that guy in AZ Wrote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday rejected two Republicans tapped by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a decision McCarthy denounced as "an egregious abuse of power."

McCarthy said the GOP won't participate the investigation if Democrats won't accept the members he appointed.

Pelosi cited the "integrity" of the probe in refusing to accept the appointments of Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, picked by McCarthy to be the top Republican on the panel, or Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Both are close allies of former President Donald Trump, whose supporters laid siege to the Capitol that day.

"With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee," Pelosi said.

"Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts," McCarthy said.

Pelosi said in the statement that she had accepted McCarthy's three other picks — Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Texas Rep. Troy Nehls. But McCarthy said that all or none would participate.

The chairman of the panel, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, has said that the committee will have a quorum to conduct business whether GOP members are present or not.

https://azdailysun.com/news/national/pelosi-moves-to-block-trump-allies-from-jan-6-committee/article_bc6d6a3d-ff97-59e3-9ce0-0977687f006a.html

Nancy Pelosi just added Adam Kinzinger to her panel, a clear indication that she will only allow RATIONAL Republicans on the committee.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kinzinger-denounces-lies-and-conspiracy-theories-while-accepting-spot-on-jan-6-panel/ar-AAMxKtU?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Both Jim Jordan and Jim Banks would have been disastrous.

If you watch Jim Jordan for 3 minutes on the Laura Ingraham show, you'll feel an overpowering urge to punch BOTH of them in the face !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWf9FpCbXCY

Maricopa County authorities have launched a new effort to undercut lies about the electoral process from Trump and others. They’ve started a website — JustTheFacts.Vote — that they say will “address questions and misconceptions about the 2020 General Election.” It’s notable that, even as another nationwide round of elections swiftly approaches, the officials who handle the electoral process find themselves needing to devote time and other resources to responding to false claims about elections that took place almost nine months ago.

Incidentally, there's a guy named Joe Friday who lives in Glendale, Arizona.

https://bipartisanreport.com/2021/07/24/arizona-officials-issue-indisputable-fact-check-of-gop-election-lies/

Political correctness has recently become more popular. One example is the name change of the Cleveland Indians:

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-cleveland-guardians.html

Not surprisingly, Trump is not happy with the change:

One of the most annoying aspects of Donald Trump’s arrogant narcissism is his assumption that his opinion on matters far from the purview of his expertise should be shared with the world.

Given that his expertise primarily consists of tax evasion and convincing large groups of disgruntled and not very intelligent voters that he lost to Joe Biden due to election fraud rather than his huge deficit of actual votes in the 2020 presidential election, that leaves plenty of room for Trump to overshare his views on a multitude of topics that he has little to contribute to the discussion of.

Take the twice-impeached former president’s latest press release rambling on about his latest skirmish in the culture wars: the renaming of Cleveland’s baseball team from the Indians, a name generally considered a racist insult to indigenous Americans, to the more neutral Guardians.

https://occupydemocrats.com/2021/07/23/trump-attacks-cleveland-baseball-team-for-changing-its-name-to-be-less-racist/

Here is yet ANOTHER crazy Trump supporter.

A lady spewing Donald Trump’s anti-media rants attacked a reporter at the Colorado Statehouse this week, in the latest example of violence spurred by his remarks.

Activists in the media have long warned that Trump’s comments may spark violence. Mark Thompson, the CEO of the New York Times, told CNBC in 2019: “Describing journalists from the Times and elsewhere as ‘enemies of the people and using extreme rhetoric about journalism, I think, is dangerous. It could encourage people to do crazy things in relation to news organizations and individual reporters.”

Trump’s anti-media rhetoric had gone out of hand, according to CNN’s Jim Acosta later that year.

“If Trump is removed from office in any way, you are dead,’ read one message posted on my Instagram account,” Acosta wrote. “Self-described Trump supporters have left messages recommending that I be castrated, decapitated and set on fire. Theirs was the same kind of hatred that had driven Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc to send pipe bombs to CNN and Democratic targets shortly before the midterm elections in 2018. His vivid threats directed at me on Twitter went undetected until authorities captured him.”

https://vozwire.com/colorado-crazed-woman-spewing-trumps-anti-media-rhetoric-violently-attacked-reporter-at-statehouse/

If you need further proof that Trump supporters are wacky, consider this story:

https://vozwire.com/an-enraged-trump-supporter-faces-multiple-charges-for-attacking-a-man-holding-biden-beat-bozo-sign/

A Trump supporter in Pennsylvania now faces multiple charges after he assaulted a 69-year-old retired social worker.

