had voted no on an earlier bill, joined, by all other Democrats, re. religion that had nothing to do with what Lake was referring to. In other words, just adding to the many lies in her campaign. ARIZONANS VOTE FOR KATIE HOBBS!

 

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

Republican Kari Lake is running for Arizona governor against Democrat Katie Hobbs with the results as of this writing Hobbs 50.33 to Lake 49.67. There are over 600,000 votes yet to be counted with the state being compared to Florida which had their votes counted just hours after the polls closed. If Kari Lake should win, she carries the baggage of being a Donald Trump minion and 2020 election denier. Morning Joe says Lake is, "Willing to do or say anything."...

"MSNBC's Joe Scarborough singled out one of Donald Trump's hand-picked candidates as a threat to U.S. democracy."

Kari Lake also supports Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers "who promotes white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and election fraud claims." Here's another example...

"Top Arizona Republican candidates Kari Lake and Abraham Hamadeh, who are running for governor and attorney general, respectively, spent the final days of the campaign praising a GOP state legislator who has embraced white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and baseless election fraud claims."

 Lake also LIED that Lee Zeldin, GOP candidate for New York governor, got

stabbed while he was speaking to a crowd of people not all that long ago. Then blamed the "left" in the spread of her lie. And then there is my post, 'Kari Lake knows that the MAGA mob must stay ignorant in order for Trumpism to work. She wants less math, science, and history in public high schools.' But the clincher is my Sept. 2022 post, 'Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona." You have to read it.

Finally...

Speaking on MSNBC, Fanone (Capitol cop who was injured) referred to Lake, who is the Republican nominee in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, as a “piece of sh*t".

 To read all my posts on Kari Lake, go here.

Maricopa voting officials announced earlier today that they would be counting votes into early next week. Meanwhile, voters will be counting the hours until Katie Hobbs is pronounced Governor of the state of Arizona.

NEXT: The mayhem of Florida's dictator, Ron DeSantis

Arizona Focal Point in Democracy loss

 

The state of Arizona is now a dead-center on the issue of our loss of democracy. This honor results clearly from the candidacy of the lunatic, Kari Lake, who is running for governor. Frank Bruni of the New York Times dubs her as part of, "The Republican Double Standard That’s Endangering American Democracy. Here's the scenario...

"A Republican victory in a tightly contested race means that Democrats’ desires or schemes to corrupt it didn’t pan out. Let freedom ring! A Democratic victory means that George Soros cast a magic spell over voters while a global cabal of socialists and pedophiles used space beams to scramble the results that voting machines spit out."

Kari Lake doesn’t commit to accepting Arizona election result if she loses...

 This is the result of Bruni's analysis of Lake's interview with Dana Bash on CNN. In her appearance with Bash, Kari Lake made it clear she would accept no result except her win against Democrat opponent, Katy Hobbs. Lake later softened that stand. I live in Arizona, moved here from California some 25 years ago. We were blind-sided by the radical politicians, we were more concerned with affordable housing in the move. I have been a liberal activist since the first day.

Kari Lake was skewered on the latest Saturday Night Live, and her misguided rants over a fixed 2020 election and sophomoric idolatry of Donald Trump makse her a laughingstock among the thinking population. But many Arizonans are flocking to her side, making the competition with Hobbs very close. Bruni exclaims...

"Republicans are fashioning a politics without accountability. They’re rigging reality itself. And Lake’s interview with Bash was one of those moments that captured, in miniature, the broader dynamics and dysfunctions of its time."

Bruni continues...

"Look at all that doubt! It’s a garden, it’s a thicket, it’s a wild anti-Eden all its own. It must be tamed — and you know how? Elect Kari Lake. Bow to Ron DeSantis. Because they’re spotlighting that doubt. They’re boldly confronting it. They’re not letting evidence, or the lack thereof, get in the way of emotion."

GOP governor says Trump-backed candidate is misleading voters...

Even current Arizona GOP governor Doug Ducey said Kari Lake is full of misinformation and fully rejected her in the primary against Karrin Taylor Robson. Lake did win but Ducey wasn't sure whether Republican governors would support her. The gov has finally decided to support Lake, which indicates what kind of leader Arizona has had the last eight years. Bruni quips, "This is no laughing matter," continuing...

