Arizona legislative Republicans respond to the Nashville school shooting in their usual way

Of course, their "usual way" involves craven cowardice.

Before he became president, John F. Kennedy wrote a book, Profiles in Courage.

The library at the state capitol should include its sequel, Profiles in Cowardice; a book not yet written (I think), but when it is, it'll feature every member of the R caucus at the legislature.

My reason for believing that?

The behavior of the legislative Rs in the aftermath of the shooting.

The webpage with archived video of the lege in action (or, more to the point, inaction) is here.

As I haven't yet figured out how to save the video and embed it here, all time references will pertain to videos of the Senate and House floor sessions of 3/28.

In the AZSenate, Democratic Sen. Raquel Teran spoke about the mass shooting (starting at 1:06:45), not asking for any form of gun control that she listed, saying for that each of those, "That ask has gone unanswered."

At 1:10:10, she did ask for one thing -

"I ask this body and this nation find the courage to side with our children, our future generations, and 

not the gun lobby, any longer."

Based on the lack of action from the Republicans in the lege, I'm guessing that ask will go unanswered, too.

Teran

At 1:10:34, Republican Sen. Anthony Kern "rebutted" her statement (not someone most people want fronting for their "purity patrol; he has credibility issues), blaming LGBTQ people for the killing, and at 1:11:18 opining that the reason for the killing was that "we have taken God out of our schools."

So who wants to tell him that the targeted school was a private Christian school.

As bad as the Senate was, the House may have been more brazen in their cowardice.

In the AZ House, at 9:20 of the video, Democratic Rep. Jennifer Longdon moved HB2192.be considered immediately.  (Disclosure time: I lived in Rep. Longdon's district and have voted for her, and am proud of those votes).

Longdon, proposing her motion

The common sense bill would require that all firearms at home be kept under lock and key except when in use or on someone's person.

At 9:47, Republican Rep. Leo Biasucci moved a substitute (replacement) motion.

Biasucci making his own motion

Every R voted for the substitute, killing Longdon's motion.

At 11:27, the House Speaker pro tem instructed his colleagues "If you support the substitute motion to go into the Committee of the Whole for the bills on the calendar, vote yes, if you oppose that motion, vote Aye."

The Republican House Speaker pro tem fixing the vote.  OK, even I thought he misspoke, if only because the vote wasn't in need of fixing.

Cheeto indicted! Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

 

Actually, it probably wouldn't happen to a nicer one, either. 

From CNN -

Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud

Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.

The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.

My question is this:  Will he do a perp walk before the arraignment?

Don't worry about our Cheeto, though - his acolytes, including some based in AZ, rushed to defend/protect him.  From NBC -

Trump allies erupt in fury over former president's indictment

Donald Trump’s most fervent Capitol Hill allies erupted in fury Thursday night as news of his indictment rocked the country. They rushed to his defense and blasted New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the GOP presidential front-runner as a political witch hunt designed to influence the 2024 election.

“Outrageous,” tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is using his roles as chairman of the Judiciary and Weaponization of the Federal Government committees to investigate Bragg’s work.

Certain folks from Arizona wanted to be sure that they weren't left out of the pro-Cheeto babble.  They took to Twitter.

Gotta love it when an elected Republican is a little honest

OK, he was partially honest and told a half truth, but at least it wasn't an outright lie.  

This time.

From The Hill -

Tennessee Republican responds to school shooting: ‘We’re not gonna fix it’

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett (R) said there’s no way to “fix” gun violence, after a shooter killed three children and three adults at an elementary school in his home state on Monday.

“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett told reporters. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.” 

Of course, if he was being completely honest, he would have said "And we're not gonna fix it...so long as the NRA and the like keep coming through with their blood money."

Legislative schedule - week starting 3/26/2023

This *should* be the last week of regular committee consideration of bills, but are ways around that.  No proposal is really dead until the lege adjourns sine die.

Also, I'm not a bookie, but if I was, I'd set the initial over/under at eight.

Eight, as in the number of Republican members of the AZ lege who will aid and abet the violent acts if Cheeto is actually indicted..

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 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, 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, 3/27 

-

House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  12 bills on the agenda, including strikers for SB1278 and SB1285.  Both could be problematical, but 1278's seems worse - it would usurp some municipal authority.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  Six bills on the agenda.

House Military Affairs & Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  Eight bills on the agenda, including strikers for SB1068, SB1136, and SB1608.  The striker to 1068 would require trained EMTs to provide medical assistance, and ambulances to transport, police dogs injured in the line of duty.

Senate Elections meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  Four bills on the agenda, all propaganda.

Senate Finance meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  Two bills on the agenda.

Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2.  Four bills on the agenda.

On Tuesday, 3/28 

-

House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  Five bills on the agenda; most bad or simply propaganda.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  Seven or eight bills on the agenda.  Not all qualify, but many are bad or simply propaganda.  There is a bit of a discrepancy between the posted agenda, which lists seven bills, and the lege's website, which has eight -

SB1699 is not on the agenda, but if it is considered by the committee, a striker has been offered for it.  The amendment would change the bill into one pertaining to the licensing of anesthesiologist assistants.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  Six bills on the agenda; strikers will be offered for two of them.  The striker for SB1104 would remove the ability of the Arizona Corporation Commission to regulate the use of clean energy resources by public service corporations.  Would also add nuclear energy to the list of clean energy resources.

