They may not be tax returns, but Cheeto's financial disclosure statement is rather revealing

Apparently, lawsuits aren't Cheeto's friend ([begin sarcasm] Shocking, I know [/end sarcasm])

From BBC -

Trump made $300k from selling bibles - but owes $100m

Former US President Donald Trump is making money from branded bibles and cryptocurrency holdings.

But he also owes more than $100m (£91m) in liabilities from three lawsuits he has lost, according to new financial disclosure forms released on Thursday.

Federal candidates are required to file disclosures each year detailing their income, investments, assets and liabilities.

While the former president lists over 150 pages of assets, his liabilities add up to tens of millions owed for the legal troubles he's faced this year.

CNN has the full disclosure here.

Legislative schedule - week starting 8/11/2024

 Nada, as in there is nothing scheduled at this point.

Does Cheeto wake up and ask himself "which group of supporters can I piss off today?"

My guess is that he'll never say anything bad about Vlad, though.

Others?  

Fair game.

In other words, I don't for a moment believe this was a mistaken gaffe; I truly believe his statement was an expression of his views on the topic.

From CBS News -

Trump says Medal of Freedom "equivalent" to and "much better" than Medal of Honor, sparking backlash from veterans

Former President Donald Trump received an immediate backlash Thursday when he said the Presidential Medal of Freedom he awarded to Dr. Miriam Adelson, the widow of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, was "equivalent" and "much better" than the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award for bravery in combat. 

Speaking from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during an event on fighting antisemitism, Trump praised the late Las Vegas casino magnate as "one of the greatest businessmen in the world," before addressing Sheldon Adelson's widow to make a comparison between the Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, which is typically given for significant achievements in the arts, public service and other fields. 

[snip]

Trump's comments on Thursday evening recalled past criticism of the former president over his disparaging comments about the late Republican Sen. John McCain in 2015 when he said McCain was "only a war hero because he was captured" during the Vietnam War, adding, "I like people that weren't captured, OK?" There was also backlash when he allegedly called Americans who died at war "losers" and "suckers" following a canceled trip to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018. Trump denies he made the belittling comments about fallen U.S. service members. 

Many critics online noted the millions of dollars the Adelsons had donated to Trump and other GOP candidates and causes, and contrasted that with the extraordinary bravery of Medal of Honor recipients who receive the award for great courage in the face of extreme danger. Often, these service members, some of whom die in the process, completely disregard their own lives to save others or eliminate heavy bombardments and enemy gunfire.

 

He wants to tick off a group of people, who in 2020, supported him by a large margin.

From CNN's summary of exit polls in 2020

Hmmm....

Project 2025: Bad for America and bad for Arizona

Certain folks in the AZ legislature don't care about America or Arizona.

They should, though, but they only care about two things;

1  Their personal ideologies, and inflicting them on the rest of society..

2. Inflicting Cheeto on the rest of society.

Yes, society is something they hate with an unwavering passion.

On Project 2025"s effects on Arizonans:.  From AZ Mirror, written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy -

Project 2025 will raise taxes on Arizonans while cutting their social security and health care

If former President Donald Trump is elected and enacts the controversial Project 2025, Arizonans can expect to see worse taxes, social security, health care and much more, according to a new report. 

Project 2025 is a right-wing blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power if Trump wins in November. The list of policy plans was created in large part by former Trump aides and allies. 

The Heritage Foundation created the document in partnership with more than 100 other conservative groups, many with extreme views on abortion, taxes, immigration and federal agencies. Proposals in Project 2025 include completely banning abortion nationwide, bringing the U.S. Department of Justice under the direct control of the president, increased immigration enforcement and sweeping cuts to federal agencies. 

[snip]

Under the proposal, a typical family of four in Arizona would see an increase of $2,720 a year in their taxes, while households making more than $10 million would see a tax cut that averages to $1.5 million each year. 

The plan also supports plans to cut Social Security by raising the retirement age for 73% of Arizona’s residents. Project 2025’s changes to Social Security were mirrored by the Republican Study Committee, which includes members of Project 2025, which would raise the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 69. CAP estimates that a median-wage retiree could lose between $46,000 to $100,000 over the course of 10 years. 

[snip]

Arizona Republican State Sen. Janae Shamp is a fervent supporter of (Michael) Flynn and has a Christian nationalist flag on her desk at the Capitol. Shamp, a conservative from Surprise, has also shared a number of QAnon posts on her Facebook page, including some linked to neo-Nazis and antisemites. 

A close ally of Shamp’s, Sen. Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear, works with the Flynn aligned The America Project. Trump has also spoken about bringing Flynn back if reelected.

