Thursday, September 12, 2019

We Are So Blessed Here In Arizona! CD 5 AZ-Congressman Andy Biggs Is The Chosen One

Biggs is a newbie to Washington DC, elected to Congress in 2017. Just in the time since then, he's gained a reputation as an outspoken conservative voice in the House, where he is a member of the Judiciary and Science and Technology committees. He has come out in support of private prisons that allegedly allow immigrant detainees to work for as little as $1 a day and contributed to an effort to transform the investigation into the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey into a probe of Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s email.
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House Freedom Caucus picks Andy Biggs as new chairman                        

House Freedom Caucus: What is it, and who's in it? | Pew ...

https://www.pewresearch.org › fact-tank › 2015/10/20 › house-freedom-ca...
Oct 20, 2015 - But what, exactly, is the House Freedom Caucus?
Pew Research Center has confirmed the identities of 36 Freedom Caucus members through

Re-Visiting 'The Twilight Zone' > In Black-and-White


The gun solution we're not talking about

Send this to Mesa Arizona Mayor John Giles why don't you? ....
Published on Sep 11, 2019
Views: 519,530++
Universal background checks won't fix America's gun crisis. But there's something else that might.

Low-Key Introduction > One of The Most Important Books of The 21st Century

Thomas PikettyVerified account @PikettyLeMonde 6 hours ago
By the way, Capital and ideology is published today in France!
In a few months in English and other languages  
12:41 AM - 12 Sep 2019           
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This is more like it: THE IMPACT
"The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system. ... Google Books "
"Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact.
Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices
. ... Piketty argues for a new “participatory” socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power."
 
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economics
Thomas Piketty Is Back With a 1,200-Page Guide to Abolishing Billionaires
"Thomas Piketty’s last blockbuster helped put inequality at the center of economic debates. Now he’s back with an even longer treatise that explains how governments should fix it –- by upending capitalism.
The French edition of “Capital and Ideology,’’ weighing in at 1,232 pages, comes out on Thursday
(English speakers will have to wait till next year for a translation)
It’s a sequel to “Capital in the 21st Century,’’ which has sold more than 2.5 million copies in 40 languages since 2013, according to its publisher.

“The time has come to exit this phase of making property sacred, to go beyond capitalism,’’ the economist told French magazine L’Obs.
Piketty says he’s improved as a writer. “If you read one of them, read this one,’’ he told L’Obs.
And he says his new book addresses two shortcomings of the last one, which was too focused on Western economies, and didn’t give enough space to the political ideologies that lie behind inequality. . . "
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“In this book I will try to convince the reader that the lessons of history can be leaned upon to define a more demanding norm of justice and equality,” he writes, in an extract from the new book published by Le Monde newspaper.
But the fixes proposed by Piketty under the banner of “participatory socialism’’ would involve dramatic upheaval for the world’s developed economies . . .
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Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which sparked a global debate about inequality and contributed to a revived wave of interest in socialism across the world.
Now Piketty is back with an audacious follow-up, Capital and Ideology, in which he urges us to radically reappraise everything we think we know about politics, ideology, and history.
And on 14th May 2020 he returns to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the themes of his new book.
> Piketty will argue that our market economy is not an inevitable feature of human nature, but an historical construct that arose out of countless choices and decisions people have made over time.
Such decisions gave rise to slavery, serfdom and colonialism.
> Piketty will lay bare the ideologies that sustained not only the unjust and unequal societies of pre-modern times, but those that are used today to justify the deepening inequality of what he calls our hyper-capitalist system.
And he will set out his manifesto for how we can build a new participatory form of socialism.


 
 

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

KJZZ Gives John Giles A Microphone For Gun Background Checks

That's nice to see, but the Mesa mayor might check back here at home to advocate for refusing to rent the city-owned Mesa Convention for gun shows
Arizona Mayors Lobby In D.C. For Gun Background Checks
Published: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 11:25am

 

Audio icon Download mp3 (6.33 MB)
 
In the opening image from Reuters, John Giles appears to be just on stand-by.
He's not seen on the microphone in the driveway outside The White House . . . and what about the case of Haig, who lives and works here in Mesa and supplied ammo to the Las Vegas shooter after manufacturing the bullets at home? Mesa is also the home to Bushmaster and Nammo Talley, but lets not talk about that
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"Four Arizona mayors are in Washington, D.C. this week, advocating for action on the Bipartisan Background Check Act of 2019 that would require universal background checks on gun purchasers.
. . . nearly 300 community leaders from across the country signed onto a letter calling on Senate leaders to return early from their five-week recess, during which three separate mass shootings occurred, and consider the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has so far resisted calls for him to bring the bill to the floor, arguing President Trump wouldn’t sign it anyway. But could this lobbying effort change that?
Mesa Mayor John Giles is among those making a case for the bill, and he joined The Show to share more.
 
