Don't you just love all levels of government in action? Or is it government inaction?
• In Phoenix, Republicans are still churning out racist legislation at a furious pace. What's really funny is how they get theatrically offended when (appropriate) charges of racism are leveled at them. Every single piece of legislation that deals with "election reform" will have the effect of suppressing minority voting, even if it's only in a secondary or tertiary fashion.
Their excuse for the assault on minority voting—that some of their minions don't believe that the results of a free and fair election can possibly be true since their side lost for only the second time in 70 years—rings hollow. There will always be people who mistrust the process because the results don't match their stilted view. That's no reason to take a chainsaw to things. As we all know (and even some Republicans will admit), theirs is a minority party, their numbers shrinking due to a shift in demographics and hastened along by the loony antics of GOP head Kelli Ward and her marching band of conspiracy nut-jobs. The only way they can stay in power—even in the short run—is to limit the number of those "other" people from voting.
The latest assault is SCR 1034, which would give the Legislature the ability to gut or toss out completely any voter-passed law that has even the slightest flaw. In an even more sinister turn, if a measure was passed by popular vote that raised money for a specific item (e.g. pay for public-school teachers), SCR 1034 would allow the Legislature to take that money and use it for something else. Like, say, helping to defray the cost of sending the kids of their rich, white friends to private school.
That means that if there's a comma where there should have been a semicolon, it's open season for legislative theft and/or mayhem. Of course, it's doubtful that Finchem and Mesnard, et al know a comma from a semicolon. They probably think it's a part of the anatomy that isn't talked about in polite company.
• On the national level, an unsurprising (but really stupid) 0% of all Republicans in Congress voted in favor of the COVID relief bill. It's a massive piece of legislation that is supported by 75% of all Americans. Seriously, these days, you couldn't get 75% of Americans to agree on the National Anthem. (Personally, I think that, as a song, it kinda sucks. Parts of it are racist. And Mariah Carey and maybe two other people in the country can actually sing it without sounding like someone is torturing a cat. But that's just me.)
And yet, while the legislation had overwhelming support from Democrats and Independents across the country, various polls showed that it was also favored by around 50% of all Republicans—an amazing number, considering that many are still walking around in a daze, their confusion exacerbated by a constant trumping in their ears that just won't go away (even though he mostly has).
It's pretty clear what the Republican strategy is. They're going to wait for all the people to get their checks and their child tax credits...and for health care costs to come down...and for 250 million Americans to get vaccinated...and for the nation to reach herd immunity...and for the economy to roar like it hasn't since the 1990s (or even the 1960s)...and for the mass of Americans to release all that pent-up emotion as they go completely buck wild later this summer!
And then the Republicans will go outside and start whispering, "Socialism." Yeah, that should work.
It's so much fun watching the Phelgm-wads on Phox try to explain how their team got played by "Sleepy Joe" Biden.
• In other national news, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott recently degraded himself on national TV. Scott is an African-American and a Republican. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a Black Republican, other than knowing that whole lot of people are going to be laughing at you behind your back (with most of the people who are doing the laughing being white Republicans). People with a sense of decency won't do that. They'll laugh directly in his face.
When asked if he ever thought that the Republican Party might have used him to display a "patina of diversity" within the GOP, Scott responded with a non-sequitur about how "woke supremacy is as bad as white supremacy."
The actual definition of "woke" is someone who is aware the pervasive racial and gender discrimination in this country, as well as the deleterious effects of economic inequity. So, naturally, Republicans use it as a pejorative.
• Here locally, the battle rages between the militant Save The Ducks people and the entrenched We Have Tax Money to Spend on a Bigger Zoo cabal. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has called for a cooling-off period and (an expensive) moratorium on any further building at the zoo.
To be perfectly honest, I've been to that zoo exactly once (which is probably one more time than most Tucsonans). One summer day, I took my kids when they were little. They asked why the animals smelled so bad. I said, "It's probably because they're French." And then we left.
Hey, you can't say that I didn't earn those Father of the Year awards.
