Commentary
Republicans’ weeklong monsoon of dumb rains over Arizona
So Kari Lake was in Tucson last week, playing the victim and reliving how she lost the governorship. Lake just keeps going and going. She’s the Energizer Bunny of defeat. She’s appealing a May ruling that she lost the 2022 election, and her case was automatically picked to be shipped to the state Appeals Court down here in […]
Anti-LGBTQ laws in the US are getting struck down for limiting free speech
Nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures in the U.S. in 2023. Many of those bills seek to reduce or eliminate gender-affirming care for transgender minors or to ban drag performances in places where minors could view them. Most of those bills have not become law. But many of those that have […]
A conservative’s conservative on the affirmative action ruling (via ouija board)
Political parties have fundraising arms in Congress which blast out fundraising emails and press releases, the sensationalism of which are matched only by their crude oversimplification. A lot of them end up in my inbox, because every campaign cycle Nevada has a competitive Senate/House race or three. Friday I opened one from the National Republican […]
Dobbs decision spurs moral injury to abortion patients, providers alike
On June 24, 2022, the landscape of reproductive healthcare in this country took a frightening turn for the worst. The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned what had previously been a constitutional right to abortion set off a whirlwind of changes in healthcare – not only as related to […]
LGBTQ families like mine are breathing easier this Pride Month thanks to Katie Hobbs
On May 19, Gov. Katie Hobbs took a stand to protect transgender and nonbinary students across Arizona by vetoing Senate Bill 1001. The measure would have forced school districts and their employees to refer to our trans and nonbinary students with pronouns that do not correspond with their own gender identity. The veto sends a […]
Our not-very-serious U.S. Supreme Court
In his last conversation with them, “Succession” patriarch Logan Roy tells his four adult children, “I love you all, but you are just not serious people.” Recently I, and many other Americans, are feeling the same way about the members of our U.S. Supreme Court. Serious people adhere to commonly accepted norms of conduct. They […]
‘Pride’ is so successful, those being protested are finally noticing
I often forget that Pride celebrations began as and continue to be protests. How could I forget? There are two main reasons. First, the rights being fought for aren’t specifically mine, and second, the celebrations are so wonderful, so happy, so fun, it is a protest like no other. But it is still a protest. […]
Happy Pride Month. Creepy, bully Republican lawmakers are fixated on assaulting our community.
Happy Pride Month, America, where LGBTQ+ people are under constant assault by bully Republican lawmakers who are weirdly obsessed with our community, especially the transgender members of it. Transgender people — especially transgender people of color — have been leading the activist charge toward LGBTQ+ human rights and equality since the beginning, literally throwing the […]
Tying voting rights to military service defiles the spirit of Memorial Day
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a multi-millionaire pharmaceutical entrepreneur, has a lot of bold ideas, like visiting college campuses and inner cities, seeking to expand the GOP base. He also has another controversial idea: tying mandatory military service to voting for Americans between the ages of 18 to 25. While military service, or any national service, […]
It’s not ‘drug dealers’ who are killing us, it’s drug stigma
“If I die as a result of a drug overdose, I request that no one be charged, prosecuted, or held criminally responsible for my death. This decision is being made in part to challenge the oppressive and false dichotomy between people who use drugs and people who sell drugs. We are, more often than not, […]
Someone needs to challenge Biden in the presidential primary
It appears a Biden-Trump rematch is inevitable. Former President Donald Trump announced in November he’s running for president a third time, and at the moment no potential GOP challenger comes anywhere close to him in the polls. Ever since President Joe Biden said last month that he’s running for reelection, most of the discussion about […]
Mothers in Arizona and across the U.S. depend on Medicaid
America has a maternal mortality crisis. Research shows the U.S. mortality rate is more than three times higher than other industrialized nations, with an average of 24 deaths per 100,000 births in 2020. This crisis, however, overwhelmingly impacts mothers of color — mortality rates for Black and American Indian and Alaska Native women are two […]