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Mitt-In-The-Middle: Caught Between Kellyanne & The Donald

The 2012 GOP's Candidate for President joined a whole cast of characters in the Cabinet Room as a distraction to days of hearings on possible impeachment of the President. 
Here's an image taken this article  by Philip Rucker in yesterday afternoon's The Washington Post (online) with this caption
"Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), flanked by President Trump and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, speaks at a White House meeting on electronic cigarettes on Friday."  (Photo Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
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Looks like Mitt has been subjugated to getting used as a prop during and after many hours of House hearings on impeachment. The outspoken Utah Senator is - from all new appearances - no longer an outspoken dissident in Trump’s Republican Party.
Even back on 17 January 2019 a  Bloomberg Opinion piece by Eli Lake captured his cowering character:

Mitt Romney Fails His First Test on Russia

"John McCain was willing to vote against Trump, but Utah’s junior senator doesn’t seem quite ready. . .  The GOP's 2012 presidential nominee memorably warned that Russia was America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe.” That guy was on to something. I wonder what happened to him."

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FAST-FORWARD to October 2019:
Mitt Romney In The Middle of An Impeachment Fight

The Liberation of Mitt Romney

The newly rebellious senator has become an outspoken dissident in Trump’s Republican Party, just in time for the president’s impeachment trial.

McKay Coppins

October 20, 2019

"Mitt Romney is leaning forward in his chair, his eyes flashing, his voice sharp.

It’s a strange look for the 72-year-old senator, who typically affects a measured, somber tone when discussing Donald Trump’s various moral deficiencies. But after weeks of escalating combat with the president—over Ukraine, and China, and Syria, and impeachment—the gentleman from Utah suddenly appears ready to unload . . ."

"To Romney, Trump’s performance as president is inextricably tangled up in his character. “Berating another person, or calling them names, or demeaning a class of people, not telling the truth—those are not private things,” he says, adding: “If during the campaign you pay a porn star $130,000, that now comes into the public domain.”
. . . Romney has emerged as an outspoken dissident in Trump’s Republican Party. In just the past few weeks, he has denounced the president’s attempts to solicit dirt on political rivals from foreign governments as “wrong and appalling”; suggested that his fellow Republicans are looking the other way out of a desire for power; . .

Trump has responded with a wrathful procession of personal attacks—deriding Romney as a “pompous ass,” taunting him over his failed presidential bid in 2012, and tweeting a cartoonish video that tags the senator as a “Democrat secret asset.”

These confrontations have turned Romney into one of the most closely watched figures in the impeachment battle now consuming Washington. While his fellow Republicans rail against “partisan witch hunts” and “fake whistle-blowers,” Romney is taking the prospect of a Senate trial seriously—he’s reviewing The Federalist Papers, brushing up on parliamentary procedure, and staying open to the idea that the president may need to be evicted from the Oval Office.

. . . Unconstrained by consultants, unconcerned about reelection, he is thinking about things such as legacy, and inheritance, and the grand sweep of history.
Here, in the twilight of his career, he seems to sense—in a way that eludes many of his colleagues—that he’ll be remembered for what he does in this combustible moment. . ." 

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POST NOTE: MITT ROMNEY THE TWITTER TROLL 

After this story was published, Slate identified a Twitter account using the name Pierre Delecto that seemed to match the senator’s description of his lurker account. When the reporter for The Atlantic spoke to Romney on the phone Sunday night, his only response was, “C'est moi.”)

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Politico

Trump hosts vaping shoutfest at the White House

President Donald Trump's White House meeting with vaping lobbyists and anti-tobacco activists erupted in shouting and debate Friday ...

1 day ago

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On 22 November 2019 (Friday marked two days in a row that Romney has sat down with Trump) The Salt Lake City-based Desert News was asking:

Mitt Romney met with Donald Trump twice in two days — why?

By Dennis Romboy@dennisromboy Nov 22, 2019, 5:36pm MST

Image Caption:

President Donald Trump, right, listens as Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, third from left, speaks as they participate in a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, on youth vaping and the electronic cigarette epidemic.

Susan Walsh, Associated Press
 
 
NOTE: A Utah judged recently blocked a state health department emergency rule to halt the sale of flavored vaping products. The Utah Legislature will take up a series of vaping-related bills in January.

 

 

Mike Hutchinson's PAC Pulls Off A Small-Margin Victory To Trick Mesa Taxpayers One More Time

. . . and he managed to get his wife Marcie Hutchinson elected to the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board at the same time!
It was that YesForMesa Campaign on the November 2019 Election that handed a bogus windfall of $54,000,000 in the Bond Issue and Budget Over-Ride for the failing Mesa Public School System. . . First there was a sigh of relief - and jubilation - by officials shortly after the 52-46% margin of victory where only 25% of voters sent in their ballots by mail. That's "a light turn-out" Hutchinson was counting on this time around when Mesa taxpayers REJECTED it last year. He attributed the victory to what he called voter education.

