Cheeto learns a little Latin

I'm sure he and his attorneys said an Ave Maria* before they proposed this one.

* = for you folks who don't have a Catholic upbringing, "Ave Maria" translates to "Hail Mary."

A Hail Mary is a desperation American football passing play used at the end of a half by the team that is behind and almost never works (at least, when it does work, it's big news in the sports world.)  

It got its nickname because it was said when that the quarterback heaved up the pass, he would say a Hail Mary prayer, hoping that the pass would be caught by one of his teammates

From USA Today -

Donald Trump's lawyer in Georgia: election lies are protected speech

Donald Trump’s lawyer argued Thursday the former president can’t be prosecuted in Georgia for trying to steal the 2020 election because his alleged conduct was political speech that must be protected under the First Amendment − even speech that was lies.

“Falsity alone is not enough,” Trump's lawyer, Steven Sadow, said. “Clearly, being president at the time, dealing with elections and campaigning, calling into question what had occurred – that’s the height of political speech.”

So, they're positing that speech intended to rationalize overthrowing the Constitution is protected by that same Constitution?

Kari Lake thinks that lying about public officials is OK. Well, that explains her statements about Cheeto and the 2020 election

From AZ Mirror, written by Caitlin Sievers, dated 8/23/2023 -

Kari Lake says it doesn’t matter if she lied about Stephen Richer in bid to toss suit out

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake says that it doesn’t matter whether the statements she made about Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer are false and his defamation lawsuit against her should be tossed out of court because of a state law curtailing public officials from suing their critics. 

In a motion filed on Monday, Lake asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jay Adleman to dismiss Richer’s suit because she says it violates Arizona’s Strategic Action Against Public Participation law, commonly referred to as an anti-SLAPP statute. 

Part of me actually hopes the court sides with her - I have a few things to say about certain legislators.

There have been too many bills that read like they were written by industry lobbyists and then given to a legislator to slap their name on as sponsor.

Of course, that's only part of me.  The other part of me thinks that she's full of it.

Criticism of a public official's job performance *is* protected (and should be), but lying about it isn't criticism of it.

Actually, equating lies to criticism serves only to devalue criticism.

Sneak preview of the Rs' 2024 campaign rhetoric: Wahhh!

I don't what's worse: the lies or the temper tantrums.  

Either way, the majority Rs in the AZ lege are acting like spoiled toddlers.  Instead of, ya know, *governing.*

From Pinal Central, written by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, emphasis added by me -

Republicans overstate cost of Hobbs' gender surgery order

If you believe the figures cited publicly by Senate Republicans, there are more than 5,500 state and university employees who want taxpayers to pay for gender reassignment surgery.

That's how many such procedures could be performed using the claims by the GOP that the new "abuse of power'' executive order by Gov. Katie Hobbs means "taxpayers will be shelling out $788 million annually for this coverage.''

But it turns out not to be true.

A copy of the actual report to the Legislature from the Department of Administration obtained by Capitol Media Services pegs the annual cost at a thousand times less -- $788,000.

(The article has lots of information; I recommend reading the entire article)

Then there's the temper tantrum.

From the website of the Senate Republicans (dated 6/26), again, emphasis added by me - 

With Hobbs’ Continued Executive Overreach, Senate Nominations Hearing Canceled, Meeting Requested

In the wake of Katie Hobbs' recent unconstitutional executive order on abortions, Senate Committee on Director Nominations Chairman Jake Hoffman is canceling Tuesday's scheduled hearing, with support of the Republican Majority serving on the committee, to determine Hobbs' future intentions to further act beyond her authority.

The concerning executive order issued last week attempts to strip county attorneys of their ability to deal with abortion-related prosecutions and bans state agencies from assisting in those investigations.

(Whoever wrote this one seems to need the bovine equivalent of Ex-Lax; there's a lot of BS here.  I DON'T recommend reading this one in its entirety.)