Top Covid Killing Machine: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey

 

It's official, Arizona has risen to the top as the states where COVID-19 has been the leading cause of death during the pandemic. One of the local Phoenix top newspaper columnists, E.J. Montini, sums it up...

"All during awful days, the worse days and the catastrophic days of the pandemic, Will Humble has been a voice of reason in Arizona’s political wilderness, most often unheard and unheeded by Gov. Doug Ducey and those in charge of the state’s COVID-19 response."

Will Humble is the Executive Director for the Arizona Public Health Association, and former Arizona Health Director, who has been a driving force in fighting the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic in Arizona. That is, in spite of Doug Ducey. It was Humble who chose the "evidence-based policy"approach, where the short-sighted Ducey went with...

"misinformation, lies and political pressure put on by everyone from former President Donald Trump to the anti-vaccine elements of the Republican party."

It is the kind of reasoning that prevails in the Arizona Republican Party, adhering to ideologies and power grabs on the right that has made it, for example, one of the easiest states in the U.S. to own a firearm. And just look at the leading contender

for the replacement of Ducey, Kari Lake, a former TV anchor who has a misplaced brain, like the majority of Republicans here. And then we have mentally sick House Representative Paul Gosar who threatened AOC with anime video killing her.

Here's more from Will Humble's report...

"Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report says that nationally COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death, behind cancer and heart disease. It notes as well that there are five states where COVID-19 is the second leading cause of death.

"But Arizona stands alone at the top."

Another Phoenix columnist says, "Gov. Doug Ducey's pandemic emergency powers must end",,,

Humble did warn Ducey of what was coming, but the lame-brained governor was so enamored with Donald Trump and his methods that he allowed the state he is fully responsible for to sink into the depths of the Covid calamity, throwing precautions completely to the wind. As Montini tells us, "More than 21,000 Arizonans have been killed by the virus. Further, he says...

He [Ducey] issued orders against “vaccine passports” and mask mandates in schools, and said things like, “While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state — and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”

He said, "We will not be listening to the lockdown lobby. Businesses will stay open. Students will be able to attend school. There will be no mask mandates. We have a proven solution with the vaccine."

We get rid of this moron next year, but if Kari Lake is what we have to look forward to, one has to ask, 'is there any hope for Arizona?' I have lived here almost 25 years and I think so. However, it means getting rid of the Republicans who currently run this state. 

George Carlin talks - Stop making stupid people famous

 

The headline is taken from an Internet quote and represents a great array of politicians today like Arizona's Kari Lake and Georgia's Herschel Walker. They came out of the woodwork with a mouth loud enough to get the attention of the stupid people George Carlin is talking about. The question is, how can we get rid of them?

Glad I'm 89...

 

Robert Reich and the future of the Jan, 6, Panel Hearings...

My wife, Barbara, commented recently, 'You're not getting old, you are becoming an ABLE ELDER.' That certainly made me feel better and provided more affirmation of my feeling that it's good to be in this place in time, rather than starting everything anew. And the term ABLE ELDER indicates to me that, although I am 89, there is still some vitality left in the aging body. It takes it to cover politics today and I hope I never get too old to voice my liberal opinions.

And, Robert Reich says that, although the Jan. 6 hearings are closed in the meantime, Donald Trump's overthrow of the 2020 election is still a continuing fact of life. Here's Reich's opening comment...

"The committee has produced history’s most detailed account of an American president’s cruel and seditious pursuit of power. Even now, Trump continues to push states to alter the outcomes of the 2020 election."

He still gives speeches that rile up his supporters and other Trump minions to the point of provoking violence...

"the lives of committee members and their families have been threatened. Witnesses have received gangster-style warnings not to cooperate."

He still contacts state leaders to change their electoral votes from Biden to him, the most recent being Wisconsin assembly speaker Robin Vos, who was asked, "to support a resolution to retract Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes cast for Biden." And T-rump was just in Arizona to support, perhaps, the most unqualified potential governor this state has ever had, Kari Lake. And that's really saying something when our current Gov. Doug Ducey is a former ice cream salesman.

More from Reich...