"A key factor was the work of hundreds of volunteers who participated in a wide variety of grassroots voter education activities across the School District... Their months of hard work led to excellent voter turnout and the great result for the students and the dedicated employees of the Mesa Public Schools."
HUH?
These assertions by Mike Hutchinson are clearly intended as misinformation. They are simply and dementedly wrong. Here's the strategy: with only a 25% voter turnout and a 52% margin, that means that 13% of all eligible voters were able to control and determine the ballot outcome in MUSD No.4. The murky appeal > "Quality of Life + Jobs".
> WHO HELPED 'HUTCH' TO CREATE THAT 'GRASSROOTS AKA POLITICAL ACTION CAMPAIGN'???
None other than the current member of The Mesa Public Schools Governing Board Jenny Richardson - she was a candidate for re-election AND got elected again, with Mike's wife Marcie gaining a seat also
Moreover, it's a bloated system of PATRONAGE Hutchinson calls "dedicated employees"

In whose book of Make-Believe is a 25% voter turnout excellent? That's so typical of these Yes For Mesa campaigns funded by PACs (political action campaigns) . . . and as for that the great results for students????
Sorry but the numbers and data tell a totally different story for more than the last 30 years
STOP RIGHT THERE: In these uncertain financial times, this is a proposal once again to raise taxes by $34,000,000 in the first year alone AND it approves six more years in advance of about the same level of spending.
Throwing money at a system just won't fix it! 
Demand performance-based outcomes
Mesa Public Schools is an 'under-achieving' public education system that has delivered a poor performance track-record for decades - administrators and bureaucrats have been failing students after they enter 3rd grade - and all the way through community colleges.

This propaganda - disguised as "voter education" - does not bother to tell you that. That's just one thing.
> The ex-Superintendent of Mesa Public Schools Michael Cowan was forced to resign last year for 'financial irregularities" or so they didn't say when the line spoon-fed to the public was that 'he got a calling to go an LDS mission" to an undetermined location!
> Forced resignations at two community colleges and the East Valley Institute of Technology + a new appointment who's been indicted
> New Mesa Public Schools Superintendent who took office in June 2018 gets 'fired' and/or 'put on administrative leave'.

Why Support Patronage in Mesa Schools?
"Mesa’s schools have built a long-standing reputation for being among the best in the entire State of Arizona.  Quality, competitive schools are one of the key reasons that we enjoy such a safe, family-friendly community.. ."
HUH? Among the best in the entire State > THAT IS NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT!
Arizona CONSISTENTLY ranks #49 in all 50 states for low academic standards and failure to deliver basic proficiency standards.
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HOLD ON!
Just a few weeks later and after all that jubilation, what next made the headlines?
INFORMATION: Mesa Public Schools have been failing to provide achievement performance standards and grade-level academic proficiencies for students for decades.
 
No reasonable person or taxpayer would throw their good hard-earned money away by rewarding a failing public school system that produces bad results for decades by system administrators and a bloated bureaucracy.
If they can't do their jobs, they should have been fired, NOT rewarded by going over-budget to pay them off . . .
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Re: Those "Grassroots Voter Education Activities
TOTALLY PULP FICTION
(they published their own fake newspaper and mailed-it out) 

28 October 2019

Did You Get This Pulp-Rag Propoganda-Piece In The Mail?

Mesa taxpayers REJECTED this in 2018
< Take a Look - a closer look
MESA VOTER TIMES
November Special Election Edititon
Basic Literacy: Can't they spell the word Edition correctly, or at least proof-ready their own copy before mailing-out thousands??

[ from an from an earlier post on this blog ]

Attract Jobs – Protect Our Quality of Life
Isn't there already a QUALITY OF LIFE sales tax here in Mesa for that?
ABOUT THE MESA VOTER TIMES:
This is from the header on the front page of this 8-page propaganda piece 
". . . As supporters of this proposal, we have launched The Mesa Voter Times to educate the community regarding this proposal and other important education issues facing our community."
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Did you get this postcard sent to you in the mail too??
MESA'S STRONG LEGACY OF
PUBLIC EDUCATION!
so it says a strong legacy  Huh?
Please take the time to see who hand-wrote this postcard sent off in the mail just before the November Election.
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OK. and they want more money!
And make that automatic for six more years, please!
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You get what they get paid for - jobs with no performance demands
Paid for by The Mesa Alliance for Educational Excellence,
421 E. University Dr., Mesa, AZ 85203.
Not authorized by any candidate
TRY THIS LINK > https://yesformesaschools.org
Accountability and Transparency – Link to Finance Reports for Mesa Schools

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18 October 2019  MesaZona

Just VOTE NO!

Would You Ever Endorse a Blank Check for $34,000,000??? 

