Read this article by E.J. Montini in the Arizona Republic to learn how the Koch-funded ALEC controls Governor Doug Ducey and the state legislature in Arizona. ALEC was behind the voucher legislation that was overturned by voters earlier this year.
He writes:
About 30 of Arizona’s Republican state lawmakers, along with Gov. Doug Ducey, attended the annual convention of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Austin, Texas, this month.
For the politicians, membership in ALEC is like joining one of those meal kit delivery services, only in this case lawmakers are presented with ready-made, easy to introduce legislation guaranteed to satisfy the special interests who came up with the political recipes, and to give regular citizens indigestion.
Earlier this year an investigation by USA Today, the Arizona Republic, and the Center for Public Integrity found that from 2010 to 2018, bills based on ALEC legislation were introduced nearly 2,900 times across all 50 states.
Arizona ranked second among states for the highest number of ALEC bills introduced and passed during those years, with more than 200 bills introduced and 57 enacted. Only Mississippi had more.
‘Chefs’ are lobbyists and executives
ALEC is the HelloFresh of politics, except what they cook up isn’t good for you. Instead the group produces ready-to-introduce legislation for politicians more interested in serving special interests and promoting their own careers than in serving their constituency
Diane Ravitch's blog 
ALEC is a cancer, metastasizing across the country. As I read this post, I am sitting in Florida, where, in a couple days, a category 5 hurricane with winds of 175 mph and gusts of 200 mph is going to skirt the coast and head north along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. This storm is going to be brutal. It will devastate the Bahamas and cause enormous damage along the Southeast US coast.
I have a little experiment that even the geniuses at ALEC and in the IQ45 Whiter House can carry out. Put a pot of water on the stove. Then add energy by turning on a burner. What happens? When you add energy, it moves around more.
Duh.
But, you can go to the ALEC website right now, in a time when we face devastating consequences from climate change, and read, under the darkly ironic heading “Environmental Stewardship,” model bills opposing a carbon tax, withdrawing states from regional climate initiatives, supporting fracking, lifting regulations on coal and other fossil fuels, giving states the right to nullify EPA carbon guidelines, and so on. In other words, the ALEC agenda seems to be to let the planet burn. And those bills are just the beginning of the program of environmental ruin being supported by ALEC in order to protect the profiteering of the oligarchs who support this evil organization.
Recently, Donald Trump visited England and met with the climate change activist whom he refers to as “The Prince of Whales.” Trump reported that the prince was concerned about the future and that Trump explained to him that climate change was just weather. The man is self-parodying.
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Climate change is “just weather” and mass murders can’t be stopped because they are caused by “mental illness,” not easy access to assault weapons. What is the Trump administration doing about mental illness? No doubt defunding treatment centers for the mentally Ill.
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As I think you mentioned once before on these pages, Diane, not long after taking office, the Trump misadministration removed an Obama-era regulation that added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is used to check people who are buying firearms, information about people who had had to have help filling out federal government assistance forms. So, the Trumpsters made it EASIER for people with mental illness to purchase firearms.
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Wait, what? Weren’t we going to nuke this hurricane?!
&–knew this was going to happen–this latest mass shooting was relegated to pages other than the front in both Chicago newspapers today.
Yep–normalizing this, too.
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The planet burn seems like hyperbole to me, Bob. Are you sure global warming of a degree or two is such bad thing?
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Imagine a bio-lab, Harlan, full of Petri dishes growing bacteria. Go into the lab and turn up the temperature by 1.5 degrees C. What happens? Just one of the many, many often unremarked consequences of this science experiment we are playing with the planet.
Mars was once perfect for life.
Perhaps you have heard of the precautionary principle.
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Oh, & Bob–funny (not “ha, ha” funny, of course: stay safe) you should be in FL, because, upon reading this post, I immediately thought of FL~AZ. So much alike: retirement locales, snowbird headquarters & a large # of immigrants (although most have probably fled the states, are in hiding, or have already been arrested by ICE). This mix makes for horrible voting patterns & government, to be sure.
On another note, I highly recommend that readers keep tabs on C-SPAN scheduling: w/in the past two days, they had something at George Mason U. & then at Liberty U.
“Friends close, enemies closer.” You don’t have to be a fly on the wall when it’s televised!
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Why You Should Move to Florida: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/why-you-should-move-to-florida/
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Hilarious! Sending to all of my FL friends!
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Thanks, retired! Means a lot to me.
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An examination of academic capture at selected state colleges in Arizona involving selected faculty, would make for interesting reading.
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