Legislative schedule - week starting 5/19/2024

Two Senate committees are scheduled to meet this week to consider some executive nominations, however, I 'm pretty sure there will some floor sessions so the Republicans can speechify over consider their anti-immigrant and anti-voting measures.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, 5/20 - Nada scheduled.

On Tuesday, 5/21 -

Senate Education meets at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  On the agenda: no bills, just two executive nominations - Bradley Boute to the State Board for Private Postsecondary Education and Jadyn Shane Fisher to the Arizona Board of Regents.

On Wednesday, 5/22 -

Senate Transportation, Technology and Missing Children meets at 10 a.m. is SHR2.  On the agenda: no bills, just two executive nominations - Bassam M. Elters and Ginaveve L. Howard to the State Transportation Board.

On Thursday, 5/23 - Nada scheduled.

Mitt Romney proves again that he was unfit to be POTUS

From CNN -

Romney says if he were president he would have immediately pardoned Trump

Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said that if he were President Joe Biden he would have “immediately pardoned” former President Donald Trump.

“Had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him,” Romney told MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” in an interview set to air Wednesday. “I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faces 88 charges over four criminal indictments in Georgia; New York; Washington, DC; and Florida — with the latter two being federal cases prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, lost that race rather resoundingly.

Maybe it was due to the way that he tied his dog to the roof of his car and drove off.

Maybe it was due to the way he dismissively stated that 47% of Americans didn't pay income taxes and all of them would vote for Barack Obama "no matter what".

One can now add his desire to give Cheeto a free pass on his criminal acts to the list of reasons he was utterly unqualified to be president.

Note: To the best of my knowledge, a POTUS can only pardon someone in relation to violations of federal law, and Cheeto is facing some state charges.

Does Rikers have a broadcast room?

From AP -

Biden and Trump, trading barbs, agree to 2 presidential debates, in June and September

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates — the first on June 27 hosted by CNN and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC — setting the stage for their first presidential face-off to play out in just over a month.

The quick agreement on the timetable followed the Democrat’s announcement that he would not participate in fall presidential debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organized them for more than three decades. Biden’s campaign instead proposed that media outlets directly organize the debates between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees.

By then, Cheeto may be convicted in his hush money trial and be a resident of NYC's jail at Rikers.

And any debates will have to be broadcast from there.

Maybe he'll have the cameras set to filter out the shade of orange of his jumpsuit.

Of course, if that's the same shade created by his fake tanner, he'll then look like the Invisible Man, which would be thought of as a bad thing by someone with his ego.

The best thing about the Trump trial? It's turning CourtTV* into a modern day version of Skinemax

* = and other outlets

Well into the 2010s, but most notably in the 1980s and 90s, the cable channel Cinemax would broadcast soft core porn movies late at night, mostly on Fridays and Saturdays.  That practice earned them a nickname.

"Skinemax."

Cinemax, and its parent, HBO, have moved away from adult entertainment.

Also, "Skinemax" refers to the longtime nickname for Cinemax, and not the Canadian network of the same name that broadcasts hardcore porn.

From an analysis piece in The Guardian (UK) -

Stormy Daniels testimony was lurid and powerful – but Trump voters don’t care

Stormy Daniels may have regarded sex with Donald Trump as brief, unimaginative and regrettable but the porn star gripped the nation with a salacious and lengthy retelling of the encounter to a New York court this week.

Daniels’s humiliating testimony in Trump’s fraud trial infuriated the former president who glowered from a few feet away. But her account only confirmed what most Americans already knew about a man widely regarded as a sexual predator and appeared unlikely to change many votes in November’s presidential election.

New York state is prosecuting Trump for fraud for allegedly using his business, the Trump Organization, to pay $130,000 in hush money to Daniels days before the 2016 election. She went public anyway two years later with a book, Full Disclosure, in which she claimed to have had sex with Trump once.

[snip]

Daniels told the court how she went to meet Trump at his penthouse suite expecting to go to a restaurant only to find him in satin pyjamas. She said her evening evolved from administering a playful spanking with a magazine that had Trump’s face on the cover to her alarm at finding him spread across a bed stripped down to his underwear.

[snip]

“I was staring up at the ceiling, wondering how I got there,” she told the jury.

The judge stopped Daniels rapid-fire testimony at times, telling her the jurors did not need to know the pair had sex in the missionary position, with Daniels keeping her bra on, or that Trump didn’t use a condom. But by then they had heard it and, like almost everyone else in court and around the country, were unlikely to forget.

Daniels said the sex “was brief” although, apparently, not brief enough.

And that doesn't even include the creepiest stuff - Cheeto's remark about how Daniels resembled his daughter, Vanky.

