Want news? Failing AZ Republic invites you to write it

Editorial Page editor Boas’ shocking metamorphosis into a beggar 

It’s no secret the Arizona Republic is on its last legs. The situation has turned so dire for the local newspaper, that its parent company, Gannett, Co. Inc. recently laid off its Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist to save a few bucks. The action even threw the newspaper for a loop, featuring an editorial bidding a fond farewell to Steve Benson and his talented but venomous pen. This boot follows previous massive layoffs preceded by large scale buyouts of senior staffers.

A quick Internet search reveals countless publications detailing the company’s layoffs and overall wretched state. The Wall Street Journal recently headlined its report, “Gannett’s Loss Widens as Ad, Circulation Revenue Fall.” Its been death by a thousand cuts, with so little coursing life blood left that the anorexic publication relies on vapid ASU Cronkite Journalism School student reporters who write as colloquially they speak. The absurdity could be entertaining, if you enjoy farce.  

But there is a bright light at the end of this darkened tunnel.

Editorial Page editor Phil Boas, is, of course, a deep thinker. Who could forget Boas? He’s the guy who dedicated years of his life to the craven pursuit of taking down popular 6-term Republican Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio — his own father-in-law.  Boas oversaw the endorsement of the problem plagued Democrat with this headline: “Elect Paul Penzone, not Sheriff Showboat.” After Penzone was elected, the new sheriff referred to illegal aliens as “guests.”

Now, functioning with editorless staff, a couple of far-leftwing columnists, and mostly purchased content, Boas has had to become inventive. His latest cost-cutting gimmick is called “Voices.” That’s the slick way he sells what they are not paying for but expect you to provide — previously known as op-ed pages. Those haven’t existed in the left-wing echo chamber for years. Not only can’t the newspaper afford established conservative opinion writers, it definitely doesn’t want them.

But the fact remains subscriptions are continuing to tank because few Trump-supporters can tolerate the elitist radical leftism that oozes off every page of the Hillary-endorsing newspaper. Boas and his like-thinking ideologues are bonded to the policy of insulting the very people who pay their increasingly overpriced subscription rates for emaciated editions.

Yet Boas farcically writes, “…we began our experiment with conservative writers [former Gov. Jan Brewer who pushed Medicaid expansion, was the odd choice]. And for a reason. After Donald Trump won election, most newspapers could not turn to their in-house and syndicated conservatives to express pro-Trump points of view, because so many media conservatives opposed Trump. I fit that category.”

After admitting his own bias against President Trump, Boas doesn’t name any conservatives on the Arizona Republic’s staff —- because he can’t. Even Libertarian-leaning Robert Robb has fallen in with the newspaper’s standard.

Most pathetically, following articles is this plea: “Support local journalism. Subscribe….today.” (We omitted the link the failing newspaper provided.)  The big-time beg should be written on corrugated cardboard with a black marker and held up for passing traffic on Van Buren Street by Editorial Page editor Phil Boas.

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AZ Supreme Court: Pals in high places can hinder

Despite objections by Chief Justice Scott Bales, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey used the power of his office to unnecessarily expand the state Supreme Court from five to seven justices in May 2016. The high court’s director of government affairs testified against expansion, saying, “We just do not believe it’s needed. The court is current in its cases. There’s nothing that we are seeing that’s going to lead to a greatly increased caseload.”

One of the newly robed justices — Clint Bolick — former chief litigator at the libertarian Goldwater Institute and open borders advocate who co-authored a book on the topic with Jeb Bush, is a friend of Ducey’s. So close are the two men, they routinely text one another.

People holding top jobs erroneously think they are above scrutiny. The Phoenix New Times, through a Freedom of Information Act request was able to secure the two men’s electronic correspondence.

The justice lobbied the governor providing his opinion regarding the best choice for the vacancy on Arizona’s highest court. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery was among the 11 applicants for the post which the governor will fill from a vetted and pared down list of applicants sent to him by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments.  (Two of the original 13 appear to have withdrawn their applications.)

The commission met Friday and forwarded a list of five names to Ducey.  Montgomery, who would have made an excellent justice, was not among them.

Three judges from the Arizona Court of Appeals Division One, James Beene, (Republican); Kent Cattani, (Republican); and Maria Elena Cruz, (unregistered prior to September 24, 2002 when she became a Democrat); along with Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Gordon, (Republican); and private practice attorney Andrew Jacobs, (Democrat); made the cut. On their applications, two of the applicants state they are of mixed ethnicity.

Predictably, the local newspaper’s take is exemplified by this front page headline: “Arizona’s Supreme Court short on diversity — Disparity under scrutiny with justice’s retirement.”

Diversity is never about ideas, only ethnicity. We’ve had female justices for years with several serving as chief justice, so it’s not even about plumbing. This 2012 post provides the stellar history of Arizona’s female justices. The first was Lorna Lockwood — born in 1903 in the Arizona territory. Lockwood is notable for being the first woman in the nation to become Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court. President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman on U.S. Supreme Court in 1981.

