Free Republic

Deborah Amdur...was transferred there from Vermont, succeeding a series of short-term leaders and billed as the person who would end wait-time manipulation... But a VA Inspector General report saw that wait time metrics became implausibly positive the moment she arrived at the Vermont hospital, strongly suggesting she presided over a severe case of the same thing she was supposed to be stopping in Phoenix.

The most immediate embodiment of McCain’s problems is Kelli Ward, 47, a former state senator who knows that Trump crushed the field in the March presidential primary by stoking the fires of Arizona’s long-running battles over illegal immigrants crossing the southern border. Ward is McCain’s main primary challenger Tuesday; she has attended Trump rallies and embraced his rhetoric while highlighting McCain’s bipartisan work on immigration bills that would grant undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. “He’s the champion of compromise,” she said of McCain in an hour-long interview in a Scottsdale campaign office, not intending it as a compliment. Public...

FORT HUACHUCA — The Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation is facing a more than $500,000 cut to recreation programs starting Oct. 1. As a result, DFMWR had to make tough and potentially unpopular decisions to rebalance its assets and make every dollar count. Up to this point, some recreation programs have been subsidized. This is no longer possible and passing along the costs associated with these services is prohibitive, especially within Outdoor Recreation. Outdoor Recreation and the Sportsman's Center will continue all services with the exception of arms rental and ammunition sales, which will end Aug. 28.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leads Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 5 points in Arizona, according to a new CNN/ORC battleground state poll. Trump is favored by 43 percent of registered voters in Arizona, while Clinton is backed by 38 percent, according to the poll. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson has the support of 12 percent of registered voters, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein is backed by 4 percent. Trump leads Clinton both among white voters with college degrees and white voters without college degrees in the state. But among those with college degrees, Trump has only a 2-point...

SIERRA VISTA — “If you can’t support Donald Trump, then I can’t support you,” a passionate constituent told Arizona U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake on Monday during an appearance in Sierra Vista. Questioned on his statements criticizing the Republican presidential nominee, Flake told a group of about 30 officials and members of the public that Trump needs to stop making controversial comments. “I can tell you it’s not a comfortable position, not to support the party’s nominee,” he said. “But if somebody doesn’t push back, we risk a lot more than just this election.”

Cox told Business Insider that the situation in Pinal County will likely raise calls for a public option, or a government-run health insurance option similar to Medicare or Medicaid.

Colleges and universities are forever feeling shortchanged by taxpayers. They needn't worry. For one thing, they are far richer than those of us who actually pay federal levies. For another, academia has succeeded in securing millions for what look like panel discussions at the Modern Language Association. "The National Institutes of Health has spent more on exercise programs for refugees, anti-tobacco video games, weight-loss programs for truckers, and studies on gay hook up apps than it has to fight the Zika virus," Elizabeth Harrington reported in the Washington Free Beacon on August 8, 2016. And a good chunk of that...

Dr. Kelli Ward, says John McCain, Obama, Hillary and others armed, funded and supported ISIS. She shows videos of him in Libya, pics in Syria, State Department Memo, etc.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzV9bjMg2ZU

PHOENIX - A federal judge has referred Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, among others, for criminal contempt charges in connection with behavior associated with a racial profiling case. Earlier this year Judge Murray Snow held Arpaio in civil contempt for disobeying court orders regarding a lawsuit over racially profiling Latinos during traffic stops. Friday, Snow referred Arpaio, along with Chief Deputy Gerard Sheridan, Capt. Steven Bailey and Attorney Michelle Iafrate, to another judge for a determination of whether their actions constituted criminal contempt. In his civil contempt ruling, Snow said Arpaio "engaged in multiple acts of misconduct, dishonesty, and bad...

Health officials have confirmed three travel-associated cases of Zika virus discovered in Cochise County earlier this month. Two county residents tested positive for the virus two weeks ago, and a third person tested positive days later, on Aug. 8. All three individuals had recently traveled to Puerto Rico, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports has 7,855 locally-acquired cases of the virus. “None of these people (in Cochise County) are pregnant or are able to be pregnant,” said Elizabeth Lueck, Cochise County’s public health emergency preparedness program director. She said she could not confirm all three individuals are...

