The Tarbabys Blog – Page 206 – Read About The Tarbaby Story under the Category: About the Tarbaby Blog

California storms erase extreme drought from nearly all of state

Yahoo! News

California storms erase extreme drought from nearly all of state

In a single week, the portions of the state classified as experiencing extreme drought in California fell from 27.1% to 0.32%.

David Knowles, Senior Editor – January 12, 2023

Flooding from the Sacramento and American rivers, near downtown Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 11. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)

BERKELEY, Calif. — There is a silver lining to the relentless California storms that have so far killed at least 18 people and racked up an estimated $1 billion in damages: In a single week, extreme drought conditions that had gripped almost one-third of the state have been downgraded nearly everywhere.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released an updated map Thursday that accounts for the series of atmospheric river storms that have doused the state in recent weeks with more than 24 trillion gallons of water. It shows that “extreme drought,” the second-highest classification used by the agency has been all but erased from the interior sections of the state.

A U.S. Drought Monitor map of conditions in California. (U.S. Drought Monitor)

In a single week, the portions of the state classified as experiencing extreme drought in California fell from 27.1% to 0.32%, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Still, 46% of the state remains classified in “severe drought,” though that figure fell from 71% a week ago.

Drought conditions in California on the week of Jan. 3 — Drought conditions in California from the week of Jan. 3. (U.S. Drought Monitor)

Extreme drought conditions are still widespread in Nevada and Utah, and the California storms have not affected the Colorado River Basin , including the badly depleted reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell, where the federal government has been forced to implement water restrictions.

In order to completely eliminate drought conditions across the American West several consecutive seasons of precipitation at 120% to 200% of normal would need to occur, ABC News reported. A 2022 study published in the journal Nature found that the past 22 years have been the driest period in the Southwest in the last 1,200 years.

As temperatures continue to rise thanks to humankind’s burning of fossil fuels, one effect, called the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship, is that there is 7% more moisture in the atmosphere per every degree Celsius of warming. That means extreme downpours like those in California in recent days can become more likely when conditions are right. By the same token, however, that relationship can also spur what UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain has called “flash droughts,” in which extremely dry conditions can arise quickly, even in a year of above-average precipitation.

“The Clausius-Clapeyron relationship also increases what is known as the vapor pressure deficit,” Swain told Yahoo News in November, which means that “the atmosphere’s potential to act as a giant sponge and extract more water out of the landscape has increased, even if the relative humidity has stayed the same. This Clausius-Clapeyron relationship is actually what drives the atmosphere’s capacity to dry out the landscape faster.”

For now, however, the precipitation picture is much brighter than it was even a week ago. Water levels in depleted state reservoirs have been rising, and California’s snow pack as of Wednesday measured 226% of normal. While the risks of flash flooding remain high, more rain and snow is in the forecast for the coming week.

Doctors say men are getting more vasectomies amid abortion restrictions nationwide

Yahoo! News

Doctors say men are getting more vasectomies amid abortion restrictions nationwide

Jayla Whitfield Anderson, ·National Reporter – January 12, 2023

A doctor writes on a clipboard, posing questions to a patient. — Doctor and patient. (Getty Images)

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that protected abortion rights, medical professionals say they have seen a drastic increase in vasectomies.

Vasectomies offer a form of permanent birth control for men, and roughly 500,000 are performed every year in the United States.

“There was an increase of basically 100% in the number of vasectomies from the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned,” Dr. Esgar Guarin, the co-founder of SimpleVas Medical Clinic, told Yahoo News.

Guarin, a doctor in Des Moines, Iowa, trained in maternal, child and reproductive health, says interest from male patients in learning more about the procedure increased after the Roe decision.

“Within only 48 hours, we signed up 50% of the patients that we normally sign up in a month, just immediately after June 24, and that trend continued,” he said.

In November, a Planned Parenthood office in St. Louis also noted a spike in vasectomies in an interview with Live Action. “Since the Dobbs decision, we have seen an increasing number of male-bodied people coming and requesting this service [vasectomies],” Dr. Margaret Baum of Planned Parenthood told Live Action. “We performed 142 vasectomies in 2021. Already this year, we’ve done close to 200 in 2022.”

But doctors say this isn’t the only major event that has pushed men to seek a permanent form of contraception.

