Watching her interview on Phoenix Channel 3's Politics Unplugged (video not posted as of this writing), that's the conclusion that I've reached.
And given that we live in AZ, home of unabashed rationalizers like Doug Ducey, referring to her as the "most accomplished" one is saying something.
 |
| Pic taken of Twitter on 2/27/2022 |
Maybe her post made more sense in its original Russian.
And while it was hardly a good look for him, his habit has been enthusiastically embraced and continued by...wait for it...the gift that keeps on giving...state Sen. Wendy Rogers.
 |
| Pic taken on Twitter, 2/26/2022 |
I'll say this about her - Rogers appears to be an accomplished multitasker. Not only did she spout nicknames for Jeremy Duda of the AZ Mirror and Brahm Resnik of channel 12, she threw in a conspiracy theory about George Soros (as an aside, where do I sign up for a paycheck? :) )
Of course, she loses points for vocabulary usage - unless "sweet" is her term for "nutty", and "gaslighting" is her term for "telling the truth".
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 propagate 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 into the entirety of a bill. Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one.
No strikers this week (not as of this writing, anyway) as committees start considering measures that made it out of the opposite chamber.
On Monday, 2/28 -
House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. 10 bills on the agenda.
House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. 2 bills on the agenda.
House Military Affairs & Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. 5 bills on the agenda, including SB1048, barring municipalities and counties from ordering businesses to close during a health emergency.
Senate Government meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 2 bills on the agenda, including HB2453, barring governmental entities from requiring masks on their premises. Interestingly, the bill would also repeal a section of law barring vaccine passports.
Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. 3 bills on the agenda.
On Tuesday, 3/1 -
House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. 3 bills on the agenda.
House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. 8 bills on the agenda.
House Natural Resources, Energy &Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. 1 bill on the agenda.
Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 3 bills on the agenda, including HB2025, requiring school districts to establish parental visitation policies for classrooms, HB2439, requiring school districts to allow parents to "review" all books in a school's library and books purchased for inclusion in that library.
On Wednesday, 3/2 -
House Government & Elections meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1. 8 bills on the agenda, including SB1009, limiting the governor's ability to declare states of emergency and gathering greater power unto the legislature itself; SB1013, requiring the Arizona Secretary of State to request that the federal government in the state's citizenship requirement on its federal voter registration form; and SB1094, invalidating the signatures of people who sign petitions for ballot initiatives or referenda if the person passing the petition doesn't read the description on the petition to each signer/
House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4. 6 bills on the agenda, including SB1092, limiting the circumstances under which the seller of a product is subject to a product liability action.
House Ways & Means meets at 9 a.m.in HHR3. 6 bills on the agenda, including SCR1011, asking the voters to expand property tax exemptions. According to the bill's fiscal note, this measure would cost the state's general fund $2.1 million. while it would cost other taxing jurisdictions, like school districts, an indeterminate amount of revenue.
Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1. 9 bills on the agenda.
Senate Finance meets at 10 a.m. in SHR109. 3 bills on the agenda, including HCM2004, a love letter to Congress urging them to oppose stricter financial reporting requirements.
House Transportation meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. No bills on the agenda.
Senate Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. 9 bills on the agenda, including HB2107, barring municipalities and counties from ordering businesses to close during a health emergency.
Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. 5 bills on the agenda.
On Thursday, 3/3 -
Senate Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1. 15 bills on the agenda, at least 6 of them bad.
From the website of the Federal Election Commission -
Independent Gilsdorf is running in CD9.
Of course, their other hand was behind their back, and the fingers in it were crossed.
From CNN, dated 2/24 -
Big Oil CEO responds to Biden: We would never 'take advantage of' war in Ukraine
American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers insisted on Thursday that US oil companies would not seek to capitalize on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Our companies would never take advantage of this kind of situation," Sommers, who leads the most powerful US energy trade group, told CNN in a phone interview.Earlier on Thursday, Biden delivered a warning to the oil industry amid soaring prices."American oil and gas companies should not -- should not exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits," Biden said in prepared remarks.Sommers argued that US oil companies want to do what's best for consumers around the world."My member companies are patriots," he said. "This is not a time to target one particular industry that has a proven record."
From the US Energy Information Administration -
He said that the oil industry has a "proven record". In and of itself, that statement is true, and perhaps the most truthful thing that he said.
Of course, it isn't a *positive* proven record.
Personal aside:
A long time ago, I worked for a relatively small convenience store chain (~170 locations, all in the northeastern US) and we had a company picnic/outing at a campground.
It was during Operation Desert Shield, and our gas prices went up at least daily, sometimes more than once a day.
At the outing, I was seated at a table that was next to a table filled with company execs who, after imbibing some alcoholic drinks, and still imbibing, were laughing about how they hoped that the press didn't find out how much profit they were making off of the conflict in the Middle East.
