Arizona is back to being the laughingstock of the U.S.

It has been said that state legislatures are the labs of democracy; Jon Stewart famously described the Arizona Legislature as the "meth lab of democracy."

He was correct.

From The Hill -

Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results

An arch conservative member of Arizona’s state House of Representatives has proposed a mammoth overhaul of the state’s voting procedures that would allow legislators to overturn the results of a primary or general election after months of unfounded allegations and partisan audits.

The bill, introduced by state Rep. John Fillmore (R), would substantially change the way Arizonans vote by eliminating most early and absentee voting and requiring people to vote in their home precincts, rather than at vote centers set up around the state.

Jeremy Duda of the AZMirror wrote it up approximately 12 hours earlier -

The newest GOP election proposal would allow lawmakers to reject election results

It would also do away with on-demand early voting and require ballots to be counted by hand — in 24 hours

Lawmakers would have the power to reject election results under a sweeping piece of legislation that would make seismic changes to the way elections are conducted in Arizona. 

Rep. John Fillmore’s House Bill 2596 would eliminate no-excuse early voting, which is used by the overwhelming majority of Arizona voters, and would require that all ballots not only be counted by hand, but that those tallies be completed within 24 hours of the polls closing on Election Day, among other changes.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, is that the legislature would be empowered to accept or reject election results in legislative, congressional and statewide races. Under the proposed law, the legislature would be required to call itself into session after an election to “review the ballot tabulating process.” Once that review is completed, lawmakers would decide whether to accept or reject the results. If the legislature rejects the results, any qualified voter can go to court to ask a judge to order a new election.

 

Fillmore's bill is here; it's a long bill, 35 pages long, and the stuff about the legislature overturning elections is on page 33.

I *did* mention this bill in my post about Fillmore's candidacy for the Legislative Loon Award, but I have to admit that I didn't read the entire thing and missed the language about the legislature.

My mistake, and lesson learned.

Legislative pre-filing of bills has started. Expect the 2022 session to be a lot like 2021.

As in, filled with contempt for democracy, Arizonans, science, school boards, and medical professionals.

The targets of their venom may change, but the attitude of the Rs in the lege doesn't.

Unless otherwise specified, all legislators introducing bills are Republicans.

State Sen. Vince Leach and State Rep. Regina Cobb (somebody running for state treasurer) have introduced "technical correction" bills, which often become shells for strikers, or strike-everything amendment bills, filled with language so extreme that the original measures couldn't pass the lege the first time through.

State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (somebody running for secretary of state) has already introduced bills to lower the threshold for mandatory recounts of elections, limiting the powers of the governor to declare a public health emergency, and barring school districts and boards from ejecting or otherwise penalizing "peaceful" protesters in a measure that seems to protect threats against lives, as long as the lives of specific people aren't threatened, and mandating that school board elections are partisan.

State Sen. Kelly Townsend has introduced bills to prevent school boards from using tax money to pay for membership in a state or national school board association, mandating the creation of a database of "federal-only" voters and giving access to it by an entity designated by the AZlege (in short, legalizing last year's fraudit), requiring the secretary of state to ask the federal election assistance commission to add a citizenship requirement to its registration requirements, removing a requirement that fire departments in counties with fewer than 500K folks have a "certificate of necessity" before supplying ambulance services, loosening any restrictions regarding a parent accessing the medical records of their minor child ("unless otherwise prohibited by law  THE PARENT IS PROHIBITED FROM HAVING ANY CONTACT WITH THE MINOR CHILD BY 21 AN ORDER OF A COURT"), and requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for the off-label use of meds (the hydroxychloroquine bill).

A couple of bills were filed by Democratic State Rep. Diego Rodriguez, who has since resigned his position in the lege to run for attorney general.

State Rep. Quang Nguyen has introduced a bill to add to the requirements for Arizona's propaganda civics course.

State Rep. Steve Kaiser introduced an anti-mask/vaccine bill that would penalize school districts for any violation of state law by withholding 10% of site classroom fund monies for the district.

State Rep. John Kavanagh has introduced a bill to require condo associations to add first responder flags to the list of flags they must allow to be flown.

It also specifies that flags supporting law enforcement are protected.

Here's a thought: maybe they should stop killing unarmed civilians.  Maybe then flags supporting them wouldn't need protection.

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 :) ) -

Hate crimes up; reporting agencies down

Trump infamously said that if there were fewer Covid tests, there'd be fewer cases of Covid.

Turn out it doesn't work that way for Covid, or for other things.

Ignoring the truth doesn't change it.

From NPR -

Hate Crimes Reach The Highest Level In More Than A Decade

There were 7,759 reported hate crimes in the U.S. last year — the most in 12 years, the FBI reported this week. But some experts and advocacy groups say the true number is probably even higher.

The number of recorded bias incidents reported by the FBI was the highest since 2008, when 7,783 hate crimes were reported to the agency, federal data shows.

From the website of the FBI -

In 2020, 81 of 125 law enforcement agencies in AZ reported hate crime data.

In 2019, 92 of 125 LE agencies did so.

Yet, there was an increase in hate crimes reported.

In 2019, there were 209 reported, or 2.2717 per reporting agency -

In 2020, there were 282 reported, or 3.4815 per agency -

That's a 65% increase per reporting agency.

Not a good thing.

Wearing masks or violating the civil rights of immigrants. Which is worse?

If you're a Republican, you'll come to the wrong answer.

From Texas Tribune -

Gov. Greg Abbott draws criticism for ordering state troopers to pull over vehicles with migrants, saying it will stem COVID-19 risk

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers on Wednesday to begin pulling over vehicles whose drivers are transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19, escalating his hardline approach on immigrants and eliciting outrage from advocates calling the order a ticket to racial profiling.

The executive order allows Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to reroute those vehicles back to their origin point or a port of entry, or seize the vehicles if the driver does not comply.

Blaming the "other" is nothing new for Republicans.

In 2006, I was at a community meeting in south Scottsdale where State Rep. John Kavanagh blamed immigrants for leprosy.

Edit on 7/30 to add: I was wrong.  Not about Kavanagh and his bigotry.  Nope.  It was in 2007 or 2008.

Apologies to readers for the error.

End edit.