"Nasty" is an understatement

From AP via KTAR (my emphasis added on the money quote) -

Top election officials in Arizona county leave amid threats

The elected county recorder and the elections director in Arizona’s Yavapai County are resigning after more than a year and a half of threats and heated criticism from backers of former President Donald Trump who accept his lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud.

County Recorder Leslie Hoffman said Friday that she is fed up with the “nastiness” and has accepted a job outside the county. Her last day will be July 22. She said longtime elections director Lynn Constabile is leaving for the same reason, and Friday is her last day.

“A lot of it is the nastiness that we have dealt with,” Hoffman said. “I’m a Republican recorder living in a Republican county where the candidate that they wanted to win won by 2-to-1 in this county and still getting grief, and so is my staff.”

“I’m not sure what they think that we did wrong,” she said. “And they’re very nasty. The accusations and the threats are nasty.”

I know a particular portion of the population thinks otherwise, but in my opinion, forcing people away from public service is NOT something to be proud of.

What's the magic number? UPDATED

How many innocent lives have to be sacrificed because somebody with a gun feel fear or anger?

When will the apologists have their bloodlust sated?

From WISN -

Six people killed in mass shooting at 4th of July parade in Highland Park

Police confirm that six people were killed during a mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Highland Park is a Chicago suburb about 60 miles south of Milwaukee.

Approximately 2 dozen people were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Highland Park Police are still calling this an "active incident" as law enforcement agencies are searching for the suspect. The suspect is described as a white male, between 18-20 years old with long dark hair. A rifle was recovered from the scene

From CNN -

[UPDATED later on 7/4/2022]

From ABC -

Highland Park mass shooting live updates: 6 killed at 4th of July parade, person of interest apprehended

A 22-year-old person of interest has been apprehended in connection with a mass shooting Monday at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, police said.

Six people were killed and about 24 others were seriously hurt in the shooting, according to officials.

Police said they apprehended Robert "Bobby" Crimo III during a vehicular pursuit Monday evening after an hours-long manhunt.

I'm not going to post his pic yet as at this point, he's only a "person of interest" (one can go to the ABC story for that), but I will say one thing -

Neck tats are almost never a positive character reference.

[/end UPDATE]

As expected, Arizona electeds and wannabes tend to be tone deaf -

To be fair, the last two pre-date the mass shooting in Illinois.

Following the Supreme Court's lead, Florida trains teachers to to put religion in classrooms

The U.S. Supreme Court has thoroughly weakened the separation of church and state in the U.S. and now Florida is taking the next step.

From Axios -

Florida training program: "Misconception" that founders wanted separation of church and state

A new civics training program for public school teachers in Florida says it is a “misconception” that “the founders desired strict separation of church and state,” the Washington Post reports.

Driving the news: That and other content in a state-sponsored training course has raised eyebrows among some who have participated and felt it was omitting unflattering information about the country's founders, pushing inaccuracies and centering religious ideas, per the Post.

• The Constitution explicitly bars the government from “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Scholars interpret the passage to require a separation of church and state, per the Post.
• In another example, the training states that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were against slavery, while omitting the fact that each owned enslaved people.

Guessing that when this scheme makes it to AZ, they'll NEVER teach the religions of the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, Hopi, Havasupai, Yavapai, Pima, Tohono O'odham, etc., peoples.

Much less Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Satanism, Pastafarianism, etc.

Here's something for the RSCC et. al. to think about: Maybe traitors and those who support treason aren't likeable

From Axios -

The (new) GOP plan to defeat Raphael Warnock and Mark Kelly

Republican strategists have discovered a problem: Personal attacks on two of the most vulnerable Democratic senators are falling flat because of their likability.

Why it matters: In a broadly unfavorable national environment for Democrats, control of the Senate may rest on a pair of incumbents with two of the most compelling backstories in politics — Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Mark Kelly of Arizona.

