Month: September 2015

An odd silence from The Arizona Republican on the resignation of John Boehner

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Weeper of the House John Boehner announced early Friday morning that he would be resigning his speaker position and from Congress at the end of October.

The TanMan was forced out by the radical extremists of the farther-far-right GOP House Freedom Caucus, co-founded by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ). The Freedom Caucus doesn’t have a website or official roster, but the Five Thirty Eight blog put together a list of members. It includes Arizona Congressmen Matt Salmon, Paul Gosar, David Schweikert, and Trent Franks.

ArizonaRepublicanRemarkably, The Arizona Republican, aka The Arizona Republic, the mouthpiece of the GOP establishment in Arizona, has not commented on this “seismic” event either by editorial or commentary from its stable of opinion writers. It is an odd silence.

Others in the GOP establishment have lashed out at these radical extremist mutineers. Furious Boehner allies lash out:

A fired-up House Ethics Committee Chairman Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), speaking not long after Boehner dropped the bombshell at a Friday conference meeting that he’ll leave Congress at the end of next month, ripped into hard-line conservatives.

He accused them of opposing Boehner at every turn, and noted they have “never had a horse of their own.”

“Any jackass can kick down a barn door. It takes a carpenter to hang one. We need a few more carpenters around here. Everybody knows it,” Dent said off the House floor.

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Political Calendar: Week of September 27, 2015

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Political Calendar for the Week of September 27, 2015:

(Continuing) Sunday, September 27: Oktoberfest on Mount Lemmon, 10300 Ski Run Road, Mt. Lemmon (Tucson). Free admission. $5 parking and highway fees. Enjoy a festival of German food and music in the forest at Mount Lemmon Ski Valley during the last two weekends in September and first two weekends in October: Sept. 19-20, Sept. 26-27, Oct. 3-4 and Oct. 10-11, 2015. No dogs admitted, please. For more information please call (520) 576-1400 or (520) 576-1321.

Sunday, September 27, 7:00 p.m.: Laughing Liberally Tucson returns to lampoon the national, state and local political scene. Come out and enjoy Tucson’s best and brightest comics as we try our best to save democracy…one laugh at a time. it’s FUN…it’s FREE…it’s Sky Bar Tucson. Last Sunday every month.

Monday, September 28, 9:00 a.m. (EST): President Barack Obama addresses the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Monday, September 28, Noon: Democrats of Greater Tucson luncheon, Dragon’s View Restaurant (400 N. Bonita, South of St. Mary’s Road between the Freeway and Grande Avenue, turn South at Furr’s Cafeteria). New price: buffet lunch is $10.00 cash, $12 credit; just a drink is $3.50. Featured speakers are Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall and Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center director Kathy Rau on the courthouse therapy dog program. Next Week: Joel Feinman, Pima County Public Defenders office, on “The mass incarceration problem in the U.S.”

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America: That Old Gandhi Quote, But In Reverse

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We’ve all heard the old quote generally attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Well, a few days ago, I ran across this post at Salon: Donald Trump, national embarrassment: The rest of the world is gawking at his campaign — and us. The title of the post tells you all you need to know. And, if you’d pondered the matter, you wouldn’t have felt the need to research whether America is a subject of ridicule on the world stage these days, thanks to the millions of ignoramuses that support Mr. Trump.

Then the thought occurred to me: America on the world stage is channeling that old Gandhi quote, but in reverse.

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Over-Policing of Marijuana Possession by Maricopa County Attorney & ASU

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marijuana leafThe case of Andre Maestas, a student at Arizona State University and a medical marijuana card holder, is a prime example of what’s wrong with Arizona’s drug enforcement policies and our conflicting laws.

Marijuana prohibition zealot and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery filed felony marijuana possession charges against Maestas because he had 0.6 grams of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia in his dorm room. (0.6 grams is approximately a teaspoon of pot.)

How could a medical marijuana patient be charged with felony possession– especially for such a tiny amount? Patients are allowed to possess and purchase up to  2.5 ounces of pot every two weeks. Maestas had 0.02 ounces. (Did I mention that Maestas is black?)

Apparently, Maestas was charged and found guilty under a 2012 law passed by the Arizona Legislature (and backed by the universities) which bans medical pot on college campuses. Maestas’ case claims the 2012 law– which changes the 2010 voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act– is illegal because of the 1998 voter-approved Voter Protection Act, which prohibits the Legislature from changing or over-turning citizen initiatives. (The Voter Protection Act was passed two years after Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed medical marijuana the first time.) So far– the courts are not buying Maestas’ argument, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in early October. What’s wrong with this picture?

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