Greetings!
… and welcome to another Baja Arizona Kos Open Thread. I am your host today, providing a bit of Baja news and of course pictures from my backyard.
Let's jump right in, with:
OUr dumb state legislature
Well, I had planned a section about one of my district's state house members, David Gowan, and his marathon driving adventures trying to run his state-owned car into the ground while pursuing dubious and probably illegal election-related activities in parts of the state which are not currently in his district (but to which he hopes to be elected some time soon). However, this has been admirably covered by Mother Mags here, and by Hunter here.
Well, that's OK, there are so many other exciting issues to cover. How about HB2131, "cities shall not allow stores to charge extra for plastic bags"? Well, who didn't see that coming? And remember how this week the FDA recently changed the labeling on mifeprex (RU-486, the "abortion drug"), to include how doctors were actually prescribing it? Well, our legislature got wind of that and stopped it before it got started, with SB1324 which only allows use of mifeprex as approved by the FDA as of 12/31/2015. So now it's a crime to use the drug as doctors have been using it (“off label”) for years (and the FDA only just now caught up).
Ugh, where do these trolls come from, anyway?
But there's one thing that just didn't go their way, with:
The middle-schooler masquerading as our governor
(Honestly, doesn't he always look like an over-enthusiastic 8th grader?)
In today's episode, this doofus posted a nice picture to his FB page:
If this were true, my timeline wouldn't be full of "Type amen in 30 seconds and you will receive $$ rewards this week! (If you're Satan's Spawn, just keep scrolling.)" Anyway, FFRF has been notified.
Given all the horrendous bills that he has signed this session, there is at least some proof that he possesses a "veto pen", and yes, he's willing to use it: on SB1197, which would have required instruction in cursive handwriting for students through the 5th grade. Even in the depths of depravity in which our state legislature wallows, cursive handwriting is simply beyond the pale. Here is where Governor Dougie draws the line (or a big X, or something).
(Do I even want to know what a signature looks like when written by the cursive-uneducated? No, I don't.)
How about that picnic?
It's that time again, Baja. Let's have a picnic! OK, today it's raining and chilly, but soon enough it'll be too hot and you know it. So given that there have been no objections so far, the date is April 30, and the place is Agua Caliente Park, so let's do this. Chime in with some indication of what you're bringing (so we don't end up with 8 kinds of potato salad and no dessert like last time — kidding!).
And here's a picture from my backyard:
This flower is also called “Beardtongue”. To bees (with vision skewed into the ultraviolet) the orange bit inside the flower glows like a landing strip.
So that's it. Add your news, say hello, chat amongst yourselves, or at least let us know you stopped in by taking advantage of the handy tip-n-rec buttons.