Category Archives: Immigration

Fear Dominates Secret Tucson GOP CD 2 Congressional Candidate Forum

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Larry Bodine | 15 comments

GOP Congressional candidates Danny Morales, Lea Marquez-Peterson, Marilyn Wiles and Brandon Martin.

You could smell the fear in the room at the Pima County GOP’s secret CD 2 Congressional Candidate Forum at the gaudy Oyster Club in Tucson. The candidates were asked how they could win in light of recent democratic victories, and how they could govern without dominating all three branches of government.

Lea Marquez-Peterson repeatedly pleaded for donations, noting with alarm that “Nancy Pelosi has already been in Arizona and made a half-million-dollar ad buy!” and that front-runner Ann Kirkpatrick had raised more money than she did.

Only 40 people attended the event, which the Republicans tried desperately to keep secret. The GOP tried to ban reporters, to prohibit photos, and to require all cell phones to be turned off. The forum was so secret that candidate Casey Welch didn’t show up.

Only one serious candidate

Candidate Brandon Martin complained, “I hope we can speak in bigger venues.” (Last month, more than 400 people attended the Democrats’ Congressional candidate forum in Green Valley.)

Martin and candidate Danny Morales battled to take the more arch-conservative position. Candidate Marilyn Wiles didn’t really have many positions. Marquez-Peterson appeared to be the only serious candidate.

None of them proposed any idea to actually help people. They were all against things — like “chain migration,” not becoming “part of the establishment,” against the “Dreamers,” against raising taxes, and against the Mueller investigation.

Guns, Guns, Guns

Noting that hundreds of thousands of people were currently in the nationwide March For Our Lives against gun violence, the candidates had differing ideas for gun safety. Marquez-Peterson and Wiles called for better background checks. Morales called for arming teachers. Martin actually said, “We don’t have a gun problem. They don’t jump off shelves and shoot people.”

Firing Mueller

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Posted in Arizona Congressional Delegation, Congress, Economics, Elections, Gun Policies, Immigration, Larry Bodine, Law Enforcement, Legislation, Martha McSally, Mexico Border, Military, Party Politics, Pima, Political Events, Tucson

Tagged Ann Kirkpatrick, Brandon Martin, Danny Morales, donald trump, Lea Marquez-Peterson, Marilyn Wiles, Matt Heinz, Nancy Pelosi, President Trump

House approves massive spending bill, moves to Senate to avert a government shutdown (Updated)

Posted on March 22, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | 1 comment

The U.S. House of Representatives on a vote of 256-167 (proceeding under the TARGET Act) has approved a $1.3 trillion spending bill to avert a government shutdown and to fund federal agencies through Sept. 30, sending the measure over to the Senate ahead of a midnight Friday deadline.

Arizona Delegation: YES McSally, O’Halleran, Sinema; NO Biggs, Gallego, Gosar, Grijalva, Schweikert.

The Senate is expected to vote late on Thursday or Friday, before current government funding expires at midnight on Friday. There could still be another brief Aqua Buddha shutdown from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) desperately seeking attention.

You can read the massive 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion spending bill to search for what is hidden in it.

Here are a few highlights of what is (and is not) in the spending bill compiled from several sources including the Washington Post, Politico, and Vox.com.

OVERALL SPENDING

Defense spending generally favored by Republicans is set to rise $80 billion over previously authorized budget sequester levels, including a 2.4 percent pay raise for military personnel and $144 billion for Pentagon hardware.

Domestic spending generally favored by Democrats is set to rise by $63 billion over previously authorized budget sequester levels, including increases in funding for infrastructure, medical research, veterans programs and efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. Civilian federal employees get a 1.9 percent pay raise.

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Posted in Abortion, Arizona Congressional Delegation, AZBlueMeanie, Budgets, Congress, Economics, Education, Election Integrity, Gun Policies, Healthcare, Housing, Immigration, Labor, Legislation, Mexico Border, Military, Party Politics, Taxes, Transportation

Tagged DACA, government shutdown, opioid epidemic, Planned Parenthood

Martha McSally goes full racist demagogue

Posted on March 21, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | 8 comments

Will the Arizona media that helped to create this mythical moderate Republican and get her elected now finally turn on her?

Martha McSally has gone full racist demagogue. The Hill reports, Martha McSally: ‘We might need to build a wall between California and Arizona’:

Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) proposed building a border wall between California and Arizona to protect the state.

“As we look in Arizona, we often look into the dangers of the southern border,” McSally said during a round-table discussion about “sanctuary cities” Tuesday at the White House.

“But if these dangerous policies continue out of California, we might need to build a wall between California and Arizona as well to keep these dangerous criminals out of our state,” she said, smiling.

She added that California can’t just “provide sanctuary for these criminals and think that it’s only impacting California dangerously.”

Earlier this month, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California over the state’s immigration laws.

The Trump administration has been highly critical of California’s sanctuary cities and administration officials have said they will crack down on policies that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal authorities.

No doubt her GOP Senate primary opponents Joe Arpaio and Kelli Ward approve of her demagogic stance. They are interchangeable and none of them are fit for office.