Well, there is one area where Tucson outranks Phoenix

In early July, WalletHub published a study ranking America's most- and least-educated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in 2024.  MSAs are federally-designated urban areas with a city at the center of it ("center" is NOT a geographic term).  The study only included the top 150 MSAs,  and in Arizona, only Phoenix and Tucson were ranked.

In a development that probably isn't a surprise to any who live here, AZ didn't do too well in the survey.

From the survey -

There are other MSAs in AZ, and I'm going to speculate on where they'd rank, with "above Tucson" or "below Phoenix" designation (as none of the other MSAs are in the top 150, the study didn't rank them, so this is just speculation on my part and may be incorrect).

The list of other MSAs in AZ, from the Eller College of Management at U of A -

• Flagstaff MSA (Coconino Co.) - probably higher than Phoenix, may be higher than Tucson.  Having NAU in the MSA doesn't hurt.

• Lake Havasu City-Kingman MSA (Mohave Co.) - lower than Phoenix.  There's nothing there other than dust.

• Prescott Valley-Prescott MSA (Yavapai Co.) - lower than Phoenix, but may be the highest ranked of the other MSAs (with the exception of Flagstaff), benefitting from the number of Phoenix residents who have moved there.

• Sierra-Vista MSA (Cochise Co.) - lower than Phoenix, but its ranking may benefit from its proximity to Tucson.

• Yuma MSA (Yuma Co.) - lower than Phoenix. possibly the lowest in AZ.  Yuma County is primarily agricultural and has the highest unemployment rate in AZ.

Bet that Tom Horne and the Republican caucus in the legislature think that the rankings of Phoenix and Tucson are too high and wish to reduce them, while Kate Gallego and Regina Romero, the mayors of Phoenix and Tucson, respectively, believe that the existing rankings should be increased upon.

Keep your calendar clear. The CCEC has released its fall debate schedule.

From KPNX (Phoenix Channel 12), written by Kevin Reagan -

When is the Gallego-Lake debate scheduled to happen?

Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections Commission has released its schedule of candidate debates ahead of November's general election.

Multiple competitive races will be on the ballot this November in Arizona, which has earned the reputation of being a battleground state during this year's presidential election.

Since it wasn't answered in the first two paragraphs, I'll say when the Gallego-Lake debate is scheduled - October 9.

From the debate schedule released by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC).  This is mostly federal debates, with some issue debates, Maricopa County debates, and the LD8 debate, as I live in Maricopa County and LD8.  The are other debates; look for any that interest you -

(Note: all times and dates are subject to change based on candidate schedules and/or participation)

Date 

Legislative schedule - week starting 8/11/2024

Same as last week, mostly.

Nada, as in there is nothing scheduled at this point.

Apparently even hardcore ideologues don't want to be in Phoenix in August.

From Accuweather -

Short attention span musing

...Could someone please tell the Harris campaign to stay off the "send" button?  If they've got energy to burn, knock on a few doors, instead.

In the last three days, I've received 41 emails from one or another arms of the Harris campaign, which is about 35 more than necessary.

...Speaking of the Harris campaign, she's selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Two things:

1. Do I believe he'll be great VP?  Yes, unequivocally.

2. When I hear the name "Walz", I think of former NHL center "Wes Walz".  Wes is unrelated to Tim (as far as I can tell), but while Tim is the governor of Minnesota, Wes played for the Minnesota Wild.

It turns out that while Tim is from Nebraska, Wes is from Canada.  While, as a a Canadian, Wes can't be POTUS and probably shouldn't be in the line of succession to the presidency, this all made me think.

Wes Walz, or another former hockey player, should take a newly-created high sub-cabinet position with the state department in a Harris Administration.

Undersecretary of Hip Checks. :)

I expect that certain international negotiations will go very smoothly.

Of course, if Cheeto wins, the newly-created position would be "Undersecretary of Kissing Vlad's butt."

...Arizona has returned $29 million to the feds.  The funds were intended to aid underperforming schools but it was never used.so it had to be returned.  The current Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, may have worked against the best interests of public schools and lost the money, but he attempted to blame his predecessor, Kathy Hoffman, for his own malfeasance in office.  Hoffman and others would have none of it.

From the linked story (italics from the story) -

[snip]

{From an emailed statement from Hoffman}“Tom Horne has had nearly two years of responsibility over the federal funds and this is his mistake to resolve. There were no issues with the school improvement grants during my administration. Schools should not have suddenly found out they had $29 million cut from their budgets just as the new school year is starting. My office prioritized transparent and frequent communication with our school leaders. Tom Horne does not seem to have continued that policy.”

[snip]

However, both the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, as well as the Arizona School Administrators Association say they’ve heard that communication has been lacking from Horne’s office.