All of this may result in Cheeto's biggest contribution to American culture - mental images of him boinking may serve as the ultimate form of birth control

Shrinkflation: it's not just for food

From Merriam-Webster -

"Shrinkflation" is when the manufacturer of an item, instead of raising the price for that item, simply reduce the quantity of that item while charging the same price.

It's a backdoor way of increasing profits.

CNET has an article on the practice, dated 4/26/2024, here.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has issued on a report on the practice, here, dated 12/2023.

Most of the examples cited are for foodstuffs (ice cream, potato chips, etc.), but the practice isn't limited to food.

I found a recent example at Target.

One of the items I buy there is some disposable food containers for things like soups.

Those have changed.

Old style -

Newer style -

Not only are there fewer containers offered in each package, each container is a little smaller.

Note: I'm not certain that this is an example of pure shrinkflation, as I believe that they also raised their price a little, but I don't have photographic evidence of that (but they definitely didn't decrease the price)

Just of them decreasing the quantity and making the containers smaller.

UPDATED Legislative schedule - week starting 5/12/2024

There's some activity on the schedule this week.  It seems to be of the "hatred of voters" genus.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, 5/13, Tuesday, 5/14, and Wednesday, 5/15 - Nada.  Note: The Joint Legislative Audit  Committee was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, but that has been pulled from the schedule.

On Thursday, 5/16 -

Senate Elections meets at 10 a.m. in SHR1.  One item on the agenda: a striker to HCR2056, working title of "elections."  Text not available as yet, but with this bunch, it's reasonable to expect it to be fear-based propaganda that has nothing to do with reality.

[Edited on 5/14 to add ]

On Wednesday 5/15 -

House Ethics meets at 4 p.m.HHR4.  On the agenda: they're scheduled to hear the complaint filed by some snowflakes against Democratic Reps De Los Santos and Ortiz over their criticisms of the snowflakes and the snowflakes' unquestioning support for the Civil War-era near total abortion ban.

The text of the striker to be heard by Senate Election on 5/16 is now available.  It should be named "The We Hate Voting Act."

[/end edit]

Someone notify the AZ Department of Health Services! There's been an outbreak of a virulent disease in Maricopa County!

Of course, that disease is affluenza and the Gilbert Police Department (GPD) and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office (MCAO) seem to be anti-vaxxers when it comes to this disease.

First up - a definition of "affluenza".

From Merriam-Webster -

The defense of "I'm suffering from affluenza" was used by Ethan Couch in 2013 to get away with killing four people while he was driving drunk.

In 2016, Brock Turner got away with rape.

Those were a while ago, but rest assured, there are folks in positions of public trust who behave as if bad behavior by people who are wealthy and/or well connected is less bad and the consequences. of those acts should be similarly be less harsh.

From KNXV (Phoenix Channel 15), emphasis added by me -

Gilbert Goons classified as 'criminal street gang,' but no additional charges submitted

The Gilbert Goons fit the description of a "criminal street gang," police announced Thursday afternoon.

Gilbert police say they are being classified as a "hybrid gang" instead of a "traditional gang" because they lack formal leadership and other classifications.

Despite the announcement, police say at this point, no additional charges will be filed against any members related to gang affiliation.

The story contains videos of the press conferences held by GPD and MCAO in order to rationalize treating the Goons less harshly.

Today seems to be a cynical day for me - my guess is that the Goons (or more likely, their parents) are wealthy and/or well-connected

Of course,  Charles Ryan rated a term of probation for engaging in acts that would rate any member of civil society a term of incarceration, at least according to MCAO.

Of course2, both GPD and MCAO have a documented track record of having a [ahem] "flexible" definition of gangs.

During the BLM protests, some of the protesters were charged as being part of a gang (even though they weren't),  and GPD was involved in that, and MCAO proceeded with prosecuting the charges, even after they knew the charges were inflated to the point of being bogus...at least until they were caught doing so.

So, white and rich (at least, having rich parents) means not part of a gang.

And having skin that darker than a golfer's tan and not being rich...and having the audacity to criticize the status quo...means part of a gang.  

Got it.

AZ finally repeals total abortion ban. But thanks to the AZ Supreme Court, it will go into effect anyway.

Unless they update their ruling.

From AZ Mirror, written by Gloria Rebecca Gomez -

The 1864 abortion law is officially repealed, but when it takes effect remains uncertain

With a stroke of a pen on Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs struck down a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban. 

Just a day earlier, Democrats in the state Senate succeeded in peeling away enough Republican votes to repeal an abortion ban first passed in 1864, while Arizona was still a territory. The push to repeal it came after the state Supreme Court ruled it was once again enforceable, and Hobbs’ signature ended weeks of turmoil as the Republican-majority legislature grappled with the political fallout. 

