By Michael Bryan
Here’s the second installment of Donkey Feed for this week. Be sure to comment if you like this feature. This time I’m breaking out article pointers into broad categories to make it a bit easier to find what you might be interested in. Get out your reading glasses and put the browser in reader mode, this is the Donkey Feed…
Arizona:
- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Farley and Pima County Supervisor Ramon Valadez chat with Bill Buckmaster about taxes, ICE in the Pima County jail, how Democrats frog-marched Governor Ducey into doing something for education, and why Steve Farley thinks he’s the best choice to beat Ducey.
- Two of Arizona’s most embarrassing crackpot conspiracy theorists, Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, embarrass Arizona once again: “Arizona’s Biggs, Gosar Co-Sponsor Impeachment Articles Against Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein For ‘Obstruction'”.
- The ACLU is pouring over $700K on ads in the Arizona Senate race targeting the GOP’s batch of immigrant bashing candidates: “ACLU Doubles 1st-In-Nation Effort In Arizona Senate Race; Spends $400k More On TV Ad”.
- National Democrats are spending big in Arizona’s Senate race and a handful of others to try to flip the Senate this year: Tucson Weekly.
- Arizona’s courts have put medical marijuana concentrates into a state of legal limbo for no cogent reason: Tucson Weekly.
- Democrats love their underdogs; Kovaks and Wheeler handily win a major CD2 debate, despite lagging in the fundraising race against leaders Kirkpatrick and Heinz: Tucson Weekly.
- Dr. Randy Friese, running for reelection to LD9 Arizona House of Representatives, talks to Bill Buckmaster about gun safety, health care, and education (starting at 46:00 into the program).
- Should we turn Hoover Dam into a $3 billion dollar battery to store clean energy?: NYTimes.
- Ethics committee considering action against State Rep. Paul Mosely (R – Lake Havasu) who famously claimed legislative immunity for his egregious speeding: AZ Capitol Times.
- Registration rates for people under 30 in Arizona have jumped 8.2%, an encouraging development for Democrats: Phoenix New Times.
- Southwest Key Programs started out running summer programs for at-risk youth and charter schools, now they run concentration camps for immigrant kids: Political Orphans.
National:
- Trump’s effect on the federal judiciary is alarming on so many levels, not just the most obvious ones: Rightwing Watch.
- Brett Kavanaugh has some explaining to do before any confirmation vote about his time in the Bush II administration: New Yorker.
- GOP’s new tax bill “framework” seeks to lock in major cuts for the richest Americans: “House Republicans’ Not-So-New Tax Plan: Crumbs for Working People 2.0”.
- Tariffs are bad for rural America. The GOP wrecked their party in the early 20th century with protectionist tariffs that rural voters punished them for – will they repeat their mistake under Trump?: The Atlantic.
- Trump puts his top priorities (tariffs, Russia reproachment, and the wall) on hold to try to preserve GOP majorities in the mid-term elections: Washington Post.
- The House GOP’s effort to impeach Dep. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is a total clown show – Speaker Ryan doesn’t support it so it’s not getting a vote, Attorney General Session is standing up for Rosenstein, and the articles allege misconduct that occurred 6 months before Rosenstein even took office.
- Work requirements are just another way to punish the poor and to push eligible people off public assistance: “The Republican push for welfare “work requirements,” cartoonsplained”.
- Despite court orders, the Trump Administration seems unable or unwilling to reunite children torn from their families by their ill-considered zero-tolerance border policy, perhaps because it seems not be costing him in polling: Democracy Now.
- Nobody could have predicted that cutting the corporate tax rate down to historic lows would explode the deficit, could they?: “How the Trump Tax Cut Is Helping to Push the Federal Deficit to $1 Trillion”
- This potential political dynamite: “Cohen claims that Donald Trump knew of and approved the Trump Tower meeting with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton”.
- Opportunity Zones give 1:1 tax credits against tax liability for investing in economically depressed areas; a new way to mobilize capital investment, or just another tax dodge for the wealthy?: Forbes.
- President Trump’s threat to revoke the security clearances of his critics is not just authoritarian and bullying, it’s unconstitutional for the President to use his powers to chill free speech: Lawfare.
- Russia-connected Rep. Dana Rohrabacher called the cops on a constituent for asking him tough questions; is this the new way the GOP will deal with its Russia problem?: The Daily Banter.
- Judge orders a monitor for immigrant children shelters after testimony of abuses: Talking Points Memo.
- Big data collection by health insurance companies may render the actuarial models underlying private insurance unworkable; universal insurance may be the only way higher-risk people will ever be able to afford to be insured: Evonomics.
- The GOP’s massive tax cut is not trickling into people’s paychecks as they claimed would happen; big surprise?: Jared Bernstein Blog.
World:
- The possibility of life on Mars gets a boost with the discovery of a liquid lake beneath the polar ice cap: “A Watery Lake Is Detected on Mars, Raising the Potential for Alien Life”.
- Did you know that World War 3 is being fought now in Africa and that American troops are fighting and dying in it? “U.S. Secret Wars In Africa Rage On, Despite Talk Of Downsizing”.
- You should definitely see “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” the Fred Rogers bio-pic. I did and I cried. You should also read this article about what a great actual neighbor he really was.
- The United States is not only democracy dealing with political influence ops from an authoritarian foe, so why aren’t we handling it just as proactively? “Australia’s Fight Against Chinese Political Interference”.
- Disinformation and online trolling are becoming the go-to tools for governments around the world to stifle dissent: Bloomberg.
- Data-driven algorithmic advertising may pose challenges for the future of democracy: New Statesman.