Those who benefit most from government largesse—generally white families with accountants—harbor the strongest antigovernment sentiments. And those people vote at higher rates than their fellow citizens who appreciate the role of government in their lives. They lend their support to politicians who promise to cut government spending, knowing full well that it won’t be their benefits that get the ax. Overwhelmingly, voters who claim the mortgage interest deduction are the very ones who oppose deeper investments in affordable housing, just as those who received employer-sponsored health insurance were the ones pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It’s one of the more maddening paradoxes of political life.
—Poverty, By America, Matthew Desmond
1.
Speaking of fighting poverty, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Housing announced Wednesday an investment of $89 million for homelessness assistance and to create new affordable housing options across the state. Having a roof over one’s head is the step in the right direction in empowering the powerless. Hobbs said, “I am committed to making Arizona a place where temporary setbacks don’t prevent a person from reaching their full potential, where people aren’t turned away when they need help, and where our families can rest easy knowing there is a roof over their children’s heads. I am proud to deliver this funding and look forward to continuing these investments for years to come.”
2.
Regarding Hobbs, my friend, accordionist, and political junkie Pamela Powers attended her second State of the State Address before a joint session of the Arizona Legislature this week. In her Substack posted Wednesday she said that Since the 2020 election, Republican Legislators have been divided into multiple competing factions. There have always been Chamber of Commerce and Libertarian wings in the Republican’s Legislative Caucus, but the 2020 election added election deniers, January 6, 2021 fake electors and more Libertarians. Hobbs and the Democrats in the Arizona government are going to need our support going forward during the session and the November election. The entire Legislature is up for reelection in 2024, adding to the tension. Subscribe to her newsletter to keep up with what’s happening politically in this rocky state. Below is her video from the event.
3.
Another legislator who is doing good work is a friend from my LFK days, former mayor and now Representative for District 46 in Kansas, Boog Highberger. This caliber of leadership is what gives me hope. I’ve known Boog for years and can hardly think of a finer human being roaming the planet.
Because my floor remarks on HB 6030 (the Kansas House resolution on Israel and Gaza) did not get any press coverage, I am reproducing them below:
Good morning, friends.
I think it’s really unfortunate that we had to start the session this way. First, I see no good reason why this resolution had to be rushed through today, rather than following our rule that a resolution has to wait for the day after its first reading. Second, I could have supported a simple resolution condemning the Hamas attack of October 7, but the resolution contains a number of statements that I think are incorrect or misleading. And finally, it completely ignores the historical context of the conflict in Palestine and it takes no account whatsoever of the enormous suffering that has been inflicted on the 2 million people of Gaza over the last three months.
The previous speakers have already described the atrocities committed by Hamas, I’m not going to do that. But because the resolution doesn’t provide any historical context for the conflict in Palestine, I’m going to briefly do that here today. I will do my best to be historically accurate, and I want to be clear that nothing I say here today is intended as a justification of the Hamas attack on Israeli citizens on October, which I also condemn even though I have some problems with your resolution. And I realize that a lot of you know all of this already, but I’m not sure everyone here does, and I think it bears repeating here.
The area of the Gaza Strip is 141 square miles, almost exactly a quarter of the size of Shawnee County, with a population of around 2 million, making it one of the most densely populated places on earth. A large portion of the population are people who were forcibly displaced from their homes in 1947 and 1948 by Israeli militias, or the descendants of those displaced persons. Th Gaza Strip and the West Bank were occupied by the State of Israel during the 1967 war, and the West Bank has been under continuous occupation since that time. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 but maintained control of its borders; in 2007 and the Hamas victory in Palestinian Authority elections it imposed a complete blockade of Gaza which has continued to this day, which is why it is often described as the world’s largest open-air prison. There is a phrase in the resolution that really jumped out at me regarding the hostages in Gaza– that there is no end to their captivity in sight– which is exactly what can be said about the people who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
There are people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who have lived their entire lives under occupation or blockade.
There are people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank whose parents have lived their entire lives under occupation or blockade.
There are people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank whose grandparents have lived their entire lives under occupation or blockade.
And almost certainly there some infants and young children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank whose great-grandparents have lived their entire lives under occupation or blockade.
With no end in sight.
According to the most recent figures I found, the poverty rate in Gaza is over 53%, and the unemployment rate is 52%, with higher rates for young people and women– and with no end in sight.
