by Terri Jo Neff | Jul 28, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
A longtime Phoenix city politico calls Monday’s arrest of nearly 40 people -including Reverend Jesse Jackson and State Sen. Martin Quezada- outside U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s office “performance art,” as it was arranged ahead of time by protest organizers.
Sam Stone, chief of staff for Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio, told KFYI’s James T. Harris on Tuesday that the protesters’ sit-in at Simena’s office on East Camelback was “an optical joke” intended to garner local and national media headlines “screaming up and down that Rev. Jackson was arrested” for not following police commands.
The truth, Stone told Harris, was that “Rev. Jackson arranged to be put in handcuffs for a few minutes for the photo.”
Stone also said police officers were forced by city officials to standby outside Sinema’s office until the protesters “were ready to leave on their own.” Only then were officers allowed to issue citations to the protestors and instruct them to disperse, he said.
“They actually went and communicated with our police department and were like ‘we going to come out there and protest and we would like you to arrest us cuz we’re going to break the law, but we don’t actually want to go to jail,’” Stone told Harris.
Those arrested were cited on suspicion of criminal trespassing, a Class 1 misdemeanor, the lowest level of criminal conduct in Arizona. Stone predicted all charges “will be thrown out before they ever see any type of court or fee or fines or anything of the sort.”
More than 200 people started the protect event by rallying at a local city park. Many of the protesters then marched several blocks to Sinema’s office, where about 40 engaged in the sit-in. Their purpose, according to protesters, was to draw attention to Sinema’s position on the filibuster, a Senate rule which requires at least 60 votes from the 100 senators to cut off debate on most non-budgetary measures in order to bring a matter to vote.
With 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, getting partisan legislation to a vote is nearly impossible, so there is a growing push to change the filibuster rule. Sinema, a Democrat, has held firm on her belief that the rule should stay as is, at least for now.
Stone, a Republican, also used the interview to praise Sinema for “holding the line” on the filibuster.
“We have these norms for a reason to provide some balance, some moderation, so that D.C. doesn’t go completely off the rails every time you have a different party take control of the Senate,” Stone told Harris. “I applaud her for that.”
It is unknown how much Monday’s three-hour event cost taxpayers in terms of manpower. Eight city blocks of Camelback were closed at various times, leading to restricted access to businesses and residences.
And that did not set well with Stone, who noted the impact on emergency responders and residents alike. “People don’t understand the reason we have laws on not blocking streets is not to stifle protest – it’s to protect people,” he said.
Stone is the founder and managing partner of Caim Consulting, a political consulting firm with offices in Phoenix and Washington, DC. One of his clients is Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a former Phoenix-area news anchor.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/960-conservative-circus-w-jame-28823469/
by AZ Free News | Jul 27, 2021 | News
PHOENIX, AZ – The Arizona Attorney General Office is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant an emergency injunction pending appeal, requiring federal agencies to return to “normal removal operations” and follow existing federal immigration law and resume deportations.
Arizona and Montana are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and federal officials over the February 18, 2021 Interim Guidance that halts nearly all deportations and ICE arrests. After the Interim Guidance was issued, deportations outside of the “priority categories” dropped by 98 percent in Arizona (only 7 out of 325 “other priority” cases were deported). Additionally, immigration-related arrests have dramatically decreased. ICE officers average just one interior arrest every 2.5 months.
The Arizona Attorney General Office claims that the Interim Guidance is in direct violation of federal law for removals of aliens with final orders of removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(1)(A), requires that ICE “shall” remove an alien, who has received a final deportation order, from the United States within 90 days unless another exception in § 1231 applies. Late last month, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a separate case (Johnson v. Guzman Chavez) that “shall” means “must,” i.e. it is mandatory language.
Monday’s filing comes as June numbers show the border crisis is only getting worse. More than 188,000 individuals were encountered along the southwest border in June 2021. DHS has not publicly released removal numbers for several weeks.
by Terri Jo Neff | Jul 27, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Healthcare workers came under more pressure Monday to receive the COVID-19 vaccination following the release of a joint statement by 58 medical organizations supporting mandated vaccines for industry workers.
Among those advocating for a “vaccine-or-termination” policy are the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, and the National Pharmaceutical Association.