Justice John Pelander’s retirement was effective March 1, 2019.

Amazing! AZ Republic reverses stance

Will wonders never cease?

On the heels of Thursday’s post, “Skewing & spinning news to fit anti-Trump agenda” in which we pointed out that the agenda driven Arizona Republic chose to eliminate any coverage of President Trump’s second historic summit with unpredictable North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the newspaper has done an about face. The meeting was again focused on denuclearization.  Kim waffled from his previous acquiescence and President Trump concluded the meeting early.

Friday’s edition features a large, full-color photo of the two men, with this above-the-fold headline: SUPPORTERS, CRITICS AGREE WITH TRUMP’S DECISION TO WALK AWAY WHEN PROGRESS WITH KIM IS ELUSIVE.

No doubt the left-wing newspaper heard from its dwindling reader base following their choice to ignore positive actions by the Republican president and instead give prime coverage to convicted perjurer Michael Cohen whose appearance before congress — on his way to serve a three years sentence for previously lying to them — was timed to embarrass the president as he met with Kim in Hanoi.

Let’s be clear. To the goons at the newspaper, unprecedented efforts at denuclearization of a global hot spot run by an unstable despot take a back seat to advancing the agenda of taking down President Trump.

When the newspaper endorsed scandal-plagued Hillary Clinton for President in 2016, it was forced to admit that countless furious readers called dropping subscriptions. There’s a good chance that has recurred, when the failing newspaper is too weak to withstand further loses, which is likely what drove today’s more rational headline.

Donald Trump did not just carry Arizona; he scored decisive victories (map) across the entire country.

ERA 2019: A solution seeking non-existent problem

Competency has long trumped gender as qualifier for women achievers, rendering Equal Rights Amendment irrelevant

As the ERA resurfaces in the Arizona Legislature, and marches on the state capitol are planned, it’s worth examining the facts regarding the need for a constitutional amendment to enshrine equal rights for women.

For the third year in a row, women outnumbered men in law school classrooms across the country in 2018. Ditto medical schools, with higher female enrollment. Women serve in record numbers in congress. In a historic first, Arizona is represented in Washington D.C. by two female U.S. Senators Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema.  Ironically, it was Democrat Sinema who viciously slurred women.

Four of Arizona’s last six governors have been women, dating back to 1988. We were also one of the first states to send a woman to Congress, when Isabella Selmes Greenway won office in 1932. Not only was Sandra Day O’Connor — appointed by President Ronald Reagan — the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, but the trailblazing state of Arizona had the first female state Supreme Court Justice, when Lorna Lockwood — born in 1903, in the Arizona territory — ascended to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Justice Lockwood is notable for being the first woman in the nation to become Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court serving in that capacity twice — from 1965 through 1966 and from 1970 through 1971. She passed the bar in 1925 and was a state legislator and Superior Court Judge before ascending to the Arizona Supreme Court in 1960 — paving the nearly identical career path Sandra O’Connor eventually took to the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor was elected to both the state legislature and as a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge (prior to the 1974 advent of “merit selection”) before being named to the Supreme Court.

Women are also entrepreneurial. According to these 2017 figures, which have no doubt grown since they were released, more than 11.6 million firms are owned by women, employing nearly 9 million people, and generating $1.7 trillion in sales.

So why is the political left reviving efforts to pass the obviously unnecessary Equal Rights Amendment? Women have served in Presidential Cabinets, as spokespersons and advisers. Female Democrat 2020 presidential aspirants are already outnumbering their male counterparts.

Women obviously are not in need of amendment to ensure equal rights. The rights have been in place for decades as Arizonans are well aware, exemplified by Justice Lockwood, who passed the bar 93 years ago, beginning her stellar career path.

In 1998, five Arizona women known as the ‘Fab Five’ were simultaneously elected to the state’s top government positions. Governor Jane Dee Hull; Secretary of State Betsey Bayless; Attorney General Janet Napolitano; Treasurer Carol Springer; and Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham-Keegan.

Soon after statehood in 1912, Arizona amended the state constitution to grant women’s voting rights and ensure their ability to hold public office. That occurred a full eight years before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women’s rights.

What exactly would the ratification of the obviously antiquated notion of an Equal Rights Amendment accomplish in 2019?

Pro-life victory! Life prevails in Arizona

Weekend reading guaranteed to make you smarter

This past week saw a resolute victory for life as Democrats in the Arizona Legislature sought to emulate infanticide legislation that was recently heralded by beleaguered Virginia Gov. Ralph  Northam — shockingly a pediatric neurologist, who put leftist politics above life.

Arizonans are fortunate to have Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy to get the truth out and assemble opponents to protest the horror of abortion up to the moment birth which HB 2696 — introduced by Democrat state Rep Raquel Teran — would have accomplished by repealing the fetal resuscitation law.  That law required doctors to provide aid to babies born alive during abortions. Teran’s bill prioritized providing dressing rooms for staff and patients, “appropriate” toilet facilities and areas for pre-procedure hand washing. The babies received death sentences.

