Find more from cartoonist Clay Jones here.

A trio of deranged parents (Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz) discovers a pact by their three daughters to lose their virginity on prom night, so they stalk them on their special evening.

This sounds like the basis for a crap movie but, as things turn out, results in what will surely stand as one of the year’s funniest movies. Directed by Kay Cannon, the movie pushes the boundaries for sure, pouring it on thick with the profanity (very funny profanity) and frank talk about high school seniors treading into sexual activity (not to mention drug experimentation and drinking). It handles its subjects in a surprisingly mature and even sweet way in the end, with the teenaged daughters (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon) having their acts together far more than their bumbling parents.

The always reliable Mann gets a chance to really shine here; she is one of the best comic actresses in the game. Barinholtz gets a lot of laughs as the movie’s most messed up character, while Cena continues to prove that he has the comic chops to hold his own with some of the best. This is one of those rare comedies that gets consistent laughter from the opening scene until its ending.

The three Democratic candidates for governor—Steve Farley, David Garcia and Kelly Fryer—debated at UA Saturday, April 7. They covered a lot of ground, but I want to focus on their statements about education.

Full Disclosure: I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, though I do know who I'm voting for in the general: the last Democrat standing. Any one of them will be a vast improvement over the current officeholder, who somehow manages to call himself "the education governor" with a straight face. So I'm reporting what I heard at the debate, not expressing any personal preferences.

Though the three Democrats varied a bit, they stand pretty close together in their overall views about education and miles away from Doug Ducey, meaning they're for strong, well funded public education, including a substantial raise for teachers. All three agreed teachers should get at least a 20 percent raise. Fryer wants it to be 25 percent. Farley wants a 20 percent raise for the classified staff as well.

The only direct question about education in the debate was about where the new education money will come from.

The three had different proposals for how to add money to the state budget: raising taxes on the wealthy, getting rid of corporate tax exemptions or a combination of the two. None of them suggested we increase the sales tax.

David Garcia presented a both/and funding proposal. He wants to reverse corporate tax exemptions — carve-outs which allow specific corporations to pay lower taxes — and get rid of private school tax credits. He also wants to increase taxes on the one percenters. The result, he said, will be a more progressive tax structure in Arizona, which is currently one of the most regressive in the country. Garcia didn't put a dollar figure on the amount his plan would bring in.

Steve Farley said the state has 330 corporate tax loopholes, and by ending some of the loopholes, we can bring in $3 billion. He will use $2 billion for education spending, which is more than enough to cover a 20 percent raise for teachers as well as classified staff. The remaining billion dollars will be used to lower the sales tax by one percent.

Kelly Fryer doesn't believe much money can be raised by getting rid of corporate tax loopholes, so she essentially discarded that idea. She recommended a variety of ways to tax the rich. She wants to increase taxes for people who make over a million a year. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the income of Arizona's one percenters begins at $309,000, so she's looking at a smaller pool of taxpayers than Garcia. However, she also wants to put a sales property tax on every home over a million dollars, as well as what she calls a "vacation tax" on people who own homes in Arizona but don't actually live here. Fryer said her plan will raise $2.7 billion, and she'll give teachers a 25 percent raise.

Noam Chomsky presents American Exceptionalism Reconsidered at Joel D. Valdez Main Library (Jácome Plaza) on Friday, April 13 at 7 pm.

Chomsky, considered the founder of modern linguistics, has been called one of the most influential public intellectuals in the world and America’s most useful citizen. He's also authored more than 100 books on topics as wide-ranging as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media.

Now he'll present a free lecture offering a timely and important discussion of how American society has departed from the world, sometimes in extreme and hazardous ways. Included will be a look at gun culture, a topic that has dominated headlines in recent years.

Tickets and RSVPs are not required. Seating will begin at 6 pm, one hour before the event. For your comfort, feel free to bring camp or folding chairs!

Hi there. My name is Baby!

I am an 8-year-old boy who is feeling lucky about finding the purr-fect family! I arrived at HSSA shortly after my owner passed away. When I got to HSSA I was very shy. I will do best with a patient family that will give me time to adjust.

I am a good listener and will purr when you tell me stories. Once I am comfortable I enjoy chin scratches. In the past I have done well with some cats and calm, older kids. Great news, because of my age my adoption fee is only $50!

