Does Kari Lake drive a car or a whaaaaambulance?

She loses in elections and in court...and then whines about both.

From Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, published by the Arizona Capitol Times -

Lake says she will appeal judge’s ruling confirming she lost election

Kari Lake said Tuesday she will appeal Monday’s ruling confirming the election of Katie Hobbs as governor, brushing aside the fact that the judge said her key evidence in seeking to overturn the result was legally irrelevant.

In a press conference outside her Phoenix headquarters, Lake said she has been denied the ability to put on a case showing she actually won the race. She said that is because of the rulings about state elections laws from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson all the way up through the Arizona Supreme Court about what she needed to prove.

All of them went against her.

State Sen. Sonny Borrelli declares his intent to be AZ's dictator

From K,JZZ written by Ben Giles -

Borrelli ordered AZ counties to stop using voting machines. Here's why he can't

Citing authority he does not actually have, a state senator has ordered all Arizona counties to conduct future federal elections without the use of electronic voting equipment.

In identical letters to all 15 counties, Republican Sen. Sonny Borrelli claims that the continued use of voting systems — “which are made with components from countries considered adversaries to the U.S.,” he wrote — has left Arizona, and the rest of the nation, “in an extremely vulnerable and dangerous position.”

Guess that Gov. Katie Hobbs has her first 2026 challenger.

Of course, Borrelli could be mounting a dark horse campaign to be Cheeto's VP selection.

Marlene Galan-Woods, Grant Woods' widow, jumps into the race to unseat David Schweikert

The field challenging David Schweikert (R-ethics violations on the hoof) in AZCD1 just got a little deeper.

Now Marlene Galan-Woods, a former TV newscaster and the widow of Grant Woods, has filed to run in the Democratic primary.

KPNX has a story on Galan-Woods here.

Ellen McIntosh will be the treasurer of the committee.

2024 Statements of Interest: The Differences Between Counties Can Be Stark

I realize that it's early and that things could, and probably will, change.

Also, just because someone declares an interest in a elected office doesn't mean that they will appear on a ballot.

I would expect a better Democratic candidate turnout in a county won by Joe Biden in 2020 and Katie Hobbs in 2022 (Maricopa).

In Pima County, seven of the 14 people who have filed statements of interest and declared a party affiliation (one I has filed) are Democrats.  50%.

In Maricopa County, three out of 21 people who have filed are Democrats.  ~14%.

I don't know much (OK, *anything*) about Pima County politics, so I'll leave commenting on the candidates there (so far) to someone who knows more than I do; in Maricopa County, the only name that I recognize (other than incumbents running for re-election) is Jerry Sheridan, one of Joe Arpaio's deputies and a failed 2020 candidate for sheriff.  He wants to run for county sheriff again.

Maricopa County school board candidates are listed here;  As those races are nominally non-partisan (someone should tell the Rs that), none list a declared party affiliation.

Eli Crane (R - AZCD1) draws his first opponent

 While, as a first-termer, he may face a primary challenge from another R, this challenger is a Democrat.

Though with choosing to be saddle partners with the likes of Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, the challenger probably won't be the only one.

Lindsay Bowe, a Prescott-located activist, has filed paperwork with the FEC to form a committee for the run.

Amber Faith will be the committee treasurer.

Student brings AR-15 to Phoenix high school, but a tragedy was averted. This time.

The Arizona Legislature is on vacation right now, but when they get back, Arizonans should expect the Republican majority there to ignore the incident.

The only thing they might criticize is the arrest.

From AZFamily -

Student allegedly brings AR-15, ammo to high school in Phoenix

A teen boy was arrested after police said he brought a rifle and ammo to a high school in Phoenix on Friday afternoon. According to investigators, two school security officers at Bostrom High School called police about a student with a gun. When they arrived to the school at 27th Avenue and Osborn Road, they found the teen already in the school’s main office. Police said he had an AR-15 with him and ammunition in his backpack and lunchbox.