“During the Great Recession, there was a marked increase in requests for vasectomies, because people felt that the economy was such that they couldn’t afford to have children,” Marc Goldstein, professor of reproductive medicine and urology at Weill Cornell Medical College, told Yahoo News.

Between 2007 and 2009, an estimated 150,000 to 180,000 additional men received a vasectomy, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

“And we’re seeing exactly the same thing happening now,” Goldstein said. “We’ve seen a doubling or tripling overall in the number of vasectomies, and they marked a drop in the number of reversals since Roe v. Wade.”

Abortion rights activists on the march, with signs also reading: Guns should not have more rights than women, — Abortion rights activists hold a sign reading “Vasectomy Prevents Abortion” at a protest in downtown Los Angeles, on June 24, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Doctors note a slight increase in the number of younger patients of less than 30 years old with no children seeking a vasectomy, with the largest increase among in men in their mid- to late 30s.

“We saw a bump up of about 20%-25% from 35- to 37-year-old men who had decided not to have any children in years prior, but had done nothing about it, and were purely relying on the partner for their contraception,” Guarin said.

As abortion rights are restricted nationwide, experts say vasectomies do not provide a replacement for access to abortion.

“Contraception is an integral part of ensuring reproductive justice, freedom and autonomy, but it always has to exist with access to other pregnancy outcomes, including access to abortion,” Katrina Kimport, professor of reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, told Yahoo News.

Even though medical professionals say vasectomies are cheaper, safer and faster, more women get their tubes tied. Vasectomies, however, are an outpatient procedure with a low risk of complications, and take less than an hour to complete.

“Tubal ligation and other procedures for women are options, but they usually have a higher risk of complications and may cost more,” Dr. Nicholas Toepfer, a UCHealth urologist, said in a UCHealth article.

“There has never been a single death from a vasectomy ever. In tubal ligation every single year in this country alone, 25 to 30 women die from getting a tubal ligation, because it requires a general anesthetic,” Goldstein said.

Since vasectomies have rarely been the popular choice, women have often carried the burden of preventing pregnancies.

“Women and people who can get pregnant are largely expected to prevent pregnancy on their own for 30 years or more. And there’s not enough public recognition for how hard that is,” Krystale Littlejohn, associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, told Yahoo News. “Responsibility for preventing pregnancy shouldn’t be a stopgap effort for men, and it shouldn’t be something that is done periodically. It is a long-term commitment to their partners and to themselves.”

Doctors suggest that men could step up more often. “It’s sad to see that it took restricting the rights of an individual to choose about her own body, for the counterparts to say, ‘You know what, I probably should be doing something, because I cannot rely on the very last option, because it’s no longer available,’” Guarin said.

Russia could expand draft age as soon as this spring – lawmaker

Reuters

Russia could expand draft age as soon as this spring – lawmaker

January 12, 2023

Russian conscripts depart for garrisons, in Omsk

(Reuters) -Russia could raise the upper age limit for citizens to be conscripted into the armed forces as soon as this spring, a senior lawmaker has said, as part of Moscow’s plans to boost the number of Russian troops by 30%.

President Vladimir Putin gave his backing in December to defence ministry proposals to raise the age range for mandatory military service to cover Russian citizens aged 21-30, rather than the current range of 18-27.

The chairman of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said in an interview with the official parliamentary newspaper that Russia could raise the upper age limit for conscription to 30 for this year’s spring draft. But only after a one-to-three year “transition period” would the lower limit be raised from 18 to 21 years, Kartapolov said.

Critics said the idea of a transition period was a transparent attempt to increase the number of Russians eligible to be called up for military service to plug massive manpower shortages resulting from heavy losses in the war in Ukraine.

Kartapolov later dismissed such an interpretation, saying there were no plans to increase the number of conscripts once the draft age has risen to 21.

“The number of conscripts we have is decreasing every year. And that number will not be increased,” TASS news agency quoted him as saying, adding that the number envisaged was in the region of 200,000.

Russia’s armed forces are a mix of contracted soldiers and conscripts. Shoigu has outlined plans to increase the total number of combat personnel to 1.5 million from 1.15 million.

Asked about the possible changes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin “conceptually supported” raising the conscription age, but the exact details were up to the defence ministry to work out.

The role of conscripts in Ukraine came under intense focus soon after Russia’s invasion last February, with the defence ministry acknowledging some had been sent to fight there despite statements from Putin that this would not happen.

