Wait! Is the fact there was a fraudulent ballot cast in a state that Cheeto lost grounds to overturn the entire election?

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From The NY Times (emphasis added by me)-

Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Casting Missing Wife’s Ballot for Trump

The husband of a Colorado woman who has been missing for more than two years pleaded guilty on Thursday to casting her mail-in ballot for Donald J. Trump during the 2020 election, telling F.B.I. agents, “I figured all these other guys are cheating.”

The man, Barry Morphew, 54, was given a sentence of one year of supervised probation but avoided jail time after pleading guilty to one count of forgery, a felony, in district court in Chaffee County, according to court records.

In that story we have the money quote, the way that Trumpkins rationalize their own depravity by accusing others of being just as bad.

In spite of Morphew's help, Cheeto lost in Colorado in 2020.

From Politico -

I know what to get Cheeto for Christmas!

And it's not a golden pair of handcuffs, no matter how much he deserves them.

From NBC -

Wisconsin Assembly speaker says Trump called him to overturn 2020 results — 20 months after election

The speaker of Wisconsin’s state Assembly, Robin Vos, said former President Donald Trump called this month and pushed him to try to overturn the results of the 20-month-old 2020 presidential election.

"He would like us to do something different in Wisconsin," Vos, a Republican, told Milwaukee's WISN in an interview that aired Tuesday.

Since he seems to be utterly focused on November of 2020, the best gift to get him is a perpetual calendar...where every page is of November 2020.

From timeanddate.com (11/3 highlighted by me because that's the most important date to him in the most important month to him):

The circular firing squad continues: AZGOP censures Bowers

From The Hill -

Arizona GOP censures Rusty Bowers after Jan. 6 testimony

The Arizona GOP executive committee censured state House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers on Tuesday and called on Republican voters to “replace him in the ballot box” in the August state Senate GOP primary following his testimony in front of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Bowers testified in June before the House select committee, refuting former President Trump’s claims of election fraud and saying he was pressured by Trump and his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to overturn President Biden’s Arizona victory.

Apparently, voting for Cheeto isn't enough for the AZGOP.

One must lie about him and spread the Big Lie.

Telling the truth about him constitutes apostasy.

Covid cases are rising nationally

From Johns Hopkins University -

U.S.:

Arizona:

Cases actually look to be down here in AZ, though hospitalizations from those cases are up.

Maybe we should look at graphs for other epicenters of Covid denialism, like Texas and Florida.

Texas:

Florida:

1. Wear a damn mask.

2. Get vaccinated. 

This story is about Idaho, but it really could have been written anywhere

An editorial from The Idaho Statesman, via Yahoo! News -

In convention dominated by fear, control and cruelty, extremists take over Idaho GOP

The most extreme elements of the Republican Party are fully in control after its convention in Twin Falls.

The new chair — outgoing Rep. Dorothy Moon, who lost her bid for secretary of state in May — is closely tied to the John Birch Society, which was famously kicked out of the conservative movement in the 1950s, when it asserted that former general and President Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. And this is not some tangential connection: Moon’s husband, Darr, is on the John Birch Society’s national council.

Moon built her entire campaign for secretary of state on a Bircher-style conspiracy theory — Donald Trump’s Big Lie — so you can expect that she will become that lie’s chief public expositor for the next several years. That Bircherite paranoia was also on display with continued efforts to make it easier to disqualify voters in the Republican primaries.

[snip]

That cruelty was on vivid display at the Twin Falls convention. Someone — and certainly many people in the party know who did this, but they are either cowards or complicit, so the person responsible has not been identified — made up flyers for an event hosted for Tom Luna supporters and distributed them at a local homeless shelter.

Luna, the outgoing chair, showed grace and fed those who came hungry. But the cruelty of sending people to an event where they were not expected, of using them as pawns in a silly stunt, demonstrates a total lack of moral substance.

It was utterly shameful.

There's more, which I would quote here, but too many in the AZGOP would consider this to be a "how to" post.

Of course, those same people consider the novel "Lord of the Flies" to be an expression of their ideals.

When they expand their reading lists beyond "Mein Kampf" and anything written by Ayn Rand.

Dear Planned Parenthood: Endorsements say more about the character of the endorser than that of the endorsee

Requiring absolutism from friends, to the point of requiring them to not do their jobs or they won't be considered friends any longer, is an R trait.

NOT good company to be in.

From Axios, written by Jessica Boehm, dated 7/13/2022 -

Planned Parenthood AZ wants candidates to turn down police support

The political arm of Planned Parenthood Arizona is requiring candidates to either reject or return contributions from law enforcement organizations to receive an endorsement.

• Multiple politicians previously supported by Arizona's Planned Parenthood chapter did not receive endorsements ahead of the Aug. 2 primary.

[snip]

But Tempe council member Lauren Kuby, who is running for Arizona Corporation Commission, saw her endorsement rescinded after she supported the city's budget, which included funding for police.

Of note: The budget included $2 million less for the police department than the previous year's budget but did provide funding to fill nine sworn officer positions, AZcentral reported.

Kuby declined an interview but said in a statement to Axios that she's proud of her work "protecting reproductive freedom and abortion rights. This includes much work with Planned Parenthood."