Frank Ashbaugh was holding an anti-Trump protest when he was attacked. His attacker has now been charged with several crimes.

Allegheny Township police have charged Michael Robert Atwood, 38, with a misdemeanor count of simple assault and additional offenses after he reportedly assaulted Ashbaugh while seated in a lawn chair holding an anti-Trump banner.

"It’s my free speech rights,” Ashbaugh said. “As long as I don’t block traffic, my free speech rights are protected.”

that guy in AZ Wrote:

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Phoenix for a July 24 rally in the state he lost by about 11,000 votes to President Joe Biden.

The announcement comes as a Florida-based company continues work on what it calls a forensic audit of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million votes.

The event also underscores Arizona’s battleground status in 2022.

The event, dubbed the “Rally to Protect Our Elections,” marks Trump’s first trip back to the state since the election.

The Republican-led ballot review has riveted the former president, who at one point wanted to get a firsthand view of the process inside Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The review began in late April and moved early this month to another building on the fairgrounds.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/07/09/trump-set-return-phoenix-rally-review-arizona-ballots-continues/7917836002/

Former President Donald Trump delighted his political base in downtown Phoenix on Saturday, predicting vindication from the ballot review in Arizona, ripping Gov. Doug Ducey and reliving his favorite moments in the White House.

Trump also continued to make false claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

The nearly two-hour speech didn’t break new ground on the ongoing ballot review he asserts will show he won the state, and it didn’t address Trump’s political future. Even so, the nearly 5,000 on hand at the Arizona Federal Theatre made clear their loyalties and priorities haven’t shifted since he left office six months ago.

“In my opinion, there’s no way (Democrats) win elections without cheating,” Trump said. “What you’re doing here is incredible. The 2020 election was a total disgrace. (remember the definition of gas lighting?).

Trump’s speech capped an event in which three of Arizona’s Republicans in Congress also baselessly fueled doubt about the state’s election results and one of them, Rep. Paul Gosar, put a spotlight on his guest: the mother of the woman shot to death as she tried to climb through a barricaded door during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/07/24/trump-rally-phoenix-turning-point-action-gop-candidates/8072162002/

By now, we're all familiar with the story of the lady in New Jersey who put up yard signs that were critical of President Biden. Most of her neighbors are Democrats, and they took her to court to force the removal of the signs.

Judge Gary Bundy ordered her to take down the signs, or face a fine of $250 a day.

The debate over free speech has gone on for decades.

The first time the issue came to my attention was in 1964, when the Berkeley Free Speech movement was born.

The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.[1] The Movement was informally under the central leadership of Berkeley graduate student Mario Savio.[2] Other student leaders include Jack Weinberg, Michael Rossman, George Barton, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Michael Teal, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg and others.[3]

With the participation of thousands of students, the Free Speech Movement was the first mass act of civil disobedience on an American college campus in the 1960s.[4] Students insisted that the university administration lift the ban of on-campus political activities and acknowledge the students' right to free speech and academic freedom. The Free Speech Movement was influenced by the New Left,[5] and was also related to the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement.[6] To this day, the Movement's legacy continues to shape American political dialogue both on college campuses and in broader society, influencing some political views and values of college students and the general public.[7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement

One of sign's in Mrs. Dick's yard read, ""F*** Biden, and f*** you if you voted for him. I recently saw a t-shirt with that saying on a guy at a gas station in Tucson. Although my initial thought was to slap the shit out of him, I quickly realized that he was merely display his ignorance.

The Supreme Court has made clear that the offending word Ms. Dick used in the banners, which she posted on her mother’s fence in Roselle Park, is legal in political statements. It ruled in a famous 1971 case that a draft protester had the right to wear a jacket with a message that one of his lawyers memorably described as “not actually advocating sexual intercourse with the Selective Service.”

