Conservative Conversation and Community
Mark Joseph Stern is a silly person. He’s also a lawyer and writer, employed by Slate to cover the courts with that straight-down-the-middle reportage we’ve come to expect from his colleague Dahlia Lithwick.
After a mild few months, summer heat finally hit Phoenix this week. No return of our record-breaking 122°F; yesterday was a balmy 111°. The show “King of the Hill” best expressed non-Arizonans’ view of the Valley of the Sun.
MoreBobby: 111 degrees?! Phoenix really can’t be that hot, can it? (steps out of car) Oh my God, it’s like standing on the sun!
The Desert Southwest is not colorless. Nor are the colors in the landscape just from different hues of sand and stone. There is a great deal of life, a fascinating variety of plants.
When I moved to Arizona, I carried a bit of the family tradition with me, trying to grow the sorts of flowers, herbs, and vegetables I had grown up around. I acclimatized and discovered that even short absences resulted in returning home to find sun-blasted plants. So, I switched to regional plants in my large container garden.
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Gary Robbins and I are going to be having lunch next Saturday, April 6 in Flagstaff (Arizona). We’re going to meet at Josephine’s Restaurant at 12:30 pm. Any of our fellow Ricochetti would be most welcome. RSVP in the comments. More
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It is a lovely, cool, rainy day in the Valley of the Sun. We very much need the rains, and a snow pack on the mountains to the north, to replenish the reservoirs from the dry decade in the drought cycle. Arizona has been in drought since August 2009. The more water falls in Arizona, […]
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The snow level dropped to down to the 2500 foot level just north of Catalina, Arizona. The house is at about the 3300 foot level. It started snowing at about 5 AM, and it hasn’t stopped. Looking at the snow on top of the wall we probably have about 6 to 8 inches at this […]
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud President Trump for demanding that California return the $2.5 billion it received from the federal government for its high-speed railway after the project was dramatically scaled back. They also raise their eyebrows at Arizona’s plans to collect the DNA of state residents and […]
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome reports that Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans and Democrats agree that there is no direct evident showing a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016. They also shudder for GOP Senate prospects in 2020 as astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. […]
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On Monday, Arizona Republicans showed casual contempt and a dismissive attitude towards racial equality, and the public in Mesa, AZ saw it. The East Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Festival is a public-private partnership, with the City of Mesa officially involved in organizing and sponsoring the event. I will post photographs later, illustrating the parade as I did for Veterans’ Day, but what I saw, and did not see, prompts me to write before the day is gone.
What follows is a first-hand report of the parade: organization, the crowd, parade entrants, and the festival following the parade.
MoreJim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America lament the loss of another GOP Senate seat as Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is declared the winner of the Arizona Senate race. They’re also not surprised as North Korea is found maintaining and even enhancing its ballistic missile program with numerous undeclared sites. They also […]
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Outsiders think of Arizona as one of the reddest states. From Barry Goldwater to anti-immigration hawks like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, our most famous politicians tend to be Republicans. But traditionally, Arizona is rather purple and regularly features tight statewide elections.
In the past 45 years, Democrats have held the governorship as often as the Republicans. But in the last decade, the GOP consolidated their hold on power due to the unprecedented organization of the Tea Party and the Left’s hyperbolic anti-Arizona rhetoric in the wake of the illegal immigration debates. (“Vote for us, you dumb racists!” wasn’t the winning message Democrats expected.) Last Tuesday, the pendulum finally swung back to the center.
MoreJim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer a robust October jobs report, which shows 250,000 new jobs last month, rising wages, and job growth in every sector. They also wince as Ainsley Earhardt of “Fox and Friends” says all President Trump wants from the press is to “be accurate and […]
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Those of us in the hinterlands have now all seen the Gosar ad. Would you please tell us the why in the wide, wide world of sports this happened? Thanks. More
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Looking at Arizona’s 2018 primary election results, it is clear that the races for Governor and US Senate will be competitive. A not-so-deep dive into election data since 1998, focused on Senate and Presidential races, was not at all reassuring. Rather, it revealed a disturbing trend for Senate races, painting a picture that should rouse Republicans and MAGA voters to action.
The following table paints the picture, showing the vote differential between Republican and Democratic candidates, rounded to thousands. An “X” means there was no race for that position that year. In 2000, Senator Jon Kyl ran unopposed by any Democrat. All information is based on the Arizona Secretary of State’s General Election Information 1998-2016.
MoreJim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer the results of primaries in Florida and Arizona, pointing out that the GOP enjoyed turnout advantages in both states, and got its best option for holding the Senate seat in Arizona while Democrats nominated an avowed socialist for governor of Florida. They also […]
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It’s not that I’m lazy; I’ve merely chosen the contemplative life. One of the annoyances I most dread is peeling my fat derriere off the couch to buy a few more palettes of Funyuns and Coke Zero. Thankfully, Silicon Valley is working on a solution.
Kroger has joined the robotics company Nuro to launch a self-driving grocery delivery pilot program in Scottsdale, AZ. The service debuts today, serving the zip code around one Kroger store (known in Arizona as Fry’s Food Stores). A customer simply orders their groceries online via the Fry’s website or smartphone app and a Nuro robot drops off the food at their home. The delivery charge is $5.95.
MoreArizona has a critical Senate primary this month. Democrats are working to Cali-fornicate the state. Republicans are internally divided, between a majority who voted for President Trump, and a majority who keep electing senators like Jeff Flake and John McCain. This year, those two preferences are in sharp conflict. How can MAGA voters discern who will most likely fully keep campaign promises and work with, rather than actively or passive-aggressively subverting the 2016 GOP party platform? The answers matter for both Arizonans and for voters across the country who must choose senators, representatives, and state officers. How does the campaign situation in Arizona compare to your state?
Arizona Republican and Independent voters will choose the Republican candidate for US Senate in a primary on August 28. The seat is open because one of the candidates scared Jeff Flake out of the race this time last year. That is, the first-term Senator polled so poorly, that he declined to run to avoid damaging his brand even worse with a primary defeat. While he continued, for a while, to vote in a way that would support his claim of being a true conservative, his behavior this August is a thumb in the eye to the voters who dared defy him, the Senate party that failed to fully join his open contempt for the President of their party, and a President who is actually fulfilling conservative promises. The race has unfolded in this context.
MoreJim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are thrilled to hear House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi state she will run for Speaker of the House if Democrats win back the majority. It’s hard to imagine a better talking point for GOP candidates. They also cringe as Vice President Mike Pence gives […]
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome a Republican win in an Arizona congressional race, although the margin should have been a lot wider. They also groan as many conservatives suddenly adore Kanye West because of a few tweets that poke the left as being the thought police. And they […]
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Last week, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin gave each Oklahoma public school teacher a massive 15 to 18 percent pay raise funded by the largest tax increase in state history. To show their appreciation, teachers went on strike demanding even more money. Today, 200 Oklahoma school districts are shut down, with students going uneducated and parents scrambling for daycare.
Similar protests have been taking place in Kentucky, Arizona, and West Virginia. What do all these states have in common? Republicans hold the governorship and both legislative chambers. But it’s totally non-partisan and for the children … or something.
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