• PPAA endorsed Kuby in her 2018 council election and included her on a list of endorsed candidates for this cycle until late last month.

Disclosure time: I've known and respected Councilwoman Kuby for years now, and have made financial contributions to her and signed her petition, and am proud to have done both.

Do we agree on everything?  Of course not.  Welcome to adulthood - good people can disagree on something and still be good people.

Two things that I've never doubted are her integrity and her work ethic - she'll make a *great* addition to the ACC.

Part of any elected official's job is crafting and voting on a budget for whatever entity that they've been elected to oversee.

Punishing an elected for doing their job is an R ideal; witness R criticisms of certain R electeds for failing to overturn the election results of 2020.

Personally, I'm also not a fan of accepting contributions from law enforcement organizations, but for practical reasons - I don't think that they're as influential as they once were - killing unarmed civilians and standing aside while people die will do that.

Dear Planned Parenthood (again):

Much as with Councilwoman Kuby, I've given your organization money in the past.  Unlike with her, I won't give to you again.

At least, not until you remove your organizational cranium from your organizational butt.

Me

Ted Cruz has a simple problem - he thinks same sex marriage is bad

Well, he has *many* problems, but we're only here to address one.

From CNN -

Ted Cruz says Supreme Court was 'clearly wrong' about 2015 same-sex marriage ruling

Sen. Ted Cruz believes the US Supreme Court was "clearly wrong" in its landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, the Texas Republican said Saturday.

"Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation's history," Cruz said in a clip posted on his YouTube channel for his podcast. "Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states. We saw states before Obergefell, some states were moving to allow gay marriage, other states were moving to allow civil partnerships. There were different standards that the states were adopting."

Simple problems have simple solutions -

Dear Sen. Cruz,

Don't marry another guy.

Me

A state supreme court rebuffs R efforts to stop making voting easier

And no, it wasn't in Arizona.

From NBC, dated 7/11/2022 -

Massachusetts high court rejects GOP effort to block voting rights reforms

Massachusetts voters will be allowed to use the state’s expanded early and mail-in voting rules in the state’s September primary, the state’s highest court ruled Monday.

An order by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively blocked an effort by Republicans in the state who had sought to stop the new voting rules — the main feature of a law enacted last month called the VOTES Act — from going into effect.

I noticed two things when reading this:

1. This ruling came from a court that wasn't packed by Ducey and his ilk.

2. In Massachusetts, the state's supreme court is referred to as the Supreme *Judicial* Court.

This seemed a little redundant to me, as I thought all courts were judicial ones.  Except basketball courts, which will be confused with courts of law.

Turns out, I was wrong (it happens  Just not often. :) ).

In Massachusetts, the legislature is referred to as the "General" Court.

From the website of the Massachusetts Legislature -

Jeez, and readers thought this was only a political blog - you can add to your knowledge here.

"We're number 1! We're number 1!"...just not in a good way.

From CNBC -

These 10 states are America’s worst places to live in 2022

KEY POINTS

• In this era of severe worker shortages and unprecedented mobility, employees are demanding great quality of life in the state where they work.
• Half of business executives surveyed agree it is important to do business in states with inclusive laws.
• CNBC’s annual America’s Top State for Business study considers multiple measures of the quality of life, health and inclusion.

 With five million more job openings in the U.S. than there are employees to fill them, workers have more leverage than they have had in years. They are using that power — and unprecedented mobility — to demand a welcoming environment and great quality of life in the places they work.

That is why CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business study pays particular attention to quality of life. Now, with workers increasingly holding the cards, it is especially important in our methodology.

[snip]

1. Arizona

“It’s a dry heat,” The Grand Canyon State saying goes. But it leads to some of the worst air quality in the nation, according to the American Lung Association. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, endures 39 high ozone days per year. That puts more stress on an already poor health care system, short on hospital beds and staff. The state spends just $79 per person on public health, among the country’s lowest. Arizona offers stunning natural beauty and top-notch cultural and recreational attractions. But that comes at a stiff price in America’s worst state to live in.

2022 Life, Health & Inclusion Score: 67 out of 325 points (Top States Grade: F)

Strengths: No metrics in the top 50%

Weaknesses: Air Quality, Health Resources, Inclusiveness, Crime

Think Dougie and the Rs in the legislature will brag about this story?

Which Arizona politicos are afraid of the Uber data leak?

The full repository of stories from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is here.

My guess at an answer to the titular question: a *lot* of them.

The next few days should be very interesting.

Rodney Glassman (R-Craven)

I know he ran as a Democrat for US Senate (where he was thoroughly trounced by the late John McCain, a recent Medal of Freedom recipient) but he hasn't been impressive in the years since.

Now, he's running for the R nomination for Arizona Attorney General and was on AZFamily's Politics Unplugged.

One thing was made clear during his appearance - he'll say anything in order to win an election.

He may be too craven for even R primary voters.

Of course I could be overestimating the character of R primary voters; after all, they *did* vote for Cheeto.

Primary early voting has started; Masters may have peaked at the right time...for an R primary

Pointed at this by RealClearPolitics.