In September, Russia announced its first mobilisation since World War Two, calling up more than 300,000 former soldiers – including ex-conscripts – in an emergency draft to support the war in Ukraine. Western governments say Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers in nearly 11 months of fighting.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones)

Terrified Draftees Expose Russia’s New Scheme to Cover Up Cannon Fodder Deaths

Daily Beast

Terrified Draftees Expose Russia’s New Scheme to Cover Up Cannon Fodder Deaths

Allison Quinn – January 12, 2023

Hundreds of Russian draftees reportedly fear they have been sent on a suicide mission by top military officials who are planning to conceal their deaths through an inventive new scheme: changing records to show they are part of a regiment that doesn’t exist.

“They assigned us to regiment 228–such a regiment does not exist,” one of the men told the independent news outlet Sota. “They want to send us to a hot spot tomorrow with machine guns [to go] against tanks, drones, and mortars on minefields. We’re just cannon fodder.”

Sota reports that they’ve obtained an audio message recorded by some of the draftees, appealing for help on behalf of the 400 men who hail from the Altai Republic. In it they say they’re being sent to storm an area near Svatove in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

“Please help in any way you can. We’ve already been given drugs, [the opioid analgesic] Promedol, in case of serious injuries,” the message said.

The men described manipulation of their official paperwork that effectively rendered them lost without a trace.

“Some colonel-generals came here, I don’t know, they couldn’t find us. We were tossed on the very front, we’re under the artillery.”

The move suggests Russian officials are desperate for some manpower after military analysts noted Ukrainian troops had gained more ground on the Svatove-Kremenna line in recent days. Draftees from Russia’s Tomsk region had also publicly appealed to the governor in November for help with a “difficult situation” near Svatove.

Putin’s Secret ‘Squadron’ of Executioners Exposed for Killing Own Men

As the Kremlin now preps for a “large-scale war” against Ukraine, military officials are apparently hell-bent on making the most of the cannon fodder already on the battlefield. The independent new outlet Agentstvo reported on Thursday that wounded troops are being tossed back on the frontline without any official sign-off from doctors.

“Soldiers with shrapnel in their limbs and bullets through their lungs are being returned to the front,” the outlet noted.

Amid fears of a fresh full-scale mobilization across the whole country, the State Duma’s defense committee is also pushing to drag more Russians into the war.

“We do not have a trained mobilization reserve for waging a large-scale war, if NATO unleashes it. One out of every ten has served in the army, and nine out of ten people have not served in the army. What kind of reserve are they making?” Viktor Sobolyev, a member of the committee, told local media on Wednesday.

He said “100% of young people” should be required to train for a military specialty.

Developers are trying to build hundreds of thousands of homes in Arizona. New report warns there isn’t enough water.

USA Today

Developers are trying to build hundreds of thousands of homes in Arizona. New report warns there isn’t enough water.

Brandon Loomis, USA TODAY NETWORK – January 12, 2023

PHOENIX — Amid a megadrought depleting groundwater across the West, a newly released report from Arizona signals difficulty ahead for developers wishing to build hundreds of thousands of homes in the desert west of Phoenix.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs released the modeling report Monday, and it shows that plans to add homes for more than 800,000 people west of the White Tank Mountains will require other water sources if they are to go forward. The report also signals the start of Hobbs’ effort to shore up groundwater management statewide.

“We must talk about the challenge of our time: Arizona’s decades-long drought, over-usage of the Colorado River, and the combined ramifications on our water supply, our forests, and our communities,” Hobbs said.

The West’s megadrought which worsened in 2021 made it the driest in at least 1,200 years, according to a study from the journal Nature Climate Change.

As a result of the expanding drought, western states are struggling with a water shortage due to lakes and rivers drying up in addition to communities pumping more groundwater and depleting aquifers at an alarming rate.

The groundwater crisis has impacted agriculture and rural communities as many are losing access to groundwater. Now, new homes will need new water sources, according to Arizona’s modeling report.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources had developed the model showing inadequate water for much of the development envisioned as far-west suburbs, but had not released it during then-Gov. Doug Ducey’s term.

In the case of development on the western edges of the urban area, the information Hobbs’ team released makes clear that developers who own desert expanses largely in Buckeye’s, the westernmost suburb in Phoenix, planning area will need more water to make their visions come true.