"If enough Americans exalt feelings over facts, insist on their preferred version of events rather than the actual one, refuse to subjugate their personal wants to any public good and reject the processes and institutions that enable group decisions, we have chaos. We all lose."

Bruni says he won't accept that result and neither will I.

VOTE KATY HOBBS GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA. 

 

Arizona's Gubernatorial Race: Debate Or Not Debate

 

I can understand why Katie Hobbs would refuse to debate an air head like Kari Lake. In a one-sided, no-substance quarrel, it would be Hobbs against a no-substance nonentity with Lake continuing to spout nonsensical illusions over a stolen 2020 election. It's a broken record and in this case the jabbering should be deep sixed. Yet, there is no depth where Lake's blathering would be accommodated. But, and there is a but here...is there a good reason for Hobbs to debate?

Katie Hobbs is currently struggling in the polls, and many believe a one-on-one with her would show Lake to be the idiot she is. Even in Arizona, Trump's backing could be a drawback for some as the undercurrent here is a softening on the former Oval Office maniac. After all, Joe Biden did flip the state in 2020, something that shocked Republicans as well as Democrats. Lake also has the repeal of Roe v. Wade baggage among confused Arizona voters.

Crowd Wisdom says...

"Kari Lake is underperforming the Republican performance in 2018. She is underperforming Doug Ducey by 3 points while Katie Hobbs is outperforming Democrat David Garcia by 4 points."

Should Katie Hobbs ditch debate with Kari Lake?...

I can see Hobbs now in her clash with her lunatic opponent, Lake, ranting and raving over the recent Mar-a Lago raid for Trump classified documents. She actually took a day off railing over the stolen 2020 election. Yahoo/News take...

"It was, Kari Lake told us, “one of the darkest days in American history”. 

"Akin, apparently, to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

"Just like the disastrous day when the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. And that hideous day when the Twin Towers fell, ushering in an era of terrorism on our shores."

So much for the displaced drama. Meanwhile, Katie Hobbs quietly waits for

her moment in the debate and when she is able to jump in exclaims, 'why don't we talk about your issues for a better Arizona?' Kari Lake was stunned, as she began to wave her arms in the air exposing her Primary gimmick, armpits. But she couldn't utter a word, 'what the hell is this woman talking about, issues for Arizona?' she thought. Bewildered, overwhelmed, she remained speechless.

Katie Hobbs finished the debate laying out her plans for Arizona while a seething Lake seemed to just be "melting down" behind the podium.

Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America

 

What else do we expect from a Trump worshipper? More lies, of course. Here's the definition of a lie: "a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth." Precisely what Lake has been doing the entire campaign for governor with Katie Hobbs, her Democrat opponent. Here's the scenario from MEDIAite...

"Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, joined Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Tuesday and declared “it’s pretty much game over for Katie Hobbs” – her Democratic opponent. Lake boasted that recent polls showed her up 11 points and 9 points just before Fox News flashed a graphic of the latest New York Times/Siena College poll showing the race tied at 48 to 48 percent."

Former President Obama, whom Lake supported in 2016, is coming to town

and, hopefully, will help Katie Hobbs improve her place in the polls. Lake says Obama's trip is no big deal, then rages on about Hobbs refusing to debate her. This is how Hobbs reacted to this claim...

"How do you debate someone who refuses to accept the truth, who doesn’t live in facts? Oh, she’s going to do a shout. Shout over me, interrupt me and spew lies."

Any well-balanced, fair-minded Arizonan would agree with Hobbs' statement, probably adding, Lake is a certified lunatic. It is obvious she was trying to jump on the bandwagon with Barack Obama, then six years later she has found a faster train with Donald Trump. She has no issues other than...Trump. There is no substance in her speeches and even less in the crowd she attracts. And, working for Fox News for 30 years was an excellent training ground for Lake's persistent lies.

