Bluesky, Threads, the death of Twitter. It’s been a long summer and I have no idea where to fucking post! For now, I’m alternating across Instagram/Threads and Bluesky. I’m very rarely on Twitter anymore, except to catch an unexplainable ban or LMFAO at the occasional local news article, like last week when multiple local outlets shared the fake report of Lil Tay’s death. As The App Previously Known As Twitter™ goes down the techno fascist drain hole, hopefully more journalists realize the importance of fact checking the “news” they pull from as they lazily scroll the timeline for clickbait. Press X to doubt. *hits X*
So things will be working a little differently around here. As I continue to take my research off Twitter, expect a different Arizona Right Watch. I’m hoping to write more long format work soon and you can now catch me weekly on Adventures in HellwQrld with Mike Rains (aka Poker and Politics) where we will cover the weekly QAnon-related happenings, the news in general, and I’m going to annoy the hell out of Mike with all things Arizona and Internet brain poison like NPC TikTok, Skibidi Toilet, “RIP Zyzz,” and whatever else I’m scrolling week-by-week. I also appeared on the QAnon Anonymous podcast talking about Kari Lake’s shitty new book that she DEFINITELY wrote herself. I also go over a lengthy list of election-related crimes continually coming from the Lake team. Sorry it’s a paywalled “premium” episode, I don’t make the rules.
Now onto the local fascists and the Summer of Hell…
Seasons Will Change, And So Will You: If you want a hint how the climate catastrophe is going to go, take no further look than Arizona in the summer of 2023. Starting on the final days of June, and stretching almost the entirety of July, Phoenix suffered through a 31-consecutive day heatwave that saw temperatures reaching at least 110°F. Some days reached up to 119°F and nights only cooled down to the 90s, leaving the state’s most vulnerable residents at near-constant risk if they didn’t have access to air conditioning or the unreliable (and often inconveniently located) cooling stations set up throughout the Valley. The energy grids saw record usage and thousands saw power outages during the monsoon winds.
Even the some of the so-called Lib Media™ brushed off the summer heat until the state’s biggest conspiracy loudmouths began to question the obvious signs of the climate crisis too and more body coolers were ordered to compensate for the excess amount of heat deaths.
As the sprawling concrete hellhole known as Phoenix burns, the City has also found it acceptable to sweep “The Zone” aka the largest encampment for unsheltered people in the state. Back in March, Judge Scott Blaney ordered The Zone be cleared following a lawsuit by local businesses in the surrounding area. NYT even gave one of the restaurants a special little write up, prompting cries all around the country for the poor business tyrant and “his area.” In response, The Zone has been getting regularly swept throughout summer. The numbers of unsheltered people living in The Zone isn’t actually going down, they’re actually going up, but don’t let that stop the City from trashing people’s items and kicking them down the road until the next round of “cleanups.”
Of course, this is as shelters are reportedly full, a Tucson hotel contracted to house people kicked residents out without warning, and the planned shelter on 22nd Ave and Lower Buckeye was cancelled. Or maybe they’ll be offered an opening at the Central Arizona Shelter Services, which experienced an air conditioning outage during the heatwave and then kept it a secret until residents began alerting the media.
This also comes on top of record evictions, record burn-related hospital visits, and record deaths. Saguaro cactus are struggling for survival in this heatwave but our government leaders somehow expect human beings to live out here. Americans better get used to the idea of free housing for all real quick, this recurring normalization of mass death cannot be sustained.
As Governor Katie Hobbs finally declares a heat emergency, it’s been mutual aid groups picking up the many, MANY areas the state and city has failed. Like Unsheltered PHX Street Watch documenting the City’s failure to provide free access to water, the restrictions at public parks, the police violence, and getting literal thousands of pounds of ice distributed throughout the heatwave. The heat isn’t exactly cooling down anytime soon, so consider contributing some time or money to those on the ground who actually give a shit: Unsheltered PHX Street Watch’s Wishlist, Phoenix community fridges, Leftover mutual aid and Radical Community Care, and Feed Phoenix.
Shakeup at Turning Point USA/Faith: Charlie Kirk continues to prove that Turning Point actually can get worse and more Christofascist. *sigh* let’s get this over with.
In June, TPUSA hosted their annual Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Texas. Unlike Phoenix’s annual AmericaFest, the YWLS’s mission is telling the next generation of young women to abandon their possible careers and opt-in for the life of a tradwife baby-making machine creating the next generation of conservative weirdo grifters. And remember that racist, misogynist fuck, Blake Neff, who was fired from his writing job for the Tucker Carlson show after it was revealed how much of a racist, misogynist fuck he was? He works for the Charlie Kirk Show now.
And according to former Turning Point’s Faith representative, Jon Root, he was recently ousted due to Kirk’s growing relationship with disgraced far-right pastor Mark Driscoll. According to Root, he was also forced to delete a Twitter post warning Jordan Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaila Peterson Fuller, to stay away from Driscoll’s Scottsdale church, Trinity. Root cited Driscoll’s previous ousting from his own fellow Elders at Mars Hill Church in Washington, who called him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Driscoll was accused of abusive and manipulative behavior, the same Elders would again accuse Driscoll of continuing his “pattern of sinful actions towards staff members and congregants,” at Trinity.