I learned two things that day:
1. Fully grown men shouldn't cackle. Actually, no one should - it's not a good look for anyone.
2. Some folks *really* should stay away from booze. Especially folks who believe who place profits ahead of human lives.
Not that his "inner partisan hack" was buried too deeply.
From Jeremy Duda at the AZ Mirror -
Ducey: A GOP senator with white nationalist ties is ‘still better than’ a Democrat
Gov. Doug Ducey said he has no regrets about spending $500,000 to elect a Republican state senator with open ties to the white nationalist movement because it’s still better than having a Democrat in her seat.
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. And she’s still better than her opponent, Felicia French,” he said Thursday.
Ducey’s political action committee, Arizonans for Strong Leadership, spent millions in 2020 to help the GOP maintain control of the legislature, including nearly $500,000 to help Republican Wendy Rogers win the race for the District 6 Senate seat in northern Arizona. Rogers won nearly 55% of the vote against Democrat Felicia French, a victory that kept the Senate in GOP hands by a single vote.
Rogers in action, also from the AZ Mirror.
From one of the reports filed by Ducey's PAC -
Ducey supports a bigoted white nationalist like Rogers over her 2020 opponent, Felicia French, a nurse and veteran.
Really?
From The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott floats pardons for Austin police officers charged with excessive force in 2020 protests
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday blasted the indictment of 19 Austin police officers on assault charges stemming from the May 2020 racial justice protests — and dangled the possibility of potential pardons for them.
“Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted,” Abbott said in a statement. “Time will tell whether the accusations against the courageous Austin police officers is a political sham. Time will also tell whether I, as Governor, must take action to exonerate any police officer unjustly prosecuted."
[snip]
The indictments accuse the 19 officers — including Texas House candidate Justin Berry — of using deadly weapons to injure nearly a dozen demonstrators and threatening them with serious bodily harm during the May 2020 protests against police brutality that followed the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Michael Ramos in Austin.
Normally, Arizona politicos are the most craven in the U.S. (Arizona legislature notwithstanding), but Texas looks to be taking that title away from us.
We have Paul Petersen, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Mark Finchem (and more!) but they have Abbott, Dan Goeb Patrick, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, and, of course, Louie Gohmert (and more!)
Still, Cheeto may be the best example of using pardons for political/criminal gain - Joe Arpaio, Scooter Libby, Dinesh D'Souza, Michael Milken, Bernie Kerik, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Duncan Hunter, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Steve Bannon, Rick Renzi, Roger Stone, and more - all criminals and all pardoned by Cheeto.
And Cheeto's example is the one that Abbott is following.
Pointed to this by fivethirtyeight.com.
From Data Orbital -
Breaking: Kari Lake besting other Republican challengers in race against Democrat Katie Hobbs
Data Orbital is pleased to announce the results of its latest statewide, live-caller survey of likely general election voters. The survey was conducted from February 11th to February 13th.
With little data publicly available, the survey focused on the upcoming, hotly contested race for Governor in Arizona. The survey tested all four Republican candidates against likely Democrat nominee Katie Hobbs.
[snip]
From Data Orbital's toplines document -
This is interesting, but that's all.
There are two problems with the poll:
1. They ignored the candidates' respective primaries. While Hobbs and Lake are the favorites in their primaries, there's no guarantee that they'll win. Some primary polling would be nice.
2. They oversampled Republican voters and to a lesser extent, Democratic ones, too, and undersampled Independent/Unaffiliated ones.
From the most recent AZ voter registration report -
First, from the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Nathan Brown, dated September 1, 2021 (behind a paywall) -
Cobb quits treasurer race to lead dental group
Rep. Regina Cobb is bowing out of the race for state treasurer to take a job as executive director of the Arizona Dental Association.
That was 9/1.
On 9/13, she gave herself a LOT of money, and termed it as a "reimbursement"
Hmmm....
From Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog -
“GOP lawmakers are pushing high-tech ‘fraud-proof’ ballots. A Texas company could be the only supplier.”
WaPo:
Holographic foil. Special ink designed to be sensitive to temperature changes. Nearly invisible “stealth numbers” that can be located only using special ultraviolet or infrared lights.
Those are among the high-tech security features that would be required to be embedded on ballots under measures proposed in at least four states by Republican lawmakers — all promoters of false claims that the 2020 election was marred by mass fraud — in an attempt to make the ballots as hard to counterfeit as passports or currency.
But the specialized inks and watermarks also would limit the number of companies capable of selling ballot paper — potentially to just one Texas firm with no previous experience in elections that consulted with the lawmakers proposing the measures.
Mark Finchem, an Arizona state representative spearheading the , said in an interview that he developed ideas for the proposals after discussions with executives of Authentix, a company in Addison, Tex. The firm has since hosted other GOP lawmakers at its office and given presentations about the idea to legislators in two states, according to participants and social media posts.
