The most recent advertisements in Phoenix highways and newspapers employ satire as commentary on leftist policies. They’re commissioned by a nonprofit group called Citizens For Sanity (CFS), which has flooded similar messaging throughout the Valley and the nation.
“Waiting in the [emergency room] for 10 hours is a small price to pay for the gift of open borders,” reads their latest billboard.
Additionally, the latest CFS newspaper ad appeared in Ahwatukee Foothills News this week, claiming that Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) supports drug cartels.
“Drug cartels are trying to run an honest business,” read the ad. “Help them stay profitable by supporting Mark Kelly and keeping our borders wide open.”
Another ad, also targeting Kelly, appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun.
“Thank you Mark Kelly, for voting to protect pregnant men, to keep our borders open, and to safeguard violent criminals,” wrote CFS. “Woke values are Arizona values.”
According to the CFS website, their mission is to replace “wokeism” and other mindsets it describes as “anti-critical thinking” with common sense, logic, and reason. Their satirical language resembles that of classic 18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift (“Gulliver’s Travels,” “A Modest Proposal”). A more modern comparison may be drawn to The Babylon Bee, a satire news website.
Their other billboards in Phoenix poked fun at criminal justice reform.
“Don’t let the radical right put our neighborhood street gangs behind bars,” read one sign. “Support Joe Biden and progressive candidates.”
“Real progressives support violent criminals in their hour of need,” read another.
One of the key figures behind CFS is Ian Prior, who apprised Fox News of his role with CFS as a strategic consultant. Prior played a central role in the parent mobilization that led to the historic election of a Republican governor in deep-blue Virginia, Glenn Youngkin. He’s also the executive director of Fight For Schools and a senior advisor at America First Legal.
“We cannot stand by as radical woke biology-deniers use young children as guinea pigs for their ideological experiments. Using experimental drugs to stop puberty, injecting opposite-sex hormones, and surgically removing breasts and genitals of young children is insane,” stated Prior.
Prior also shared that CFS targets its messaging toward those most likely to be receptive, such as exposing gender ideology-related messages to the Latino communities rather than to “sheltered rich white coastal leftist elites.” That’s why some of their ads are in Spanish.
“Progressives support pregnant Latinx men,” reads one of their translated newspaper ads.
In addition to billboards, the group puts out video and radio advertisements. Those aren’t satirical: rather, they’re structured as campaign advertisements.
Did you know Airline pilots are now being chosen based on skin color? Gravity doesn’t care about race. Our new national radio ad on WOKE RACISM tackles leftwing bigotry head-on… 🔊 pic.twitter.com/TL47eyrURM
The group’s efforts nationwide caught the attention of mainstream media shortly after launching their first video about midway last month. Politico reported that the nonprofit relied on “prominent” and “veteran” Republican strategists.
Last week, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) revealed that he doesn’t believe there should be a wall along the entire border.
In an interview with Fox News last Thursday, Kelly said that technology was better than a barrier at some parts of the border. He added that saving money was more important than a complete border wall, too.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on our southern border. And it didn’t take me long to realize that different parts of our border need a different approach,” said Kelly. “In some places we need physical barriers, especially near population centers like Yuma, Nogales, Douglas, El Paso[.] In other places technology is more important, it’s more cost-effective.”
That doesn’t mean the senator disapproved of Governor Doug Ducey’s emergency completion of the border wall sans federal approval
The day before admitting his sentiment on a comprehensive border wall, Kelly signaled approval of Ducey’s initiative in an interview with KTAR. Kelly also acknowledged that the border situation was a crisis.
“I understand the governor’s sentiment on this and why he wanted to do that,” said Kelly. “There’s a crisis at the border and it’s important to address it.”
2️⃣ more border wall gaps near Yuma are CLOSED 🚫
Arizona’s fast and efficient border barrier mission will help law enforcement better control and maintain safety at the border. pic.twitter.com/OosUToqSwo
Kelly has consistently voted against total completion of the border wall since President Joe Biden took office. Last February, both Kelly and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) voted against an amendment prohibiting cancellation of the border wall construction contracts. Earlier this month, Kelly and Sinema joined their entire party to vote against numerous border security provisions such as wall completion the week prior.
Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told AZ Free News that Kelly’s votes earlier this month against including border security provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), such as funds to finish the border wall, confirmed that the senator isn’t truly in favor of securing the border.