[snip]

But while Hobbs’ approval removes that threat from state law, she noted that access to abortion   is still not guaranteed. With the repeal of the 1864 law, a 2022 law banning abortions after 15 weeks takes precedence. 

[snip]

And while the repeal of the 1864 law is now finalized, it won’t be effective until months after the state Supreme Court ruled it can be enforced on June 27. That’s because bills signed by the governor don’t go into effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, and with the state budget still being negotiated, that likely won’t happen for several more weeks yet, pushing the repeal’s effectiveness date into the fall at the earliest. 

[snip]

In response to the conflicting timelines, Democrats and abortion advocacy groups have sought to use legal maneuvers to delay the reimplementation of the 1864 law until the repeal can go into effect. Earlier this week, one day before the repeal was successful, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a motion with the state Supreme Court requesting a 90-day reprieve while her office explored the possibility of appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The repeal passed the legislature with the votes of all Democratic members and five Republicans voting for it.

My basic cynicism may show with this, but I truly believe that the Rs who voted for the repeal drew the short straws and engaged in the political equivalent of "taking one for the team."

The original ruling by the AZ Supes that started this drama is here.

UPDATED Legislative schedule - week starting 5/5/2024

There's some activity on the schedule this week.  It seems to be of the "hatred of the other" genus.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, 5/6 and Tuesday, 5/7 - Nada.  As in nothing on the schedule at this point.

On Wednesday, 5/8 -

Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety and Border Security meets at 1 p.m. in SHR2.  One item on the agenda:  a proposed striker to HCR2060.  The text of the proposed striker isn't available as of this writing, but given the name of it (which is on the agenda), "border security", it's almost certainly going to be a hate-fest Republican propaganda intended to bypass Governor Hobbs' veto.

There will almost certainly be floor sessions in both chambers as the majority in the lege seeks to continue the session without doing anything.

On Thursday, 5/9 - More nada on the schedule.

[edit on 5/7 to add]

The committee meeting has been moved to SHR1.  The text of the striker is now available.  It should be named "The Attorney Full Employment Act." 

Also, there will be a joint meeting of Senate MAPS and House Judiciary at 1 p.m. in SHR1.  The agenda states that they will be discussing the striker, but I expect that the reality is that any Republican members will simply give a xenophobic campaign speech.

[/end edit]

Is "shameless" a political party thing?

One story says all that needs to be said about the current state of the AZGOP.

From CNN - 

Arizona state senator indicted in fake electors scheme and expelled state legislator are tapped for RNC positions

A state senator who was charged in Arizona’s 2020 election subversion case and a former state representative who was expelled from office have been elected as Republican National committee members for the Grand Canyon State.

State Sen. Jake Hoffman and former state Rep. Liz Harris were elected to their new roles at the Arizona GOP convention over the weekend.

The GOP career path: be a vile person, get promoted

Proof the a state legislator (allegedly) doesn't have to reside in the district to misuse their position of trust

There's a lot of contempt shown here - contempt for actual public servants, contempt for voters, and contempt for customers.

From the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Jakob Thorington -

2 lawmakers intervene in discipline of senator’s husband

Public records obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times revealed that two state senators intervened in a business license complaint case in 2023 for the husband of one of the senators.

On Dec. 7, 2022, Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, called the Arizona Board of Technical Registration, or BTR, asking for the board to cease its investigation of her husband, Hal Kunnen, a home inspector based in Flagstaff and the Phoenix metro area.

[snip]

Shortly after Rogers’ call, Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, attended the Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting on Jan. 17, 2023, to represent Kunnen during the committee’s executive session meeting to review his case.

[snip]

During this legislative session, Wadsack introduced Senate Bill 1120, which would require agencies or occupational associations with disciplinary authority over its members to investigate complaints against business licensees only if the complainant has had a “substantial nexus” or business transaction with the subject of the complaint.

There have been allegations about Rogers not actually living in the district which she has been rather vociferous and petty in denying.

Wadsack has had some questions about her residency, too.

Both have survived the doubts, but the questions persist.

One thing that has never been questioned is their hate bonafides.

Wadsack's SB1120 has received COW (Committee Of the Whole) consideration in the House and awaits final consideration there.

Kunnen is still a licensed home inspector.  The consent decree that he signed is here.

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/28/2024

There isn't much on the schedule at the legislature...as yet.  I expect that to change as the week goes on. 

The House, with all Democratic votes, and a few Republican votes, passed a bill to repeal Arizona's Civil War-era abortion ban.  Now, that repeal travels to the Senate.  Where they may consider the bill.  Or not.  

Where they may pass the bill.  Or not. 

Also, the House Ethics Committee may meet to railroad through the trumped up complaint against two Democrats for making Republicans feel uncomfortable during the debate on repealing the ban.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority).  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday 4/29 and Tuesday, 4/30 -

Nada.

