A Good News, Bad News kind of day -

First up, the (very) good news.

From CNN -

Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to be first Black woman to sit on Supreme Court

The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday in a historic vote that paves the way for her to become the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in the nation.

The tally was 53-47, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining Democrats to vote in favor.

The vote is here.

As far as AZ Senator's go, unsurprisingly, Mark Kelly voted to support Jackson's nomination; while, a bit surprisingly, so did Kyrsten Sinema.

Not to worry - the Terrible Twosome brought shame to Arizona.

From The Hill -

Here are the six Republicans who voted against investigating Russia for war crimes

The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would direct President Biden to prepare a report on the government’s efforts to collect and examine evidence related to war crimes and other atrocities committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The bipartisan legislation, dubbed the Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act, passed the lower chamber in a 418-7 vote, with all those in opposition belonging to the Republican Party.

A spokesman for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said the congresswoman mistakenly voted against the bill, and plans to tell the House clerk that she meant to vote in favor.

GOP Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Warren Davidson (Ohio), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Scott Perry (Pa.) all opposed the bill.

The vote is here.

As expected, Biggs hurried to spin/rationalize his vote.

From twitter -

It should be noted that Arizona was the only state with more than one member of its contingent to vote against the measure.

Hope Vlad got his money's worth with these two.

8 Rs vote to enable Russia; surprisingly, Paul Gosar wasn't among them. Not surprisingly, his saddle partner, Andy Biggs, was.

From Business Insider -

Here are the 8 House Republicans who voted against suspending normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with both Russia and Belarus amid the war in Ukraine.

The Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act, which passed by a 424-8 margin, allows President Joe Biden to increase tariffs on products coming from the two countries and requires the US Trade Representative to seek suspension of Russia's participation in the World Trade Organization.

[snip]

Here are the eight Republicans who voted against the bill on Thursday:

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
• Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
• Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
• Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky
• Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
• Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina
• Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin
• Rep. Chip Roy of Texas

From the House Clerk's Office, the Arizona vote on HR7108 (text not available online as of this writing) -

Yes, Biggs was the only member from AZ to vote against the measure.

He did it to own Joe Biden and to protect anti-choicers (seriously)

The blind leading the blind?

Example 1:

Example 2:

Two are members of Congress; two are members of the Arizona legislature who are running for Arizona Secretary of State.

Just a guess: The Republicans aren't learning the right lessons from Gosar's, Greene's, and Rogers' ties to a white nationalist group

There are two lessons here:

1. Don't be a white supremacist.

2. Don't be SEEN as being a white supremacist.

Guess which one the Rs are taking to heart?

First, from NBC (emphasis added by me) -

GOP leaders denounce Greene, Gosar for speaking at white nationalist event

GOP leaders in the House and the Senate on Monday denounced a pair of far-right Trump allies — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. — for speaking at a gathering of white nationalists in Florida over the weekend.

“There’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a terse statement.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters for CNN and Punchbowl News that it was “appalling and wrong” for the two lawmakers to attend the meeting in Florida and that he plans to discuss the matter with them.

Second, from Jeremy Duda at the AZ Mirror -

Senate votes to censure Wendy Rogers for threatening her colleagues

Her ties to white nationalists and antisemitic statements were removed from the censure

In the wake of her speech to a white nationalist conference and a string of offensive and inflammatory social media posts, the Arizona Senate voted to censure Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers. 

The Senate voted 24-3 in a rare censure of one of its own, with 11 of the chamber’s 16 Republicans siding with the chamber’s 13 Democratic members who were in attendance. Rogers voted no, as did GOP Sens. Nancy Barto and Warren Petersen.

The censure, which has no practical effect, was for comments calling for people she perceived as enemies to be hanged from gallows, and for social media postings Rogers made threatening to “personally destroy” fellow Republicans who sought to punish her. The censure resolution was silent on her embrace of white nationalists and a string of antisemitic and racist things she had posted online in recent days. 

