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In Their Own Words: #PowersForThePeople Voters Speak Out (video)

August 29, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Tomorrow is the Democratic Party Primary. August 30, 2016 has been in the back of my mind since I created my Pamela Powers Hannley for House Campaign Committee on August 19, 2016.

The campaign has been a heart-warming, physically-demanding, soul-searching, eye-opening, stress-inducing educational experience. Today’s post is not mine, though. It belongs to my supporters. Nine of my supporters– all LD9 voters, including several LD9 precinct committee people– agreed to make testimonial videos.

What do a world-renowned cardiologist, a stay-at-home Mom, two small business owners, two retirees, a college student, a painter, and a jeweler all have in common? They’re all voting for me in the August 30 Democratic Party Primary. Videos after the jump.

‘Birther’ Trump’s team of asshats latch onto a new right-wing conspiracy theory

August 22, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, one of the most vile politicians in America and a surrogate for the Trump campaign, went on Fox News Sunday and promoted “a widely-debunked conspiracy theory that has been making its way around right-wing websites and has recently become a talking point for the Trump campaign: because Hillary Clinton has been photographed near pillows and with stools, she must be in failing health.” Giuliani: Clinton Is Winning Because Media Ignores Conspiracy About Her Health:

“She hardly appeared this week. I don’t know where she was,” he began. He then said the media “fails to point out several signs of illness by her. All you’ve got to do is go online!”

Reminded that Clinton’s doctors have noted that these claims are not factual, Giuliani responded that the host should instead check out conspiracy videos posted on the internet. “Go online and put down ‘Hillary Clinton illness’ and take a look at the videos yourself.”

“I know it’s true because I saw it on the internet!” Why are Americans still being subjected to the ruminations of this total asshat?

Giuliani’s “asshattery” follows an opinion by the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus over the weekend, Trump’s Sickening attacks on Clinton’s health:

Donald Trump — he who likes to fly home at night in the comfort of his own plane to sleep in the comfort of his own bed — is at it again on the question of Hillary Clinton’s stamina, or alleged lack thereof.

“To defeat crime and radical Islamic terrorism in our country, to win trade in our country, you need tremendous physical and mental strength and stamina,” he said in Wisconsin. “Hillary Clinton doesn’t have that strength and stamina.”

‘Too big to fail’ health insurers up the ante on ‘ObamaCare’ by retaliating over anti-trust litigation

August 18, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

So there was this “scary” headline in the Arizona Republic the other day: Aetna plans to drop Affordable Care Act health-insurance coverage in Arizona:

With health-insurance giant Aetna dropping Affordable Care Act coverage in Arizona and 10 other states next year, Pinal County residents could be left without a health-insurance marketplace option unless another insurer adds coverage to the fast-growing county.

Aetna planned to expand in Pinal, and was poised to be the county’s only marketplace option when coverage for the new year begins Jan. 1. But the insurer announced this week that it would drop ACA plans in Pinal and Maricopa counties as part of a nationwide pullback.

Insurers have filed to offer health-insurance plans in every Arizona county except Pinal, which becomes the only known county in the nation without an insurer lined up for marketplace coverage next year.

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Pinal County officials expressed worries that thousands of residents could be left without access to health coverage. HHS records show 9,667 Pinal County residents had selected a marketplace plan as of Feb. 1.

Zona Politics LD9 Interviews: There’s a Progressive in the House (video)

July 26, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Primary races are good for the Democratic Party because they allow different opinions to be heard. Last night while watching the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the value of the Clinton vs Sanders primary was evident. As a progressive, I heartened to hear Senator Bernie Sanders say that the two camps came together on the platform and came to agreement regarding debt-free college, busting up the banks, making society more equitable, ending Citizens United, and other populist agenda items. (They also added the Equal Rights Amendment – ERA – to the platform, but no one mentioned it.)

Mission accomplished, Bernie. Thanks for your service to the 99%. Bernie pushed Hillary and other establishment Democrats to the left and opened their eyes to the inequities of our current economic policies which offer largesse for the 1% and austerity for the 99%. They balance tax cuts and giveaways for big corporations with budget cuts, layoffs and tax increases for the rest of us– Robin Hood in Reverse.

I am by far the most progressive candidate running in Tucson and the only Tucson Democrat running clean. I have often quip that I am the Bernie Sanders of Tucson– with Hillary Clinton’s gender issues. I am pushing the local political discussion out of the safety zone of politics as usual and toward a more progressive direction– particularly in the areas of economic reform, wages, and money in politics.

SCOTUS strikes down Texas abortion TRAP laws; will affect other states’ TRAP laws

June 28, 2016June 27, 2016 by AZ BlueMeanie

The anti-abortion “Forced Birther” religious zealots have for years pursued a strategy of closing off access to safe, legal abortions through Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) Laws: TRAP laws require that abortions be performed in far more complicated and expensive facilities than are necessary to ensure the provision of safe procedures, such as in ambulatory surgical facilities. Another example is TRAP laws requiring that physicians who perform abortions have admitting privileges in a local hospital, a requirement that is not medically justified and severely reduces women’s access to abortion services.

The goal of their strategy is, “if we can’t overturn Roe v. Wade directly, we can at least impose onerous restrictions that will make it as hard as possible for women to have access to safe, legal abortions,” which renders abortion a legal right in name only.

Numerous red states, including Arizona, have passed TRAP laws in recent years. The most restrictive laws was the TRAP law passed by the state of Texas. The anti-abortion “Forced Birther” religious zealots believed that this law was the vehicle for the conservative activist justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to greatly curtail the constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade.

They badly miscalculated. Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Restrictions:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down (.pdf) parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40.

The 5-to-3 decision was the court’s most sweeping statement on abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. It applied a skeptical and exacting version of that decision’s “undue burden” standard to find that the restrictions in Texas went too far.

The decision on Monday means that similar restrictions in other states are most likely also unconstitutional, and it imperils many other kinds of restrictions on abortion.

Note: Arizona’s abortion restrictions are being challenged in the federal courts. This opinion further undermines the constitutionality and legality of Arizona’s abortion restrictions.