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?

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Pres. Trump is right to declare a National Emergency

The left, exemplified by the Hillary-endorsing, Arizona Republic newspaper, is going ballistic over the National Emergency declaration called for by President Trump after he signed onto the substandard budget bill which provides scant funding to the promised and increasingly crucial border wall. He did so to overt another government shutdown. The left’s nefarious scheme revolves around the single fact that increasing the Democrat voter base is best accomplished by allowing millions of illiterate illegal invaders who will be constantly reminded who went to bat for them.

Today’s edition of the failing newspaper headlines, “Trump declares border emergency” with the tagline. “Grab for wall funds is certain to trigger lengthy legal fight.”

Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have vowed not to fund the wall. They and their ilk suffer from a genetic affliction that allows them to say “barrier” and even utter the word “technology,” but “wall” can’t make its way past their lips. Technology was tried and failed under First Homeland Insecurity Chief Michael Chertoff. In 2008 we wrote, “Virtual fence is a virtual flop.”

Construction of a security wall to staunch the ongoing illegal invasion, was the campaign message that resonated with the American people, propelling political novice Donald Trump into the presidency over 16 other Republican aspirants.

Although the left is going ballistic over President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to secure our southern border in response to congress’ failure to act, the ability to do so is not a new construct emanating from the Trump White House.

The National Emergencies Act was enacted by Congress in 1976, when it was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. It has no specific definition of what is considered an emergency, but has historically been invoked during unusual threats to the nation. There have been 58 national emergencies declared since the act‘s inception. Thirty-one of them remain in effect today.

In 1979, Pres. Jimmy Carter initially put the act to use to declare a national emergency freezing all Iranian government assets in the U.S. in response to the Iran hostage crisis. His national emergency is still in place and has been renewed annually by successive presidents, as required by law.

Pres. George W. Bush declared national emergency acts following the September 11, 2001 attacks. In all, he declared 13. As president, Barack Obama declared national emergencies on 12 foreign relations issues that have also been renewed.

Outraged headlines have been the order of the day only since Donald J. Trump was dramatically elected on November 8, 2016.

Adding to the radical anti-Trump deception, today’s Arizona Republic carries a “Your Turn” column by Lisa Urias, titled “A tale of two walls.” The PR exec describes a funded trip she and “Latino leaders” took to Israel, and makes this insultingly inane comparison: “Despite (what she refers to as “challenges”) never once during a recent trip did we hear Israeli leaders suggest their neighboring states were “criminals, rapists and horrible people.”

Of course not. They are murders, who have a history of bombing school buses and where teachers often carry rifles and armed guards are onsite to protect students. Israel’s wall has been an effective security tool for the tiny nation surrounded by sworn enemies.

These are the schizophrenic views of Democrats, before and after the election of President Trump.

Illegal aliens’ get-rich-quick scheme: Sue Americans

Polls show Americans overwhelmingly support Pres. Trump’s policies

When criminals commit unlawful acts, they are arrested, charged and detained. If they are found guilty in a court of law, they are sentenced to serve a specific jail or prison sentence. Among the hardships they and their families endure is separation. This scenario occurs daily in American cities across the country.

When they are foreign nationals, illegal invaders breaching our sovereign border, increasingly they arrive with children — not always their own. Having children in tow provides them with a sympathetic aura.

Though difficult to believe these uneducated illegals who now arrive by the thousands from Central America, facilitated in the passage of their caravans by our Mexican “neighbors” — have advocates. 

Law firms and a contrivance known as the National Immigration Justice Center are currently representing six illegal alien families, who claim they and the children were traumatized by being separated after the adults were detained.  The children were cared for, fed, kept clean, provided clothes, schooled and in all likelihood, treated better than they’ve previously been. Many of them made the long trek with strangers who claimed to be their parents.

But now the illegal adults, guided by far left organizations, are being represented by D.C. and Philadelphia law firms. They are seeking $3 million for each adult and each child, for a total of $36 million.

These are just the first such lawsuits. They threaten more will follow. Though they claim to be suing the Trump administration, they are in fact, suing us…American taxpayers, already overburdened by $100’s of billions providing them benefits, medical care and educating their kids, according to this 2017 report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Scroll down to page 4 for a synopsis. Criminals among them are also clogging our court and penal systems.

President Trump opposes the catch-and-release policies at the border, which allow illegal aliens claiming asylum to be released into the U.S. pending a court date that results in many never being seen again.