From OH Predictive Insights -

AZ GOP SENATE RACE: Masters of His own Destiny

Masters on the Rise, Brnovich Loses Ground, Lamon Stays Competitive – 35% Still Undecided

Toplines and Crosstabs can be found here

As Arizona’s primary elections race towards us – and with early ballots beginning hitting mailboxes this week – the race to face Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly for a Senate seat just got more interesting. According to OH Predictive Insights’ (OHPI) latest statewide Likely GOP Primary Voter Poll, Blake Masters has reared his head as the new frontrunner in Arizona’s GOP Senate Primary.

This AZPOP was conducted from June 30th – July 2nd, 2022 and surveyed 515 Arizonans qualified as likely GOP primary voters, giving the survey a margin of error of +/- 4.3%.

Guessing that the Kelly campaign team is studying their oppo research on Masters right about now.

That's gotta sting: Ducey endorses Robson over Lake

Apparently, Doug Ducey, Arizona's term-limited outgoing governor, doesn't feel that learning to navigate the organizational politics of a TV studio is adequate training for a real world, elected, executive position.

Like her mentor Cheeto, a slot on TV is the extent of Lake's training for the job.

As bad as he is as governor, even Ducey did a term as state treasurer before running for governor.

From CNN -

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey endorses rival to Trump-backed candidate in GOP gubernatorial primary

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has endorsed Republican candidate Karrin Taylor Robson in the race to succeed him as the top executive in the critical battleground state, putting him at odds with former President Donald Trump, who is backing former television anchor Kari Lake in the GOP gubernatorial primary.

"I've looked at each of the candidates for Governor this year, and there's no question who is the proven conservative ready to lead on Day One: Karrin Taylor Robson," Ducey, who is term-limited, said in a statement released Thursday by the Taylor Robson campaign.

Now, the fact that Dougie likes someone is NOT a positive character reference for that someone.

Taylor Robson, like Lake, may not have any real world political experience, but as the race in the R primary has come down to Robson and Lake, and Ducey had to endorse *someone*...and he doesn't endorse Democrats.

His endorsement probably wouldn't be seen as a good thing in a D primary, anyway.

Lake does have at least one other thing in common with Cheeto - she golfs.

From Instagram -

Primary Ballots Are In!

While I've decided who I'm going to vote for in some of the primary races, regardless of how they turn out, everyone involved seems to be a decent human being.  As such, there won't be any "nose-holding" in the general election.

No matter who emerges from the primaries, I hope the runners-up stay involved in the political process.  Their energy is needed, both to help the primary winners in the general election, and to be leaders for the rest of us.

When I "hold my nose" and vote for someone in spite of my misgivings because that person is better than the alternative, I may be right about the "better" part, but I still usually regret the vote (see: Sinema, Kysten).

Having said that, I *have* made a few decisions.

In the governor's race, I'll be voting for Katie Hobbs.  I've known her since she was an LD24 legislator and I lived in LD24.  She was impressive then, is impressive as Secretary of State, and I think that she'll make a great governor.

In the race for secretary of state, I'll be voting for Adrian Fontes.  He did a fantastic job as Maricopa County Recorder, and will be an outstanding SOS.

I live in LD5 now (didn't move; just got redistricted) and that's where I haven't made up my mind yet.

All pics (except the ballot) from the website of the AZSOS; federal candidates here; statewide candidates here, and legislative candidates here.

Has Mark Brnovich *ever* defended the will of the voters?

FYI - Brnovich is Arizona's Attorney General and may become proof that, in R primaries anyway, access to scads of money matters more than name recognition.

From RealClearPolitics -

From AZ Mirror, written by Kira Lerner -

U.S. sues Arizona over proof of citizenship voting law

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it has sued Arizona over a law signed by the state’s Republican governor in March that requires people registering to vote prove their citizenship to participate in a presidential election or to vote by mail in any federal election.

Republican proponents of the law, House Bill 2492, claim that requiring voters to provide a documentary proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or passport, helps prevent voter fraud. But voting rights advocates say that non-citizen voting is extremely rare, and the law will disenfranchise voters who will have to jump through additional hurdles to be eligible to vote. 

  

Even though he wants their support, Brnovich is unashamed of his hatred for voters.

From Arizona Public Media, written by Andrew Oxford -

[snip]

Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said he would defend the law in court.

"It’s another round of Brnovich v. Biden as his DOJ continues its attempts to undermine our election integrity laws," Brnovich said on Twitter.

Of course, his hatred is a long-standing one.

From a press release from his office (actually, it's the entire press release), dated October 1, 2021 -

PHOENIX -- Attorney General Mark Brnovich released the following statement today on Arizona School Boards Association Inc. (ASBA) v. Arizona:

“I am pleased the Arizona Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction in the case because Arizonans deserve clarity as soon as possible,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “The legislature has spoken – there is no place for Critical Race Theory or vaccine mandates in our schools.”

He does frequently defend acts from the state legislature, but I can't find an instance of him defending the public *from* the state legislature.  Maybe, if his whole "running for U.S. Senate" doesn't work out, he's bucking for a job at the office of the Legislative Council.