Author Archive: Web Steward
538 Features Arizona’s Redistricting Commission
The December 31 538 podcast series features Arizona with a podcast entitled The Gerrymandering Project: Arizona. In 2018, more states decided to put independent commissions in charge of redistricting. Arizona serves as an example of some of the challenges those commissions can face. Download and listen to the podcast for free here.
Continue readingVoting, Ethics Kick Off Dems’ Congressional Agenda
House Democrats are about to show the nation how to walk and chew gum while governing. After 8 years of Republican-controlled Congressional stalemate, Nancy Pelosi will lead a forward assault on the nation’s problems. Whether the Senate will continue to stonewall progress is up to Mitch McConnell; regardless of what he does, the country is […]
Continue readingQuotations of the Week
Here’s our challenge these next two years: We must scrub the stains of Trump’s corruption from our democracy. BUT we must not be so jaded by that duty that we stop believing our future can be brighter than our past. It still is. ~ Rep. Eric Swalwell Richard Nixon obstructed justice to cover up a […]
Continue readingTackling climate change now a bipartisan issue
Climate change is a defining feature of modern life, and the issue is now even spanning party lines. The past few months have seen key policy changes that begin to address the effects of climate change. After the release of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment, it is clear that if […]
Continue readingJudge’s Ruling on ACA Lands Like a “Stink Bomb”
The Associated Press reports: “A federal judge’s ruling that the Obama health law is unconstitutional has landed like a stink bomb among Republicans, who’ve seen the politics of health care flip as Americans increasingly value the overhaul’s core parts, including protections for pre-existing medical conditions and Medicaid for more low-income people.” Last Friday’s decision by a […]
Continue readingFee or Tax? Either Shows Failure
The vehicle registration fee enacted last April by Governor Ducey and the Republican Legislature is showing up on registration renewal notices and causing an internal firefight among Republicans. The underlying problem for all Arizona Republicans is their failure to recognize that governing costs money and someone has got to pay for it. In this case, […]
Continue readingGun control reform still needed six years later
December 14 is the sixth anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School; this slaughter of six year olds was the event that a mourning nation hoped/believed would be the path towards a conversation on sensible gun reform, not the repeal of the 2nd Amendment but a rational discussion on background checks, high capacity […]
Continue readingFair Pay Benefits All
It was instructive to read the comments of restaurant managers and owners in response to voters having rejected Proposition 418 which would have rolled back the minimum wage approved in 2016. [“Businesses ponder the future after 418 fails,” 11/27/18] The Flagstaff minimum wage will increase to $12.00 an hour on 1/01/19. This is hardly enough […]
Continue reading“Individual 1” is POTUS
Read today’s news in its original form — no slant or analysis. These are the actual court documents filed today by prosecutors: The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Sentencing Memo for Cohen Special Counsel Mueller’s sentencing memo on Michael Cohen Special Counsel Mueller’s memo on Paul Manafort violating his plea agreement
Continue readingPearl Harbor Day
On this day 77 years ago, the era of the United States living in isolation from the world ended. Today, we honor the men and women who lost their lives in the Pearl Harbor attack and thank those who spent the next 4 years avenging them by defending democracy against the worldwide threat of fascism.
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