"It has shown the deception behind Trump’s big lie, including Trump’s attorney general William Barr, saying 'I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations' and that promoting it was 'a grave disservice to the country'.

Even Republicans warn against defending the "indefensible." Liz Cheney: “there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” The comment clearly illustrates the disgrace that Trump has brought this country. And he continues at breakneck speed infiltrating right wing bastions like Arizona. After arriving in this state almost 25 years ago, and assessing the current state of politics at the time,  I felt I could be a force in change. And that may yet happen.

Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 focus of eighth House hearing...

A major effort of this valiant drive to protect our democracy are the Jan. 6 Insurrection Hearings, having just completed the 8th episode. But there's more to come. Was Thursday's hearing really the last one? The answer is a resounding NO, based on a flood of new information that continues to flow into the committee. Hearings will resume again in September where Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. plans new evidence and more witnesses to consider...

"Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued, and the dam has begun to break," Cheney said.

Her remark, "the dam has begun to break," indicates to me the assurance she will hear this through, and confirmation there is enough evidence there to do the job. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. said "We're just getting a significant amount of information." And the new evidence "pushes the timetable out." The next question is, what's next for the panel? Cheney says, "the panel will now return to its investigative mode for the next several weeks."

California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, rather than call an end is simply calling it the "next chapter." He continued...

"There's questions we want to get to the bottom of and significant progress we've made within the hearings to date," Aguilar told NPR. "I look forward to carrying forward and doing more work, but ultimately we made a commitment to find the facts, to chase the truth and that's what we seek to do."

The committee is still looking into, allegations that the Secret Service deleted text messages during a two-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 attack. They have turned over only one message, not what the panel was looking for, and I have read where the Secret Service has refused requests like this in the past and gotten away with it. The big question is...

"whether the panel will decide to formally recommend a criminal referral for Trump to the Justice Department, and whether he or former Vice President Mike Pence should be formally asked to testify."

 At the age of 89, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

Stay tuned for the post-July 4th fireworks. 

 

The Agony of Stupidity...If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population

 

The above statement is from A Christmas Carol, said by Ebenezer Scrooge, talking about the poor people of his village. The comment also reflects the latest feelings by a vaccinated public fed up with the anti-vaxxing population. If you are a Cat Stevens fan, here is what he had to say in one of his songs that also applies...

“If you want to leave, take good care, hope you make a lot of nice friends out there.”

If we are to assume "out there" could be death, then the singer would appear to be in agreement with Scrooge. Here's another quote from Leonard Pitts Jr. in an opinion piece from the Tampa Bay Times...

"Your quitting your jobs goes a long way toward purging us of the gullible, the conspiracy-addled, the logic-impaired and the stubbornly ignorant."

This is, of course, Florida, where one of the country's preeminent Killing Machines rules, Gov. Ron [demented] DeSantis. Pitts directs his ultimatum to those who have quit their jobs rather than get vaccinated. If you care, here's why people are refusing the vaccines...

Pitts' deniers include...

"a nearly-30-year veteran of the San Jose Police Department surrendered his badge rather than comply with the city’s requirement that all employees be inoculated against COVID-19. He joins an Army lieutenant colonel, some airline employees, a Major League Baseball executive, the choral director of the San Francisco Symphony, workers at the tax collector’s office in Orange County, Florida, and, incredibly, dozens of health care professionals." 

The Daily Beast just published an article under this glaring headline, "Mocking Unvaxxed COVID Victims Is the New Pandemic Blood Sport." They deserve it and that is precisely what this blog post is meant to do, "mock" the looney bins that think they know more than the scientific experts.

I am encouraged by the fact the mock site, Sorryantivaxxer.com, uses my favorite term to describe anti-vaxxers, "They are all idiots.” DB explains...

"The website is indeed likely the most comprehensive repository of one type of now-familiar COVID story: the one where someone who criticized the vaccine ends up dead or hospitalized due to the virus..."

Okay, I live in Arizona, a state that was red when we moved here over twenty years ago. Although it is slowly turning from purple to blue, there are still a number of mentally depraved Republicans. Like Gov. Doug [dufus] Ducey, a sworn Donald Trump mentor, Pres. of the Senate legislature and proprietor of the sham 2020 election audit, Karen Fann, and Kari Lake, former television novice and current political hack who wants to be the next governor. 