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Posted in Arizona Congressional Delegation, Arizona Congressional Races, AZBlueMeanie, Campaigns, Civil Rights, Congress, Corruption, Elections, Ethics, GOP War On..., Immigration, International, Martha McSally, Media, Mexico Border, Party Politics, Racism, Scandals

Arizona loses on denying drivers licenses to DACA recipients

Posted on March 20, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | 5 comments

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the last-ditch plea by Attorney General Mark Brnovich to uphold a 2012 executive order by then-Gov. Jan Brewer to deny licenses to DACA recipients, an order current Gov. Doug Ducey has left in place. The justices gave no reason for their ruling. U.S. Supreme Court allows ‘Dreamers’ to drive:

Arizona’s “dreamers” will keep their licenses to drive – at least as long as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains in existence.

Monday’s ruling ends years of efforts by the state to claim that the decision by the Obama administration to allow those in the program to remain in this country and work does not mean they are “authorized” to be here.
That verbiage is significant.

It was shortly after the action by Obama that Brewer directed the state Department of Transportation to deny licenses to DACA recipients. She cited a 1996 Arizona law that says state licenses are available only to those whose presence in this country is “authorized by federal law.”

Brewer argued that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has no legal authority to permit DACA recipients to remain and work. And what that meant, Brewer said, is they were not “authorized” to be here.

That argument failed to persuade federal appellate judges who said Arizona cannot decide for itself who is legally entitled to be in the country. In fact, Judge Harry Pregerson wrote that the state policy “appears intended to express animus toward DACA recipients.”

With today’s high court action, that ruling is now final.

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Posted in Activism, Arizona State Legislature, AZBlueMeanie, Budgets, Civil Rights, Congress, Constitution, Corruption, Courts, GOP War On..., Governor, Immigration, International, Legislation, Lobbying, Mexico Border, Party Politics, Racism, Scandals

Tagged AZ attorney general, DACA

A Pall is Cast over McSally Senate Bid by Election Result in Pennsylvania

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Larry Bodine | 32 comments

A blue wave is cresting in American politics.

There is definitely a blue wave cresting in American politics. When it hits Arizona, it will spell doom for the Martha McSally campaign for US Senate.

As of last December, Democrats won a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, won the governorship in New Jersey, took full control of the Washington state government, and swept elective offices statewide in Virginia. Now voters in Pennsylvania elected a Democratic Congressmen in a deep-red district.

Even though the Democrats had less in campaign funds, were outspent by out-of-state PACs and ran in districts carried by the president, they are still finding a way to win.

Congresswoman Martha McSally snuggles up to President Donald Trump.

Trump is poison. Even in conservative districts, Trump is unpopular. Democrat Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania won a stunning upset against a Republican who was chiefly a stand-in for Trump and who endorsed Trump’s tawdry agenda. Trump energizes Democrats, and his two appearances drove independents to vote for the Democrat.

McSally, a nondescript Republican, votes in line with Trump 97.1%. She defended Trump from criticism by Sen. Jeff Flake. McSally has sent out photos of herself with the president and with first daughter Ivanka Trump. McSally appeared on Fox News to sing the president’s praises. Her announcement video features Trump saying, “Martha McSally, she’s the real deal.”

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Posted in Congress, Economics, Education, Elections, Immigration, Larry Bodine

Tagged Conor Lamb, donald trump, Ivanka Trump, Jeff Flake, Koch Brothers, Martha McSally

Judge repeatedly attacked by Trump rules in favor of his ‘big beautiful wall’

Posted on February 28, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | 1 comment

Presidential comments on pending cases in court can have an improper influence on the tribunal. This is most acute in military courts where the commander-in-chief can be seen as placing his thumb on the scales of justice. See, Military Judge: Obama’s Comments On Military Sex Abuse An “Undue Command Influence”; Trump’s comments about Bergdahl ‘disturbing,’ judge says.

This improper influence on the tribunal can also extend to cases pending in the federal courts. Presidential comments on pending Supreme Court decisions.

Which brings me to this incident from the 2016 election. Trump Attacks a ‘Mexican’ U.S. Federal Judge:

The presumptive Republican nominee for president devoted almost a quarter of his hour-long rally in San Diego on Friday night to criticizing Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is currently presiding over a class-action lawsuit against the real-estate businessman for his role in Trump University.

During his disjointed remarks at the rally, Trump invoked Curiel’s ethnicity, said the judge should recuse himself from the trial, called for an investigation into him, described him as “negative” and a “hater,” insisted on a summary dismissal of the case, complained about being “railroaded by a legal system,” and asserted he would win the trial.

* * *

Mr. Trump also told the audience, which had previously chanted the Republican standard-bearer’s signature “build that wall” mantra in reference to Mr. Trump’s proposed wall along the Mexican border, that Judge Curiel is “Mexican.”

Judge Curiel’s parents were immigrants from Mexico, but he was born in Indiana. He is a U.S. citizen. Trump’s comments led to accusations of racism, including from Republicans.

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