Year: 2018

Message from the Tsarina of Public Instruction to her staff: Vote for me

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Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas

This has been a difficult few months for Arizona Superintendent Diane Douglas.

She has four primary opponents from her own party that think she is unfit for a second term.

She and her “internal reviewers” ignited controversy when they revised the proposed new Science Standards by taking out most if not all references to evolution, the Big Bang Theory, and climate change.

She sparked condemnation from educators by threatening “McCarthyite” reprisals against striking instructors from the Red For Ed Movement.

Now one of her surrogates, treating the Superintendent as if she had a Divine Right to her office, is trying to influence Department of Education staffers on which Superintendent candidate to vote for.

On Friday, one of the commissars for the Superintendent thought it was only right to send an email to Department of Education staff urging them to remember to vote for Diane Douglas, “the Wonder Woman of Education” in the primaries on Tuesday.

When faced with the latest “miscalculation,” Douglas had the email pulled, sent an apologetic email to the Department staff, and pledged that the person who originated the first email would be terminated.

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A caretaker, not a replacement for Sen. John McCain’s seat

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Our egomaniacal narcissist Twitter-troll-in-chief offered condolences on Twitter to Sen. John McCain’s family, but this small and petty man rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain: President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.

U.S. flags at the White House returned to full staff on Monday morning as the nation continued to mourn the death of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Flags at White House return to full staff after brief tribute to McCain.

The malignant cancer of “Trumpism” is self-evident in the GOP primary here in Arizona. In most of the country, McCain is being lauded as a hero. On Arizona’s GOP campaign trail, he’s a pariah.

The Arizona Republican Party that nurtured McCain and his retiring Senate colleague Jeff Flake, whose seat those candidates are seeking, has been overrun by the party of Donald Trump. For Republican candidates now, the imperative is to embrace the president lest they lose his voters — and many of those voters share Trump’s antipathy to McCain.

Some analysts expect McCain’s death will only hasten the state’s political transformation.

[T]here will be another opportunity to demonstrate the GOP shift.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint a replacement to fill McCain’s seat until 2020, when a special election will determine the occupant until 2022, when McCain’s term would have ended.

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Are the Russia Dots About to Connect?

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To believe the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt” is to believe that all the connections between Trump and those in his orbit are not inter-connected; that it’s all one huge coincidence. Here are the various dots (I may be missing a few):

  1. George Papadopoulos’ Russian contacts (through an intermediary) in early 2016.
  2. The June 2016 Trump tower meeting.
  3. Manafort’s many Russian connections and his willingness to manage Trump’s campaign at no charge, at a time he was deep underwater financially.
  4. Roger Stone and his connections to Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0.
  5. The mysterious softening of the Republican platform position on Russia.
  6. Trump’s public ask for help from Russia finding HRC’s emails within hours of when Russia launched its hacking operation.
  7. The efforts to create a back channel, by both Jared Kushner and Erik Prince (the Seychelles meeting).
  8. Michael Flynn’s Russia contacts regarding sanctions.

As I said, I’m sure I’m leaving out a few.

Recently, I’ve started following blogger Marcy Wheeler, of Emptywheel. Marcy’s analysis during the Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby imbroglio was brilliant. On several occasions, she figured things out that the mainstream media had missed.

Her analysis of Mueller investigation related matters has been stellar as well.

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Jose Torres Emphasizes Education, Healthcare and Immigration in the CD5 Congressional Race

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Congressional District Five Democratic House Candidate Jose Torres

This election year, two Democrats are vying for an opportunity to defeat incumbent Andy Biggs. One is Joan Greene and the other is the subject of this interview, Jose Torres.

Below are Torres’ responses to a series of questions regarding the issues facing the people in the district and how he would act as the district’s next Representative.

Arizona Congressional District Five contains all or parts of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Chandler. The district has been solidly Republican since 2012. Incumbent Andy Biggs is a former State Senator and current Freedom Caucus Member. This “public servant” has distinguished himself by supporting and fighting for policies that do not benefit the public. On issues ranging from Children’s Health Care to a woman’s right to choose to Medicaid Expansion to tax cuts for the rich, Biggs has continually embraced the causes championed by Dark Money special interests and reactionary conservatives who want to destroy the government they were elected to serve in.

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