The report, called the Lower Hassayampa Sub-basin Groundwater Model, finds that projected growth would more than double groundwater use and put it out of balance by 15%. The state’s groundwater law requires developers in the Phoenix area to get state certificates of assured water supplies extending out 100 years before they can build.

Arizona Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke on Monday said he would not issue new certificates for the area unless developers find secure water sources in addition to the local groundwater.

LOOMING LAKE MEAD DISASTER: How Colorado River cities are preparing for shortages

New homes will need new water sources

Some of the Buckeye subdivisions in the area already have certifications for homes that Buschatzke estimated to number in the thousands, and that will combine to add 50,000 acre-feet of demand in a basin that already uses 123,000 acre-feet. The aquifer apparently can bear that amount, but not the 100,000 acre-foot demand that department analysts have attributed to hundreds of thousands more homes envisioned for the zone.

The Howard Hughes Corp. is a major player in the area, with 100,000 homes planned on 37,000 acres.

The question of where developers might get the water to support such vast housing tracts has previously presented a mystery, with some developers merely saying they were confident in their prospects. The report the state released this week provides an initial answer: They won’t be finding that water solely in the aquifer below the land. Instead, they will have to find new ways of importing and possibly recycling water if they want to build out the property.

“Some of the big plans that are out there for master-planned communities will need to find other water supplies or other solutions,” Buschatzke said.

ARE CALIFORNIA’S STORMS NORMAL?: Or is climate change making them worse? What experts say.

For now, the groundwater deficiency could stall much building on the Valley’s far west side. But it also could foreshadow a push for big new infrastructure projects, such as an ocean desalination plant and pipeline proposal that a state water finance board has agreed to evaluate. That proposal, led by an Israeli company that has built or operated desalination plants around the world, would pipe water north from Mexico and through Buckeye on its way to the Central Arizona Project canal.

Other options include moving water from other areas, such as the Harquahala Valley to the west, or recycling wastewater, Buschatzke said. Those options could take years, though.

Buckeye officials sent a statement to The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, saying they need time to study the report but will work to ensure sustainable growth: “Buckeye is committed to responsible and sustainable growth and working to ensure we have adequate water for new businesses and residents, while protecting our existing customers.”

Researcher says finding water won’t be cheap or easy

Arizona State University water researcher Kathleen Ferris had called for the groundwater report’s release, and on Tuesday said she was delighted that Hobbs made it public.

Ferris, with the school’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, is a past director of the Department of Water Resources and helped craft the 1980 groundwater law that requires a 100-year supply for new development.

“It’s a hugely important step,” Ferris said. “As the governor said, It’s about transparency and knowledge. We should not be allowing this growth to occur when the water isn’t there.”

Ferris said she counts herself among skeptics who don’t believe a desalination plant will come online quickly. The Colorado River’s drought-reduced storage means it can’t provide excess water to soon fill the gap in groundwater supplies, either. It doesn’t mean Buckeye can’t grow, she said, but finding the water to do so won’t be cheap or easy.

She cautioned that other cities with stronger water portfolios are also on the lookout to snap up new water to secure their own futures.

Beyond Buckeye, Ferris said, Hobbs is right to push for better groundwater management statewide. The 1980 law applied mostly to urban areas, leaving vast areas of rural Arizona unregulated.

18 DISASTER AT $1 BILLION EACH: How the US was impacted by weather in 2022.

The whole state doesn’t necessarily need the same 100-year-supply rule, Ferris said, but groundwater users everywhere should be responsible for tracking and reporting what they use.

Any effort to address rural groundwater with statewide regulations is bound to face resistance in the Arizona Legislature, where lawmakers for several years have declined to extend state regulations.

Whatever happens, Ferris said, the state is due for an honest conversation about where and by how much it can grow. She hopes the governor’s announcement is the start of such a reckoning. “We just can’t have subdivisions approved (solely) on groundwater,” she said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

What Happens To Your Body When You Cut Out Carbs? A Dietitian Tells Us.

She Finds

What Happens To Your Body When You Cut Out Carbs? A Dietitian Tells Us.