“Actions speak louder than words. There was an opportunity for every one of the 50 Democrats to demonstrate how they felt about border security,” said Mehlman. “Kelly’s obviously trying to walk a fine line here. He understands that what’s happening is not popular in Arizona, but he does need a political base that he does need to turn out. That might be behind the Biden administration’s sudden willingness to do some more construction on the wall.”
Kelly’s public remarks compared to his voting would also explain his approach with Sinema to support niche border security efforts, such as increased funding for Border Patrol staffing and management announced in March, but not completion of the border wall.
Kelly took credit for the Biden administration’s promise last month to close border wall gaps by the Morelos Dam, which abuts Yuma.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Manchin and Sinema had a chance to go down in history as heroes. They courageously withstood withering criticism to save the republic from trillions of dollars of inflation-fanning intergenerational theft.
But finally, they fell for the oldest trick in the book—the “dad can I have a pony” swindle, traditionally practiced by clever youngsters who were willing to settle for a puppy in the first place. Exhausted by the mental energy required to resist intraparty pressure and not wanting to be responsible for poor election outcomes, they caved.
Manchin and Sinema supported the Inflation Reduction Act for $740 billion after sinking (again, thank you) the original $3.6 trillion version.
But what they got was possibly the most deceitful bill in the history of bills. The “IRA will reduce the deficit by $300 billion,” claimed huckster-in-chief Joe Biden. “And we’ll do it without raising taxes a penny on those making less than $400,000 per year.”
Are you joking? Let’s start with the IRS, which received an $80 billion spending boost, an amount the Treasury Department reported would result in 87,000 new FTEs, mostly auditors and examiners.
That’s bad news for the middle class. Only 1.8% of American taxpayers earn more than $400,000 yearly. It’s inevitable that the other 98.2%, who make about 75% of the total income, will also receive increased scrutiny.
The only purpose of hiring an army of new auditors would be to increase collections. Anyone familiar with IRS audits knows that even taxpayers who have done no wrong often capitulate to aggressive harassment. The bottom line is that the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that 70% to 90% of the money raised from unreported income would likely come from those making less than $200,000 per year.
The bill writers, sensing the problem, added this gem: “Nothing in this section is intended to increase taxes on any taxpayer or small business with a taxable income under $400,000.”
Get it? Nothing here provides actual protection to any lower income taxpayers. Instead, the party of good intentions is attempting to avoid accountability while claiming any unfortunate outcomes won’t be their fault.
The Inflation Reduction Act, it is now well established, will not reduce inflation and won’t reduce the deficit either, according to the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Instead, all of us will pay for this boondoggle 1) by forking over more money to the IRS (see above) 2) through the effects of the new 15% corporate minimum tax passed on to workers and consumers and 3) through another government spending spree which will (again) be inflationary. Even Bernie Sanders gets it this time.
But the damage doesn’t stop there. As Steve Moore recently noted in the Wall Street Journal, the IRA will transfer $250 billion from Big Pharma to Big Climate.
Bad idea. Pharmaceutical companies spend $100 billion yearly on R&D, bringing us lifesaving and misery-reducing drugs which have, among other benefits, reduced death rates from cancer and heart disease by half in the last 50 years.
The IRA price controls will inhibit innovation with a resulting cost in lost years of life estimated to be 30 times that from COVID, in addition to the increased human suffering and economic losses.
The climate change funds will go mainly to subsidies of wind and solar, which after decades of “startup” funding, produce 7% of America’s total energy. They’re not only unreliable but expensive too. A University of Texas study showed subsidies per megawatt hour of electricity range from 50 cents for coal up to $43 to $320 for solar. Yet we’re going to spend $380 billion more to chase the chimera of avoiding mostly inevitable climate change by vastly reducing our quality of life.
Americans deserve better governments than this. Passing trillion-dollar spending bills for no essential reason has become the new normal.
It’s tempting to feel helpless, but what we can do is vote smarter. For starters, Arizonans should remember this in November: Mark Kelly was a tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act. With just 51 votes, it couldn’t have passed without him.
He campaigns as a bipartisan centrist but votes like a socialist. It’s time for us to wise up.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
On Thursday, Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Tucson and Phoenix, announcing over $75.2 million in grant awards for communities throughout the state.
“[These are] improvements that are going to make for better travel and better safety here in Tucson and in Phoenix,” said Buttigieg.