• Warnock is the pastor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
• Kelly is a former astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, a gun control activist who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

Of course, this failure on the GQP's part could be related to something documented by Emerson College Polling -

National Poll: Biden With Higher Approval Than US Congress & Supreme Court;

Trump Leads GOP Nomination Contest

The latest Emerson College Polling national survey of US voters finds a majority disapprove of President Biden, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Biden has a 40% job approval, while 53% disapprove of the job he is doing as president. Since last month, Biden’s approval has increased two points. The US Congress has a 19% job approval, while 70% disapprove of the job they are doing. The Supreme Court has a 36% job approval; 54% disapprove. 

Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling said, “Independent voters align more with Democrats on Supreme Court approval: 71% of Democrats and 58% of Independents disapprove of the job that the Supreme Court is doing whereas a majority, 56%, of Republicans approve of the job they are doing.”

The full results of Emerson's poll are available on their webpage.

This is in keeping with some poll numbers available on fivethirtyeight's website -

I'm not going to delve further into the poll for two reason:

1. It's of registered voters, not likely voters.

2. Future Majority is affiliated with Democratic candidates.  While not as bad as Rasmussen, it still has some of the same credibility issues.

Cheeto's accomplices to treason..errr..."fake electors"

 From the AZ Mirror, written by Kira Lerner -

UPDATED Trump’s fake electors: Here’s the full list

11 Arizonans were among 84 people who signed onto bogus election documents in 2020

The 84 people who signed bogus documents claiming that Donald Trump won the 2020 election include dozens of local Republican Party leaders, four current candidates for public office, six current office holders and at least five previous state and federal office holders.

Groups from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all allegedly met in December 2020 and sent lists of so-called alternate electors to the National Archives after the 2020 election. The scheme is reportedly under investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice, which have issued subpoenas to several of the people involved.

[snip]

The group also includes six current officeholders:

• Jake Hoffman, an Arizona state representative.
• Burt Jones, a Georgia state senator.
• Stanley Grot, the Shelby Township clerk in Michigan.
• Amy Facchinello, a member of the school board in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
• Robert Spindell Jr., a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission.
• Josephine Ferro, the Monroe County Register of Wills in Pennsylvania.

In addition to the chair, former chair or co-chair of the state Republican Party in all seven states, the group includes people for whom political controversy and investigations are nothing new:

• Michael Ward of Arizona has been accused of spitting in the eye of a former campaign volunteer for his wife, Kelli Ward.
• Tom Carroll of Pennsylvania was accused by a Black colleague of leaving a stuffed monkey on her desk in a racist act, while he was serving as an assistant district attorney.
• Gloria Kay Godwin of Georgia has been accused of stalking after allegedly attempting to interfere in a citizen effort to obtain signatures for a recall election petition.

[snip]

ARIZONA (11)

Nancy Cottle*: Cottle is the first vice president of programs for the Arizona Federation of Republican Women. She has been active in Arizona politics for the past decade and holds various other positions on the Maricopa County Republican Committee and the AZGOP executive committee. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice in June, according to the Washington Post.

Loraine B. Pellegrino*: Pellegrino has served as president of Ahwatukee Republican Women. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice in June, according to the Washington Post.

Tyler Bowyer: Bowyer is the chief operating officer of Turning Point USA, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values in schools. He has previously worked for the Republican National Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Party.

Jake Hoffman: Hoffman is an Arizona state representative for the 12th District. Hoffman also runs a conservative digital marketing company, Rally Forge, that was banned from Facebook and suspended from Twitter for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on behalf of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA. The company was enlisting and paying teens to share comments with right-wing opinions, including that mail-in ballots would lead to fraud and that coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated. Experts told the Washington Post in 2020 that the effort was “among the most ambitious domestic influence campaigns uncovered this election cycle.”