Yahoo!News asks, "Is Arizona's Kari Lake the most 'dangerous' politician in America?" The article quotes from Atlantic Magazine and The Washington Post exclaiming the fact that Lake bets all her chips on Donald Trump and the 2020 election denial. But the article gets scary when top Democratic strategists "now believe Lake has the 'potential to soar to a vice presidential spot or a post-Trump presidential candidacy.'”

That isn't just scary, it is downright terrifying! VOTE KATIE HOBBS FOR ARIZONA GOVERNOR!

 

 

MLK daughter says Kari Lake comment about her father "absurd"

 

I guess I am picking on Republicans but what can you say with the antics from those like Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron Johnson, to name only a few. The first three are members of the House, Johnson a Senator. Don't get me wrong, there are accusations of Democrat lunatics. Googling that, one in particular came up in the search. Congressman Steve Cohen from Tennessee. Didn't find much more than an incident in Trump's impeachment. 

So, I decided to see what Cohen stands for and found his issues far from lunacy. As an example, Cohen supports Biden's Student Loan Debt Relief; also for the President's pardons for marijuana possession; the congressman wants to name Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Whatever Cohen says, it can't compare with statements like "the Lord has washed me in the blood of Jesus," from Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Bill Maher dubs him an "idiot."

But it is Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, who takes the cake. Her

most recent idiocy was a claim...

“I’m a true believer that if MLK, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, if JFK were alive today, if our founding fathers were alive today, they would be America First Republicans,” Lake promised. “I really believe that.”

So ludicrous it doesn't justify a reply. But MLK's daughter fired back...

King's daughter called Lake's claim absurd and noted that saying something like that was being dismissive of her father's 'seminal work and beliefs.'"

And, did you catch Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's latest stupidity?  She tried to make a show of herself standing up for Confederate soldiers and in her typical ignorance...

"despite Greene’s apparent rush to pay her respects to what she believed was a Confederate monument, the monument actually pays tribute to Union troops that battled the Confederates."

In The Ring of Fire progressive post by Farron Cousins, he comments...

"Two factions within the Republican Party are fighting for dominance right now, and the lunatics are winning by a lot. The Gaetz’s, Jordan’s, and Gohmert’s are the ones making the rules now, as they are the ones with the biggest reach and the ones being amplified by right wing media."

As Cousins exclaims the lunatics are winning, he adds more to the gang: "your Josh

Hawley’s and your Ted Cruz’s and of course your Rand Paul’s." The proliferation of these whackos, of course, started with the administration of Donald Trump. With his continued help, these crazed individuals, and many more like them, have managed to nearly bring down the nation. The epitome of this movement was the Jan. 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. According to Time...

"More than 840 people have been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, with charges ranging from obstruction of an official proceeding to assault. But 17 months after the attempted insurrection, a significant number of rioters are still awaiting their sentencing."

One interesting comment is that, although there may be some crazies in the Democrat Party, this list is Republican-heavy; the reality is that Democrats just aren’t keeping pace right now in the crazy department. But one looney stands out in the areas of stupidity and lunacy, Lauren Boebert, Rep. from Colorado, most recently when she proposed an amendment in the House with the result...

"Lauren Boebert's legislation got blocked thanks to House panel's rule targeting 'lunatics.' House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) has a new rule on his committee for people like Boebert. McGovern explained to Republicans that his new rule for his committee says if you're "batsh** crazy, you're not getting an amendment" after he blocked one of Boebert's amendments from going to the House floor."

Biden accuses Trump, "MAGA Republicans" of threatening democracy in prime-time address...

Turning now to the instigator of all this mayhem, Donald Trump's latest rally "Flies off the Rails," as reported by The Daily Beast...

"The QAnon-peppered programming frequently flew off the rails Saturday, as speakers took severe issue with everything from McDonald’s being part of the 'deep state' to “demonic satellites” controlling the voting system in the United States."

And here's a Tweet from the rally...

Opening prayer today at Eric Trump and Michael Flynn’s QAnon event: “God, open the eyes of Pres Trump’s understanding, that he will know how to implement divine intervention. And you will not surround him with RINO trash, in the name of Jesus.”

