For most of the time since World War II, Arizona was an automatic deposit in the Republicans’ bank account. But that’s changed in recent years. With the start of the new session of the state legislature, the Republicans are clinging to power by the thinnest of margins–a one-seat majority in the state house, and a one-seat majority in the state senate.

Unfortunately, a few members of the state house have shown that they can churn out legislation that is as loony as their party’s recent social media posts. They are rallying behind one of their colleagues’ efforts to put those who have abortions at risk for first-degree murder charges.

The leader of this effort is Walt Blackman, who represents a large swath of rural northern Arizona including Flagstaff, Sedona, and Snowflake. He recently introduced a bill that would require local prosecutors to charge any woman who gets an abortion in the state with “homicide by abortion.” Doctors who perform abortions could also face homicide charges.

Blackman introduced this bill on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Watch coverage from KPNX in Phoenix here.

The bill, viewable here, is an absolute monstrosity. It would require prosecutors to ignore any “contrary or conflicting federal laws, regulations, treaties, court decisions or executive orders” and charge women who have abortions, as well as abortion providers, with homicide.

Based on the manner in which this bill is worded, Blackman wants women who have abortions to do hard time–even in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life. There are even situations where a mother or a doctor could be charged with first-degree murder, and potentially face the death penalty.

Let that sink in, folks. If Blackman has his way, a woman who needs to get an abortion in order to save her life puts herself at risk for hard time in prison if she does so. And a woman or girl who is a victim of rape or incest could potentially be arrested for murder if she gets an abortion. Let there be no doubt–Blackman is not pro-life. He is forced-birth.

Seven other Republicans have signed on as sponsors for this bill. One has to wonder if they have hefty bank accounts. After all, it’s plainly obvious that they’re hoping to take this all the way to the Supreme Court–and use it as a battering ram to overturn Roe v. Wade. If that’s the case, ladies and gentlemen, are you willing to reimburse the people for the expenses of defending your bill?

You’re probably wondering–what in the world is a black man doing sponsoring such a heavy-handed bill? Well, as part of the effort to wedge blacks toward their side, abortion foes have tried to claim that abortion is a form of ethnic cleansing. But at the same time, Blackman has trashed George Floyd and called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization. And of course, he was all in for a president who had no qualms about knowingly calling lawmakers of color “savages.”

If Blackman and his Republican compatriots really cared about the needs of ordinary Arizonans, they wouldn’t be pushing this kind of red meat. But then again, they’re part of a party whose social media feeds of late have resembled those of conspiracy theorists or militia groups. If they stay on this course, they won’t be able to complain when they have a hard time winning elections in the future.

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As the country deals with the aftermath of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, the Biden administration is set to make domestic terrorism a significant focus of the National Security Council (NSC). Domestic extremism was considered a priority threat to the new administration even before the Jan. 6 attack, but the urgency of the issue has been heightened since. The FBI and other agencies warn that the extremists will likely pose a threat to the Senate impeachment trial just getting underway this week, particularly by the groups who believe in the accusations of fraud in the 2020 election. Jake Sulliva…

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Rudy Giuliani’s attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election for former President Donald Trump could cost him big time. Dominion Voting Systems, which Giuliani placed at the center of a bizarre conspiracy to rig the election, sued the former New York City mayor Monday for $1.3 billion. “There must be accountability for the disinformation campaign,” said Tom Clare, a lawyer for Dominion, adding that Giuliani “made the company radioactive and destroyed the value of this company.” The suit is the second filed by the voting machines company over the conspiracy promoted by lawyers for the Tru…

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday that raises the minimum wage for federal workers to $15 per hour. By the end of Biden’s first 100 days in office, federal employees and contractors will have to be paid a $15 minimum wage and be provided emergency paid leave. The order simultaneously revokes three executive orders signed in 2018 by former President Donald Trump geared towards weakening labor rights for federal workers, including making it easier to terminate employment and restrict the power of their labor unions. The order also effectively kills the Schedule F classifica…

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Few Republican women exemplify this more than Marjorie Taylor Greene, the newly elected congresswoman from Georgia’s 14th district. This district stretches from the Georgia side of the Chattanooga area to the outer fringes of Atlanta. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+27, it would elect a comatose Republican. Trump won this district by punishing margins in both of his bids–75-22 in 2016 and 73-25 in 2020.

Not surprisingly, Greene ran as Trump in a skirt. For instance, after Politico uncovered a tranche of racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic videos Greene made during her days as a right-wing commentator, Greene wailed that the big, bad libruls were ganging up on her just because she’s a conservative. And when she got deservedly slammed for posting a meme depicting her holding an AR-15 next to a mashup picture of The Squad, she chalked it up to an effort to “cancel” her over a little old meme.