 

Near Short-Sighted Sell-Off of City-Owned Assets to The Church: The Most Precious Commodity Here in The Desert

Here's how the deal - with few financial details disclosed - went down last month with Mayor John Giles signing off on it for a staged-for-public-consumption photo opp at the Mesa City Meeting on 19 August 2019. City Manager Chris Brady is behind the foam core poster board holding it up. The sale was promoted as a Pay-Off, but they never said who paid the low-ball sell-off to water-rights on 11,442 acres annexation.
Titles changed hands over-time - first to Pinal Land Holdings and ultimately to Saints Holdings LLC - you can watch an edited video of the occasion of the sell-off that was turned into an escrow account that was uploaded to Twitter a few days later . . . it's definitely worth a look to see how the video was edited with clips of cheering baseball fans that were inserted with a voice-over by Giles.
Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles) | Twitter
https://twitter.com › mayorgiles
 
The latest Tweets from Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles). John Giles. 40th Mayor of Mesa, Arizona. Mesa, AZ. ... Embed Tweet.
 ICYMI: #Mesa's #spring training facilities are being paid off years ahead of schedule saving millions of dollars ⚾ ... PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO 
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Here's a post farther down on September 5, 2019 from Saints Holdings on Twitter if readers of this blog are curious what the Saint's holding companies are planning to create between Phoenix and Tucson around Casa Grande and Coolidge and Florence >  a new "inland port", much similar to the same thing in-the-works in Utah. . . it certainly looks likes they are tending to now privatize water-rights just when a federal Drought Emergency Contingency Plan has been activated, When big deals like the sale of 'obsolete water-rights' on thousands of acres that would be just dirt without it, there's always scandals that surface somehow taking a cue from an earlier extract:
Arizona Corporation Commission’s desire for consolidation of the highly-fragmented water utility industry in Arizona and their new policy guidelines that support and incent such consolidation, the stage is well set for additional acquisitions,”
SAINTS HOLDINGS LLC
Website: Saint Holdings  
Twitter: @SaintHoldings       
Saint Holdings is a multi-faceted real estate investment and development company with holdings in industrial, land, multifamily residential, and agriculture.
Scottsdale, AZ        
"Global Water Resources has signed agreements with Saint Holdings that will result in providing water services to Saint Holding’s Inland Port Arizona, where is constructing their new facility."
Contact us for shovel-ready opportunities.

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Here's a post from this blog in April 2018 MesaZona 2018
Here In Mesa: Turner Ranches Water and Sanitation Company To Be Acquired by Global Water Resources Inc
More acquisitions coming, according to this media release. . . Given the Arizona Corporation Commission’s desire for consolidation of the highly-fragmented water utility industry in Arizona and their new policy guidelines that support and incent such consolidation, the stage is well set for additional acquisitions
 

Blogger Note: Disclaimer
Global Water Resources Inc. published this content on 26 April 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 26 April 2018 14:43:03 UTC
April 26, 2018 8:33 AM  Global Water Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GWRS) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Turner Ranches Water and Sanitation Company, a non-potable irrigation water utility in Mesa, Arizona.
The acquisition will add 960 residential irrigation customers and approximately seven square miles of service area, including services to three golf courses. It is also anticipated to add nearly $1 million in revenue. Global Water expects to close the acquisition in the second quarter of 2018. . .
“This accretive acquisition will expand our footprint in Maricopa County, the fastest growing county in the Nation according to U.S. Census Bureau,” said Ron Fleming, CEO of Global Water. “Turner Ranches will be the second purchase, post-recession, in our declared strategy of again pursuing water utility acquisitions. We believe our focus on consolidating, improving and automating water utility assets will greatly benefit the customers of Turner Ranches, and we look forward to serving these new communities.”
Ronny and Judy Lopez have been a part of Turner Ranches since 1978 and became sole owners in 2012. “We’ve enjoyed working with the Global Water team in completing this transaction,” commented the Lopezes. “We believe they will continue to provide quality customer service, along with strong technical, financial, and managerial expertise for the benefit of the community.”
Turner Ranches has several CAPEX projects that are currently ongoing to upgrade its infrastructure, which Global Water will complete. Turner Ranches recently completed a rate case, setting new rates for the utility effective September 19, 2016.
Given the Arizona Corporation Commission’s desire for consolidation of the highly-fragmented water utility industry in Arizona and their new policy guidelines that support and incent such consolidation, the stage is well set for additional acquisitions,” added Fleming.
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Blogger Note: TURNER RANCHES WATER AND SANITATION COMPANY v. ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION
Court of Appeals of Arizona,Division 1, Department C.
TURNER RANCHES WATER AND SANITATION COMPANY, Appellant, v. The ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION, an Agency of the State of Arizona, Appellee.
No. 1 CA-CC 98-0002.
Decided: September 21, 1999
Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-court-of-appeals/1039504.html
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About Global Water Resources
Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/global-water-resources-to-acquire-turner-ranches-water-and-sanitation-company-20180426-01067
Global Water Resources, Inc. is a leading water resource management company that owns and operates nine utility companies which provide water, wastewater, and recycled water services. The company's service areas are located primarily in growth corridors around metropolitan Phoenix. Global Water recycles nearly 1 billion gallons of water annually. To learn more, visit www.gwresources.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