There is no doubt at this point that Donald Trump's input to these irrational

supporters is what keeps them flying off the rails. And the fact that he continues his terrorist activities, plus the fact he is threatening to run for President again in 2024, should chill the bones of any American who is in his or her right mind. Before I close, a return to Arizona where the politics are sown with lunatics and fertilized with the idiocy of Republican radicals.

Arizona's unesteemed chairperson of the Arizona Republican Party, Kelli Ward, has "lost her attempt to block a House committee subpoena for her phone records in connection with an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building and other events related to the 2020 presidential election," according to Politico. There are also a couple of daffy dingbats worth mentioning--that's all since they haven't been important enough to get a lot of media coverage.

They are Debbie Lesko and Andy Biggs, both full of misinformation and conspiracies but no substance. And the closing act is something I described as un-freaking believable. Wendy Rogers, an Arizona state Senator, urged voters to lie to poll workers on election day. E.J Montini, a local columnist, describes Rogers as a liar, sleezy and "the most unhinged member of the Arizona Legislature (which is saying A LOT). 

But, one of the best comments comes from the local paper's opinion column. Dan Peel of Phoenix suburb Scottsdale who said in comparing the races of Katy Hobbs (D), and Kari Lake (R), commenting on Hobbs' accomplishments and Lake whose only real issue is Donald Trump, "just step back and see the big picture. Even if you can only support Hobbs as the ant-Lake candidate, do it. Our democracy and state truly depend on your vote."

YES, not only the state of Arizona but the entire country depends on your votes for Democrats if we are to save our democracy. GO TO THE POLLS ON NOVEMBER 8, AND ENCOURAGE ANYONE YOU SEE OR TALK TO TO VOTE. LIKE MICHAEL MOORE SAID, THIS COULD BE A DEMOCRAT TSUNAMI.

LATE FLASH...

We had another governor in Arizona like Kari Lake wants to be...the bigoted Evan Mecham. Arizona business detested him, and his discrimination of Martin Luther King Day made the state a national embarassment as well as losing the Super Bowl in 1993. Kari Lake, the right-wing conspiracy theorist, follows in his footsteps with her latest salvo aimed at major league football and...

"Dares the NFL to Pull the 2023 Super Bowl from Arizona if She Becomes Governor and Declares Border ‘Invasion’"

Goodbye Super Bowl for 2023...

 

2022 Election Republican Extremists

 

The nation's focus is on Arizona because the experts say that if the radical slate of extremist candidates win, democracy is lost in the state. The concern is over a select five including Kari Lake, running for governor, Mark Finchem for Sec. State, Blake Masters, U.S. Senate and incumbent House members Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs. All 2020 election deniers. Gosar's family even says do not vote for him. There are more not on the current active list which I will cover later.

What can I say about Kari Lake?...She's a misinformation lunatic and possibly the next train wreck to hit Arizona unless she is stopped. If you go to "Search," above, and type in her name, there are numerous posts that express the need to defeat her. One of my favorites is "Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America," It recounts one of her latest lies saying she has won the election...

"Lake boasted that recent polls showed her up 11 points and 9 points just before Fox News flashed a graphic of the latest New York Times/Siena College poll showing the race tied at 48 to 48 percent." 

You cannot believe Kari Lake so why would anyone but an idiot want her for the next governor of Arizona? VOTE FOR KATIE HOBBS (D) TOMORROW!

Mark Finchem is a devout 2020 election denier, but his most serious downside is the fact that he has said, if elected, he wants to do away with 'vote by mail' in Arizona and will make changes to the state's voting system that will make it harder to go to the polls in the future. In a debate this whacko admitted 'the big lie" is a fraud. Duties of the Arizona Secretary of State include serving as the state's chief election officer. So, VOTE FOR ADRIAN FONTES (D) TOMORROW!

Blake Masters, another avid believer that the 2020 election was won by Donald Trump, not Joe Biden. Masters is not alone...

"Election deniers will be on the ballot in 48 of 50 states and make up more than half of all Republicans running for congressional and state offices in the midterm elections. Nearly 300 Republicans seeking those offices this November have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election, according to a Washington Post analysis."