Channel 12 (KPNX) has a video report here.

Legislative schedule - week starting 5/21/2023

The lege is on vacation until June 12, so this is shaping up to be a quiet week at the Capitol.

Quiet, but not silent.  Not hardly.

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 t.o spread 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 that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, 5/22 thru Wednesday 5/24 - 

Nada scheduled.

On Thursday, 5/25 

- 

An exercise in spewing propaganda called the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee meets at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1.

On Friday, 5/26 

The same committee meets at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1 to spew BS for a second day.

I've written about this shitshow already.

Gotta love taxpayer-funded propaganda sessions

Even though the Arizona Legislature is on vacation until next month, there will still be scads of BS spewed at the state capitol next week.

This time, it will be about spewing anti-Covid response BS.

On Thursday and Friday next week, an informal committee will meet, with infamous pandemic deniers such as state legislators Rep. Janae Shamp, Sen. TJ Shope, and Rep. Steve Montenegro and Congresscritters Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Eli Crane on it.

The committee will go by the (relatively) innocuous-sounding name of "Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee."

The spewers-in-chief will listen to "testimony" from a veritable rogues' gallery.

First up (at least, he's first on the agenda):

Dr. Peter McCullough.  When I Googled his name, this came up (emphasis added by me) -

Next up: Dr. Lionel Lee, a Kari Lake supporter, and Dr. George Fareed, someone who's testified to the US Senate in support of giving Hydroxychloroquine to Covid patients.

Then:  Aaron Siri, an anti-mask lawyer.

Closing the first day's "testimony": Kurtis Bay, someone who blames (behind a paywall) the FDA for his wife's death from Covid.

The second day starts off with McCullough again.

Next up: Dr. Richard Urso, someone who has notably lied about Covid boosters.

Then: Dr. Pierre Kory, known for promoting Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid.

Next to speak: Dr. Lela Lewis, a religiously devout doctor who is the head of an anti-Covid vaccine group.

Last up: Anne Teixeira.  Can't find much about her.  I'm not sure, but she seems to be a Phoenix-area speech-language pathologist, which wouldn't qualify her to pontificate on Covid

Except in front of a committee like this one.

After a mass shooting, GOPers move to protect...gun makers

Just when one thinks that GOPers can't get any lower, they pull out their shovels.

From Politico -

After school shooting, Tennessee governor signs bill to protect gun firms

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on additional protections for gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits within a bill that lawmakers passed after a deadly school shooting in March.

The Republican governor quietly signed the legislation Thursday. Its provisions kick in on July 1.

Ron DeSantis has an interesting definition of "Good Samaritan"

Pointed at this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From WFLA (FL) (emphasis added by me) -

DeSantis supports Marine accused of manslaughter in NYC chokehold death  

Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced his support for Daniel Penny, the Marine charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, in a tweet Friday.

“We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens,” DeSantis wrote in a tweet with a fundraiser for Penny’s legal funds. “We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.”Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced his support for Daniel Penny, the Marine charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, in a tweet Friday.

“We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens,” DeSantis wrote in a tweet with a fundraiser for Penny’s legal funds. “We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.”

Penny caused national outrage after he put Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator who had been dealing with mental health issues and homelessness, in a chokehold for about 15 minutes on a New York City subway, according to a witness that spoke to NBC New York.

Umm...DeSantis can say what he wants, but a "Good Samaritan" doesn't kill someone.

Actually, this one sounds like murder (guess that I shouldn't be seated on a jury hearing this matter, but since I'm not a resident of NYC, that probably isn't going to happen anyway :) )

Want to coast through life? Be wealthy.

Maybe this is just the latest example of "affluenza" at work, but rich people have been getting away with crimes for as long as some people had more material things than others.

From CNN, dated 5/11 -

Appeals court overturns convictions of two wealthy parents in college admissions scam

Two parents who were found guilty in connection with the sprawling college admissions cheating scheme known as “Operation Varsity Blues” had their convictions vacated by an appeals court judge on Wednesday.