The resolution states that we resolve that “we unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist, defend itself and protect its citizens from terrorism and harm.” I agree that Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself– but NOT unequivocally. Israel does not have the right under international law to cut of food, water, electricity and medical supplies to the 2 million people of Gaza. It does not have the right to conduct air strikes almost every day for 3 months on one the most densely populated places on earth. It does not have the right to slaughter tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza.
But despite that, and despite the other concerns I have about your resolution I will support it if you will join me in acknowledging that lasting pace in the Middle East will not be possible until a just solution to the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is achieved, and in calling on our government to rededicate itself to helping achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
To that end I have an amendment.
You will note that most of what I just said isn’t in it. I intentionally made the language as neutral as I could while addressing the concerns I and a lot of my colleagues have about this resolution. I will stand for questions.
4.
Speaking of hope, from an article in the Salina (KS) Post, REPUBLICAN Kansas State Rep. Steven Howe writes, “I was lied to. You were lied to. America was lied to. The election was not stolen or rigged. While the outcome was not what many Republicans hoped for - the facts do not support the repeated claims of the election being stolen or rigged. This election was the same election that myself and many Republicans gained a supermajority in the Kansas House and Senate. As I walked door-to-door during my campaign I repeatedly heard from life-long Republicans that they would vote for me - but they could not vote for the incumbent President. At the time I wasn't sure how widespread this sentiment was, but looking back, it turned out to be substantial. Conventional wisdom in politics was defied. The top of the ticket candidate did not negatively impact down-the-ballot races. As Kansans often do, they expressed their political independence by not voting straight party lines.” He goes on to write, “While we may have different perspectives and analysis of what happened on January 6th, and what happened leading up to that day, what actually occurred that day must be accounted for and fully addressed by Republicans and the Republican Party.”
5.
In my 12th newsletter back in 2021, I posted about the public art project I stumbled into in 1990 which was the Miracle Mile and I-10 renovation. I said in that post that I was extremely honored but a bit overwhelmed to be asked to do this as I had never before taken on a project of this magnitude. There was a budget allocated with the Arizona Department of Transportation (Percent For Art) allowing for the art/design.
I started to notice that about half a dozen years or so ago on the largest mural westbound some of the tiles started dropping off the wall. But starting last fall, Abby Christensen, the Public Art Collection Manager for the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona started the daunting task of assembling a team to restore that particular mural. Due to the time and commitment involved in this project I declined to be the ‘artist’ for the restoration so she enlisted Paloma Jacqueline who is best known for her “In Memory Of” mosaic memorial at Mission Manor Park in Tucson.
On Wednesday I joined Abby and Paloma, along with folks from ADOT and Granite Construction, at the Miracle Mile site…the first time I’d been on that property since construction and installation in 1995.
The folks from Granite Construction will remove the remaining tiles and sandblast the surface before new tiles will be installed. My understanding is that Paloma will keep the design as true to the original as possible.
And here’s a snap of Paloma, Abby, and Skylar Hyland from ADOT.
Tiny Tidbits of Goddamn!
1. Yes, he cares about you. “It’s just horrible – so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward,” the orange marauder told an audience at a campaign event last Friday in Iowa. He argues that school shootings are the fault of Democrats, mental health issues, marijuana, and the transgender community. He certainly has a big brain, that guy. Goddamn!
2. I mentioned in last Friday’s post how University of Arizona President Robert Robbins and Athletics Director Dave Heeke worked together to create the recent financial waterfall. Along with those two, former UA finance chief Lisa Rulney also had her hand in the UA administration's extreme financial mismanagement. Despite her recent ‘resignation,’ she now continues as a $500k 'senior advisor.' Goddamn!
3. The House Oversight Committee, led by one of the many orangeman’s henchmen James Comer (R-KY), had planned to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to appear for a closed door deposition on Wednesday…but Biden showed up. Har. His surprise appearance up-ended the Republicans’ plans to publicly blast him for ignoring a subpoena. And to top it off, when another stooge, Marjorie Taylor Greene, rose to speak her tiny mind, Biden and his attorney rose themselves and left the room, pulling the cameras their way. Har har. Goddamn!
And now…
Thanks for the shoutout! Yay, Boog and Paloma.