This is unconscionable as is Masters' position in Arizona. VOTE FOR INCUMBENT SENATOR MARK KELLY TOMORROW! 

Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, two Arizona House members that should have been voted out years ago. My blog on February 9, of this year, following the Republican insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, "ARIZONA: Home of Insurrectionists." pretty much labels Biggs and Gosar the anarchists they are. Added to that...

Leading Phoenix columnist E.J. Montini says it all in his headline, "Arizona's Jan. 6 insurrectionists should be barred from holding office."

The same should apply, of course, to the other 2020 deniers mentioned above. But it all comes down to the 14th Amendment; here is Section 3...

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

And the other non-active Arizona election participants are Karen Fann, Kelli

Ward and Wendy Rogers. Fann, as Arizona Senate Pres. 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. And Ward, after losing three Arizona elections, was chosen as chair of the Arizona Republican Party and who filed lawsuits seeking to nullify the state's (AZ) 2020 election results.

Finally, Wendy Rogers, the Arizona state Senator who was the focus of an ethics investigation by her own party for a comment on the Buffalo gun massacre...

“Of course I condemn the violence in Buffalo, who doesn’t?” Rogers tweeted on Monday morning – two days after suggesting it was a false flag attack by a federal agent.

 Could it get any hotter? Many political pundits are exclaiming, 'so goes Arizona, so goes the rest of the U.S. The local newspaper, The Arizona Republic, a conservative publication said this...

"Don't sit out this election. The stakes are too high"

VOTE TOMORROW AND MAKE THIS A BLUE TSUNAMI! 

ARIZONA...The Hotbed Of Anti-Democracy

 

I have lived in Arizona for over twenty years. We left Los Angeles because of the gangs that were slowly migrating up the coast where we lived. When we arrived here and discovered how conservative and far-right the state was (didn't do my homework), we didn't want to leave; rather we thought another liberal presence in the land of the sun could help change the state to, at least, moderate. We have had luck finding other liberals and now Arizona has definitely turned purple, we think on the way to blue.

But as it turns out the Donald Trump administration, which didn't make the state necessarily more red, did incite the brand of retaliatory politics that has resulted in the recent chaotic gubernatorial election. Kari Lake, a radical right Trumpster who is also a 2020 election denier, challenged Democrat, Katie Hobbs, who wasn't squeaky clean but a hell of a lot more honest and qualified than Lake. Hobbs had a narrow win but Lake is still contesting the certified voting results. 

Other Trumpsters and 2020 election deniers also lost, but Abe Hamadeh, in a tight race for...

"attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday contesting the preliminary results of an election that had already been headed to an automatic recount."

You can see the stupidity of these people who react with no thought to what they are doing. Idiots. Hamadeh had a guaranteed runoff. But, what puzzles me even more, probably shouldn't in Arizona, is the fact the races are so close. You would think when known anarchists are on the ballot the logic would be that it is a threat to our democracy, vote them down. Much of the country did in the blue tsunami, but not Arizona. The New York Times reports...

Mr. Hamadeh’s lawsuit, filed in State Superior Court in Maricopa County, names as defendants Arizona’s secretary of state — Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won the governor’s race — as well as the county recorders and boards of supervisors in the state’s 15 counties. The Republican National Committee joined Mr. Hamadeh in the suit as a plaintiff.

 Inside The Arizona GOP' 'Anti-Democracy Experiment'...

And on Thanksgiving Day, it was reported that Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County, demanding information about Election Day printer problems. She said, "I still have hope." Here's the scenario...

"Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials on Wednesday, accusing them of breaking election laws and demanding they provide information about voters whose ballots were impacted by Election Day printer issues."

But, one of the most critical wins for Democrats was Sec. of State; the position controls state elections and Republican candidate and a Trump denier Mark Finchem had repeatedly said he may not certify some elections. With that area worsening on a daily basis, the Washington Post corroborates the problem in this piece, "Election denial is reaching new levels of absurdity in Arizona." Here's their

take...