John Wilson and Gamal Abdelaziz were found guilty in 2021 on several counts, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, for allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to scam mastermind Rick Singer to facilitate an admissions spot at the University of Southern California for their children, a scheme Singer called the “side door.”

Legislative schedule - week starting 5/14/2023

The budget has been signed and since the lege has a light week scheduled, I expect the denizens of the Capitol to engage in what has become something of a tradition there - the late night/all night legislative floor session.

Bring your popcorn..and your Pepto.  Lots of bad bills will be passed.

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 t.o spread 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 that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, 5/15 

-

House Rules meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  Three bills on the agenda.  Otherwise, all floor sessions on the schedule.

On Tuesday, 5/16 

-

Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Water Security meets at 3 p.m. in HHR1.  No bills and two presentations on the agenda.

Nothing else on the schedule for the rest of the week.

We're setting records!

Not in a good way, though.

From The Guardian (UK) -

US on track to set record in 2023 for mass killings after series of shootings

After a series of shootings and other attacks, 2023 is on track to be the worst in recent history for mass killings in the US.

Mass killings are defined as incidents in which four or more people are killed, not including the shooter or other type of perpetrator. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the US is on pace for 60 mass killings this year. There were 31 in 2019, 21 in 2020, 28 in 2021 and 36 in 2022.

Texas is leading the way, though.

From The Texas Tribune -

Raise-the-age gun bill misses crucial deadline, as Uvalde parents protest outside the Texas House

The unexpected elation felt this week by gun control advocates and families of Uvalde shooting victims dissolved to despair Tuesday, when a bill that would raise the age to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles lost its newfound momentum and was left off the Texas House’s agenda ahead of a key deadline.

Barring an unexpected development, the delay likely ends the bill's chances of becoming law.

Dear Texas Rs:

That sound you hear is the NRA cracking its whip.

Is doubling down on lies part of R DNA or do they learn that after birth?

On the George Santos front:

From AP -

George Santos pleads not guilty to federal indictment and says he won’t resign

U.S. Rep. George Santos, infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty 

Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress 

about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits 

he didn’t deserve.

Afterward, he said he wouldn’t drop his reelection bid and defied calls to resign.

Santos’ 13-count federal indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit 

that prosecutors say overlapped with the New York Republican’s fantastical public image 

as a wealthy businessman — a fictional biography that began to unravel after he 

won election last fall.

On the Cheeto front:

From CNN -

Trump again denies knowing E. Jean Carroll as he responds to civil jury verdict

Former President Donald Trump said he does not think a recent verdict in which a Manhattan federal jury found that he was liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room disqualifies him from being president or will have an impact on women voters.

He denied knowing the columnist and denied the accusations.

"A Manhattan jury found you sexually abused writer E. Jean You've denied this. But what do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president?" CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked.

Trump answered that he didn't think there were many voters who would think that. He claimed that the case was made up and that it was all politically motivated. He repeated that he did not know Carroll, but said that he took a photo "years ago" with her and her husband.

Update to the legislative schedule - the budget train's-a-comin...with a poison pill

The budget bills have dropped, and they're scheduled to be considered by the respective chambers' Appropriations committees.

Senate Appropriations meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109.  17 bills on the agenda, 16 of them are the Senate version of the budget bills, which I'll leave to experts to examine.  The seventeenth?  SB1736, extending some medical boards and AHCCCS.  There are some curious phrases in the bill that I don't completely understand the effect of.

House Appropriations meets at 1 p.m (the agenda says 2 p.m.) in HHR1.  18 bills on the agenda; 16 are the House versions of the budget bills; the other two are HB2826, the House version of SB1736, and HCR2050, a bill to allow school districts to exceed the Aggregate Expenditure Limit in FY2024.  The way that the bill is written, it would need a 2/3 vote of approval from each chamber of the legislature.