Donkey Feed, Sept. 15, 2018

By Michael Bryan

First, a cool tool: try BallotReady.org. You plug in your address and it will run down every candidate and their positions on the issues. You can even save a completed ballot to take with you to the polls with all your choices.Next, some graphical goodness: contrast the GOP’s tax bill, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the recently introduced Democratic alternative, the GAIN Act, in their impact on lower- and middle-income Americans, and ask yourself, which party has your back?

Now, some video fun: Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund takes some time out from counting his lucre to explain how the economy’s cycles work. Trust me, it’s worth a half-hour of your time:

Maybe you’d like a new book to read? May I suggest two? The updated Impeachment: A Handbook, New Edition for what must be done to rid ourselves of a troublesome Trump? This book will be re-released on Sept. 18th. And Ray Dalio’s Principles: Life and Work. It’s not often you get the accumulated life experience of a billionaire to give you guidance and insight to live your best life. Dalio has also created a video series covering the principles in the book:

Now, just click Continue Reading for the rest of your Feed…

Arizona:

• AZ State Representative Eddie Farnsworth is now a multi-millionaire and he made it all from taxpayer money meant to educate our children.
• Senator Flake called out Trump’s attacks on justice and truth from the Senate floor again this Wednesday.
• Arizona Supreme Court Justice Bollick, and packee of Ducey’s illegitimate court-packing scheme, has started his own blog.
• Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema sure did wear a pink tutu 15 years ago, but she did not denigrate our troops as Martha McSally alleges in her ads.
• AZ State Rep. Paul Mosley (who lost his seat in the primary) has had a warrant issued for him for his criminal speeding after he missed a court date.
• More than 60 separated refugee children remain in Arizona more than 6 weeks after a court order to reunite them with their families.
• AZ SPI Dianne Douglas put a young earth creationist on a committee tasked with revising the state’s science curriculum standards on evolution; maybe this sort of thing is why you are out of a job, Dianne.
• Speaking of AZ SPI, the two parties’ candidates have a good interview in the Cap Times, and Riggs has a profile in the New Times.
• Tucson Weekly looks at where AZ candidates stand on marijuana.
• Red For Ed creates a 5 point pledge for candidates to promise to protect and promote education in Arizona.
• Trump’s roll-back of automobile emission standards come home to roost, making it more difficult for local Arizona communities to improve air quality for citizens.
• Pima County Justice of Peace Keith Bee has been indicted on four counts of tax fraud and resigned from the bench.
• Tucson Weekly profiles the CD 1 Congressional race between incumbent Tom O’Halleran and GOP challenger Wendy Rogers.
• The GOP AZ State Lege planted seeds with a 2015 law increasing the petition signature requirement for ballot access which have now germinated in keeping Libertarians out of the Governor’s race for 2018.
• Polls are showing that most of the Statewide AZ races (1, 2, 3) are too tight to call at this point: no news is good news.
• Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes is under fire for unexpected poll closures during the primary election: get your shit together, Fontes!
• The 9th Circuit Court Panel upheld the AZ ban on collecting others’ ballots to turn in, which is a naked attack on minority voter participation, and despite that the ruling recognized there was no evidence of fraud and that a clear bias against Democrats and minorities played a role in the passage of the law.
• AZCentral breaks down the debate schedules for AZ’s Congressional races.
• Jon Kyl’s recent years as a corporate lobbyist gives many pause about the ethical need for him to recuse on matters touching former clients.
• Martha McSally lied about Kyrsten Sinema’s record on the Iraq war: Sinema presciently opposed it (so did President Trump, according to him), but McSally claims she “denigrated the troops” which is a lie; will McSally pay any price for her very public lie?
• Court-packing apparently worked very well for Doug Ducey, he knew the score on the recent decision to kick two initiative petitions off the ballot before the public; I wonder if it has anything to do with the two arch-conservatives he packed onto the Court?
• The NRCC ghoulishly used McCain’s image and words to hit Ann Kirkpatrick, despite the family’s misgivings: “The McCain family believes it’s unfortunate that the senator’s image is being weaponized this election season. They hope that there would be more respect, especially so soon after his passing.”

National:

• Congressional Republicans are pushing a new round of tax cuts for the wealthy totalling over $2 trillion.
• This is what you learn when you study gun violence scientifically: Semi-automatic rifles used in shootings result in more deaths and injuries than other types of firearms.
• Whaaaat!? Trump is set to sign an executive order slapping sanctions on any foreign agents that meddle in the U.S. elections.
• Journalist David Sirota reminds us we need to get rid of Trump and the GOP majorities, but we also need to defeat neoliberal Democrats who serve corporate interests ahead of the public interest.
• Heading into the midterms, Democrats enjoy a 14 point generic ballot lead.
• President Trump is now claiming that 3000 Americans did not die as a result of the hurricane and his Administration’s incompetence in Puerto Rico.
• Russian political subversion in the U.S. is no longer aimed at a proletarian revolution but at a kleptocratic coup, but the tactics remain the same even as the targets change from the far Left to the far Right.

World:

• The European Parliament just voted to wreck the internet as we know it to appease corporate copyright holders.