From Politico, dated 2/17/2022 (emphasis added by me) -
Ducey looms as last big question on 2022 Senate map
Arizona Statehood Day came and went on Monday. Those hoping GOP Gov. Doug Ducey might use the opportunity to announce he’s running for the Senate — as then-Rep. Jeff Flake did in 2011 — were disappointed when Ducey instead appeared at an event in Los Angeles.
The weekend before, at the Phoenix Open — a massive annual golf tournament where Ducey has announced major initiatives in previous years — the governor had also dashed the hopes of supporters. Ducey gave a brief, generic talk — disheartening some in the audience of big donors and tech executives who had heard word of a possible big reveal.
[snip]
The GOP’s chances of flipping the seat held by Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly — a key contest in the party’s fight for the Senate majority — are viewed by many in both parties as even better with Ducey, who has been elected statewide three times, than the current cast of MAGA Republicans in the race.
Being lumped with the crowd?
That's gotta sting...Mark Brnovich.
He's actually won a (relatively) high profile statewide race as Attorney General (so has Justin Olson, but that was for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission, and I'm betting that most R primary voters can't name even one member). Not a particularly good AG, IMO, but he's still in office.
The Rs who have filed statements of interest in running for the seat -
Brnovich, Lamon, Olson, Masters, Paveza and McGuire have formed committees with the FEC.
Also forming a committee but not on the list of statements of intent:
Frank Bertone.
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 propagate 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 into the entirety of a bill. Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one.
I was going to call this week "strikers gone wild", but I'm pretty sure it'll get worse before the lege ends its session.
Far worse.
From the website of the Arizona Legislature:
On Monday, 2/21 -
House Appropriations meets at 8:30 a.m. in HHR1. 23 bills on the agenda, including 7 strikers. There's one for HB2001 that seeks to override local ordinances/rules concerning worker productivity. Most safety precautions affect employee productivity. This one looks like it was written by an industry lobbyist.
There's also one for HB2552 to take $20 million from the state's general fund to build a prison in Cochise County. There's already a prison in Douglas that looks to be at well below capacity.
Lastly, there's also a striker being offered for HB2726, related to "ballot fraud countermeasures; ink; paper". This anti-democracy language has been floating around the lege for a while now. The original House bill, HB2041, was held in committee.
Senate Health and Human Services will meet at 9:30a.m. in SHR1. Same agenda as last Wednesday, where I wrote " 30 bills on the agenda, including strikers for 6 of them where the language of the proposed amendment isn't yet available. A couple of bad bills here, and a few of the strikers look bad, plus one that looks "sneaky bad". "
A partial hearing was already held and some of the bills were already considered; I'm not sure where they left off..
On Tuesday, 2/22 -
Senate Appropriations meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109. 37 bills on the agenda, including 20 strikers.
There's one for SB1001 that would make it extortion for someone to threaten to expose a secret in a social media message or in "any other manner".
There's another for SB1003 that would compel counties and municipalities to reduce their property taxes by the amount of money they receive under the American Rescue Plan.
There's yet another for SB1180, imposing reporting requirement for certain expenditures related to the American Rescue Plan.
There's one for SB1458, barring the counting of early ballots until election day.
Lastly, there's one for SCR1018 that's confusing. The agenda says one thing -
However, the striker, when opened, seems more innocuous -
Given that the author of both the bill and the striker is someone who despises Arizona and its people, like other GQPers, don't be shocked if this one ends up being really bad.
The House is scheduled to enter COW, or Committee of the Whole, 3 non-controversial bills on Monday. COW sessions are where bills are officially amended, though committee meetings are the place to support/criticize proposed amendments. Once bills are amended in committee, COW consideration is usually a pro-forma thing.
COW calendars can and will pop up on no/short notice and future calendars will probably be more controversial.
Of course, him being a nut, bigot, and hypocrite may be his idea of "multitasking."
While the nuttiness and bigotry is well-documented with him, the hypocrisy part has not been. Yet.
From Havasu News -
Preserving freedom, ‘red wave’ hot topics at Lincoln Day Dinner
Mohave County Republicans gathered for the 75th annual Lincoln Day Dinner to hear speeches from Hillsdale College Graduate Dean and Professor Ronald J. Pestritto, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (R-Prescott), and a variety of candidates and elected officials.
The Saturday event at Beale Celebrations at 201 N. 4th St. was “Freedom” themed and echoed messages of the 2022 “Red Wave” to turn the state fully Republican and preserve freedom-based party standards, specifically in education. The message of Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” lyric “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose” was also sung.
Pretty sure that Gosar isn't the best one to speak at an event to commemorate someone who famously dealt with a civil war.
From the website of the Federal Elections Commission -
Republican Bertone is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