“We’re going to no longer release. We’re going to catch; we’re not going to release. They’re going to stay with us until the deportation hearing or the asylum hearing takes place. So we’re not releasing them into the community,” President Trump recently stated.

A new Rasmussen Reports national survey finds that 59% of likely U.S. voters think border security is a vital national security interest for the United States.

According to a Gallup poll, more Americans are concerned about illegal immigration than other issues. The numbers spiked from 13% to 21% at the end of 2018.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday, Feb. 12, shows that 50% of likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.

Those numbers show American’s are paying attention. That’s why he draws crowds of thousands to his rallies.

An insight: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Socialism

Since the June 26, primary election, when it became shockingly clear that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, soundly defeated longtime incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley in New York’s 14^th House District,  Americans across the country have been inundated with the inanities uttered, and bizarre antics engaged in, by the full-of-herself, newly elected New York Congresswoman.

AOC is a former presidential campaign organizer for Bernie Sanders. Crowley 56, who had served in congress over two decades was seen as a possible replacement for Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the House Democrats — prior to the election returns coming in. He has not had a primary challenger since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was too young to vote. 

She prances and dances, as she spews her radical ideology and redistributionist ideas which many find atrocious, others foolishly amusing and still others grasping at them as if being thrown a life-jacket. The latter groups are the ones in dire need of education.

Knowledgeable people who are familiar with history and economics shudder at her notions of taxing the wealthiest Americans at a 70% marginal tax rate in order to fund her “Green New Deal.”

High earners are not the enemy. They are most frequently job creators who make the American Dream possible for other Americans. They are also who previous generations of Americans desired to emulate, not decimate.

Under AOC’s Green New Deal, every building in the nation would have to be rebuilt to comply with her radical climate change goals, which would include eliminating all air travel within the next ten years. Yes, you read that right! AOC has unilaterally deemed that the earth can only survive another dozen years without swift action.  When questioned about how to fund all of these projects, she shrugs and says, “We’ll print more money “

Ocasio-Cortez embraces the description of radicalism, wildly distorting it to fit her contrived image of herself:

“It only has ever been radicals that have changed this country,” she said. “Abraham Lincoln made the radical decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the radical decision to embark on establishing programs like Social Security. If that’s what radical means, call me a radical.”

The best counter to Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk is fact-based truth.  Take time to read, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fails miserably at dissociating her socialism from Venezuela’s,” by Monica Showalter and posted at American Thinker. You’ll be glad you did.  It’s a well-written exposé of the global failures of Socialism, always with the same abysmal results. 

Ed Supe Kathy Hoffman proves too much is never enough

Hoffman’s ‘State of Education’ speech demands additional teacher’s salary increases, as she thumbs her nose at 20% raises

It was easy enough to miss — but Democrat Kathy Hoffman, Arizona’s newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, delivered her fledgling State of Education speech.

A committed leftist, her campaign of smoke and mirrors promised a sound education benefiting Arizona’s school children, many of whom are in ESL classes and not up to speed in the basics. Yet Hoffman regards sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, including clear policies, support groups, and activities for LGBTQ students on the top of her list.  Her campaign website stated, “Welcoming family diversity promotes exclusivity and must be a priority for our state.”

Hoffman’s intransigent opposition to charter schools is abundantly clear, with these irrational words addressing her fears, “I do not support the expansion of ESA vouchers and will be voting NO on Prop 305 come November. If passed, Prop 305 would further defund our public schools. This is terrifying.”

The proposition was ultimately defeated by the public school teachers’ union activists* who couldn’t compete with the proliferation of excellent Charter Schools and want to deny parents choice in the education of their own children. While public school teachers went out on strike, none of the charter or parochial school teachers joined their Socialist-led parade.

Paid month’s long maternity and paternity leave is another of the policies Hoffman advocates, saying such plans would help retain teachers. Apparently working a part-time job, with lengthy holiday vacation days and summer’s off isn’t enough of an enticement.

Kathy Hoffman notes she “proudly voted to walk out” with her fellow #REDSforEd striking teachers who abandoned a reported 840,000 Arizona students for over a week in violation of their contractual agreements as they followed Socialist Pied Piper Noah Karvelis a 24-year-old hip hop music teacher and avowed Socialist. She says she was “inspired by unity within the movement.”

Lacking any leadership experience, Hoffman has spent more time as a student than as a teacher, having taught preschool for two years and two additional years as a years as a speech therapist.

