COVID19 in Arizona: Where Are We Now? 18 Months Later (podcast)

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Eighteen months ago the Arizona Legislature shut down due to the COVID19 pandemic and the governor’s shelter in place order. Arizonans have traveled a rocky road since then.

Throughout most of the pandemic, Arizona’s government has been willing to sacrifice lives in order to hew faithfully to the right’s anti-science ideology, which dovetails neatly with the “open for business” mantra. Pressure from the Chamber of Commerce, COVID deniers, and the Trump administration caused Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to jump the gun more than once and open the state up for business too soon. In the summer of 2020, Arizona was worst in the world for COVID19.

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My guests today are Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association and former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, and Rep. Melody Hernandez, who is paramedic. Humble provides a brief overview of where Arizona has been and where we are now with the pandemic. He breaks down the history, the science, the policies, the politics, and the personalities. In contrast, as a frontline healthcare worker throughout the pandemic, Hernandez tells stories of tragedy, death and perseverance.

My podcast, A View from the Left Side, is also available in podcast format via Spotify, Stitcher Radio, I Heart Radio, Deezer, Listen Notes, Podcast Index and RSS Feed, as well as on my YouTube channel. If you like what you hear, please click “like”, “subscribe” and “share.”

 

23,000 Turn Out for Bernie/AOC Fight Oligarchy Rally in Tucson – A View from the Left Side

Fight Oligarchy rallies are setting attendance records in swing states and Republican-controlled Congressional districts across the country. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Texas Congressman Greg Casar … and Calexico rocked the house in Tucson on May 22, 2025.Event organizers estimated 3000 for the Tucson rally at Catalina High School. The Midtown neighborhood association warned residents that as many as 7000 people may attend the March 22, 2025 rally. More that 23,000 people filled the football field and bleachers. The beginning of the program was delayed because so many people were still in line, and still streaming in as AOC began to speak. The lines snaked around the neighborhood, and eventually everyone got in. Time Stamps | Power to the People [Music]  | 0:00 | Episode Introduction Segment 1: Change Is Gonna Come  | 1:09 | Four Speeches Included in this Podcast  | 2:35 | AOC & Casar Are Progressive Leaders for the Future  | 3:03 | End Big Money Politics with Nationwide Clean Elections  | 3:52 | Segment 2: Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva  | 4:44 | Segment 3: Texas Congressional Rep. Greg Casar  | 9:04 | Segment 4: NY Congressional Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  | 19:55 | What Congress Should Be Doing       | 30:14 | When the System Is Stacked Against You …  | 32:23 | Trump Is Selling Our Country for Parts & Kickbacks  | 33:43 | Benefits WE Paid into Are Being Stolen  | 34:32 | Common Sense Isn't Radical  | 36:40:00 | I Believe in These Things Because I was a WAITRESS!'  | 38:21 | AOC Thanks AZ for Electing Grijalva & Getting Rid of Sinema  | 39:20 | AOC Calls Out Schweikert But SoAZ Wants to Oust Ciscomani  | 40:46 | This Fascist Administration Didn't Come Out of Nowhere …  | 41:26 |  'Beyond Elections Our Task Is to Build Community'  |  42:08  | No Act Is Too Small'  | 43:17 | In this House We Stand Together'  | 44:46 | We Can't Go Back'  | 45:29 | Segment 5: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders  | 46:22 | Sanders Praises AOC & Casar  | 47:21 | Bernie Remembers His Friend Raul  | 51:12 | Bernie Talks Crowd Size  | 52:10 | The American Oligarchy  | 52:45 | The Rich Have Never Had It So Good  | 56:20 | Too Many Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck  | 58:19 | Stand Up! Fight Back!  | 1:01 | Segment 6: Calexcio [Music]  | 1:14 | Closing  | 1:15One correction to AOC's speech … she confused the Tucson audience when she rallied support for booting Maricopa County Rep. David Schweikert out of Congress. YES! Let's get rid of Schweikert, but in Tucson, we want to boot Rep. Juan Ciscomani out of Congress.The full transcript and the video of this podcast can be found at PowersForThePeople on Substack.com.
  1. 23,000 Turn Out for Bernie/AOC Fight Oligarchy Rally in Tucson
  2. Grijalva Speaks Truth to Power … a Retrospective
  3. New Strategies for a New World Order
  4. Buying Power, Fighting Back & Diagnosing Donald
  5. The Storm Before the Calm

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