They, and others like them, are the ones who have perpetuated misinformation like the current craving for Ivermectin, a deworming drug for animals, that these right-wing morons are taking to treat coronavirus. It can sicken you and can cause death. Feed stores in Phoenix have been complaining for some time now they don't have enough of the medication to supply their animal customers. Podcaster Joe Rogan was a big promoter of Ivermectin, as was Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

But returning to Scrooge's proclamation, "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population," I have said for months now, corral all these anti-vaxxers/maskers in a gulag where they can ply their beliefs between a    population of like morons and kill each other. It would save us zillions on healthcare and eliminate having to hear about the latest idiot that refused to get his or her coronavirus vaccine.

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

What can one say about Ron (the despot) DeSantis? Well, he thinks he is God, as expressed in a 90-minute campaign ad released just before the midterms. This alone should have turned off the numb nuts in Florida who support him. But it didn't; he had a significant win. These people are just like the Trump minions who were trounced in the recent election and could likely return to violence for vindication. DeSantis is an offshoot of Trump, perhaps, even more depraved and dangerous. Here's the ad...

God made a liar Ron DeSantis Campaign ad...

And then there is the unbelievably sick and stupid Ron DeSantis campaign ad (above) that everyone, including the former Republican Nat'l Committee chair, says is the worst ever in the field of politics. Only a complete idiot would believe this crap! But right after the ad ran, DeSantis won the governor's election from Charlie Crist by almost 20 points. Go figure? If this bullshit swayed the voters in Florida, it is definitely a mandate of the low level of their intelligence.

Frank Bruni of the New York Times calls it, "Ron DeSantis’s God Complex." When you think about it, you not only hear this in what DeSantis says, but it is also portrayed in the smug look he expresses in public. This is Bruni's scenario on the ad...

"In little more than 90 seconds, its unseen narrator mentions “God” 10 times, beginning with the assertion that “on the eighth day” God gazed at a newly created world and decided that it needed a protector. “So God made a fighter,” the narrator says — sonorously, somberly. That’s the ad’s refrain, intoned again and again, and accompanied each time by a shining, commanding image of DeSantis."

MSNBC says...

"The ad is so ham-handed that one could imagine DeSantis later claiming it was tongue-in-cheek. He has not, so far. But even if it is just a tease, like many far right and authoritarian “jokes,” DeSantis is not kidding around. The ad is dangerous and anti-democratic, and was meant that way."

The dialogue from the ad could have been lifted from "a well-known speech, “So God Made a Farmer,” that the radio personality Paul Harvey delivered in 1978 to what was then known as the Future Farmers of America." And here is more examination from Bruni...

"To me, DeSantis doesn’t seem quite so levelheaded. (As exclaimed by 

Bruni's colleague Ross Douthat) He picks and hypes battles designed to cast him as some conservative superhero. In that regard he’s histrionic and hyperbolic, and I could easily see him overplaying his hand, especially in regard to religion. The “God” ad signals that any presidential bid by DeSantis, who is clearly plotting one, will aggressively court Christian nationalists and, in the process, empower them. "More from MSNBC's Sarah Posner...

"DeSantis’ premise — that just as God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to bring salvation to a sinful world, he has sent DeSantis to save an immoral America — seems so over the top that it’s hard to believe the campaign would use it."

Trump has just commented that he will 'scorched-earth humiliate' Ron DeSantis if he tries to take him on." He did say recently he had "dirt" on the Florida governor. And, I almost hesitate to say this but, could Donald Trump's war with Ron DeSantis set the stage for a huge win by the left in 2024? What the hell, it's worth a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad I'm 89...

 

The Jan. 6 Commission Hearings

Have you been watching the insurrection hearings from the Jan. 6, Commission? Republican Liz Cheney has done a remarkable job of illustrating Donald Trump's commitment to the demolition of American democracy. He promoted, then perpetuated, the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Cheney, with a long lineup of Republican and Trump-loyal witnesses, has all but indicted T-rump, but the expedition to justice isn't over yet.