Twenty states with Republican-controlled legislatures have invoked the fear of violence as a justification for new laws cracking down on racial justice protests. Florida, Iowa and Oklahoma passed laws granting immunity to drivers who strike protesters. Some of the same states also have recently enacted laws that seek to restrict instruction in public schools about the role of racism in the nation’s history.

The right to free speech must be balanced against other considerations, and the Supreme Court imposes a wide range of restrictions. Americans are not free to libel or to incite violence, to curse on the radio or to hold noisy demonstrations in the middle of the night.

Although some people might object to Trump's ban on Facebook and Twitter, the fact remains that his comments on those sites DID incite violence, and they continue for a period of time after January 6.

The editorial board of the New York Times disagrees with judge Bundy about Mrs. Dick's signs, and they are probably correct.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/opinion/sunday/free-speech-case-New-Jersey.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

On occasion, it might be more appropriate to use creative methods to counter hateful speech.

When the Westboro Baptist church started protesting at military funerals, a few citizens bought the house across the street from their church, and painted it in rainbow colors. In addition, members of several motorcycle gangs started showing up at military funerals to keep members of the church a safe distance away.

Legal decisions have gone both for and against the church, and the military funeral protests have not been in the news for more than a decade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

The Atlantic just published an excellent (but lengthy) summary of what happened to Emmett Till, who was killed on my birthday (August 28) in 1955.

The guys who killed him were found "not guilty" in a jury trial in 1955. All of the jurors were white men, and it took them less than an hour to exonerate the guys who did the deed.

Because his story would qualify for "critical race theory" there are people today who do not want his story to be told. Not surprisingly, notes from his trial have mysteriously disappeared over the years, but his story is one that SHOULD be told.

If I were teaching a social studies class this coming year, I would definitely bring it up. If the state of Arizona fined my $5000, I'd say, "fuck them", and I would appeal to the ACLU.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/09/barn-emmett-till-murder/619493/

His uncle released a video of the event in 1955, and Bob Dylan wrote a song about the event.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=you+tubr+-+the+death+of+emmett+till&&view=detail&mid=4BA7BA66BF258AC214834BA7BA66BF258AC21483&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dyou%2Btubr%2B-%2Bthe%2Bdeath%2Bof%2Bemmett%2Btill%26FORM%3DHDRSC3

Schmidt Wrote:

Pew Research Center, September 28, 2015: Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065

"Fifty years after passage of the landmark law that rewrote U.S. immigration policy, nearly 59 milion immigrants have arrived in the United States, pushing the country’s foreign-born share to a near record 14%. For the past half-century, these modern-era immigrants and their descendants have accounted for just over half the nation’s population growth and have reshaped its racial and ethnic composition."

If current trends hold, immigrants are projected to account for 88% of the U.S. population increase from 2015 to 2065, or 103 million people, as the nation grows to 441 million. Much of this increase can be linked to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act which made major changes to U.S. immigration policy by doing away with a national origins quota system that favored immigrants from Europe and replacing it with one that emphasized family reunification and skilled immigrants.

Americans are largely divided on the benefits of immigration (both legal and illegal). Most of the scholarly articles I have read suggest that immigration is good for economic growth. This article in the Fiscal Times says as much:

Fiscal Times, December 2, 2014: How Immigrants Boost U.S. Economic Growth

I think it is a no brainer for long term economic productivity, but for the short term, if your job is threatened by immigrants then you might think otherwise. Germany's acceptance of so many Syrian immigrants is recognition that their fertility rate of 1.44 is too low to sustain their status as the European economic powerhouse. By comparison, America's fertility rate is 1.87, also too low for sustaining a robust long term economy, but certainly better than Germany's.

I am supportive of substantially increasing the numbers of Syrian refugees that America takes in. We are a diverse country of immigrants, and adding a few 100,000 more will have little impact on current workers. Not only that, immigrants bring a different perspective on the world that would help mold our foreign policies.

Schmidt:

I agree with you that immigrants are important for our country. Without going into a lot of detail, I'll just mention that I have published a dozen separate article about immigration on my blogsite. Since I have a tendency to be too prolific in my writing as it is, I won't list them here.

This morning, Congressman Paul Gosar sent us his thoughts on the topic from planet Zorg. Naturally, he wants to eliminate all immigration entirely for 10 years.