"Arizona is home for many of the most fervent true believers in the election fraud myth. Their ire is directed toward election authorities in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where roughly 60 percent of the state’s votes are cast. After the 2020 election, the purveyors of the fraud narrative pushed the state legislature to authorize the so-called audit of the county’s vote. That effort confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, but it did nothing to quell the faithful’s suspicions."

That was followed by what WaPo calls the "fraud squad," illegal electors, led by gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake. She, along with the Trump supported gang of mock politicians lost, and as far as I am concerned, Arizona is saved...for the time being. We still have a Republican legislature to deal with and Governor-elect Katie Hobbs has indicated her plan to work with them. Being the self-designated state pessimist, I have my doubts but unlimited hope for turning Arizona blue.

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!

 

Kari Lake Lies Again - Makes Joke About Pelosi Assault

 

As I said in my blog post yesterday, "Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America," this country has a desperate problem on its hands if this lunatic is elected to any government office. Republicans are having a field day with the Paul Pelosi assault, with Elon Musk doing his own muckraking, and Lake is licking her conspiracy theory chops as usual. She expects to win the Arizona governor's office Nov. 8, with her special brand of misinformation. 

The Republican disinformation machine is never silent, it purrs right along and has picked up significant speed before the elections. Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, Democrat Speaker of the House, is the perfect target. Beyond tasteless, Lake is not alone, Yahoo!News reports, "Prominent Republicans push conspiracy theories about attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband." Some of those mentioned are Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La. and Virginia Gov. Republican Glenn Youngkin.

There are more, and of course...

Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, shared an Instagram post on Sunday night featuring a photograph of a hammer on top of a pair of Hanes underwear that he captioned, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” Trump Jr. doubled down on Monday, reposting the meme and adding the comment, “The internet remains undefeated… Also if you switch out the hammer for a red feather boa you could be Hunter Biden in an instant.” He also shared on Instagram a meme that showed two men having sex and the older one on the phone telling police he’s being attacked.

We expect this kind of nonsensical nonsense from the Trump family but not from elected officials the American public should be able to expect civility from. But, there is no civility left in the Republican Party and that, folks, is the problem. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, "but Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered a fractured skull and underwent surgery at a local hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery." Yet the GOP has chosen to do their smearing at the bottom of the barrel on this.

She just flat-out lied': Cooper calls out Kari Lake's false claim about Paul Pelosi...

Here is Elon Musk's statement with added comment from Yahoo...

“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk tweeted, along with a link to an account of the attack in the Santa Monica Observer, a site with a history of posting right-wing misinformation.

Musk subsequently deleted the tweet, but he did not post any admission that it was false or apologize for defaming Pelosi. Instead he mocked the New York Times for accurately reporting what he had done.

Saying he is not attached to either political party, he sure sounds like a Republican

to me.

Heading back to Arizona, another political freak...

Wendy Rogers, a Republican state senator in Arizona, shared a phony Amazon listing for a “Paul Pelosi Fake Attack Plastic Novelty Item” that included a blood-stained hammer. Anthony Sabatini, a Republican state legislator in Florida, posted “RELEASE THE PELOSI TAPES” on Twitter. (It’s not clear what tapes he is referring to.)

But here is the ultimate of bad taste... 

"Last Wednesday, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., posted on Twitter a video of himself firing a rifle and the hashtag #FirePelosi. In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Emmer was asked if he would take down the tweet and if he would stop running ads focused on Pelosi. He declined to do either."

With gun violence raging in America, this moron uses a gun to mock Nancy Pelosi. If the American public doesn't realize the dilemma we are in and correct it in the upcoming election, the U.S. is destined for disaster. VOTE DEMOCRAT NOV. 8! 

GOP Red Wave Fizzles To A "Puddle"

The Washington Post coined the saying adding it was a "messy" one at that. At the same time, RawStory exclaims, "Not many signs of a red wave at this point’: Election experts say there’s lots of good news for Democrats." Okay, it wasn't a blue tsunami like Michael Moore predicted, but it also wasn't a blowout like Republicans envisioned. The governor's race in Arizona is still up for grabs with Democrat Katie Hobbs 50.1% of vote, Kari Lake 49.9%. 73% of votes counted.