Anthony Kern: From January 2015 until January 2021, Kern was an Arizona state representative for the 20th District. He is currently running for election to the Arizona state Senate to represent the 27th District. Kern, whose campaign has been endorsed by Trump, participated in the Jan. 6 riots in D.C. and has lied about breaching the U.S. Capitol building

Jim Lamon: Lamon is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arizona. He is a veteran and was previously CEO of DEPCOM Power, a solar energy contractor, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Robert Montgomery: In 2020, Montgomery served as the chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee.

Samuel I. Moorhead: Moorhead serves as the second vice chair of the Gila County Arizona Republican Party.

Greg Safsten: Safsten was until recently the executive director of the Republican Party of Arizona. He previously worked for U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs and former Rep. Matt Salmon, both of Arizona, in their U.S. House offices, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Dr. Kelli Ward: Ward is an osteopathic physician who has served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party since 2019. Following the 2020 election, Ward aided Trump’s efforts to invalidate the election results and filed a number of lawsuits to nullify Arizona’s results. In 2016, she challenged the late U.S. Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary but lost with 39 percent of the vote. She previously served in the Arizona state Senate. She was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice along with her husband in June, according to Politico.

Dr. Michael Ward: Ward met his wife, Kelli Ward, while he was serving in the Arizona Air National Guard. In 2019, he was accused of spitting in the eye of a former volunteer of his wife’s when she was a candidate for Senate because the volunteer went on to support her former political foe, Martha McSally. Michael Ward denied touching, pushing, threatening or spitting on the volunteer in an email to police, according to the Arizona Republic. He was issued a subpoena by the Department of Justice along with his wife in June, according to Politico.

State Committees update

I was going to refer to this as a federal committee update as both are registered with the IRS (which is how they came to my attention). but neither is registered with the FEC and both are registered with the Arizona Secretary of State.

As such, this is a State Committees update.

Silvey is running as a write-in candidate in the R primary for State Senate in LD5.

From the website of the AZSOS -

Disclosure time: I live in LD5, and will NOT be voting for either R write-in candidate. :)

I generally don't cover PACs here, but this one contains contains a blast from the past.

The treasurer of the PAC, Heather Carter, is a former state legislator (2013-2021) and currently a yoga instructor.  And always a Republican.

My guess, given the date of formation of the committee, is that it is going to disburse money in the R primary.

From the IRS' website, for both committees -

From the AZSOS' website, also for both committees -

Judge rebuffs Phoenix PD in its quest to quash a lawsuit; dinner talk at the Brnovich table could get awkward

From ABC15, written by Dave Biscobing -

Judge denies Phoenix PD’s motion to dismiss protest lawsuit

A federal judge has denied a motion from the City of Phoenix to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 100 protesters who were swept up and arrested with a copy-and-paste probable cause statement.

Judge Susan Brnovich’s order means many of the claims against the Phoenix Police Department, Chief Jeri Williams, and individual officers will continue.

Yes, Susan Brnovich is related to Mark Brnovich, Arizona's Attorney General.  In fact, she's married to him.

No matter what Judge Brnovich has to say on the topic, AG Brnovich has already given a free pass to the Phoenix PD.  

From KPNX (12 News in Phoenix), dated 8/17/2021, written by Hunter Bassler -

Arizona attorney general won't investigate Phoenix Police for charging BLM protesters as gang members

The Office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said it will not investigate possible criminal conduct of the five Phoenix police officers who filed gang charges against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, a letter from the office says.

Judge Brnovich was appointed to the federal bench by Cheeto in 2018

Geez, I wonder if Cheeto's PAC is going a fork over dough for Fann's and Townsend's legal fees

Probably not - as of now, they're not going before the January 6th committee..plus they're women that he isn't boinking.

I was going to ask if witness tampering is a Cheeto thing, but I wanted to fit a Fann/Townsend reference into the title.

First, AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has a post up that references an AZ Mirror article written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy.

From the article -

The FBI subpoenaed Karen Fann and Kelly Townsend for information on the January 6 insurrection

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Mesa Republican Senator Kelly Townsend were subpoenaed by the FBI for an on-going investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged pressure campaign on state officials to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. 