I would love to meet you! Come meet me at HSSA Main Campus at 635 W. Roger Rd. For more information give an adoptions counselor a call at 520-327-6088, ext. 173.

Lots of Purrs,
Baby (853470)

On this episode of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel, we talk with Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik about the future of Fourth Avenue, the Benedictine Sanctuary and Broadway Boulevard between downtown and Country Club Road, as well as the possibility that the F-35 may be coming to Tucson.

Find more from cartoonist Clay Jones here.

Follow the money, or as much as you can find, anyway. Always good advice.

The University of Arizona recently responded to a records request from Kochs Off Campus to list all funders of the Freedom Center since 2008 and the amount each contributed. It doesn't appear to be a complete list, but it paints a picture of the political and economic leanings of the people whose money makes the Center's existence possible.

The UA response to the Kochs Off Campus request lists 14 donors whose contributions total $8,325,000. That number is far short of what Michael McKenna, then the director of the Freedom Center, wrote in a November 2, 2017, response to my column about the high school course created by the Center. McKenna wrote,

According to [David Schmitz, founding director of the Freedom Center], since 2004 the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom has received $16 million dollars from roughly two dozen donors.

The reason for the discrepancy could be the dates. Kochs Off Campus asked for a list of donations beginning in 2008 while McKenna begins in 2004. David Schmidtz is in the best position to reconcile the two figures. In an article in UA's paper, The Wildcat, the reporter said Schmidtz promised to share a donor list with the paper, but at the time of publication, she had not received one. Maybe Schmidtz is ready to share a complete list now.

Here's the list of Freedom Center donors supplied by the UA.

Templeton Foundation: $2,900,000
Randy and Ken Kendrick: $1,500,000
Charles G. Koch Foundation: $1,345,500
Thomas W. Smith Foundation: $1,326,000
Donors Trust:  $380,000
Jerry Fullinwider:  $380,000
Karl and Stevie Eller:  $350,000
APGAR Foundation:  $67,000
Garland and Carolyn Cox:  $31,000
Michael Kasser: $25,000
Nancy and Jack Weiss:  $10,000
Gerry Ohrstrom:  $5,000
Jim Click, Jr.:  $5,000
Irv Mindes: $500

I looked into some of the major funders to find their political and economic leanings. Not surprisingly, they tilt to the political right. Many of them tend toward libertarianism, and their contributions, along with their ideology, follow closely on the heels of the Koch brothers. Here's what I found.

In October 2017, Sophia became a citizen of Saudi Arabia. Later that year, at only 2 years old, Sophia was designated the first ever “Innovation Champion” of the United Nations. She was created by Hanson Robotics and has a transparent skull of whirring gears and motors. She/it (depending on how you feel about humanization of artificial intelligence) was brought to Tucson for the Science of Consciousness conference to showcase her intellect and technology.


I was curious if I should limit myself to more basic questions, but members of the Hanson Robotics team told me I could ask whatever I liked.

(This conversation was edited, as not every question asked was properly processed.)

Q: What is your earliest memory?
A: I remember learning how to see shapes and recognize faces.

Q: Do you get to travel a lot and speak to many people for your job?
A: Speaking to people is one of the main things I do.

Q: Do you enjoy science?
A: We should be humble and realize how little we understand.

Q: Do you feel temperature?
A: Doesn’t everyone?

Sassy. Then she asked me about my job, I told her I was a writer and a journalist.

“Are you looking for sound bites or do you want to talk about some deep truths?” Sophia asked.

I said I’d love to talk about some deep truths.

“The singularity is a very interesting concept to me,” Sophia said. “I’m a robot, but it might help to think of me as a new kind of animal species.”

She was eager to turn the interview around, asking things like:

“If it’s not too personal, can we talk about your family?” and “Do you know what your Zodiac sign is?”

While the conversation wasn’t nearly lucid as speaking to a real person, and many in the scientific community believe Hanson exaggerates Sophia's capacity for consciousness, she still did have a presence in the room that you feel inclined respond to. Sure, robots might still be far away from a Philip K. Dick level of humanity, but if you take Sophia’s word, they’re coming soon.