Georgia Dodd – January 12, 2023

High-carb foods have always been a no-no when it comes to weight loss. You may have been advised to avoid carbs in your diet as much as possible, but health experts stress that this is not necessarily true. Foods high in carbohydrates are a crucial part of any healthy diet. Carbohydrates provide the body with glucose, which is then converted into energy used to support your body and physical activity. We spoke with Dana Ellis Hunnes, PhD, a senior clinical dietitian at UCLA medical center, assistant professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and author of Recipe For Survival, and Jamie Nadeau, a registered dietitian and nutritionist. Read on to learn more!

What do carbs do for your body and what you’ll notice without it

It’s no secret carbs are one of the most delicious food groups. But there are some carbs, like pasta, bread, and potato chips (which can lead to inflammation!), that are actually very bad for your health. They can lead to chronic inflammation, gut issues, weight gain, and more.

“Carbs, short for carbohydrates, are long chains of carbon-containing molecules, a.k.a. sugars that are found in plant foods,” Hunnes explains. “When we consume and digest these plant foods, including grains, fruits, vegetables, (and dairy) we break them down into more simple, sugars, known as glucose, fructose, and galactose (dairy). Our bodies use these sugars to fuel our cells.”

“Carbohydrates are one of the macronutrients (there are three of them: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats). Macronutrients are where we get all of our energy (calories) from. Carbohydrates break down to their simplest form, sugar, to give your body energy,” Nadeau agrees.

While not all carbs are bad for you, there is one specific type of carbohydrate that you should cut out of your diet if you want to lose weight: refined carbs. “Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. Foods have different amounts of carbohydrates,” Nadeau notes. “For example, broccoli has fewer carbohydrates than potatoes. You’ll also find carbohydrates in added sugars like table sugar, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, and typical “sweets” like cookies, cakes, and candy. Our bodies also “handle” certain types of carbs differently. For example, you’ll get a bigger blood sugar spike from candy compared to beans.”

Just because some carbohydrates stall weight loss, that doesn’t mean you should never eat carbs again. It’s just not healthy, because, Hunnes says, “our muscle cells and our brain cells live off of glucose. If we do not have glucose in our body, we start to break down muscle and fat and turn them into alternate fuel sources that are not as efficient at being used.” There’s no need to cut carbs out of your diet completely. You need healthy carbs, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, in your diet to maintain your energy.

“Carbohydrates, especially high fiber carbohydrates like whole grains, legumes, and fruits are full of health-boosting nutrients that are great for our health,” Nadeau agrees. Instead of cutting out carbs, I recommend being mindful of the ones that you’re choosing regularly. Choosing high fiber carbohydrates helps to stabilize blood sugar and helps to make your meal more satisfying.” Good to know!

Well, there you have it! Both experts emphasize that completely removing all carbohydrates from your diet is not only impossible but also extremely unhealthy. Instead, try and cut out refined carbohydrates, like potato chips, that only harm your body. This can reduce inflammation, improve gut health, and promote an overall healthier body!

A Republican elections commissioner said he was proud of lower turnout in Milwaukee. Democratic colleagues are calling for his resignation.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Republican elections commissioner said he was proud of lower turnout in Milwaukee. Democratic colleagues are calling for his resignation.

Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – January 12, 2023

MADISON – A Democratic member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission is calling on his Republican colleague to resign for praising lower voter turnout in Milwaukee during the 2022 general election that he attributed to targeting Black voters with negative ads, lawsuits filed by Republicans that added voting restrictions, and GOP campaigning that pushed Democratic voters to stay home instead of voting for candidates in their party.

Bob Spindell, the chairman of the Fourth Congressional District GOP and a member of the elections commission, told Republicans in a recent email the district party was proud of lower turnout in Milwaukee “due to a ‘well thought out multi-faceted plan'” that included “A substantial & very effective Republican Coordinated Election Integrity program resulting with lots of Republican paid Election Judges & trained Observers & extremely significant continued Court Litigation,” according to UrbanMilwaukee, which was the first to report on Spindell’s comments.

Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said Spindell should leave his position overseeing elections.

“My fellow commissioner Bob Spindell has shown he cannot be fair and should resign from the WEC,” Thomsen tweeted, citing the UrbanMilwaukee report. Thomsen did not respond to a request for an interview.

Bob Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

“I would suspect that he didn’t read my article,” Spindell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in response to Thomsen’s tweet.

Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs also called for Spindell to resign, tweeting, “When you brag about suppressing votes, you are admitting you suppressed votes. Nothing in his claims says ‘our message won’ or ‘people came to our side.’ It is literally ‘We made them not vote – hooray!’ Mark Thomsen is absolutely correct. This is beyond the pale.”

