Fired FBI Director James Comey testifies LIVE FEED

C-SPAN: Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Options include watching live or from the beginning.

Click HERE to view.

Best wishes for a happy Mother’s Day — 2017

American-born impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844 – 1926) specialized in paintings depicting mothers and children. Our selection for this Mother’s Day is “Sleepy Baby,” a pastel completed in 1910. It is on display in the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas.

Intrigue follows Ben Toma, appointed to LD 22 AZ House

In the aftermath of state Representative Phil Lovas’ recent resignation from a Legislative District 22 House seat, the elected precinct committeemen of the district nominated three people to fill the vacancy.  The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors made the final pick, selecting Ben Toma. A warm congratulatory message was sent out by AZ GOP chairman Jonathan Lines.

Since the name Ben Toma was unfamiliar, we did a little research and found a litany of items in local newspapers.

In an August 31, 2016 election, Vice Mayor and Mesquite District Council member Bridget Binsbacher was victorious over Peoria City Council challenger Ben Toma, as reported in the Peoria Times.

Toma’s loss might have had something to do with this earlier Sept. 18, 2014 Arizona Republic report that he was being investigated. He was eventually cleared of the charges.  Ben Toma was previously appointed to the Peoria City Council.

The perennial appointee is obviously a man to watch.

 

A “Spring Homecoming”

American Tradition entwines “Homecoming” with autumn, as the football schedules of high schools and colleges annually attest.

But in this “Arizona spring,” we take note of a most welcome homecoming. After three years in Florida anchoring Newsmax TV programs, former Congressman JD Hayworth is back in Arizona…and he’s brought Newsmax TV with him!

Monday morning, his new program premieres from a local studio. Watch every weekday from 7-9 am at www.newsmaxtv.com (Click on TV at top of the page.)

AG Sessions visits AZ, announces new border security measures

U.S.A.G. Jeff Sessions gives the speech we’ve been waiting years to hear

 U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Arizona on Tuesday and outlined President Trump’s bold new plan to secure our southern border.  Unequivocally stating, “This is the Trump era,” the attorney general announced new crackdowns on illegal immigration.

Read the full text of Attorney General Sessions’s speech as he addressed the uniformed men and women who serve in Customs and Border Protection  — providing the front line of border security.

Sessions stated that federal prosecutors are now required to consider for prosecution a broadened list of offenses, which he clearly outlines with bullet points in the text.

For those who didn’t get a chance to hear his long-awaited message, enjoy it here.

Melania Trump’s Communications Director’s deep AZ roots

This White House press release announces the appointment of Arizonan Stephanie Grisham to serve as Special Assistant to President Donald Trump and Director of Communications to First Lady, Melania Trump. In this role she will lead all communications efforts on behalf of the Office of the First Lady.

Quite a coup.

Grisham previously served as spokeswoman for former Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, and later in that capacity for the Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives.

Last November, Grisham and Arizona Treasurer Jeff DeWit were named to the Trump transition team. DeWit had chaired Trump’s Arizona campaign.

For more information, Heavy News features Stephanie Grisham: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.

Paul Ryan’s hyped Obamacare revamp is a farce

Conservative critics view bill as Obamacare-lite, but House Ways and Means Committee moves forward

When current House Speaker Paul Ryan became Mitt Romney’s running mate in the 2012 presidential election, few outside of his home state had heard of the Wisconsin congressman. Romney promoted Ryan as a numbers cruncher and policy wonk. Though the Republicrat ticket crashed and burned, Ryan’s aspirations did not. Although his 2016 support for Trump was tepid, Ryan shrewdly dropped the anti-Trump Romney when it became apparent the businessman was poised to win the GOP nomination.

As House Republicans rolled out their Obamacare replacement, Ryan’s calculated political caution was nowhere to be seen. Many of his conservative colleagues have expressed dissatisfaction with the legislation bearing the speaker’s personal stamp of approval.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have been vocal in their disapproval. An example is U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) who condemned the leadership bill in a two-word tweet: “Obamacare 2.0.” The full Freedom Caucus includes  over two dozen members of the 237 in the House Republican majority. If they voted as a bloc, they could sink the bill on their own. Arizona Congressmen Trent Franks (CD-8), Paul Gosar (CD-4) and David Schweikert (CD-6) are members of the group.

The Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon called the healthcare bill, “a train wreck waiting to happen. It is remarkable that they’ve produced a bill that is so out of touch with ACA opponents,” Cannon said. “The House Republican leadership bill does not replace Obamacare. It merely applies a new coat of paint to a building that Republicans themselves have already condemned.”

Edmund F. Haislmaier, a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an acknowledged expert and adviser in health care policy has written an analysis of the recently released draft House health care bill, “House Republican Health Care Bill Misses the Mark.”

The issue is complex, and putting a Band-Aid on Obamacare is the last thing the Republican controlled Congress should be considering. President Trump and Republican House and Senate majorities were elected in large part by citizens who believed their declarations of a full repeal of Obamacare, and their vows to replace it with free-market reforms.

But the rush is on. Step one, funding, was addressed by the House Ways and Means Committee this morning. This is the press release issued today by House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX). The bill was approved along party lines after debating the draft legislation nearly 18 hours. The full committee can be seen here.