This March/Rally for Science has been posted on our Calendar for weeks, evolving from a march from Himmel Park to the UA, then De Anza Park to this current rally-only event at El Presidio Park, with a growing list of speakers (see above) and participants, including bands and entertainers. Permitting problems (and expense) prevented the … Read more
“Welcome to the relaunch of the televised edition of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: U.S. Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ03) and Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ01) talk about Trump’s proposed border wall, Attorney General Jeff Sessions visit to Nogales to announce stiffer policies for the prosecution of undocumented immigrants, where healthcare reform goes after its collapse in the … Read more
The estimate of the huge Women’s March in Tucson crowd that gathered this morning at Armory Park on S. 6th Avenue and marched to Jacome Plaza (in front of the Joel D. Valdez library) was about 15,000. Lots of very creative signs went by, carried by people of all ages, children, elderly, even people with crutches and walkers…gay, straight, multi-racial, many with dogs, wagons, etc. Every few blocks people were chanting “This is what Democracy looks like”. Here’s some photos of today’s crowd.
In one of his first acts as Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan oversaw doling out $17 million in corporate welfare to Wall Street banks. How did he manage this? The usual sneaky way– by tacking this onto an unrelated piece of “must pass” legislation. (You’ll remember that’s how Republican lawmakers weakened Wall Street regulation last year.)
Yesterday, 354 members of the House of Representatives– all but two Republicans and 70 Democrats– voted to continue the ongoing bank welfare and which was attached a multi-million-dollar highway bill. (They also reauthorized the charter for the “controversial” Export Import Bank in the highway bill.) The primary holdouts were members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-chaired by Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva.
Ironically, the GOP didn’t want to add a long-term funding mechanism to pay for highway construction and repair. (I guess funding provisions are “must-haves” only when legislation focuses on food stamps, school lunches, college loans, unemployment, healthcare, public education, and Social Security.) Historically highways have been funded by the users through gas taxes…
I wasn’t prepared for Bernie Sanders’ 90-minute lallopalooza in Tucson on October 9, 2015.
Besides logistical issues, like not having a spare camera battery and running out of juice, wearing the wrong shoes for 90 minutes of standing, days of hounding the Sanders campaign about a press pass (only to find out that the Star was having the same problem as BfAZ), and the nagging feeling that one hand of the Sanders campaign didn’t know what the other was doing, I wasn’t prepared to like the event.
I have been on the fence about the Bernie Sanders vs Hillary Clinton race for months. I have liked and followed Hillary since she became the first First Lady to be a media punching bag because she had ambitions beyond serving tea and cookies. I can relate to her because we are both from the Midwest, we came of age during the same time period, we are both strong feminists, and we both spent our lives like Ginger Rogers— dancing backwards and in heels up the career ladder toward that ever-present glass ceiling. I like Sanders’ income inequality message and his proposals, but I have two primary questions: 1) How can he accomplish eve a quarter on what he proposes without a 100% progressive Congress (not just a Democratic Party Congress) and 2) Who will finally end decades of struggle for women’s equality— another long-term male politician or the first woman President? (Still waiting for answers on these.)
Bernie in Tucson videos after the jump.