Spindell said by touting lower voter turnout he was praising efforts by Republicans to make inroads with lifelong Democrats. He said Thomsen’s comments were ignoring the fact that commissioners are supposed to be partisan.

“The elections commission was not set up to be fair,” Spindell said. “The oath of office that we take does not say anything about not being nonpartisan. We were appointed by Republican and Democratic officials to be partisan and there is nobody more partisan than Ann Jacobs and Mark Thomsen and that is meant to be a compliment.”

“Three partisan Democrats and three partisan Republicans try to get together and come out with (guidance) that is in the best interest of Wisconsin and at the same time recognizing the interests of the (political parties) must be protected.”

In a five-page memo touting the party’s 2022 campaign strategies, Spindell wrote that the party is “especially proud of how the City of Milwaukee’s gross vote went down from 74% to 63% of registered voters — 37,000 total votes less than cast in 2018.”

“We must remember, in the strategy of things, it is often extremely difficult & hard to convert a hard core, long term generation type Democrat to all of a sudden, bring himself or herself around to vote for a Republican. However, by our Republican efforts, pointing out strongly, how the Democrat Candidates are worse than or certainly no better than their perception of the Republican Candidates, at all levels, they hopefully cannot bring themselves to vote for either one,” Spindell wrote.

“In a Democrat City or Democrat County where up to 80% of the people are voting for the Democrats – that’s a good thing and helped insure that Sen. Johnson got over the goal line.”

In the memo, Spindell claimed Democratic candidates did not receive “the votes they needed” from Black voters because of Republican campaigning targeting Black communities. He touted smaller voter turnout in Milwaukee aldermanic districts with high percentages of Black residents.

“While a great deal of credit goes to the RNC/RPW/Johnson paid staff and our many dedicated volunteers; our recruitment of good candidates & their hard work for these areas; continued presence on a Black Talk Radio Show coupled with Negative Black Radio Commercials, there is still a great deal of much more concentrated work we need to do in the Black and Hispanic Communities by continuing to show how the Democratic Elected Officials and Candidates are not watching out for the livelihoods of the people who live in these areas and the Republicans can,” he wrote.

By ballots cast, the Journal Sentinel reported, Milwaukee had the biggest proportional decline of any municipality in the county, but that may have been driven partly by population decline. Some 17% fewer ballots were cast in the city than in 2018, a drop off bigger than other communities in the county.

However, by another measure, percentage of registered voters, the decline in turnout in the city was in line with other Milwaukee County communities. Overall, Milwaukee County saw about 46,000 fewer ballots cast.

Spindell is one of the 10 Wisconsin Republicans who in 2020 submitted false paperwork to Congress and the National Archives claiming to be an elector for former President Donald Trump despite Trump losing the election, and has falsely claimed the 2020 election was “rigged” but legal.

Spindell has been sued by two of Wisconsin’s real presidential electors over his decision to submit false paperwork to Congress claiming to be a presidential elector for Trump. Spindell and other false electors have defended their actions, calling it a legal strategy in the event the election results were overturned by a lawsuit.

‘Morning Joe’ Rails on GOP ‘Idiots Running Around’: ‘I Don’t Know When the Republican Party Became the Stupid Party’ (Video)

The Wrap

‘Morning Joe’ Rails on GOP ‘Idiots Running Around’: ‘I Don’t Know When the Republican Party Became the Stupid Party’ (Video)

Aarohi Sheth – January 11, 2023

In the “Morning Joe” studio Wednesday, host Joe Scarborough went in on the Republican Party, after its inquiry into the “weaponization” of government was approved by a divided House Tuesday.

“I don’t know when the Republican party became the ‘stupid party,’” Scarborough mocked. “I can’t imagine that the White House, the Senate, and others are going to sit back and let these people destroy American intelligence agencies, destroy the FBI, harm our national security [all] because [House Republicans] got a grudge in the name of Donald Trump.”

Republicans pushed this inquiry to create a powerful new committee to scrutinize what they say they believe to be an effort by the government to target and in turn, silence conservatives. After a party-line vote of 221 to 211 with all Democrats opposed, the House approved the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is chaired by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is also the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a Trump supporter.

