The Morning Briefing: Arizona's Doomsday Clock Is Ticking Now That Crazy Katie Hobbs Is in Charge

Top O’ the Briefing

Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Petra tended to drift off to sleep whenever Clifford waxed on about his preference for watching Xanadu on laser disc.

Five years ago next month, I moved back to my native Arizona after living in Los Angeles for over two decades. Politics weren’t the motivating factor in the move, but I was looking forward to getting away from the damage that the Democrats had done to the Golden State. When I arrived, Arizona had a Republican governor, two Republican-ish United States senators, and a Republican attorney general.

Three of those offices are held by Democrats as of yesterday. The fourth is held by a nominal Independent who still votes with the Democrats 99% of the time.

It would seem that I brought some seriously awful mojo with me in 2018.

The worst of the lot is the none-too-sane woman who became the state’s chief executive yesterday. Catherine wrote about it:

Democrat Katie Hobbs took office on Jan. 2 as governor of Arizona, the first Democrat governor of the state since 2009. The private ceremony Monday at the State Capitol will be followed by a public inauguration on Thursday, the Associated Press said. Meanwhile, legal challenges to the shockingly crisis-plagued Arizona midterm election have highlighted the scandals of an election that some argue is illegitimate.

Morning Briefing regulars know that I’ve got a lot of questions about what went on in Maricopa County last November. Heck, my questions have questions. Despite the fact that Kari Lake’s legal challenge didn’t go as far as I wanted to, the stink of Magical Malfunctioning Tabulation Machines remains.

Now we’re saddled with the lunatic Ms. Hobbs, who “won” the election without even really campaigning and at one point hid in a public restroom to avoid having to answer any questions.

Hobbs wasted no time displaying her lack of dignity yesterday, giggling like an idiot schoolgirl who had just gotten high in the parking lot during her swearing-in ceremony, which Matt wrote about here.

While I don’t think Arizona is completely lost, I do see the possibility for it becoming so quickly with Hobbs as governor.

The leftist creep in California didn’t happen overnight, but times are different now. Democrats no longer pretend they aren’t socialists–they fly that freak flag out in the open with glee. Obviously, Hobbs can’t shove the state off of the leftist cliff on her own, but having a wild card like that at the top could accelerate the makeover. The Arizona state Senate and House of Representatives aren’t as red as they used to be. The lunatic left stars seem to be aligning here in the Grand Canyon State.

Eagerness by Hobbs and emboldened Democrats to overhaul the state could be their undoing, however. We’ve always been a bit purple here, and overreach to make the state blue could be met with immediate pushback–especially if they start talking about gun control.

The Arizona GOP may be a hot mess, but I’ve heard some whispers about the 2024 U.S. Senate race that I like. They’re just rumors now, so I won’t share.

Worry not, red state residents, I won’t be fleeing Arizona and the Hobbs regime and bringing my bad luck to you. There’s work to be done here in the state that spawned me and I intend to fight the commies and attempt to maintain Arizona’s purple hue. If this place is ever lost, I’ll be an American expat, fishing on a beach somewhere where there’s no cell service.

Please consider subscribing to the Morning Briefing here. It’s free and it helps keep me off the streets.

The Mailbag of Magnificence contributions can be sent to morningbriefing@pjmedia.com.

The Mailbag of Magnificence

This first Mailbag of 2023 is filled with mirth and expectation. OK, it’s just emails, but they’re fun. Like this one from Dave:

Dear Santa:

When I was a child, my father cheated on my Mom and didn’t love my family.

Later, my parents divorced.

Soon after, my mother died in a car accident.

My brother and I could only live in my grandma’s old house.

Grandma’s sister was an alcoholic.

The whole family lived on my grandma’s savings.

Grandma recently died.

My Uncle Andy is barely keeping himself out of jail from day to day.

My brother left home and won’t talk to us any more.

Dad, now 73, had to go out to work to support the family and eventually he is going to want me to do the same thing.

Yours sincerely,
Prince William

I got a real kick out of that, Dave. Thanks. I didn’t know where it was going but I could just feel in the bottom of wherever it is I feel things that the payoff would be worth it. Looking forward to watching this family careen off the rails without Liz around anymore.

Cliff noticed something about Monday’s rerun:

Happy New Year Kruiser!Enjoyed your early post about GrannyMaoJackets.  I was scrolling through the links and this one caught my eye:

 We’re all going to die and stuff: World at risk of pandemics that could kill millions, panel warns

The Reuters article you linked to is from September 2019.  The WHO was warning about a possibility of a pandemic but was blaming it on all the wars and mass exoduses that are caused by wars.  

They apparently missed the possibility that one or more governments would allow and even encourage the spread of a pandemic for political and economic reasons.   One more swing and a miss for our guardians of the truth in the media.  

Hope you enjoy a great new year.

Happy New Year to you as well, Cliff, and thanks for pointing that out. I was too busy playing video games and drinking beer to glance at the links in that old Briefing. I’m definitely going to do a column about this.

My tinfoil hat collection grows every day.

“LEAVE THE CAT VIDEOS ALONE!” was the subject line of this email from Jeanne:

As a 71 year old widow, these videos bring a smile to my face and sometimes I even giggle out loud!  My day will be gray and cloudy if I do not have these daily reminders that life is NOT always awful.

Please, Mr. Kruiser, if you have any soft spot in your heart for an elderly widow of a Viet Nam veteran, please reconsider your decision. I enjoy your linguistic rambles and always astute political analyses and will continue to read your column. But the best part has always been these videos, the painting of the day (I adore Monet), and your choice of YouTube musical selections. Really enjoyed the Sara Bareilles cover of Elton John recently.

Jeanne, I’m very grateful that you enjoy the extra stuff. I received several emails and some comments on Friday’s MB asking me to leave the section in and now I wouldn’t dream of nuking it (or renaming it).

The pedants who are triggered by the imprecision of “Everything Isn’t Awful” can ease their trauma by simply skipping ahead. Before any of them go rushing to their keyboards, a few notes on the other sections: I am aware that “interwebz” isn’t a real word, that Kabana is actually spelled “cabana,” and that Townhall Media is not, in fact, a ship.