After initially rejecting the outrageous demands for a 20% pay increase for their part-time jobs, Gov. Doug Ducey caved in to their threats while lying about the lack of a tax increase, using inventive language to deceive Arizona taxpayers.

We’ve been had…by politicians of both parties.

* Center for Responsive Politics

Fmr. House Speaker Boehner goes to pot, makes $millions

First, a bit of background. Former House Speaker John Boehner, a heavy smoker and rumored alcoholic, known to weep easily and talk about the impoverished family in which he grew up as one of eleven kids. After leaving congress, the Ohio Republican, found a smokin’ deal of a job in 2016 with a hefty salary increase and free cigarettes. He was hired as a director at Reynolds American, the tobacco company that makes his preferred smoke: Camel.

Last year, he sold his soul and those of millions of mostly young Americans, as he’s moved on —- joining the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses marijuana, now going by the less incendiary moniker, “cannabis,” in 11 U.S. states where dispensaries flourish. This move came after he previously noted he was “unalterably opposed” to marijuana legalization then ultimately “evolved.” Money has been known to change unalterable positions. Prostitutes weren’t born into their trade.

Boehner has also become an investment counselor, holding seminars to hawk the enormous opportunities to become wealthy investing in marijuana — er-r —- cannabis. Now he says, “Cannabis is here to stay,” and is hosting the American Cannabis Summit: Countdown to Legalization, touting job creation and new tax revenues. Of potential investors in what he calls a “golden opportunity,” Boehner declares, “They’re dying to get in.”

Being nation of stoners will put us way ahead of what Roman satirist Juvenal derisively described as “bread and circuses,“ as he deplored the declining courage of his fellow citizens after the fall of the once vibrant Roman Empire…and the diversions the ruling class employed to distract the attention of the populace.  “Two things only the people anxiously desire — bread and circuses,” observed Juvenal. The government placated the Roman populace by distributing free beer and food while staging huge spectacles to entertain the once heroic citizens.

After you inhale the dope from Boehner, read “Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence,” by author Alex Berenson which opens with a stunning conversation he had with his wife — Dr. Jacqueline Berenson — then a senior psychiatrist at Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Institute in New York.  Chances are, you already receive a free issue of Hillsdale College’s Imprimis in your mailbox each month. If not, do yourself a favor and sign up.

Wurst cafe bans MAGA caps as “symbol of hate”

Before the sidewalks of San Francisco became littered with piles of human feces, as noted by the mayor, many Arizonans endured the proliferation of street bums to enjoy delectable meals in a city brimming with great restaurants, entertainment, museums and world class shopping. Same-day, half-price show tickets to theater performances sold at the Tix Booth in Union Square Park have been a reliable draw and the sights and sounds of the city were enchanting. The fact that it was a haven for leftists didn’t detract from the panache, since it was just a vacation, or a stop on the way to Napa and Sonoma winery destinations and more superb eateries.

No more. Now the far-left mental erosion has eaten away at sanity. The owner of a San Francisco-area (San Mateo) restaurant has announced that he will refuse service to any customers who walk into his restaurant wearing a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, the chef-partner at Wursthall restaurant, declares he will not serve MAGA hat-wearing customers, comparing the red Trump campaign-themed caps to wearing Nazi swastikas or the white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan.

Donald Trump, the  duly elected Republican president has overseen economic surges, the lowest unemployment in decades, and is fighting on our behalf to secure our sovereign and too easily penetrable southern border. He has delivered on promised judicial appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court and national federal district courts and has made unprecedented global inroads, yet is viewed by a screwy liberal wurst cook as a messenger of hatred and bigotry?

The illogical Californian views reality through a distorted and irrational liberal prism.

“It hasn’t happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren’t getting served, same as if you come in wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate,” according to a now-deleted tweet from Lopez-Alt obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday.

Hungry for some superb dining? The Valley of the Sun is brimming with fine choices. Want to travel for epicurean delights? Try Sedona. The scenery is unmatched, you won’t find excrement on the sidewalks, the air is clean and liberals haven’t taken over the area. You can also venture further north and snow ski in Flagstaff or visit the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

If you’ve previously traveled to San Francisco, you have your memories. Keep your money in Arizona. This map tells the story. Donald Trump carried Arizona.  California, which lost its way years ago, gave all 55 of its electoral votes to Hillary Clinton.