The vote on the censure motion -

The motion passed overwhelmingly, with 24 members voting for it, 3 voting against it (Rogers herself {of course} Warren Petersen {not really a surprise}, and Nancy Barto {a bit of a surprise}) and 3 not voting (Gowan, Steele, and Townsend).

Another guess: Rogers will do it again.  Not only is she not penitent about this, she believes she's a victim. (pics of tweets taken today) -

I had to look hard but I DO agree with Rogers on one thing -

Though I expect that we have very different reason for arriving at this conclusion. :)

I've never said anything positive about Mitt Romney, but I'll give credit where it is due. When he's right (which isn't often), he's right.

Pointed to this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

And this applies to US Rep. Liz Cheney too.  I may never agree with her politically, and I consider the Cheney family to be almost purely evil, but right is right.

For both, I attribute it to "stopped clock syndrome" :) .

Romney gave an interview to CNN today.

From the transcript of that interview (emphasis added by me) -

[snip]

BASH: You talked several times during this interview about the world seeing the difference between good and evil.

I want to bring that closer to home and talk about something that Congresswoman Liz Cheney tweeted yesterday about sitting Republican House members appearing at a white nationalist gathering.

She said -- quote -- "As Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling. All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now."

Do you agree?

ROMNEY: Absolutely. Liz Cheney was right with that statement. And she's been right for a long time.

And I also saw that Ronna McDaniel came out with a statement as well talking about how repugnant these white nationalists are.

Look, there's no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It's simply wrong. It's -- it's -- as you have indicated, speaking of evil, it's evil as well.

And Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, I don't know them, but I'm reminded of that old line from the "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" movie, where one character says: "Morons. I have got morons on my team."

And I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few I.Q. points.

Public figures calling Paul Gosar a "moron" get some respect in my book; of course, morons everywhere are like "Really?  That was low."

Arizona's Paul Gosar: renaissance man?

Of course, him being a nut, bigot, and hypocrite may be his idea of "multitasking."

While the nuttiness and bigotry is well-documented with him, the hypocrisy part has not been.  Yet.

From Havasu News -

Preserving freedom, ‘red wave’ hot topics at Lincoln Day Dinner

Mohave County Republicans gathered for the 75th annual Lincoln Day Dinner to hear speeches from Hillsdale College Graduate Dean and Professor Ronald J. Pestritto, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (R-Prescott), and a variety of candidates and elected officials.

The Saturday event at Beale Celebrations at 201 N. 4th St. was “Freedom” themed and echoed messages of the 2022 “Red Wave” to turn the state fully Republican and preserve freedom-based party standards, specifically in education. The message of Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” lyric “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose” was also sung.

Pretty sure that Gosar isn't the best one to speak at an event to commemorate someone who famously dealt with a civil war.

He believes that insurrectionists should be coddled.

Apparently, in today's GQP, being prone to violence and betraying the public trust means one is qualified for higher office

First, the "higher office" part.

From Colorado Public Radio -

Mesa Clerk Tina Peters says she’s running for Secretary of State

Mesa County’s embattled Republican Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is entering the race for Colorado Secretary of State. 

Peters made the announcement on Steve Bannon’s War Room, a podcast hosted by the rightwing political strategist. 

Then the "violence" part.

From The Daily Beast -

‘Don’t Kick!’: Video Shows MAGA Election Clerk Freaking Out During Arrest

The notorious pro-Trump Mesa County elections clerk Tina Peters was detained at a bagel shop on Tuesday—and a video of the incident shows her resisting arrest and apparently attempting to kick a cop. Peters became one of Colorado’s most renowned elections officials last year after she was accused of aiding a QAnon-linked leak of voting-machine logins. The Denver Post reported that Tuesday’s arrest wasn’t linked to investigations of that possible election-security breach, but was related to Peters allegedly filming court proceedings on her iPad. Investigators were reportedly looking for that iPad when they detained Peters. In a video shared by 9News, Peters can be seen jostling with a cop and yelling “Let go of me!” She appears to attempt to kick an officer, who shouts: “Don’t kick!” Peters’ legal defense fund said she complied by handing over the iPad, but resisted when officers started trying to seize other items.