“The fact that the superintendent wants to blame the former superintendent for what happened, it doesn't matter. The situation is what it is, and he should be doing everything he can to fix this and take accountability for it,” AEA President Marisol Garcia said. “This is a position where we elect people to lead us and it doesn't matter how it happened. We now have to deal with it.”

Governor Katie Hobbs also chimed in with a press release excoriating Horne.

Maricopa County school board candidates

In addition to the candidates, 27 districts will have bond, override, or "district additional assistance" questions on their ballots. 

35 elections are slated to be canceled, either due to having no candidates or having a quantity of candidates that doesn't exceed the number of offices to be elected.  The full list is here.

Ballot candidates, from the website of the Maricopa County School Superintendent -

"Official" (duly registered) write in candidates:

Either Cheeto is trying to tank the election or he believes the fix is in

Since he seems to want everyone kissing his butt and the other perks (and the regal stature immunity conferred upon the POTUS by certain justices on the US Supreme Court) that goes with the gig, my guess is that he figures the fix is in, and no matter what he says or does, he'll win.

From Politico -

Trump goes low as Harris gains ground

In a succession of crude social media posts, Trump called Harris “low IQ,” “dumb” and lacking “mental capacity.”

Donald Trump broadsided Kamala Harris in a string of derisive social media posts on Saturday, focusing his attacks on the vice president’s intellect after a week that saw her both out-fundraise him and surpass him in some battleground state polls.

In a succession of Truth Social posts after calling off his planned ABC debate with Harris, Trump called Harris “low IQ,” “dumb,” and said she lacked the “mental capacity” to debate him.

[snip]

“Anytime Trump isn’t talking about inflation, immigration and the economy, he’s not winning voters,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist in Arizona. “Going after Harris’ intellect isn’t going to move middle-of-the-road voters. They’re not going to care about whether a former prosecuting attorney is dumb or smart. They want to hear about a plan to rein in inflation and bring down interest rates and make the economy work for the middle class.”

Marson added: “He wants the bouncy house that is a Fox News crowd. He doesn’t want to do ABC. This is a nice way for him to rile her up.”

The polling is neck-and-neck (caveat: at this point, there's only one poll that really matters, and it takes place in November).  But I'm guessing Cheeto isn't worried.

From 538 -

Mitch McConnell compares proposed Supreme Court reforms to violent treason

Along the way, he's reminded everyone that while he may be a better human being than Cheeto (to be fair, who isn't?), he's still pretty vile.

And will not be missed when he's no longer in the Senate.

From The Hill -

McConnell compares Biden Supreme Court reforms to Jan. 6

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in an interview with Punchbowl News compared President Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms to the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

“That’s what some people were trying to do Jan. 6 — to break the system of handing an administration from one to the next,” McConnell said in the interview, referring to the proposed reforms. “We can have our arguments, but we ought to not try to break the rules.”

The reforms that Biden has backed include 18-year term limits, which would allow a president to appoint a new justice every two years, alongside a binding code of conduct. 

FWIW - I'm not a fan of term limits.  We have them here in AZ, and they haven't worked.

One thing I am a fan of?

Having decent human beings in high office, whether that office is an appointed or elected one.

Legislative schedule - week starting 8/4/2024

Same as last week, mostly.

Nada, as in there is nothing scheduled at this point.

I expect that the ad hoc and interim committee activity to pick after the primary election on 7/30 as members with general election contests try to get their names out there.  It also wouldn't surprising to see certain most Republican members use the taxpayer dime to deride Vice President Kamala Harris.

I *still* expect that, though it isn't going to happen this week.

MC Recorder: The best possible result for Tim Stringham: Stephen Richer loses in the primary:

Stringham is the Democratic nominee for Maricopa County Recorder...and I believe that in a general election battle against Richer, he wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance in Phoenix in July against him.

General election voters like simple competence from the public employees.

Fortunately for Stringham, though, Republican voters nominated Justin Heap for the office.

Heap's a pure ideologue, and the next time reality is more relevant to him than his beliefs will be the first time.

People who value clean voting and clean document keeping should donate to and vote for Tim Stringham.

Primary results are in

There were a few upsets, but not many; most of the "upsets" were in the gap between candidates, not in the final results.

Notes:

The results for federal and legislative races are from the Arizona Secretary of State.

The results for Maricopa County races (designated with an "MC") are from the Maricopa County Recorder's office.

All results are preliminary; vote totals may change, but in most races, I don't expect the final order to change.

Lastly, there were other primaries and/or other candidates not included here.

