Monday, November 5, 2018
Rides will be going from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and pick up will be at the Sixth Street Garage with drop off at the polling station on Donna R. Liggins Neighborhood Center.
The NextGen Arizona team has been working hard all election season to show youth that their vote matters. They work to ensure that every person they have spoken to has a voting plan and information on the candidates. NextGen Arizona has recruited over 1,000 volunteer shifts to get young voters to vote for midterm elections.
NextGen America is making a change across 11 states on nearly 420 college campuses to help young people resist current government views and policies and take matter into their own hands.
"We have been in the community for months now working on removing roadblocks to young people voting this November 6th. This is just another effort in ensuring we have the highest youth vote turn out possible,” says Belen Sisa AZ State Media Manager of NextGen America.
NextGen hopes to be a leading example for future campaigns and the future of the Democratic Party.
Tags: NextGen , polls , voting , Democrat , Republican , young voters , youth , candidates , volunteer , politics , education , midterm election , party bus , Image
Tags: comics , cartoons , politics , border , immigration , Trump , Image
Friday, November 2, 2018
It's not an especially brave act to proclaim, "I am a Jew." I belong to a privileged minority in the U.S. compared to most other minority groups. I have had no antisemitism worthy of the name directed at me in my lifetime. I have never had an opportunity taken away from me because of my religious/cultural identity. I have no personal complaints.
But we are at a moment where I feel the need to say the words, "I am a Jew," if for no other reason than to let myself know I am not afraid to say them aloud or in print. And yet, to be perfectly honest, one reason for saying the words is because, in the current climate, being Jewish doesn't worry me, but saying "I am a Jew" does, a little. That is precisely the time to talk about it.
We are seeing a frightening rise in antisemitism in this country. The latest incident I read about happened Thursday night. Standing alone, it would only be a shudder in the steady undercurrent of antisemitic hatred lurking beneath the surface in this country. But combined with the resurgence of antisemitic rhetoric and events which have been building since 2016 and have accelerated rapidly in the past weeks and months, it is a terrifying example of what could become regular occurrences.
Comedian Ilana Glazer scheduled a get-out-the-vote event at a Brooklyn synagogue Thursday night where she was going to interview a journalist and two Democratic state senate candidates. It was canceled because antisemitic graffiti was found on inside walls of the synagogue, including “Die Jew Rats,” “We are here,” “Hitler,” “Jew Better Be Ready” and “End it now."
Tags: Antisemitism. Charlottesville. "Unite the right". George Soros. Donald Trump. Tree of Life synagogue. , Image
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi traveled to Tucson yesterday to stump on behalf of Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, the former congresswoman who is facing Republican Lea Marquez Peterson in the race for Southern Arizona’s open Congressional District 2 seat, which is one of the most competitive in the country. Pelosi praised Kirkpatrick for having the courage to vote for the Affordable Care Act in 2010, despite the political consequences. “We can’t wait to have her back,” Pelosi said. “She’ll be effective right from the start.”
The Weekly had an exclusive one-on-one interview with Pelosi following her pep talk to Team Kirkpatrick volunteers. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
How confident are you that the Democrats will take the House next week?
I'm confident that we will win. What the size of it is, I don't know. But we will win. I didn't even start making a prediction until last Tuesday. Up until then, I would say that “If the election were held today.” But now, I see the apparatus at work, what's happening at the ground all over the country, the purpose of our candidates. They know why they're running. They know what they care about. They know how to communicate with it. So I have confidence in them. Our mobilization on the ground, our message, everybody's sticking with it. Lower health care, bigger paycheck, cleaner government.
There are many hurdles for Democrats baked into the structure of the district maps thanks to gerrymandering and other factors. Given those challenges, why do you think Democrats are in such a strong position?
Because of the caliber of our candidates and the on-the-ground mobilization, and then our message. People are sticking with the message and not taking his bait on whatever it is. And I said to candidates and to incumbents who are candidates, too, it's not about the president. It's about what you have to offer versus the other person. I don't like to call people opponents; the person on the other side. What they have to offer, when it comes to the financial security of America's working families, healthcare costs, increasing their paycheck, and value of work, and giving them confidence that their voice is as important as anybody's by reducing the role of money in politics. Integrity in government. And so, that message is resonating. Mobilization, message and the third: money. We just totally outraised them: $100 million just from the small donors from online fundraising.
How important do you think the female vote is in this election?
Essential. Women are so smart. We're just so smart. The gender gap is large all over the country. Maybe 15 points.
When you’re on the outside looking in, it seems like Republicans and Democrats are at each other's throats these days. From the inside, are relations less tense when you meet with your counterparts from across the aisle?
Tags: news , politics , elections , House Minority Leader , Nancy Pelosi , Tucson , Democrat , Ann Kirkpatrick , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , claytoonz , caravan , sniffles , Image
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The motel is plain vanilla. Motorists streak past it on Interstate 10 without notice or memory. But inside the gates of the complex, over several days in October, 112 migrants, many from Guatemala, turned the motel into a temporary neighborhood.
Children chased their friends underneath the stairs. Parents leaned against walls and chatted with neighbors on a common path of pursuing asylum in the United States. The low hum of Spanish wafted through the rooms and grounds of the motel, mixed with English and peppered with phrases in indigenous languages, such as K’iche’ and Mam.
Inside, a first-floor office was packed with volunteers. On the walls, whiteboards and sticky notes that form a tracking system to help provide the migrants with food and shelter.
Upstairs, Elias sat on a polyester bedspread. He spoke of fear and relief.