Good morning, Arizona!
Here to announce new funding awards and to see how Tucson and Phoenix plan to use some of the infrastructure dollars coming their way. pic.twitter.com/sEXNKm3SE8
These Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants were awarded to Navajo County, Phoenix, Tucson, and the Colorado Indian River Tribes.
Over $2.2 billion from 166 RAISE Grants were distributed throughout the country. Arizona communities received five different grants: $261,000 to Navajo County to improve 16 miles of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure; $25 million to Phoenix to construct a bicycle and pedestrian bridge across the Rio Salado River; $25 million to Tucson to renovate an old bridge; and nearly $25 million to the Colorado Indian River Tribes to reconstruct 10 miles of road.
The DOT characterized this latest round of grants as their largest investment in RAISE Program history.
Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02) explained in a press release that the Tucson grant will update the 22nd Street bridge to accommodate heavy vehicles like trucks, buses, and emergency medical services — something the bridge was unable to do before, which Kirkpatrick said led to traffic congestion and delays.
“Increasing capacity on 22nd street will reconnect our communities and facilitate a necessary east-west economic and transportation corridor between downtown Tucson and disconnected and underserved areas in the city,” said Kirkpatrick. “This project will help close the gaps in our city’s transportation infrastructure, and support equitable access to resources and opportunities for all Tucsonans.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego shared that the $25 million for a bridge over the Rio Salado river would connect downtown Phoenix to South Phoenix. Gallego provided a map of the planned bridge location, which revealed that the bridge would span the Rio Salado River and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, going from Central Avenue to State Route 143.
Whether you walk, run, or roll: a new $25M grant will build a bike/pedestrian bridge across Rio Salado, linking downtown and South Phoenix! Huge thanks to USDOT @SecretaryPete for celebrating with us today. Thanks also to @gregstantonaz and @reprubengallego for their help! pic.twitter.com/SulGmhspVp
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is hoping the U.S. House of Representatives takes a hard look at H.R. 5376, which was formerly known as the Build Back Better Act until being recently rechristened as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“Arizona job creators oppose the vast majority of the provisions in this bill,” Chamber CEO Danny Seiden said Sunday after the U.S. Senate passed the legislation on party lines. “This bill will not reduce inflation and it will not make the U.S. economy more competitive. Renaming a massive tax and spending bill the Inflation Reduction Act does not improve it.”
Seiden says Sen. Kyrsten Sinema met with Arizona business stakeholders to hear their concerns and did help blunt some of the more harmful provisions, especially those which impact manufacturing businesses already doubly hit by inflation and supply chain disruptions
He also acknowledged there are a few beneficial elements of H.R. 5376 such as provisions which encourage continued business investment and provide significant drought resiliency funding to promote a water secure future.
But despite some of “positive aspects,” Seiden insists H.R. 5376 leaves much to be desired. Which is why he and other state business leaders are calling on Arizona’s nine Representatives to take a closer look at the bill in advance of an expected Aug. 12 vote.
“With the bill headed to the House, we would encourage the Arizona delegation to consider the legislation’s negative effect on Arizona jobs,” Seiden said, adding that that renaming the unpopular Build Back Better Act does not improve the fact the legislation is a massive tax and spending bill.
The legislation is estimated to raise $740 billion in additional revenue from new taxes as well as more enforcement of existing tax laws. It also authorizes $430 billion in new spending, although a more thorough analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has not been completed.
One thing the CBO already knows, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said on the Senate Floor, is that what he labeled the “so-called” Inflation Reduction Act will have “a minimal impact on inflation.”
The CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers also expressed disappointment with H.R. 5376. According to Jay Timmons, the Inflation Reduction Act will stifle manufacturing investment in America, undermining the very businesses which kept America’s economy afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To be sure, (the bill) was worse before Sen. Sinema worked to protect some areas of manufacturing investment,” Timmons said. “But the final bill is still bad policy and will harm our ability to compete in a global economy.”
Also speaking out against H.R. 5376 is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, whose members will be directly impacted by Medicare drug price controls included in the legislation.
“They say they’re fighting inflation, but the Biden administration’s own data show that prescription medicines are not fueling inflation,” said PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl. “And they say the bill won’t harm innovation, but various experts, biotech investors and patient advocates agree that this bill will lead to fewer new cures and treatments for patients battling cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.”