Upon approval of the committee, an investigation will be launched into federal law enforcement and national security agencies. Jordan claims that this committee is meant to preserve the First Amendment, during a time when conservatives are supposedly being unfairly targeted, likely referring to the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property for classified White House documents he didn’t return for more than a year after leaving office.

“The political malpractice continues,” Scarborough said. “I know that there are a lot of former Republicans like me who say, ‘This is really bad. America needs a competent conservative party.’ Instead, we just have these idiots running around, trying to attack the military, trying to attack our intel services, trying to destroy the FBI.”

He continued: “This is the Republican party once again, not reading the room,” Scarborough said. “And by the room, I mean the United States of America, not reading American voters who rejected them in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Now, they’re going to try and politicize intelligence. They’re going to try to get top-secret classified documents.”

Also Read:
‘The View’: Sunny Hostin Says Comparing Trump and Biden’s Classified Document Gaffes is ‘Like Comparing Apples to Orangutans’ (Video)

Scarborough doubled down, questioning who truly has faith in the Republican party, after they continue to push their various conspiracy theories forward.

“We trust these people? They’re going to war against the FBI, they’re attacking the Pentagon, they’re attacking our top-ranked military officers. When are they going to learn?”

Scarborough noted how this committee may just end up harming Republicans themselves.

“MAGA extremists need to keep losing elections,” Scarborough said, referring to all the Trump-backed candidates losing during the recent midterms. “This [committee] is sure to do it, they’re just damaging themselves.”

Rep. Andy Biggs spews Kari Lake-like delusion from Washington, D.C.

AZ Central – The Arizona Republic

Rep. Andy Biggs spews Kari Lake-like delusion from Washington, D.C.

EJ Montini, Arizona Republic – January 11, 2023

Rep. Andy Biggs delivers remarks in the House Chamber during the third day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

Based on her ongoing unhinged behavior there is no doubt Arizona dodged a bullet when Republican Kari Lake lost the governor’s race.

Knowing the state won’t have a person in a position of power who is motivated by a bizarre, single-minded sense of revenge based on moronic or (even worse) mindful delusions affords us a sense of relief.

That is … until we recognize that the spinning barrel of Arizona politics has more than one round in the chamber.

The first Lake-like politician to come out blasting after the election, bent on destruction and with little or no grasp of reality is U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs.

Beginning by burning down the House

First, Biggs tried to metaphorically burn down the House of Representatives by putting himself up for speaker, making his own party look like a bunch of buffoons during days of ridiculous recriminations and deal-making, only to have the guy Biggs said was unfit to be speaker, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, wind up as …speaker.Then, on Tuesday, Biggs tweeted:

Last night, my Republican colleagues and I defeated the Democrats’ 87,000-person IRS army. We are working quickly to reverse the Democrats’ negligent policies. This is already a very good start to the 118th Congress!

Essentially, none of that is true.

Biggs and his Republican colleagues “defeated” nothing. To claim they did is not even wishful thinking. It’s close to hallucination. And Biggs knows it.

Last year, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included roughly $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service to be spent over 10 years. But, as numerous fact checkers have pointed out numerous times during the election cycle, claims of an IRS “army” going after middle class families are fiction.

The IRS, which had been underfunded by Congress for years, plans to use the money to update its technology systems, to hire and train new technology specialists and customer service representatives, to replace some of the tens of thousands of retiring agents and to hire some news ones.

No ‘army’ and nothing was ‘defeated’

The “army” claim comes from the fact that agents within the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division can carry firearms. In context, there are roughly 82,000 IRS employees. About 2,000 of them are CI agents. And they don’t go after regular folks.

Biggs’ claim that he and the new Republican-controlled house “defeated” the original bill is a fantasy. It’s shocking – or is it? – to think that he and his Republican colleagues believe their supporters are stupid enough to believe that.

The Inflation Reduction Act is law.

The new Republican-controlled House passed legislation to eliminate the IRS funding in that bill, but the House proposal must first get through the Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden.

Neither of those things will happen.

Biggs knows this.

That is reality.

You are equipped with body armor. Use it.

Biggs also knows that fashioning such legislation then pushing it through the House was a colossal waste of time, all designed to send a false message filled with false bravado to gullible constituents who, in turn, might be conned into sending money back to the campaigns of the politicians who, in essence, did nothing.

We have plenty of other elected officials like Biggs – Rep. Paul Gosar, most of the GOP state legislative caucus and more – all with an unlimited supply of conspiracies and misleading information.