WASHINGTON D.C. - This week, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S (AZ-04) issued the following statement after introducing legislation providing a 10-year moratorium on all immigration into the United States:

“America is a nation of laws. And like every country on earth, it has laws limiting how and when, and who, can come into our borders. Not just to visit, to live and work.

The current regime is ignoring and actively assisting the violation of our federal laws. The Biden administration has literally and figuratively opened the gates and is waving hundreds of thousands of criminals into our country. We are looking at 2 million criminals being let in this year alone. On top of over 30 million already here.

Then to harm our people more, the Biden administration uses tax money to pay for transportation, fancy hotels (one in Scottsdale, Arizona), food and health care for these illegal aliens. Meanwhile Americans suffer with inflation and low wages.

We can’t have legal immigration when we have rampant illegal alien invaders. This is a threat to our national security and our economy and to our citizens.

With the destruction of President Trump’s solid immigration enforcement, and current disregard and violation of existing federal law, Mr. Biden has unleashed the most severe border and humanitarian crisis in United States history. No other nation, save England and Germany, has willingly participated in its own economic and cultural destruction. No American voted for this desecration. The laws have not been changed. This is lawless criminality.

With millions of Americans including our veterans who are now unemployed, homeless, or living in poverty we need to take care of one another before we allow millions to migrate here. Time to pause migration to America and figure out how to put the American people first,” said Rep. Paul Gosar.

Background

Currently, the United States is experiencing an enormous surge of illegal aliens entering at an exponential rate. In the months of May and June alone of this year at least 369,470 migrants were encountered by United States Customs and Border Protection. During the height of the pandemic, Representative Gosar stood in support of President Trump’s executive orders to halt immigration in the United States including the suspension of visas to ensure that American citizens do not experience employment discrimination. Mr. Biden is reversing all of President Trump’s policies and is looking to end Title 42. By pausing the admission of aliens to America it will give the United States an opportunity to figure out how to end illegal immigration and put Americans first in line for jobs, education, and other opportunities.

It's a well known fact that Donald Trump is crazy, but I think that that is also true of Paul Gosar.

that guy in AZ Wrote:

A story in the Washington Post this morning again illustrates how vulnerable we all are to invasions of our privacy.

The top administrator of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops resigned after a Catholic media site told the conference it had access to cellphone data that appeared to show he was a regular user of Grindr, the queer dating app, and frequented gay bars.

Some privacy experts said that they couldn’t recall other instances of phone data being de-anonymized and reported publicly, but that it’s not illegal and will likely happen more as people come to understand what data is available about others.

Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill has since last fall been the general secretary of the USCCB, a position that coordinates all administrative work and planning for the conference, which is the country’s network for Catholic bishops. As a priest, he takes a vow of celibacy. Catholic teaching opposes sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage. He is a priest from the La Crosse, Wis., diocese and was a parish priest and a professor before joining the administrative staff of the USCCB in 2016. Some USCCB staff and former staff said they were reeling and shocked.

“A mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019, and 2020 — at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities,” the Pillar reported.

“The data obtained and analyzed by The Pillar conveys mobile app date signals during two 26-week periods, the first in 2018 and the second in 2019 and 2020. The data was obtained from a data vendor and authenticated by an independent data consulting firm contracted by The Pillar,” the site reported. It did not identify who the vendor was or if the site bought the information or got it from a third party.

The Pillar story says app data “correlated” to Burrill’s phone shows the priest visited gay bars, including while traveling for the USCCB.

The report comes the same week as The Post and other organizations reported that military-grade spyware normally leased to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, business executives and others, revealing new concerns and issues around technology and privacy and democracy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/20/bishop-misconduct-resign-burrill/

It has often been said that karma's a bitch, and that phrase applies to Jeffrey Burrill as well.

What Burrill has chosen to do with his private life might not have been a national story — if not for his recent, high-profile support for denying Pres. Joe Biden holy communion over the president’s support for abortion rights.

In June, the USCCB, of which Burrill was the general secretary, approved a measure that could prohibit Biden, a devout Catholic and the country’s second-ever Catholic POTUS, from receiving the Eucharist. Burrill himself was a strong advocate for the measure.

https://dailyboulder.com/top-church-official-who-refused-biden-communion-resigns-in-sex-scandal/