Lastly, the "betraying the public trust" part.

From CNN -

Colorado secretary of state accuses county clerk's office of assisting QAnon-affiliated leak of voting machine logins

In announcing the revoking of some Mesa County voting machines -- their logins appeared in a video by an individual affiliated with QAnon -- Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold on Thursday also accused the county's clerk, Tina Peters, of assisting in the election system security breach.

During a news conference detailing her order, Griswold said her staff had inspected the county's voting machines and video surveillance system on Tuesday, but could not "establish a verifiable chain of custody for any of the voting systems components in Mesa County and cannot establish confidence in the integrity or security of those components."

Griswold went further and accused Peters of having a hand in facilitating the leak.

With those as qualifications, how long before Paul Gosar and/or Andy Biggs seek higher office?

Paul Gosar does AZ proud. Again.

The folks who witnessed, dealt with, or are investigating the January 6th insurrection may have a different opinion.

Hey, Arizona may not be perfect, but at least it isn't Texas

Of course - we're a LONG way from perfect.  

We elect people like Doug Ducey, Wendy Rogers, Kelly Townsend, Paul Gosar, and many others, but Texas elects people like Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, Sid Miller, Louie Gohmert (and others).

And then there's this.

From Business Insider -

A Texas parent demanded a Michelle Obama biography be pulled from schools because they said it would make white girls feel 'ashamed'

A parent in Texas called for a children's biography about former first lady Michelle Obama to be pulled from school libraries because they viewed it as unfair to former President Donald Trump.

The Katy, Texas, parent took issue with a book titled "Michelle Obama: Political Icon" by Heather E. Schwartz, saying it "unfairly" depicted Trump "as a bully," according to NBC News, which on Wednesday published a list of 50 books that parents in Texas have asked schools to remove.

The request came as books depicting race, sexuality, and gender have faced heightened scrutiny from conservatives in the US, with many demanding certain titles be pulled from school libraries.

Nope, AZ isn't perfect, and maybe we shouldn't be talking smack about anyone, but TX could give us lessons in nuttiness, and that's saying something.

Do you have too many brain cells and want to kill off a few? Be in Florence, AZ on Saturday

Downside: you'll lose some brain cells...and possibly be exposed to Covid.

Upside: you won't get a DUI because of this lineup.

From KNXV (entire article quoted here because it includes a list of speakers) -

Former President Donald Trump event to be held Saturday in Florence, guest speakers announced

Former President Donald Trump is set to hold a Save America rally in Florence this Saturday with multiple guest speakers including Mike Lindell, Dr. Kelli Ward, and other state representatives.

Event organizers confirmed Tuesday that gates would open at 8 a.m. and doors would open at 2 p.m. for the 4:30 p.m. event on Saturday, Jan. 15 at Canyon Moon Ranch.

Trump is set to speak at 7 p.m.

Guest speakers at the event were also announced Tuesday. The list includes:

• Kari Lake, Donald J. Trump Endorsed Candidate for Governor of Arizona
• State Representative Mark Finchem, State Representative from Arizona's 11th District and Donald J. Trump Endorsed Candidate for Secretary of State of Arizona
• Representative Paul Gosar, US Representative from Arizona's 4th Congressional District
• Representative Andy Biggs, US Representative from Arizona's 5th Congressional District
• Representative Debbie Lesko, US Representative from Arizona's 8th Congressional District
• Dr. Kelli Ward, Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Arizona
• Dr. Alveda King, Donald J. Trump for President 2020 Advisory Board Member
• Boris Epshteyn, Donald J. Trump for President 2020 Strategic Advisor and Advisory Board Member
• Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow

If Gosar really thinks that censure has been a "boon" for him, maybe he'll just *love* a treason indictment

From KJZZ -

Gosar says censure has been a boon, not a black eye

After his House colleagues censured him and stripped him of his committee assignments in November, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar says he has more free time to do what he finds most effective.

The vote to censure the Republican congressman, almost entirely along party lines, followed his tweet of an altered anime video that showed him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.