That's only the amount in the first year in one more tricky public relations campaign by The City of Mesa on the only ballot question on 2019 SPECIAL/GENERAL ELECTION.
The official ballots have been mailed out  or you can vote in-person. Please take the time to read the fine print, before you decide how to vote - the devil's always in the details
First, get informed
Why is this year's General Election 'special' ???
It includes approval in a BUDGET OVERRIDE for an amount that exceeds the revenue control specified by statute by 15% for FY2020/2021 and for six consecutive years.

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1 Approval of the budget override represents an extension and increase of the existing 10% budget override authority - when you add it up > that's  (25%) - which OTHERWISE  is scheduled for a phase-down by one-third over two years FY2020/2021 and FY2021/2022
2 The proposed budget increase for the first year FY2020/2021 is estimated to be $34, 087,454
3 Funding for the first and subsequent years?
A LEVY OF TAXES ON YOUR TAXABLE PROPERTY within The Governing Board of Mesa Unified School District 4
 

A News Angel: Jon Gabriel (Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet.com) Joins KJZZ Friday's News Cap

Here's The Show with former AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard added to the cast

KJZZ's Friday NewsCap Nov. 22, 2019

To talk about this week’s impeachment hearings, the latest on Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen and more, former Attorney General Terry Goddard and Jon Gabriel, editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com, joined The Show.

Nov. 22, 2019

LINK > https://kjzz.org/content/1321356/kjzzs-friday-newscap-nov-22-2019

 

It's Just A Map: So Much More History + Stories Yet-To-Be-Told or Re-Disovered

< No need TO IMAGINE our Cultural Heritage. . . only some of it has been documented before as in this old Survey Map of The Salt River Valley where thousands of first people inhabited and cultivated the lands and territory before "The Pioneers' arrived from Utah in the mid-19th Century. Within just the time of seven generations, the cultural landscape has changed . . . who's included and who's not in our shared Heritage now?

Every is Invited: Community History & Archives Workshop

OPEN to The Public

Hosted by Chicano/a Research Collection, Arizona State University Library and 3 others

Details

Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and the LGBT community make up over 42% of Arizona’s population but are only represented in 0-2% of known archival collections.

Your story is important! Let's reclaim and preserve Arizona history for future generations!

Learn how to be a Community Archivist and receive a free "Archive Starter Kit" that contains preservation information and archival supplies (acid-free box, folders, mylar, and gloves).

This event is free, open to the public, and kid-friendly.

Co-hosted by ASU Library, Cultural Coalition Inc., and Legal Business Global

For more information, please contact:

• Nancy Godoy (Archivist) Nancy.Godoy@asu.edu (480)965-2594
• Alana Varner (Project Archivist) Alana.Varner@asu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bloomberg Bankrolls Voter Registration Drives in 5 Key Battleground States

“Mike isn’t waiting to take on the president, he's starting now, . . This is all hands on deck.”
Here's the headline story from Wall Street Journal 15 Nov 2019 by John McCormick
Michael Bloomberg Launching $100 Million Ad Campaign Against Trump
"Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire contemplating a Democratic presidential bid, is placing the biggest advertising buy so far in the 2020 race.
Mr. Bloomberg on Friday will launch a $100 million digital advertising campaign designed to attack President Trump in battleground states, said Jason Schechter, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg.
The ads are scheduled to initially appear in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona. The spending will continue throughout the primary season. . .
If he does run, Mr. Bloomberg’s aides have said he will likely bypass the first four states to hold nominating contests and instead focus on more than a dozen scheduled to hold primaries on March 3 in what's known as “Super Tuesday.”
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TEXAS IS GETTING-READY ALREADY - On the defense.
Who did they hire for their chosen on-the-ground operative? Karl Rove

Bloomberg Targets Texas

Will reportedly spend up to $20 million on voter registration effort in battleground states.

By Michael Quinn Sullivan|November 22, 2019

"Liberal billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend $20 million on voter registration in key states including Texas, according to an AP report in Time magazine.
The move comes ahead of his rumored late entry into the 2020 Democratic Party’s presidential nominating process.
According to the report:

News of the large investment, confirmed by Bloomberg’s team on Wednesday, comes less than a week after the former New York City mayor unveiled a $100 million online advertising campaign attacking Trump in four general election swing states as well.
The new effort will target 500,000 voters from traditionally underrepresented groups that typically lean Democratic, including African Americans, Latinos, Asians, young voters and those living in some rural communities. The drive will begin early next year in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, but could expand to more states.

The Republican Party of Texas, under chairman James Dickey, has enlisted the Bush family’s go-to political advisor Karl Rove to head up a voter registration and identification program in the Lone Star State.

 

Whatever Happened To The Public's RIGHT-TO-KNOW?

Like most things, "If you don't use it, you lose it".
You do have certain rights guaranteed in a democracy that are written into The Constitution whether you know it or not . . It's up to you TO EXERCISE those rights.
The first step is getting the information > it takes some work on your part and it's your choice to find out what you need-to-know.
Otherwise we are all left-out in the dark.