On Wednesday, 5/1 -

Joint Legislative Budget Committee meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  No bills on the agenda, just an executive session for one item and where the other items will be considered with a single vote.

On Thursday, 5/2 -

Nada.

Actually, the most interesting events on the legislative schedule are non-legislative ones:

On Wednesday, 5/1 -

On Thursday, 5/2 -

Guessing that the only way that the Center for Arizona Policy shows up to the first event is to stamp their feet and protest the event.

If they can be bothered to take time away from twisting the arms of state senators.

Good news! AZ House votes to set aside Civil War-era abortion ban AND an AZ grand jury has indicted 2020's fake electo

First up, the abortion ban repeal.

From AZ Mirror, written by Gloria Rebecca Gomez -

AZ House has voted to repeal the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Supreme Court

After two weeks of thwarted attempts, the Arizona House of Representatives voted Wednesday to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864, with three Republican lawmakers breaking from their party to join Democrats in striking it down. 

Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the 1864 law, which carries with it a mandatory prison sentence for doctors who provide an abortion for any reason other than saving a woman’s life, over a 15-week gestational ban passed in 2022. 

My guess: the Center for Arizona Policy is tugging on every leash string available to it in an attempt to have the Rs in the Senate kill the repeal.

Next, the indictment.

From AZ Mirror (again), written by Caitlin Sievers -

Grand jury indicts 18 in fake electors scheme, including two AZ state senators 

A grand jury has indicted 18 people, including two Arizona state senators and the former head of the Arizona Republican Party, in a fake elector scheme that aimed to install Donald Trump as the president after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. 

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has not released the names of everyone who was indicted, but all 11 fake electors were charged: 

• Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
• Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
• Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
• Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward  
• Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
• James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
• Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
• Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party 
• Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
• Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP

There were also seven people indicted whose names were redacted.

CNN has information/guesses on the redacted indictees.

From CNN -

Meadows, Giuliani among indicted in Arizona in latest 2020 election subversion case

A grand jury in Arizona has handed up an indictment against former President Donald Trump’s allies over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign.

Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trump’s closest advisers; former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; and Rudy Giuliani are among those who have been indicted, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

{snip}

While Trump is not among those charged in Arizona, the details in the indictment suggest he is “Unindicted Coconspirator 1.”

{snip}

Other individuals charged in the Arizona indictment but whose names have been redacted, the source familiar with the investigation told CNN, include Trump allies Mike Roman, a 2020 campaign official; Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis; and conservative attorney John Eastman.

{snip}

The Republican Party of Arizona also slammed the indictments in a statement Wednesday.

“Today’s indictments by Attorney General Kris Mayes represent a blatant and unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power, aimed solely at distracting the public from the critical policy debates our country should be focusing on as we approach the 2024 election,” the statement said.

There are a lot of "nice" days in Arizona (the weather here is fantastic..outside of July and August (and late June), but there are few "good" ones.

Wednesday was a good one.

Dear Democratic primary voters in LD8: Please write in Lauren Kuby for state senate

Failed candidate David Alger fronted a legal challenge to the one Democratic candidate for state senate in LD8, Rep. Melody Hernandez.

It was successful, in that she withdrew from the race, leaving the Democratic ballot in that district with no candidate for the state senate seat on the ballot.

One person has stepped into the gap. - Lauren Kuby, a former member of the Tempe City Council and long-time community activist.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything (they should though, as I'm always right,  Just ask me. :) )

However, I do expect that all of my elected officials to be decent and honorable human beings, and Lauren falls squarely into that category. 

As she's running as a write-in candidate, she'll need at least 405 people to write her name on their primary ballots in order for her to appear on the general election ballot.

And she easily deserves that.

Note: I've linked to her campaign website on the sidebar to the right.  If you can donate to her campaign, please do so.

Republicans in the AZ lege like to express disdain for California and Californians. Apparently, there's at least one Californian who doesn't return that disdain

From The Hill -

Newsom set to propose legislation to help Arizonans get abortions in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Sunday that state lawmakers will introduce a bill this week to assist women traveling from Arizona seeking abortion care in response to the rollout of one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country.

An Arizona Supreme Court decision earlier this month implemented an 1864 abortion law preventing access to the procedure in nearly all circumstances starting May 1. Despite calls from national Republicans to replace the law with a less strict measure, state lawmakers have shot down attempts to overturn it.

Betcha the Rs in the AZ lege try to criminalize traveling to another state before they try to overturn the Civil War-era ban on abortion.

Criminalizing being poor? How's that for an "American value"?

From AP -

Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?

The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live.

The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

When the U.S. Supreme Court sides with fining poor people for being poor (and they almost certainly will  do so), how long will it be before someone proposes the use of prisons for people who can't afford to pay the fines imposed for being poor?