“This is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being,” the statement reads, citing rising COVID-19 infections and deaths compared to a few months ago.
The problem with the statement is two-fold, according to one Arizona medical administrator. First, talk of firing unvaccinated healthcare workers at a time when there is a statewide shortage of nurses, specialty providers, and support staff will harm residents long-term, she told Arizona Daily Independent.
And second, the 180 degree turn made by medical and public health officials completely ignores the fact mask mandates, social distancing, and business lockdowns were undertaken in Arizona and many other states to ensure hospitals were not overwhelmed and overrun by COVID-19 patients. That worry is not as relevant now because medical workers are better trained on COVID-related treatment options and urgent care facilities and hospitals are well stocked with the equipment needed for diagnosis and treatment.
“They aren’t telling you that we’ve learned the last year about treating COVID-19. Instead, all you hear about are scary big numbers showing this month’s positive test rate increased over last month’s positive test rate,” the administrator said.
“What no one is telling medical workers or patients is how the number of people currently testing positive or being hospitalized remains well shy of the highs we saw last summer or earlier this year. And they are completely ignoring the fact even several hospitals in high-infection states have plenty of open beds and well-trained staff,” the administrator said.
The subject of required vaccinations for Arizona’s medical professionals was fueled last week when Banner Health and HonorHealth announced that employees could lose their jobs unless they refuse to provide proof of vaccination. Banner Health is Arizona’s largest private employer.
Both companies are giving their staff and volunteers until Nov. 1 to comply, raising questions are to whether the edict is motivated by concern to protect patients and co-workers or if there is a possible financial motivation. Last week a longtime Banner nurse told Arizona Daily Independent she questioned why something the company claims is urgently needed is not being required for another 90 days.
However, the immediate past president of the American Medical Association apparently is not concerned with whether current infection rates are manageable or not. She said Monday that forcing medical professional and others in the healthcare industry to be vaccinated is for the workers’ own good.
“It is critical that all people in the health care workforce get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the safety of our patients and our colleagues,” Dr. Susan R. Bailey said in a statement released by the AMA. “Increased vaccinations among health care personnel will not only reduce the spread of COVID-19 but also reduce the harmful toll this virus is taking within the health care workforce and those we are striving to serve.”
The AMA’s website also acknowledges “the historical mistrust of health care institutions, including among many in our own health care workforce. We must continue to address workers’ concerns, engage with marginalized populations, and work with trusted messengers to improve vaccine acceptance.”
Slightly less than one-half of adults in America have been fully vaccinated, although the percent by state widely varies. Arizona ranks below midway at 45 percent, while Vermont tops the charts at a 67 percent adult vaccination rate, followed closely by Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut.
On the far low end are Alabama, Mississippi, and the U.S. Virgin Islands which report less than 35 percent of their adult population vaccinated.
by AZ Free News | Jul 26, 2021 | News
Congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar introduced a bill last week, the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, which will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the Optional Practice Training Program. The “OPT” Program, administered by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a guest worker program that was never authorized by Congress.
OPT was greatly expanded by the Obama Administration. It circumvents the H-1B cap by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted as foreign students to work for up to three years in the United States after graduation, according to the congressmen.
The foreign workers are exempt from payroll taxes making them at least 10-15 percent cheaper than a comparable American worker.
“What country creates a program, but not a law, that rewards its businesses to fire citizen workers and replace them with foreign labor to pay the foreign labor less? The United States,” said Gosar in a press release. “The program is called OPT and it reflects a complete abandonment of our own workers.”
“At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated,” said Gosar.
According to Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations for NumbersUSA, the OPT Program “invented entirely through executive action, has become one of the largest guest worker programs in the United States. OPT openly undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers an actual tax incentive to hire compliant, inexpensive foreign labor under the guise of “student training.”
“Landing that first job out of college will only become more difficult for young Americans as our universities formalize the role they play in crowding out opportunities once reserved for American graduates. For this reason, OPT must be eliminated. I praise the efforts of Congressman Paul Gosar in drafting the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act and encourage his colleagues in both the House and Senate to join him in protecting opportunities for America’s STEM graduates,” stated Kevin Lynn, Founder of U.S. Techworkers.