“President Fann received a FOIA in the form of a subpoena by the FBI as part of the Biden Administration’s political theatrics as they look into ‘January 6,’” Kim Quintero, Director of Communications for Arizona Senate Republicans said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. “Nonetheless, President Fann is fully cooperating in releasing whatever emails and text messages they are requesting.” 

Then, on the money/witness tampering thing:

From ABC -

Trump PAC paid nearly half a million to law firms representing allies subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee

Former President Donald Trump's political action committee has paid nearly half a million dollars to multiple law firms that employ attorneys representing close allies of Trump who have been targeted by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to a review of financial records by ABC News -- an arrangement that committee members say raises concerns about the possible coercion of witnesses.

Trump's Save America PAC began paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple law firms and lawyers connected to his allies in the committee's crosshairs after the panel was first formed last summer, and continued the payments as the committee's investigation began issuing subpoenas throughout the year, according to multiple sources and a review of Federal Election Commission filings.

ABC News has identified payments to at least five law firms that are connected to lawyers representing Trump allies subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee, totaling $471,000. None of the firms were paid by the PAC prior to the committee's formation last summer, according to FEC reports. The payments continued until as recently as May of this year.

Well, this explains the whole "married to a traitor" thing

From Politico -

Clarence Thomas suggests Covid vaccines are developed using cells of ‘aborted children’

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a dissenting opinion Thursday suggested that Covid-19 vaccines were developed using the cells of “aborted children.”

The conservative justice’s statement came in a dissenting opinion on a case in which the Supreme Court declined to hear a religious liberty challenge to New York’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate from 16 health care workers. The state requires that all health care workers show proof of vaccination.

21 people were killed in Uvalde, so a north Texas school district bans...hoodies and skirts

From CNN -

Texas school district bans hooded clothing and dresses for most students, saying it will promote professionalism

A North Texas school district has updated its dress code for the upcoming school year to ban hooded clothing as well as dresses and skirts for many of its grade levels, reasoning that the change will help students in their future careers.

The bans quickly elicited a backlash from parents, students and others who view the policy as unnecessarily restrictive, prompting one high school student to create a petition to "fight unreasonable dress code changes" announced by the Forney Independent School District (FISD).

Want to know how I feel about this?

Just purchased from the American Library Association -

They'd probably just ban it (of course, since it's a t-shirt, they already *have* banned it).

Maybe Finchem et. al. should take notice of the primary results in CO

From CNN -

Colorado Republicans reject 3 election deniers for statewide office

On the same day a former aide to President Donald Trump's chief of staff testified about how Trump had wanted to join the throngs of his supporters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Republicans in Colorado on Tuesday rejected three election deniers running for statewide office.

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who pleaded not guilty after being indicted earlier this year on 10 counts related to voting machine tampering allegations, lost the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold in November. Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk, will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects.

In Colorado's GOP Senate primary, voters rejected state Rep. Ron Hanks, who showed up at the Capitol on January 6 and, though he has said he did not enter the building, has gone on to spread false claims and debunked theories about voter fraud. Businessman Joe O'Dea will win the nomination to face Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, CNN projects.

And in the state's GOP governor primary, Greg Lopez, the former mayor of Parker, outside of Denver, lost to Heidi Ganahl, a member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, CNN projects. Unlike Ganahl, who views Colorado's election results as valid, even if she's avoided questions about the national results, Lopez has said he believes Trump won the 2020 election. Ganahl will try to unseat Democratic Gov. Jared Polis this fall.

Bet that Congress critters Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar are worried right about now, though Biggs is probably less worried than Gosar.

Biggs is facing only write-in candidates in his primary; Gosar has something of a cluster**** of a primary.

Of course, while Biggs may be less worried about the election than Gosar, I expect that he's more worried than Debbie Lesko, who faces no primary challengers and only a write-in challenge in the general election -