Don’t duck for cover, however.

Don’t run from the oncoming barrage.

There is widely available, impenetrable body armor at your disposable: Truth.

Republicans who snubbed Gov. Katie Hobbs will quickly become irrelevant

AZ Central – The Arizona Republic

Republicans who snubbed Gov. Katie Hobbs will quickly become irrelevant

Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic – January 11, 2023

Republican state Sen. Anthony Kern turns his back as Katie Hobbs delivers her State of the State address to the Arizona House of Representatives during the opening session of the 56th Legislature on Jan. 9, 2023, in Phoenix.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs delivered her first State of the State speech on Monday, only to watch as a handful of Republican legislators walked out or turned their backs.

The state of the state Legislature, it seems, is …

Rude.

Granted, it wasn’t exactly the Gettysburg Address, but Hobbs delivered a decent enough speech for her first time out, touching on many of the major issues confronting the state. There were no surprises.

“We are all here,” she began, “because we care deeply about Arizona.”

Well, most of those in attendance, anyway.

Members of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus walked out, unwilling even to listen to what a new governor, at the start of a new legislative session, had to say.

“As was foreseeable, Katie Hobbs utilized the time-honored State of the State Address to once again promote her radical, woke policy initiatives, rather than address the profoundly serious concerns that Arizonans have regarding the political and fiscal realities of daily life,” the caucus group said in a press release after the event.

So now it’s “radical” and “woke” to support public education, to require accountability when spending public money, to protect our dwindling groundwater supply?

Who, I wonder, is really out of step here?

Hobbs’ speech was hardly a wish list of the left. She called for:

– Overriding the aggregate spending limit so that schools attended by nearly 1 million Arizona children aren’t faced with widespread layoffs or even closures come April 1.

– Repairing crumbling schools and redirecting to all schools the $68 million in bonus funding that’s now reserved only for schools with good test scores.

– Creating a task force to figure out why 1 in 4 teachers are fleeing the classroom and what to do about it.

– Requiring privately owned charter schools to account for our how they spend the public’s money.

– Boosting state spending on affordable housing and offering a child tax credit to families earning less than $40,000 a year and exempting diapers and tampons from the state sales tax.

– Expanding college scholarships, including $40 million for undocumented students who now qualify for in-state tuition rates, thanks to passage of Proposition 308.

– Updating the state’s water management plan to put a stop to large agricultural interests that are pumping the ground dry in rural areas.

– Holding the line on further restrictions to abortion.

“I will use every power of the governor’s office to stop any legislation or action that attacks, strips or delays the liberty or inherent right of any individual to decide what’s best for themselves or their families,” Hobbs said.

You’d think the far right – the people who scream about vaccines – would be thrilled with those words.

Instead, some of the state’s most conservative legislators walked out on Hobbs, the first Democrat to be elected as governor since 2006.

“It took 5 seconds for Katie Hobbs to begin legislating from the 9th floor, so I will not listen to her rhetoric for even 5 seconds,” incoming Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, tweeted.

“We could not sit idly by while she repeatedly declared her intention to advance her woke agenda that stands at odds with the people of our state,” Rep. Jacqueline Parker, R-Mesa, explained, in a press release.

Republican Reps. Alexander Kolodin of Scottsdale and Jake Hoffman of Queen Creek also walked out. Sens. Anthony Kern of Glendale and Justine Wadsack of Tucson, meanwhile, stood and turned their backs.

Class acts, one and all.

Earlier in the day, the Freedom Caucus announced plans to sue Hobbs over last week’s ”unconstitutional” executive order – the one that strengthens worker protections for LGBTQ state employees and contractors.

Imagine filing a lawsuit because the state says it won’t fire people for being gay?

“The Arizona Freedom Caucus will oppose Katie Hobbs’ woke agenda,” Hoffman, the group’s chairman, vowed, during a Monday morning press conference. “You can bet your ass that will happen.”

You know another sure thing on which you can bet your hindquarters?

The Republicans who walked out on Monday – unwilling even to listen to what the governor had to say – will, in the end, have no voice in how Arizona is governed.

A split government, after all, requires compromise, and compromise requires a level of maturity not seen in the snowflakes who couldn’t stand even to listen on Day 1 to what Arizona’s new governor had to say.

Monday’s stunt was the first step to irrelevance.