Looks like it was written by a lobbyist for and energy production corporation.

Senate Appropriation meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  18 bills on the agenda; some bad and/or propaganda.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m.in SHR1.  10 bills on the agenda; some bad and/or propaganda.

On Wednesday, 3/29 

-

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4  Eight bills on the agenda; some bad and/or propaganda.

House Ways & Means meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1.  Four bills on the agenda; most about reducing revenue.

Senate Commerce meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  Six bills on the agenda, two with strikers (text not available as yet).

Senate Government meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR2.  11 bills on the agenda, six with strikers (text not available as yet).  From the titles, some of the strikers seem problematical.  Some of the non-striker bills seem like problems, too.

House Government meets at 10 a.m. in HHR3.  11 bills on the agenda, most are propaganda including SCR1023, repealing the protections from legislative pettiness/interference from charter cities with no amendments offered.

House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  15 bills on the agenda, including SB1596, a propaganda bill.

House Municipal Oversight & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  11 bills on the agenda; all bad.  Most propaganda, one self serving.

House Regulatory Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  One bill on the agenda, one that looks bad.

House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  Six bills on the agenda.

Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  Three bills on the agenda.  One striker will be offered and the text for that isn't available as yet. but given that the other two bills are attacks on public education, don't be surprised if the striker is, too.

Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety and Border Security meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2.  Four bills on the agenda.

On Thursday, 3/30 

-

Senate Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  Six bills on the agenda with one (probably) problematical striker to be offered.  Also on the agenda: HB2502, an anti-choice bill that would state that the requirement for child support begins at the date of a positive pregnancy test.

Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2.  15 bills on the agenda; some propaganda.  Some of them read like the were written by industry lobbyists.  Two strikers to other bills will be offered, text not available.

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Fiscal Accountability meets at 10:30 a.m. in HHR3.  No bills on the agenda.

Cheeto goes full Cheeto and threatens violence if he is indicted

In the book Foundation, written by Isaac Asimov, character Salvor Hardin said "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

That quote may sum up Trump and his supporters in a nutshell. 

From the NY Times, via Yahoo! - 

Trump, Turning Up Heat, Raises Specter of Violence if He Is Charged

In an overnight social media post, former President Donald Trump predicted that “potential death and destruction” may result if, as expected, he is charged by the Manhattan district attorney in connection with hush-money payments to a porn star made during the 2016 campaign.

The comments from Trump, made between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on his social media site, Truth Social, were a stark escalation in his rhetorical attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, ahead of a likely indictment on charges that Trump said would be unfounded.

He could threatened that there would a massive outbreak of sudden defenestrations, but Vlad might consider that to be infringing on his territory; riots in the streets are in Cheeto's wheelhouse.

He'll just lie about them.

Short timer's disease; understandable but not good in most people, but utterly unacceptable in U.S. Senators.

For those who don't understand the term, from Urban Dictionary -

I call it "mailing it in" but whatever it's called, it's obvious that Kyrsten Sinema has it.

Press releases tend to be boring and uninformative, but they can be illuminating if someone reads into one.

And sometimes, one doesn't have to look too deeply. 

From the website of the Arizona House Democrats (emphasis added by me) -

PRESS RELEASE: Tsosie Joins Bi-Partisan 

DC Push to Save I-10 Widening Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 15, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In February Arizona learned that federal transportation authorities had rejected its request for $360 million in matching funds to widen a constricted 26-mile corridor of I-10 on the Gila River Indian Community. The largest of nine 2022 "mega grant" projects awarded was $292 million, and the average award was $130 million.

On Wednesday Representative Myron Tsosie, Republican House Transportation Chairman David Cook and Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis met with U.S. Department of Transportation officials and Senator Mark Kelly and staff for Senator Kyrsten Sinema to urge consideration of a scaled-back $130 million grant request. That request, if approved, could still move the project forward along with $640 million of accumulated state and Maricopa Association of Governments funding, Tsosie said.

"We greatly appreciate officials from the Department of Transportation and our Senators for hearing our concerns," said Tsosie, the ranking Democratic member on the House Transportation Committee. "Reconsidering and granting funds to widen the I-10 would be a huge benefit to the Gila River Indian Community and to our statewide economy that heavily relies on this important but overworked transit corridor. The meetings went well and we are optimistic about the outcomes."

In addition to meeting with Sen. Kelly and Sen. Sinema's staff, the delegation met with Christopher Coes, Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Paul Baumer, Senior Policy Advisor for Infrastructure Finance & Innovation and former Arizona State Representative Arlando Teller who is now Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs.

It's obvious that she's realized that she doesn't have a snowball's chance in Phoenix, in July, of winning reelection in 2024, and that her only hope is to act as a spoiler, gaining enough votes to give the election to whoever the Republicans nominate.

I thought that she had a chance at 20% of the vote before this bout of mailing it in.

However, with her current attitude toward doing her job, even double digits seems like a stretch goal; of course, 3-5% may be enough for her to be a spoiler.