Of bringing his child thousands of miles from home.
Of eluding police and gangs traveling through Mexico.
Of immigration authorities dropping him and his son and dozens of other migrants at the motel.
The migrants, who were fleeing poverty and crime in Central America, were allowed conditional entry into the U.S. after crossing the southern border and requesting asylum. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, with a spokesperson later saying there were too many migrants to handle, brought them to volunteers in Tucson who put them up at the motel on I-10.
Within a few days, the migrants scattered throughout the country.
But their stop in Tucson lingered in the continuing debate over immigration, both legal and illegal, in the U.S. and the rest of the world, among politicians, advocates and people across the ideological spectrum.
The migrants’ journey turned on the decisions of outside forces: Whether ICE would detain them or release them sooner to their destinations. Whether supporters would house and feed them or the migrants would be left to fend for themselves on the streets of Tucson. And, finally whether federal officials will ultimately allow them to stay in the U.S. or return them to the countries they fled.
The 112 Central Americans were among thousands seeking asylum in the U.S. According to TRAC Immigration, a nonpartisan immigration research program, from 2011 to 2016, 8,540 migrants applied for asylum to the federal government. Few, however, succeeded.
Tags: motel , Tucson , immigration , migrants , families , asylum , Image
The Equality Tour is coming to Tucson. The event is organized by Equal Means Equal, a charitable organization of the Heroica Foundation. The Equality Tour will feature speakers and comedic and musical performances all in support of passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S Constitution that would guarantee equal rights to both men and women, which would work to eliminate gender pay gaps.
So far, 37 of the 38 states needed to amend the U.S Constitution to include women have voted to ratify, with Nevada and Illinois voting yes in just the past year and a half. Arizona has the potential to be a history-making state because the amendment will only be passed if one more state ratifies.
Speakers at the event will include Kamala Lopez, the executive director of Equal Means Equal, Pamela Powers, Arizona State Representative of District 9, Victoria Steele, candidate for Arizona State Representative District 9, Athena Salman, Arizona State Senator of District 26 and Natalie White, Co-Director of Equal Means Equal and Feminist Artist.
The musical performance is Voices for Change (VFC), a community organization that brings awareness to important social and political issues through music. Soloists will include Ali Handal, Jason Chu and Anthony Fedorov.
Also at the event will be Nobody's Funny, a team of stand-up comics. Performing comics include Samantha Baxley, Buffy Metler, Eugenia Kuzmin, Joel Marshall, Or Mash and Jessica Winther.
The free event will be on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. and will be located at the MSA Annex Festival Grounds near the Mercado at 267 S. Avenida Del Convento.
To purchase free tickets for admission or for more information about Equal Means Equal, visit: http://equalmeansequal.org/
Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (aka Education Savings Accounts, aka Vouchers on Steroids) are a backdoor voucher program which gives debit cards to parents to spend on their children's educations so long as the children don't attend a district or charter school. When parents get the money, they're told it can only be spent on education. "We'll be watching you, so don't use the money for other things," they're told. But actually, no one is watching.
In fiscal year 2018, $700,000 was misspent by ESA parents according to an audit released by the Department of Education. The items include obviously non-educational purchases like beauty supplies, sports apparel and computer tech support. Very little of that money has been paid back to the state.
It's the kind of story the "good government" folks at the Goldwater Institute might want to cover. I say that because G.I. recently published a report on fraud in school districts. The report came fast on the heels of the Republic stories about people making millions on charters, so I'm guessing it was written to counter the bad press — G.I. loves charters almost as much as it loves vouchers — by saying, "Hey look, school districts do it too!" However, something tells me, pointing out voucher-related fraud isn't the kind of deflection G.I. is planning any time soon.
Tags: education , charters , vouchers , ESA , misspent , money , Image
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
It would be foolish of me to say with 100 percent certainty that the Arizona Supreme Court ruling against the "Invest in Education" initiative was politically motivated. I'm only 95 percent certain they wanted to knock the initiative off the ballot for political reasons — with a 5 percent margin of error.
The Supreme Court decision against Invest in Ed fits a little too neatly with the zero tolerance policy toward citizen initiatives enacted by the Republican majority legislature and signed by Governor Ducey to be a coincidence.
The legislature's zero policy law requires "strict compliance" with the rules governing petitions. Ridiculously strict compliance. If people carrying petitions make a mistake in the way they fill it out, no matter how small, the entire petition and all its signatures can be tossed. If people signing a petition go outside the lines with their signatures or other information — if the tail of a "g" or a "y" extends outside the line — that signature can be thrown out.
Why the new ridiculously strict compliance law? Because Republicans hate citizen initiatives. They'll do whatever they can do to make it harder for them to make it to the ballot.
It's easy to understand why. This year a citizen initiative limiting one of Republicans' pet projects, private school vouchers, is on the ballot. So is an initiative to increase the use of clean energy, something Republicans all over the country oppose so deeply, they've decided to ignore science, thermometers and their own eyes and say, "Climate change? What climate change?"
Then there are the two citizen initiatives that didn't make it. One would have banned Dark Money, the lifeblood running through the veins of Republican politics. The other is Invest in Ed, which would have made people whose taxable income is over $250,000 ($500,000 for couples) pay a higher income tax rate.
That's four initiatives Republicans despise. They never would let ideas like those get anywhere near the floor of the legislature, and they hate it that citizens have the ability to go around the Republican political stranglehold on the state by using the initiative process.
Tags: Citizen initiatives , Arizona Supreme Court , Invest in Ed , Strict Compliance , Image