Gosar described himself as a “free agent” now that he has no committee obligations.

Hey, Paul - people in prison have even fewer obligations than you do now.

Maybe you should just travel to the DC office of the DOJ, confess your treason, and throw yourself on the mercy of whatever court you end up in.

Just offering an idea.

Biggs and Gosar: The next knock on their doors may be FBI agents with arrest warrants

Anyone want to speculate on the over/under on how long before they face subpoenas from the January 6th committee?

If so, I will now claim the first week of January 2021, maybe January 6th of 2021 in commemoration of the one year anniversary of Trump's insurrection.

From KJZZ -

Rep. Raul Grijalva says evidence shows coordination behind Jan. 6th insurrection

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva said the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has evidence that the Trump White House coordinated with members of Congress to overturn election results.

Grijalva said his fellow Arizona congressmen, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, were involved.

Arizona"s R members of Congress don't really give a damn about Arizona

At least based on their bill proposals, they don't.  They *do* hate immigrants, government/society, choice, Covid mitigation measures, democracy/election, and, of course, Joe Biden.

From my spreadsheet, data source Congress.gov -

While the total number of bills proposed by each member was easy to determine (than you. Congress.gov); categorization less so, since that was all me.

They proposed only six Arizona-specific bills between them (with Paul Gosar leading the way, but he made up for it) they all hate immigrants with 13 bill proposals between them.

However, that number is next to nothing when compared to their anti-government/society proposals, with 44 of those.

Additionally, they each like Covid, or at least have offered proposals against Covid mitigation measures.

Lastly, it's no surprise that Gosar and Biggs, two of Congress' leading collaborators of the January 6th insurrection have offered bills that are anti-elections/democracy.

Even the fifth, unofficial, Republican member of the Arizona delegation to Congress, Kyrsten Sinema, did better than that -

Paul Gosar isn't just a nutjob himself, he hires nutjobs

No need for DES for unemployed nutjobs; just send them to Gosar; he'll put them to work.

From Business Insider via Yahoo! News -

Paul Gosar's chief of staff tried to intercept a plane rumored to be full of fake votes for Biden: court docs

The chief of staff for Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona tried to catch a plane rumored to be full of fake votes, according to a recent court document.

The episode is one of the most outlandish in the fruitless search by allies of former president Donald Trump for proof that the 2020 election was stolen.

Gosar's aide, Tom Van Flein, hunted for a plane from South Korea that conspiracy theorists identified as a source of what they thought would be election-changing levels of fraud, per documents cited by The New York Times on Thursday.

The pro-Trump USSC filing is here.

Van Flein used to work for another of Cheeto's allies, Sarah Palin.

From Politico, dated 2010 -

Palin aide to work for Ariz. lawmaker

One of Sarah Palin’s most-trusted advisers is going to work for a newly elected Arizona congressman.

Tom Van Flein, an Anchorage lawyer who has become a political adviser and fixer of sorts for Palin and her family, will become legislative director and deputy chief of staff for incoming Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, it was announced Monday.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Van Flein graduated from the law school at U of A..

The profs there must be *so* proud of their graduate.

The AP finds that voter fraud is almost nonexistent. Quelle surprise!

Guessing that Mark Finchem, Paul Gosar, Cheeto himself, et. al. can't be bothered with facts.

From AP - 

Far too little vote fraud to tip election to Trump, AP finds

An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.

Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and their 79 Electoral College votes by a combined 311,257 votes out of 25.5 million ballots cast for president. The disputed ballots represent just 0.15% of his victory margin in those states.

[snip]

Paul Gosar, giving Rand Paul a run for his title of biggest hypocrite in Congress

 From Rolling Stone -

Paul Gosar Takes Credit for Covid Funding He Bashed as a ‘Democrat Spending Bonanza’

Paul Gosar has repeatedly denounced the American Rescue Plan, a bill passed by Congress earlier this year to help Americans and businesses during the pandemic. Gosar labeled the plan, which cost $1.9 trillion, “a Democrat spending bonanza” and agreed with his colleague Matt Gaetz’s contention that it’s nothing more than “a trojan horse for socialism.” Gosar voted against the plan, of course, but in a Monday press release he happily took credit for a $32,000 American Rescue Plan grant that will help an Arizona airport clean and sanitize its facilities, calling the funds “essential.”