The pundits have labeled Arizona a test of the future of democracy in this country. If the denier, liar and conspiracy specialist Kari Lake, supported by Donald Trump, wins, Arizona goes down the tube. Unfortunately, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs did win reelections but, there is some good news... 

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Adrian Fontes held a lead over Republican nominee Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, when initial election results were published on Tuesday night, 59.4% to 40.6%.

And more on the good side: For U.S. Senate, Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly

51.2% and Republican Blake Masters 46.6%, 66.9% reporting. There are other Arizona races but none as important to the democracy to the state and the country than the above.  Just before 11 PM Tuesday on MSNBC Jen Psaki observed...

"This was supposed to be an election where it would be embarrassing for Joe Biden to wake up in the morning. And it's not going to be."

The Washington Post reported...

"Voters, it would appear, saw this midterm as something more than a referendum on the party in power; with Republicans putting forward a host of extreme, election-denying candidates and little by way of an agenda, it became a choice between two drastically different paths forward."

Further...

"Between former president Donald Trump’s continued domination of the news and the backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion, Americans are — rightly — focusing on the question of what the opposition party stands for and what Republicans would do if they again found themselves controlling one or both houses of Congress."

The key here is the question of whether Republicans have an agenda? As an example, Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake's agenda is that she is an avid Trump supporter, that's it, a fact that has proved fateful for others like her across the country. There is still a lot to be determined and we aren't likely to have Georgia results on Warnock and Walker until Dec. 6, an important race for the control of the Senate.

With egg on their face, Republicans will still attempt to show us what they can do. History tells us that could be a disaster.

Kari Lake salutes Trump/Hitler

 

We know what a loser Kari Lake is, brought down in part by her love and affection for Donald Trump. It is endless, as well as her passion for denying the fact that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Lake is, of course, a lunatic who thought she could parlay her television exposure into a political career. She didn't, but she hasn't given up yet and goes on with a new strategy planned to unseat Arizona's elected governor, Katie Hobbs. Republicans never learn, especially Trumpsters.

Billionaires and Large U.S. Corporations Support Anti-Democracy

 

It is beyond disconcerting to realize one of the richest families in the U.S. supports the 2020 election deniers spending over $1 million to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. It was right-wing shipping magnates Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein and their money went to "campaigns or committees tied to the 147 Republicans who voted, on January 6, (2021), to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory." But their affection for MAGA goes a lot farther, according to AlterNet...

"Sollenberger, writing for the [Daily] Beast in an article published on November 28, reports that in 2021, Arizona Republican Party Vice Chair Gina Swoboda was hired as executive director for “the Uihlein-backed dark money nonprofit Restoration Action Inc.” Her salary was $108,750 per year."

And in corporate America some of the largest corporations handed out more than $8 million "in campaign contributions toward candidates running for federal office who denied the results of the 2020 election and promoted ideas that the race was stolen from former president Donald Trump." Of course, Chas. Koch and Koch Industries was one of the leaders in the gang of democracy mongers. Another you will want to know about before planning home repairs is Home Depot.

There are more so remember the names if you have a relationship with these companies and let them know how you feel...

"AT&T, Home Depot and UPS, which collectively contributed more than $1.6 million to campaigns that pushed ideas of election fraud.

"Others included Comcast, NBC Universal, the American Crystal Sugar Company and Delta Airlines."

 Arizona GOP Election Rejecting Zeal Could Boomerang On Party's Candidates...

What is most concerning is how organized these people are becoming as if this is only the beginning of the battle...and it may very well be. Here's the scenario and you can see why Arizona is known today as the hotbed of anti-democracy...

“Swoboda, a former Trump campaign official and the vice chair of the... 

"Arizona Republican Party, is now leading a misguided charge against the ballot count in that state on behalf of GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake,” Sollenberger explains. “Swoboda currently serves as ‘election integrity’ coordinator for Lake, whose repeated false claims of voter fraud have ingratiated her to former President Donald Trump and who still refuses to acknowledge her election loss to (Democratic Arizona Secretary of State) Katie Hobbs.”"