Candidate Office Party Percent

Kari Lake US Sen R 55.23

Mark Lamb US Sen R 39.41

Amish Shah CD1 D 23.93

Andrei Cherny CD1 D 21.41

Marlene Galan-Woods CD1 D 20.89

Conor O'Callaghan CD1 D 18.44

Andrew Horne CD1 D 12.27

Kurt Kroemer CD1 D 3.08

Yassamin Ansari CD3 D 46

Raquel Teran CD3 D 42.9

Juan Ciscomani CD6 R 59.4

Kathleen Winn CD6 R 40.6

Abe Hamadeh CD8 R 29.83

Blake Masters CD8 R 25.32

Ben Toma CD8 R 21.23

Trent Franks CD8 R 16.54

Anthony Kern CD8 R 4.74

Mark Finchem LD1 Sen R 47.1

Ken Bennett LD1 Sen R 34.3

Wendy Rogers LD7 Sen R 54.91

David Cook LD7 Sen R 45.09

Walt Blackman LD7 Rep R 27.44

David Marshall LD7 Rep R 24.53

Steven Slaton LD7 Rep R 14.1

Janeen Connolly LD8 Rep D 34

Brian Garcia LD8 Rep D 33.91

Juan Mendez LD8 Rep D 32.08

Vince Leach LD17 Sen R 51.63

Justine Wadsack LD17 Sen R 48.37

Eva Diaz LD22 Sen D 76.1

Leezah Sun LD22 Sen D 23.9

Analise Ortiz LD24 Sen D 86.3

Mario Garcia LD24 Sen D 13.7

Tyler Kamp MC Sheriff D 54.87

Russ Skinner MC Sheriff D 45.13

Jerry Sheridan MC Sheriff R 51.28

Frank Milstead MC Sheriff R 27.82

Mike Crawford MC Sheriff R 20.9

Mark Stewart MC SD1 R 65.24

Jack Sellers MC SD1 R 34.76

Thomas Galvin MC SD2 R 57.16

Michelle Ugenti-Rita MC SD2 R 42.84

Rachel Mitchell MC Attorney R 57.58

Gina Godbehere MC Attorney R 42.42

Justin Heap MC Recorder R 42.45

Stephen Richer MC Recorder R 35.76

Don Hiatt MC Recorder R 21.78

Not sure what it means, but the incumbent Maricopa County Recorder, Stephen Richer, was unseated in the primary.

Former state legislator Michelle Ugenti-Rita got thumped in her quest for a seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Incumbent MCBOS member Jack Sellers lost quest for re-election.  Not sure what happened here.

Republican Jerry Sheridan and Democrat Tyler Kamp will face off for Maricopa County Sheriff in November.

Democrat Analise Ortiz thoroughly trounced faux Democrat Mario Garcia in the race for LD24 Senator.

Democrat Eva Diaz easily beat disgraced former legislator Leezah Sun in the race for LD22 Senator

Republican Vince Leach defeated controversial incumbent Justine Wadsack in the primary for LD17 Senator.

In the one real upset, and the one race where late counted votes may change the outcome, termed out incumbent Senator Juan Mendez was foiled in his quest to switch chambers in the LD8 Democratic primary.  In those races, the top two vote-getters are considered to be the victors, but he's currently in third.

In the race for LD7 State Representative, Republican Steven Slaton, who faced accusations that he inflated his military service, finished a distant third.

In the race for LD7 State Senator, antisemite Republican Wendy Rogers looks to have turned back a challenge from David Cook.

In the race for LD1 State Senator, former legislator Mark Finchem has deposed incumbent Ken Bennett.  Both are well known election deniers, but Bennett may be the less insane of the two.

In CD8, Abe Hamadeh has won the R primary there.  Since that district is heavily Republican, we'll end up with another lousy human being in Arizona's delegation to Congress.  The best thing about the result is that Peter Theil (Blake Masters' sugar daddy) may stop trying to buy a federal office from AZ.

In CD1,  former legislator Amish Shah is ahead in the race the challenge incumbent David Schweikert (R-Ethically Challenged) in November.

And lastly, Kari Lake has emerged from the R primary for US Senator, earning the chance to face off against Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego in November.

His best chance is if Lake keeps being herself.

Cheeto looks to secure the vote of people who were going to vote for him anyway

The American Taliban Christian Nationalist sect was going to ignore his dictatorial tendencies. treasons, frauds, and cheating on his wives (and other bad behaviors) because he's just as bigoted as them, but he's appealing to them, anyway.

From NPR -

Trump tells Christian voters they 'won't have to vote anymore' if he's elected

Former President Donald Trump struck several familiar notes in his address to Christians at Turning Point Action’s “Believers Summit” in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The gathering of religious conservatives Friday night was an opportunity for Trump to appeal to the critical Republican voting bloc. The Republican nominee promised to protect religious freedom and touted his history of supporting the Israeli government.

[snip]

"You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians," he said.