I've said before that I agree with little of the Republican ideology Cheney believes in, but I do believe sincerely in her commitment and determination to bring Donald Trump to justice. She is literally sacrificing her career in the U.S. House to get this job done. And it is tragic that she won't have the chance to work on the committee after the first of the year. Unless...there is a miracle. The latest polls show she is behind the Trump supported contender by 22 points. Ugh!

And while working on this post yesterday, Donald Trump and Mike Pence came to Arizona to do battle in our Republican governor's race. It features two misfits, Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson, but then, Arizona is used to oddballs for this office. Remember Jan Brewer and now the current Doug Ducey, both of which leave much to be desired in the brains department...

"The dueling appearances underlines the importance of Arizona on the national stage, with the 2 August primaries likely to serve as a litmus test for Trump’s endorsement prowess ahead of the midterms, where the Republicans hope to win key state races and regain control of the Senate and House."

Jan. 6 Hearing Room Laughs At Video Of Josh Hawley Fleeing Capitol Riot...

But the real point in contention is, did the January 6 committee prove its case? CNN has "A point-by-point breakdown of its major claims and the evidence presented:"

"President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack."

"While the violence was underway, President Trump failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol."

"You will see that Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had, in fact, lost the election...President Trump corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results."

"President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information ... and invested millions of dollars of campaign funds purposely spreading false information..."

"You will see that President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Attorney General of the United States so the U.S. Justice Department would spread his false stolen election claims."

"...we will focus on President Trump's efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th...in private and in public."

At the age of 89, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

NEXT: What to expect and more from the Jan.6 hearings on the Capitol insurrection by Donald Trump.  

 

 

Will Extremism Haunt The Republican Party To Self-Destruction?

New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, says, "Extremism Is on the Rise … Again." And here I thought it had never abated. But Blow, being the excellent journalist he is, qualifies his headline, written before the Nov. 8 elections, citing one startling fact...

"There are 291 election deniers on the ballot."

You can see the 291 deniers in the "on the ballot" link, above, with names you will recognize like Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker; you get the idea. But Blow reports...

In a major speech Wednesday night, President Biden described election denial as “the path to chaos in America.” “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.” But in truth, the extremism, racism and white nationalism are neither un-American nor unfamiliar.

There are comparisons with the William Howard Taft administration in 1908, later Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned on an “America First” platform, which soon became "associated not just with isolationism, but also with the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and fascism." Wilson was a racist from the South and is measured against Donald Trump who Blow says...

"is one of the worst presidents — if not the worst — that this country has ever had."

More matching between Wilson and Trump...

It was Wilson who screened “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House, a film that pushed the “Lost Cause” narrative and fueled the rebirth of the Klan.

 Assessing threats of political violence and rising extremism on the far-right...

Trump hosted a screening of “2,000 Mules” — a fact-checker-debunked documentary that purported to show widespread voter fraud carried out by “mules” who stuffed ballot boxes with harvested ballots during the last presidential election — at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has called the Southern White House. That film has helped boost his followers’ belief in his lie about the 2020 election.

Civil war has been talked up by Republicans and now they are targeting their own with in-fighting over the upcoming Dec. 6, runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This is a must win for the GOP and it all boiled over recently between Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott of Florida...

"A long-simmering, mostly private tension between the two men and their allies came to a head this week as their respective political consultants resorted to publicly insulting each other, particularly over how each was approaching the upcoming Georgia election."

Democrats would welcome Republicans keeping their extremism internally as long

as there is no spillover to the rest of the country. Annihilating each other could be the answer to saving our democracy. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered Walker help, and some say the GOP big guns are not so enthusiastic about Herschel Walker because his win will not give them control of the Senate. And finally, more talk of civil war, this time between Republicans...

"Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is ready [to] unleash a civil war in the Republican Party after its poor showing in the midterms.

"The Georgia congresswoman also indicated she would throw her support behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast."

Have you heard the talk recently from a past GOP congressman who said Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker of the House in name only? He said Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the actual Speaker.

Did anyone see that coming?