Arizona Archives

QAnon Star’s Congressional Campaign Floundering

February 1, 2022 Buck Banks

$30,588.22

— Amount QAnon darling Ron Watkins has raised for his run for Congress in Arizona. Watkins filed his first campaign finance report just before the deadline passed at midnight on Monday, revealing that in the three months to the end of December, he raised just $30,588.22 in small donations from supporters.

Court: Arizona ‘Fraudit’ Company’s Fundraising Documents Are Public Record

July 16, 2021July 16, 2021 Pensito Editors

Talking Points Memo: “An Arizona judge on Thursday denied Republican senators’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking records on the financial backers and other aspects of the sham “audit” of the 2020 elections in Maricopa County.

“’It is difficult to conceive of a case with a more compelling public interest demanding public disclosure and public scrutiny,’ Judge Michael W. Kemp wrote at the end of a seven-page decision.

“The ruling, in favor of a lawsuit for records from the left-leaning watchdog group American Oversight, gets the public one step closer to learning behind-the-scenes details of the audit, including who’s funding it.”

More Proof Arizona Is the Dumbest State

March 1, 2019 Buck Banks

“The idea that we force someone to give up their liberty for the sake of the collective is not based on American values but rather, Communist.”

— Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend (R), quoted by the Arizona Republic, arguing against mandatory vaccinations. She signed her Facebook post “live free or die.”

A Concise Explanation of Arizona

October 12, 2018 Buck Banks

“The states are the laboratories of democracy. And my state, Arizona, is clearly the meth lab of democracy.”

— Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), speaking at Netroots Nation in 2010.

AZ Republicans Split on Who Should Replace Flake

November 2, 2017 Buck Banks

32% to 29%

A new Data Orbital poll of likely Republican Senate primary voters in Arizona found 32% either definitely or probably voting for Kelli Ward (R), compared to 29% who said they were definitely or probably not voting for her. Another 34% said it would depend on who gets in the race and 5% refused to answer.

Arizona Republic Endorses Clinton

September 29, 2016 Buck Banks

Clinton retains her composure under pressure. She’s tough. She doesn’t back down. Trump responds to criticism with the petulance of verbal spit wads. That’s beneath our national dignity. When the president of the United States speaks, the world expects substance. Not a blistering tweet.

— The Arizona Republic, endorsing a Democrat for the first time since the newspaper’s founding in 1890.

Lots of Arizonans Burned an Early Vote for Rubio

March 21, 2016 Buck Banks

16%

Of Arizona early voters cast ballots for Marco Rubio, according to an MBQF Consulting poll taken last week. Washington Examiner: “As of last Wednesday afternoon, at least a quarter million registered Republicans had already voted in Arizona, taking advantage of the state’s 26-day early voting period. Based on the timeline, this means those 250,000 Arizona Republicans all voted without knowing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) would no longer be a candidate by election day.” By our math, that’s about 40,000 votes Ted Cruz won’t get.

Arizona Lawmaker Wants to Force Americans to Attend Church

March 30, 2015 Buck Banks

Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth.

— Arizona state State Sen. Sylvia Allen (R), raising the possibility of requiring church attendance for every American, the Arizona Republic reports. Allen added that she wished things were more like they were in the 1950s: “People prayed, people went to church. I remember on Sundays the stores were closed. The biggest thing is religion was kicked out of our public places, out of our schools.”

Pastor Welcomes Endorsement by Strip Club

July 29, 2014 Buck Banks

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

— Rev. Jarrett Maupin, Democratic candidate for Congress from Arizona, accepting the endorsement of a Phoenix strip club called the Great Alaskan Bush Co., the Arizona Republic reports.

McCain: Lethal Injection Should Be Lethal

July 25, 2014 Buck Banks

$30,588.22

“The idea that we force someone to give up their liberty for the sake of the collective is not based on American values but rather, Communist.”

— Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend (R), quoted by the Arizona Republic, arguing against mandatory vaccinations. She signed her Facebook post “live free or die.”

“The states are the laboratories of democracy. And my state, Arizona, is clearly the meth lab of democracy.”

— Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), speaking at Netroots Nation in 2010.

32% to 29%

Clinton retains her composure under pressure. She’s tough. She doesn’t back down. Trump responds to criticism with the petulance of verbal spit wads. That’s beneath our national dignity. When the president of the United States speaks, the world expects substance. Not a blistering tweet.

— The Arizona Republic, endorsing a Democrat for the first time since the newspaper’s founding in 1890.

16%

Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

— Rev. Jarrett Maupin, Democratic candidate for Congress from Arizona, accepting the endorsement of a Phoenix strip club called the Great Alaskan Bush Co., the Arizona Republic reports.

The lethal injection needs to be an indeed lethal injection and not the bollocks-upped situation that just prevailed. That’s torture.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Politico.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“If you’re not hiding anything, prove that to the American people. And if you are trying to hide something, as many of Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters apparently believe, then the Congress should work hard to uncover the truth for the American people.”

— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), quoted by the Washington Post, calling for the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

— Charlie Sykes

“The president of the United States didn’t give us an assignment. We’re not a bunch of little bitches around here, okay? I’m a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites.”

— Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), talking to reporters.

Numerati

33%

“The volume of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the means by which most Canadians visit—dropped by 33% last month compared to June 2024, following a 38% drop in May,” Forbes reports.

53%

A new Morning Consult poll finds 53% of Americans don’t know why the American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence to separate from Britain on July 4, 1776.

$1.6 billion

President Trump’s pardons and commutations have cost more than $100 million in fines owed to the federal government and another $1.5 billion in restitution to victims, Forbes reports.

58%

$3.3 trillion