Unfortunately, in a district redder than a Georgia Bulldogs jersey, Greene was essentially coronated as the district’s next congresswoman when she won a runoff for the Republican nomination. She romped to victory in November with 74 percent of the vote over a Democratic candidate who had been forced to withdraw after a pending divorce forced him out of his house.

Since then, she has lived up–or rather, down–to expectations. She refused to wear a mask to the swearing-in ceremony. Along with 138 of her Republican colleagues, she objected to certifying Biden’s defeat even after a mob of pro-Trump thugs stormed the Capitol. She had her Twitter account locked for 12 hours last weekend for repeatedly peddling disinformation about the presidential and Senatorial elections in Georgia.

Greene’s continued peddling of conspiracy theories about election fraud is outrageous on two counts. For one, she’s effectively giving succor to the closest thing to a coup attempt we’ve seen in this country by not only objecting to the certification of Biden’s win, but continuing to peddle the lies that led to that coup. Additionally, this came after Trump was caught on tape trying to bully Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into finding a way to overturn Biden’s lead there.

But in the face of all of this, Greene would like you to believe she’s a fine, upstanding Christian conservative. Why? Well, on Wednesday, she took to Twitter to pitch a fit over Democrats’ approach to–wait for it–pronouns.

Greene was wailing about how the Democratic-controlled House had effectively banned the use of gendered pronouns on the House floor. This claim has been bouncing around the right-wing tubes for the better part of two weeks.

Greene would have us believe that by calling out this Democratic war on pronouns, she’s doing what she was elected to do–“save America, stop socialism!” But there’s one problem. It isn’t true. According to USA Today, the change in pronouns only affected the long-standing rule that bans members of the House from hiring their relatives. It merely replaced the gender-specific language of the text with gender-neutral language.

But even without this tidbit to consider, Greene’s hypocrisy is glaring. She pitches a fit over pronouns, but had no qualms about objecting to the certification of Biden’s win even after the storming of the Capitol. Republican strategist Scott Jennings, a former adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell, put it best–“Once the Capitol had been literally occupied, how do you give quarter to the viewpoint that caused the occupation?”

Here’s a word to the wise, Marjorie. When you’re more concerned about a nonexistent change to pronouns than you are about an attack on democracy itself, it’s only fair to ask whether your moral compass is warped. Asking that question isn’t an attempt to cancel you. It’s raising a legitimate concern about whether you’re fit for office.

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The new Biden Administration sworn into office just days ago has already made several major changes to reduce the burden of student debt as well as early relief for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another change President Joe Biden made was the removal of a mysterious button on former President Donald Trump’s desk, which delivered Diet Cokes to Trump whenever he pressed it. The London Times‘ Tom Dunn tweeted a picture of Trump’s desk compared to the new Biden desk with an accompanying story. When interviewing Trump in 2019, Dunn was baffled when Trump pressed it and “a butler swiftly …

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Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump will go on trial in the US Senate soon after a fresh impeachment case against the former president is transmitted Monday by the House of Representatives, top lawmakers announced. The House impeached the Republican leader for a historic second time on January 13, just one week before he left office. After days of declining to say when she would send the article of impeachment to the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, made her announcement Friday. “The article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection by Donald Trump will be deli…

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Thursday to push ahead quickly with the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump over his role in inciting the violent storming of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. A day after President Joe Biden took office, Pelosi left little doubt that she plans to quickly transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate, a move that will trigger a trial of Trump. “It will be soon and I don’t think it will be long,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “And it must be done.” Pelosi repeatedly refused to give a timetable for the impeachment trial, which is a delicate subject given Bide…

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Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration Wednesday, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord and a mask mandate for all federal buildings. The orders included keeping the United States in the World Health Organization, ending the ban on entries from mostly Muslim-majority countries, bolstering environmental protections and strengthening the fight against Covid-19. Also among the directives was a halt to construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border, and efforts to expand diversity and equality for minority grou…

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President Donald Trump is reportedly considering forming a new political party called the “Patriot Party,” as he continues to lose face with many mainstream Republicans, such as outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who on Tuesday said the riot at the Capitol was “provoked by the president.” Trump, who has mused about running again in 2024, has developed a group of extremely loyal supporters and rallied voter enthusiasm under the political umbrella of “Trumpism.” In his farewell speech, delivered during his last full day in office, Trump said “the movement we started is just beginni…

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