SIERRA VISTA — The community at large will get its first look at the new Cochise College Downtown Center when the college hosts an open house for the new facility on Friday. From 3 to 6 p.m., visitors will have the chance to walk through the newly renovated halls of the former Sierra Vista Regional Health Center and speak with faculty and staff to learn about the various new technologies and course expansions that have filled the classrooms and laboratories in recent weeks. Located in the center of Sierra Vista, the new Downtown Center at the corner of Wilcox Drive...

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords on Tuesday blasted Donald Trump over his apparent joke about the possibility of Hillary Clinton being shot. The former Arizona Democrat issued a statement with her husband, Mark Kelly, saying the GOP nominee's remarks could incite violence.

FORT HUACHUCA — “There is no going back,” Major Gen. John B. Morrison, Jr., reminded an auditorium full of soldiers and civilians on Tuesday at the Change of Command ceremony, introducing the new leader of the Network Enterprise Technology Command on Fort Huachuca. Morrison, together with his wife Ann, have been stationed at the local post for more than two years. The couple were celebrated at a farewell dinner Monday night and Maj. Gen. Morrison officially surrendered his NETCOM position during the traditional ceremony Tuesday morning at Greely Hall on Fort Huachuca. Morrison’s next assignment will be as the Commanding...

Khizr Khan is calling on Sen. John McCain to withdraw his support for Donald Trump because of his comments about the Gold Star parents whose son was killed in Iraq. "I implore Sen. McCain ... I continue to implore all of the good Republicans who either support or are going to vote for their party's candidate, this will be a historic moment in the Republican Party," Khan told Cronkite News Tuesday. "If you publicly rebuked him, you will look back and you will stand tall in front of the nation," he added. Khan, who has become one of the most...

He's all buddies with the CIA/MOSSAD snackbar boys.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgLj5s0Xk8A  http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2014/09/16/mccain-lack-mideast-help-result-american-indecision/      

After defeating House Freedom Caucus member Tim Huelskamp last week, establishment Republicans are looking ahead to their next conservative targets. The goal is to have a House conference that cooperates with leadership. And primaries are the best way for establishment Republicans to eliminate troublemakers. Now that Huelskamp has been knocked off, the establishment's sights are shifting to Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, another member of the House Freedom Caucus. A group called Right Way Superpac has spent nearly $130,000 through Aug. 10 on mail and media opposing Gosar and supporting his primary opponent, pastor and city councilman Ray Strauss. "Has Paul...

One of the people featured in the New York Times (NYT) compilation video designed to marginalize Donald Trump supporters is speaking out to set the record straight. “Big Jim” Williams appears in the NYT video starting at 0:54 and, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, the Chaplain of the Phoenix chapter of Riders USA blasts the video and the NYT for mischaracterizing him and all Trump supporters.

If your kid is attending Prescott College in Arizona this fall, you may want to double-check the detailed charges on your bill. The private school is now charging every student a “non-mandatory” per-semester fee of $30 — or $60 for the year — to fund a college scholarship for an illegal immigrant. Yes, you read that right. The fee, announced in April, appears on the bill for students in the upcoming school term, who already pay $28,000+ in tuition to attend Prescott. (Room, board, and incidentals are extra, of course.) Students can opt out of this fee — but they...

PHOENIX — Arizona could do something in November it hasn’t done in 20 years if Donald Trump doesn’t change his tone and tenor, the state’s junior U.S. senator said Sunday: Support the Democrat presidential nominee.

Tight races in two Southwestern states and wide margin in Virginia show how 2016 could continue to be an election of surprises. Hillary Clinton holds a narrow two-point edge over Donald Trump in Nevada, earning 43% against Trump’s 41% among likely voters in a swing state George W. Bush and Barack Obama both won twice. In Arizona, which has only voted Democratic once since 1948, it’s Donald Trump with the slim lead, topping Clinton 44% to 42%. But Clinton could be headed for a relative blow-out in Virginia, where she leads Trump 49% to 37%. In 2008 Obama turned Virginia...