Congressman Gosar first introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act in the 116th Congress and has twice signed amicus briefs in support of American workers in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate OPT.
by Terri Jo Neff | Jul 26, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
It is an example of typical government-speak: “The Office of Management and Budget today announced the 2020 Standards for Delineating Core Based Statistical Areas.”
But the OMB’s July 13 announcement was something several Arizona cities were anxiously awaiting, because the 2020 Standards could have disqualified them from qualify as a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). And that would have meant losing their advantage over other towns and cities when applying for federal funding for healthcare, housing, infrastructure, and transportation projects.
Since 2010, at least 50,000 residents must live in the core city to obtain federal recognition a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), even if it is more of a mini-metro area. In Arizona, there are seven designated MSAs: Flagstaff, Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Prescott, Sierra Vista-Douglas, Tucson, and Yuma.
However, every 10 years the OMB recommends changes to its standards, and earlier this year a federal interagency committee suggested a major change for the 2020 Standards – doubling a MSA’s minimum core city population to 100,000. That would have resulted in Flagstaff, Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Prescott, and Sierra Vista-Douglas losing their MSA status.
And along with the loss of the MSA designation would have been one of those cities’ key qualifier for federally funded Community Development Block Grants and USDA Rural Development Grants. Flagstaff receives nearly $600,000 a year just in CDB grants, while Prescott and Sierra Vista have been the recipients of more than $200,000 in annual CDB grants.
The Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards Review Committee received letters of opposition from the cities of Flagstaff and Prescott among more than 700 other public comments about the significant change in MSA criteria. In the end, the committee submitted a revised recommendation to stick with the 50,000 population threshold.
Mignonne Hollis says the MSA designation ensures communities like Flagstaff and Sierra Vista-Douglas can advocate for their needs by giving them a seat “at many tables.”
Hollis serves as executive director of the Sierra Vista-based Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation and of the Aerospace Arizona Association, is past president of the Arizona Association for Economic Development, and is a member of the International Association for Economic Development.
She was one of the first in Cochise County to sound the alarm on the devastating affect a 100,000 core population prerequisite would have had on the Sierra Vista – Douglas.
“This funding is vital to bring investment in our local communities and spur on economic development,” Hollis said of the opportunities available to a MSA. “In addition to funding decisions at the federal level, the loss of a MSA designation could also negatively impact a community’s ability to attract and retain businesses and top-talent employees.”
While good news for Arizona communities this year, the OMB’s July 13 announcement provided a heads-up that a MSA threshold change will likely be incorporated in 2030.
“Recognizing the committee’s concern that MSA thresholds have not kept pace with population growth, OMB will work with the Standards Review Committee to conduct research and stakeholder outreach to inform the 2030 standards update,” the announcement said.
There has also been bi-partisan federal legislation introduced by Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a Republican, to look into how MSA core city population thresholds are determined in the future.
by B. Hamilton | Jul 25, 2021 | News
By B. Hamilton |
Thousands of people came from across the state to hear from President Donald Trump on Saturday. The former president delivered a fiery speech at the Turning Point Action conference in Phoenix.
During the rally dedicated to election integrity, Trump introduced many members of the Arizona State Senate and thanked them for agreeing to pursue an audit of the Maricopa County 2020 General Election.
“We will fight for truth, transparency and accountability, and we will not stop until we have restored out American birthright of honest, free and fair elections,” said Trump. “We’re gathered here in Phoenix to show our support for election integrity and for the brave and unyielding conservative warriors in the Arizona state Senate.”
“Why wouldn’t somebody want election integrity? Why wouldn’t they want to know? And I would be very happy – won’t happen – but I would be very happy if they did it and everything was perfect. But you’re not going to find that,” said the former president.
Trump got around to the subject of the Democrats, who he said are moving the country in a socialist direction through their spending, support for Critical Race Theory, and “Marxists” like Black Lives Matter who “are seizing power and destroying everything we hold dear as Americans. It’s happening, and I said it was going to happen.”
“They dismantled the rule of law, censor speech, take over the free press, imprison political opponents,” said Trump pivoting back to the 2020 election. “You see that’s happening all over; look at what I’ve been through for years – and, of course, hold fake phony elections.”