Root himself is no progressive Christian, previously representing Turning Point Faith at a conference hosted by Pastor Jeff Durbin, the head of End Abortion Now and lead at Apologia Church. Durbin himself travels the country preaching to fellow anti-choice travelers and Republican legislature over his desire to execute abortion providers and abortion havers. And one of Root’s final Twitter threads as a representative for Turning Point Faith included a long rant over a Pride flag seen on the set of the Jesus miniseries, The Chosen, where he called for a purge of any possible LGBTQ+ workers on the set. Not long after Root’s alleged firing, Kirk featured Pastor Driscoll on his August 3 podcast/stream.
See also: Turning Point USA “is raising money to hire 500 full-time organizers in Arizona.”
And First Place Goes To… This Asshole: During her short time in office, far-right LD-17 state senator Justine Wadsack’s hateful bills have targeted the LGBTQ+ and drag community, the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, nearly every book ever written, and unsheltered people. It’s no surprise she’s facing a recall. It’s also no surprise she’s been taking the criticisms like the totally normal human being that she is (/s).
Organizers with the Recall Wadsack recall campaign have been facing repeated attacks from Wadsack and her allies. One of the recall volunteers, Tina Kilcullen, has documented a white truck displaying Wadsack’s “Freedom Team” campaign poster attempting to intimidate signature gatherers. Kilcullen’s real estate broker severed their business relationship after facing repeated calls from Wadsack. In a Twitter exchange with KeyWiki founder Trevor Loudon, Wadsack offered to funnel dirt on her recallers to his notoriously inaccurate “anti-communist” website. Wadsack’s professionalism continued after a recall-friendly Tucson resident, Devin Russel, showed up to her publicly promoted event at a public park. Wadsack blocked him from filming her speech and later posted his image online for her Twitter troll mob. An event organizer with Wadsack called Russel a “pro-pedo groomer,” for expressing support for LGBTQ civil rights. Once Russel’s address was included in an online threat, he reportedly bought a gun for additional protection.
Despite all that, the Arizona Republican Party saw Wadsack worthy of being named the “Freshman Senator of the Year,” citing her bills attacking drag performers and unsheltered people. Cool shit. Anyway, the recall deadline is September 5, 2023, if you’d like to join the effort or add your signature if you’re an resident of LD-17 then visit SackWadsack.com
Abortion Initiative! We Got An Abortion Initiative: Volunteer for the abortion initiative! The Arizona Abortion Access Act would amend the Arizona constitution to make abortion a “fundamental right” for every individual. It writes that "no law, regulation, policy or practice shall be enacted or enforced” that denies, restricts, or interferes with the right to an abortion "before fetal viability,” which lies between 23 and 24 weeks gestational age. There would also be no restrictions if the pregnant person’s life was at-risk. Arizona currently has a hard 15-week ban on abortion, leaving many to leave the state or country to access their reproductive healthcare. It would also protect Arizonans from any possible looming court decisions that seek to ban abortion access in the state near-entirely.
383,923 signatures are needed by the July 3, 2024 deadline, but reproductive rights groups like the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona and NARAL Arizona are aiming to collect half a million. SIGN IT. VOLUNTEER. Let’s make the Cathi Herrods and Alliance Defending Freedoms of the state sorry they ever fucked with our access to healthcare.
Some quick LOL, LMAOs: The campsite of one of the Veterans on Patrol assholes, Paul Flores, burnt to a crisp. Former Arizona Oath Keeper president Ray Epps is suing Fox News for defamation after the entirety of MAGA World accused him of being the mastermind behind their false version of the January 6 insurrection. Sen. Wendy Rogers posted Hunter Biden’s cock off a Twitter account called IlluminatiBot and had to delete after she possibly broke Arizona’s revenge porn laws. Sen. Rogers also shared some white supremacist Rhodesian lost cause propaganda which is less lol, lmao and more YIKES. The Trump indictments are heavy on the mention of “Arizona,” but still nothing for our phony electors (tick tock). Mark Finchem and Kari Lake keep racking up fines for their election lies, this time featuring attorney Alan Dershowitz. Freshman QAnon-touting legislator who hosted an event titled after a QAnon catchphrase, Janae Shamp, was in D.C. for January 6th (to say the least). And the AZ GOP is broke as hell.
Oh and remember that staffer of Rep. Paul Gosar who pledged his loyalty to neo-Nazi booger eater Nick Fuentes? The one who I helped to ID as Wade Searle aka “ChickenRight” a few months ago? Gosar never answered any questions about his white supremacist staffer, but he was recently spotted in D.C. by independent photojournalist Zach D. Roberts pretending to be part of Trump’s legal team alongside another Fuentes loyalist who worked for Marjorie Taylor Greene. Great job, Gosar.
At least the proposed College Republicans United-hosted Nick Fuentes speech in Prescott got absolutely owned: two event spaces cancelled, the County GOP parties listed on the flier quickly distanced themselves, Fuentes and other speakers dropped out, and the handful of losers that showed up for the pathetic conference were met with a crowd of protesters. LOL, LMAO.