Kari Lake is a big promoter of Swoboda and the Uihleins' funded Restoration of

America network which is a hub for election denial, including funding some of the key players pushing election falsehoods in Arizona at the moment. There is so much more in this article that will make the democracy-loving public literally sick to their stomach. It's a great read! In closing, this is AlterNet's overall perspective...

"This is a reminder that there’s big money behind the push to undermine democracy. Through Restoration Action and other entities, an array of groups pushing election conspiracy theories are backed by literally tens of millions of dollars from just one billionaire couple.”

This anti-democracy movement must be stopped now but so far lacks a real leader. If one doesn't step up to the plate soon it could be too late. 

 

With 2022 Almost In The Books, What's Next

 

Some of the most undone work is the Arizona governor's race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake. Hobbs leads the Trump lunatic Lake by only one point and Arizona is taking forever for the final vote count. This race has national ramifications in that a Lake win could boost her into the national picture. Rather than document the insanity of her campaign, you can see a compilation of my posts here. It is astonishing to me Lake has gotten this far.

Now, back to the national scene with a tug of war between Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis for 2024. The Daily Beast says, "Trump Would Easily Crush DeSantis in Battle Today." That's today but in two years this country could be in a new civil war if the hate-mongers don't back off their rhetoric. 

Majority Of Trump Voters Say Civil War ‘Likely’ In Next Decade...

I recently finished The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche and it is frightening. One of the author's findings describes how the next one won't be fought on the battlefield, rather it will be neighbor against neighbor, depending on your political stand. Just think of the consequences especially if you live in a radically right area and you are on the liberal left. I urge you to read my post and if you really want a scare, read Marche's The Next Civil War.

And right in the middle of all this altercation is a war between Donald Trump and

Ron DeSantis that might just surpass 'winner takes all' to a conclusion of 'self annihilation.' It is an unfortunate fact but with the current situation in America this may be the happy ending. If this could take down the Republican Party to a point where they have to negotiate, we have saved our democracy. A recent Mother Jones headline: "The Party of Don’t Say 'Democracy'” says it all...

"Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) sent out a campaign with a solemn, all-caps heading: PARTICIPATING IN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.

"As I read the email, I noticed that Boebert’s campaign uses a lot of words here to describe our form of government. It’s a “constitutional process.” It’s “representative.” But one word is glaringly absent: “democracy.”

Of course, Lauren Boebert is an idiot but her words reflect the position of the Republican Party. There's more...

Indeed, Republicans across the country are removing the word “democracy” from their lexicon. My colleague Pema Levy reported today that in Arizona, Senate candidate Blake Masters argued that the United States is not a democracy but a republic. “It sounds like a nerdy takedown,” she writes, “but it’s being bandied with frequency by Republicans who also support minority rule and supported overturning President Biden’s 2020 victory.”

Robert Reich says, and I agree, Democrats Can No Longer Compromise with “Authoritarian” Republicans. Republicans no longer understand or condone the word "compromise." From the right, no one since Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois, has mastered his ability to negotiate and compromise for the good of the U.S. Reich says...

President Biden must “push back as hard as he can” if Republicans take control of even one chamber in Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections. He says the administration needs to be clear there is no compromise on the debt ceiling, which he expects a Republican-controlled Congress would challenge, potentially triggering a repeat of the political crisis in 2011 under former President Obama.

Well, the Democrats still hold the Senate and that position could strengthen if Warnock wins in Georgia. The House is still up for grabs but, at best, Republicans will end up with a small majority. The focus is then on 2023, then 2024 with plenty of time for the left to build momentum.

Kari Lake Turns On DeSantis

 

Most Arizona voters have gotten over Kari Lake and just want her to go away. I am one of those, but, and this is a huge BUT. Daily Beast says she...

"once fawned over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for having the “BDE [Big Dick Energy] that we want all of our leaders to have,” is now spreading conspiracy theories about the Republican darling."

We need a good liberal strategist, like James Carville, to put together a blueprint to wreck DeSantis' drive to the White House in 2024 and send him back to Florida where he can continue to ravage that state.