Month: February 2017

Applicants sought for new Tucson Police Community Advisory Council

by

Tucson Police Community Advisory Council

“The Tucson Police Department (TPD) is seeking applicants for a new Community Advisory Council.  The Council’s mission will be to promote community involvement in shaping the policies and priorities of the TPD.

The TPD is committed to working closely with the people of Tucson to advance public safety and neighborhood wellbeing. The Community Advisory Council will assist the TPD in gathering public input on new policies or initiatives. It also will work directly with Tucson residents to identify, prioritize, and address ongoing community concerns. The Council will help ensure that members of the public have ongoing and meaningful input in how their communities are policed.

The Policing Project at New York University School of Law is assisting TPD with this project. The Policing Project is dedicated to promoting engagement between the police and the community, and finding a way for civilians to have a voice in policing.

Read more

Latest on Trump-Putin campaign investigations

by

The always insecure egomaniacal Twitter-troll-in-chief Donald J. Trump publicly insists that he has no ties to Russia (while refusing to release his tax records and business records for public scrutiny which likely demonstrate otherwise).

“You’re always  asking me about the Russians. I don’t know nothin’ about no Russians!”

We know this is bullshit, as David Leonhardt reminds us at the New York Times. Trump’s Russia Motives:

The mystery at the core of the Trump-Russia story is motive.

President Trump certainly seems to have a strange case of Russophilia. He has surrounded himself with aides who have Russian ties. Those aides were talking to Russian agents during the campaign, and some are now pushing a dubious peace deal in Ukraine. Trump recently went so far as to equate the United States and Vladimir Putin’s murderous regime.

But why?

Read more

How Do We Best ‘Save the Poor’?

by

The data is in: Shared growth, not top-heavy growth, helps the poor.

[cross-posted from Inequality.org]

Note to BfAZ readers: I love being right, which made this post especially fun. The new data not only debunk the argument of the Illinois professor in her NY Times piece, but also the rantings of ole Thuckenthal, who regularly proclaims the superiority of America’s economy over the French economy. It just ain’t so.

Two months ago, in Equality for Taxi Drivers and Surgeons Taxi Drivers, I challenged the logic of Illinois professor Deirdre McCloskey in her New York Times op-ed,  Growth, Not Forced Equality, Saves the Poor.

Read more

World Premiere of “Digna” play at YWCA of Southern Arizona

by

 

Digna Theater’s first production is the play “DIGNA” by Patricia Davis. February 23-26 and March 2-5 at 7:30 pm at THEATRE @YWCA, 525 Bonita Street, Tucson AZ.

Digna is directed by Barclay Goldsmith, features Alba Jaramillo as Digna, and is accompanied with live music by Rebeca Cartes.

Performances: February 23-26 and March 2-5 at Theater@YWCA, 525 Bonita Avenue, Tucson AZ.

$15 general admission, $12 for students, and Thursday is pay-what-you-can day.

About Digna Ochoa

“In October 2001, renowned Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was found shot dead in her Mexico City office. Ochoa’s death at the age of thirty-six was declared a suicide by Mexico City prosecutors, despite evidence pointing to foul-play, her receiving death threats, and attempts on her life.

Ochoa, a former nun, went on to represent farmers defending the environment in the state of Guerrero, Zapatista guerrillas in Chiapas, and indigenous peoples in her home state of Veracruz. In her pursuit of truth and justice she challenged powerful governmental agencies. She also uncovered torture and other abuses by the Mexican military and police.

Ochoa was twenty-four when she discovered a blacklist of union organizers and political activists in the office of the state attorney general. A few days later, she was kidnapped and raped. Her family and fellow human rights activists rejected the finding of death by suicide, and fought for the case to be re-opened. Ochoa’s case was reopened in 2005. Regrettably state prosecutors maintained suicide as the origin of her death.

Read more

Kansas is a cautionary tale for Arizona: pigs do fly!

by

News you never see reported in Arizona ….

Something truly remarkable happened last week: the state legislature of Brownbackistan fna Kansas passed an income tax increase to begin repairing the fiscal damage to the state caused by Governor Sam Brownback and Tea-Publicans’ religious experiment in creating a faith based supply-side “trickle down” utopia in America’s heartland. Pigs do fly!

The Kansas City Star reports, Kansas Senate passes tax increases opposed by Gov. Sam Brownback:

Gov. Sam Brownback has a choice to make.

After the Kansas Legislature on Friday approved legislation that would reverse his signature tax cuts, he can veto the bill or let it become law without his signature. He has already said he wouldn’t sign it.

“As with all legislation, Governor Brownback will review the bill closely once he receives it,” the governor’s spokeswoman, Melika Willoughby, said in an email.

The Kansas Senate passed the bill 22-18 Friday morning. Because no amendments were made to the legislation first passed by the House, it heads to the governor’s desk.

The bill is projected to raise more than $1 billion over two years by raising income taxes and ending a tax exemption for roughly 330,000 business owners.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican who voted for the bill, said the governor could get a popularity boost if he lets the legislation take effect.

“I’m not sure his ratings can go any lower,” Bollier said. “That clearly isn’t going to impact his decision, I don’t think. I would say if he does (let the bill become law), his ratings will go up, and if he had the guts to sign the thing, then they really would.”

Read more