SRAZ stresses that pre-election endorsements reveal a lot about candidates. That’s certainly the case with Raquel Teran. Scroll through her endorsements page and you’ll see that she was the choice of pro-abortion advocates and unions including the left-wing Arizona Education Association, which must think they are overburdened with too many Arizona students.

Lifesite News covers the facts with this in-depth report, BREAKING: Arizona committee scraps Democrat’s bill lifting infanticide ban.

We urge you to read it and be brought up to speed on the increasingly amoral liberal agenda and the fact that conservative activism brings results.

Crime is bad but appropriate punishment is worse

The hoax of criminal justice reform

A recently released poll by FWD.us purports to show Arizona voters across the political spectrum support “bold reforms” to the state’s criminal justice system.

The left-wing group refers to a “prison crisis,” rather than accurately calling it a crime crisis.

Public Opinion Strategies which conducted the survey ludicrously concluded only one percent of Arizonans want to spend additional tax dollars on jails and prisons. The obvious conclusion, according to the pollsters, is 99 percent of Arizonans prefer living among violent criminals.

Additionally, the survey farcically claims support for less prosecution of crimes cuts across political party affiliations and demographic groups, with majority support supposedly among victims of crime. The far left group declares its pro-criminal efforts have “bi-partisan” support, the conveniently used buzz word providing cover to radical agendas.

In 2018 FWD.us President Todd Schulte opposed California bill SB10, which he preposterously referred to as bringing “extraordinary harm caused by unnecessary pretrial jailing” and the “requiring of bail.” Bail ensures bondable criminals don’t flee prior to trial. Pretrial incarceration keeps dangerous offenders off the streets.

Among the ill-conceived bills FWD.us’ Arizona proponents have introduced this state legislative session are HB 2245 (Prime Sponsor: Rep. Tony Riverio, LD-21) which allows prisoners to cut an additional 25% percent from their sentences for good behavior and participation in rehabilitation programs, both of which are expected of criminal inmates and HB 2362 (Prime Sponsor: Rep. Ben Toma, LD-22). This bill allows individual judges to determine the punishment if, in his or her opinion, the mandatory minimum sentence is not justified based on “the crime and individual” — ignoring the law and making criminal defendants’ fate a crap shoot depending on the luck of the judicial draw.

FWD.us, is heavily funded to the tune of $100’s of millions by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Open Society Foundation founder George Soros, who has been working behind the scenes to overhaul the U.S. Justice system in his extreme leftist image.

The liberal billionaires lead a host of moneyed, like-thinkers who embrace open borders, spew leftist rhetoric and hire numerous lobbying groups to press their issues with city and state governments and congress. Illegal alien profiteers at the Chambers of Commerce whose members seek cheap, illegal labor are also in the tank for open borders, which is why they so disdain President Donald Trump and his commitment to build a border wall.

These people put criminals and illegal aliens above the safety and security of American citizens.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lobbying operation alone spent nearly $95 million last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. What do you think would be worth that much money and effort?

Mark Kelly, AZ gun hypocrite, announces for US Senate

With brazen audacity oozing from every pore, leftist Democrat Mark Kelly has announced his entrance into the U.S. Senate race, mounting a challenge to Arizona incumbent Sen. Martha McSally. The Republican former congresswoman was appointed to the senate after placeholder and former senator, Jon Kyl stepped down. Kyl was appointed to temporarily fill the Senate vacancy following the death of John McCain.

Mark Kelly has ridden the unfortunate shooting of his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords like a steed, despite some major missteps. Though the two of them have been in the forefront of Second Amendment restrictions for the rest of us via their organization Americans for Responsible Solutions, which opposes concealed carry laws, and has now morphed into the $multi-million Giffords PAC.* Mark Kelly exempts himself from his desire to curtail our constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights. The PAC which claims to be bipartisan overwhelmingly endorses liberal Democrats, including the Virginia trio now negatively dominating the news for everything from infanticide protections, and racism to sexual assault: Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring.

In 2013, Breitbart News exposed Kelly making a private purchase of an AR-15, a.45 caliber semi-automatic pistol and “high capacity” magazines at Diamondback Police Supply, a Tucson gun store. After he was caught in the hypocrisy, he backtracked, saying he was not going to keep the AR-15, which he had not picked up from the store.

Democrats are nothing if not two-faced on the issue of guns. They want to rein in the rights of America’s gun owners, but desire easy access to self-protection for themselves. Our illustrative 2012 post “Dem gun hypocrites,” is proof positive.

The couple is also close to Barack Obama, another Second Amendment restrictionist…for others, though he exempts himself, as seen here.

Mark Kelly has had his share of captured-on-film woes involving not only “assault” weapons but also assault dogs as seen in this disturbing video. During a Kelly family vacation in the seaside resort community of Laguna Beach, his daughter’s 65-pound American Bulldog (a close relative of the notorious Pit Bull) leaped down upon a baby seal, mercilessly attacking and killing the defenseless animal.

Join the NRA to protect our inherent, constitutionally supported freedoms that Mark Kelly would decimate if elected.

* Center for Responsive Politics