RELATED:
https://books.google.com/books?id=FB0zAQAAMAAJ
1982
The Turner Ranches Water and Sanitation Company is a private corporation owned and operated by Toups Corporation and a franchised water utility. The Turner Ranches service area is an agricultural area that also includes the Leisure World development. Turner Ranches is a bonafide applicant for CAP water. Residents ...



Jun 29, 2009 - The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona awarded a $1.4 million loan to Alpine Domestic Water Improvement District for the purchase of Turner Ranches Water and Sanitation Company.

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The Game of Charades Here in Mesa: Let's Play Along!

Believe it or not, your MesaZona blogger is infrequently at a loss when it comes to the use of words dedicated to attempt to describe what most of us can only guess about - what's going on in the wonderful world of politics and politicians acting in public where we don't always know what's been going on behind-the-scenes. 
There is one person who does it better: Mayor John Giles
That personal puzzle was solved when one unnamed reader sent a one-word reply to make a comment on a published post:
Charade.
It's a guessing game.
Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the whole phrase together, while the rest of the group guessed.
Playing charades can help build team camaraderie.
Many people have played charades as a child or in a party situation, but using it in a workplace setting is a novel approach to team building that people enjoy.
The basic rules involve identifying words or phrases.
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What would you guess is going on by this iconic image of the mayor captured by Ivan Martinez?
Clue: it was a stunt to start off a privately-financed $500,000+ public relations campaign to trick Mesa taxpayers to go into a $200,000,000 debt obligation to finance a 3-building "satellite campus" for ASU here in downtown Mesa.

Mesa taxpayers REJECTED it in 2016


What would you guess about this one?
With one character added while John Giles gets all pumped-up at a State-Of-The-City Speech 2019.
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BLOGGER NOTE:
There's really few reasons left to guess about this one - use the Search box on this to view more posts on plans for ASU for what's got a new name
ASU@Mesa City Center.
Looks like plans were made ahead of time to capitalize on that, based on 'insider information' that's somewhat now more than obvious . . .
< The year before there was this, another charade
Two or more characters were added to an appearance in front of a public meeting of the Mesa City Council in February 2018. Following 'rumors' that then AZ Senator Bob Worsley had snatched up of a portfolio of 8 downtown properties for $20M before the end of 2017 gambling on his own private wealth creation at the same time holding public office
. . . and that "caught-on open mic" gaff?
Now that made national headlines with then AZ-Senator Jeff Flake getting urged on to run for President.
It happened at a town hall meeting here in Mesa. Giles swears publicly he's 'non-partisan' and yet was urging Flake to run for office as 'a foil' . . . for Who? Mebbe Mitt?
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Observing "Mum's the word".
Nah. Just can't do that!

There's more!





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The latest comes from a Twitter post on August 24, 2019 https://twitter.com/mayorgiles  

Here's a clue to this latest installment for The Game of Charade here in Mesa:
The Pay-Off for a $94M debt
(that's the story they want to be told at least)
The City of Mesa has no "home team", except for all the salaried and elected players inside City Hall. They somehow managed to finance not one but two ball parks.

Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles) | Twitter

https://twitter.com › mayorgiles
The latest Tweets from Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles). John Giles. 40th Mayor of Mesa, Arizona. Mesa, AZ. ... Embed Tweet.
 ICYMI: #Mesa's #spring training facilities are being paid off years ahead of schedule saving millions of dollars ⚾ ... PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO
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The Game of Charades from Mesa City Manager
Chris Brady's own playbook.
It started a long time ago when he had a plan for the playbook.
It took a while to 'juggle the books' and find the right time and the right places to see off 'obsolete water-rights' to more than 11,400 acres on the Mesa Farm in Pinal County.
The buyer who was ready, will and able?
SAINTS HOLDINGS LLC
Website: Saint Holdings  
Twitter: @SaintHoldings       
Saint Holdings is a multi-faceted real estate investment and development company with holdings in industrial, land, multifamily residential, and agriculture.
            
Global Water Resources has signed agreements with Saint Holdings that will result in providing water services to Saint Holding’s Inland Port Arizona, where is constructing their new facility. Contact us for shovel-ready opportunities.