“I am pleased to announce that the City of Kingman will receive this critical funding for economic relief related to operational costs for cleaning and sanitizing the Kingman Airport to combat the spread of COVID-19,” Gosar wrote. “This funding is essential to maintaining safe and reliable air service to the community.”

Paul Gosar - not in favor of science and not a dentist

No matter how often he refers to himself as a "Doctor".

From The Payson Roundup -

As Omicron spreads – Rep. Gosar seeks ban on vaccine mandates

The world’s bracing for the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the COVID virus, but Rep. Paul Gosar is focused on blocking vaccine mandates and attacking the federal Food and Drug Administration for the slow release of 325,000 pages of documents on COVID vaccines.

The Omicron variant has been detected in dozens of countries and about a third of U.S. states, including California, Colorado, Utah and now in Arizona’s Yavapai County. Researchers are still trying to get reliable data on how the dozens of mutations in Omicron will impact people who get infected. Right now, it spreads much more easily than the already fast-spreading Delta variant — but Omicron might cause less severe illness. Omicron appears more infectious for people who have recovered from a previous variant — and perhaps for people who have been vaccinated. But some early evidence suggests despite causing breakthrough infections, it’s not causing as much serious disease.

From the AZ Board of Dental Examiners -

Aunt Maude's Antiques?

Really?

Gosar supports violence...until he doesn't

Paul Gosar, doing AZ proud.  Again.

From The Daily Beast -

Gosar Defends Anime Clip of Him Killing AOC, Then Deletes It

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) released a very long statement Tuesday to explain why his cringeworthy anime clip that showed him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was actually an extremely clever metaphor—then, hours later, he apparently deleted the video without explanation. In his defense of the clip, Gosar wrote that his video was a “symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy” and insisted that he would never encourage violence against any member of Congress. He faced serious blowback over the clip, including from his own sister, Jennifer Gosar, who accused her brother of trying to live out a “sociopathic fantasy.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on a congressional ethics panel and law-enforcement officials to investigate. Then, at some point on Tuesday, the video disappeared from Gosar’s Twitter profile. A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill that it wasn’t responsible for the video’s removal.

The Daily Beast's story is based on one from The Hill -

Gosar faces increasing odds of censure on House floor

The chances of the House voting to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) are rising amid simmering anger among Democrats over a video he distributed that showed him as an anime character killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Pressure is mounting on Democratic leaders to bring a resolution introduced Friday by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and 60 other Democrats to the House floor as rank-and-file members argue that his actions merit extraordinary sanction at a time when members of Congress face unprecedented threats of violence. 

A cartoon from Cleveland dot com (I like the ASU reference in it, though Michael Crow may not :) ) -

Paul Gosar goes full on violent creep

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire -

Paul Gosar Posts Video Showing Him Killing AOC

Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has shared a photoshopped anime video that shows him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

From Twitter (pic taken in the event that the tweet is deleted) -

Of course, this may be Paul's version of an outcry for professional help.

Of course2, with the likes of him, it would be wasted.

Republicans: "Damn the facts! Full speed ahead!"

Probably not surprising given how enthusiastically, and violently, that most Republicans have embraced Cheeto's Big Lie about the 2020 election.

The latest thing that has been debunked but that Rs have embraced is the idea the the Biden administration intends to pay immigrant families that were "separated" by the previous presidential administration.

In a word, the idea is garbage.  Rs know that, but they have their talking point and are running with it.

The latest example of this is H. R. 5854, a bill introduced in Congress by a Trumpkin member of Congress and cosponsored by most of the R caucus (including ALL R members of the Arizona delegation to Congress).

Of course, AZ's Debbie Lesko wanted to independently assert her own fealty to Cheeto and lies, and did so by introducing H. Res. 768, condemning the Biden administration for paying immigrants, and other things.