Post by the Scribe on Oct 28, 2022 22:31:49 GMT
AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
GOP candidate for governor Kari Lake is clueless about the border, fentanyl and the NFL
www.yahoo.com/news/gop-candidate-governor-kari-lake-140022114.html
EJ Montini, Arizona Republic
Fri, October 28, 2022 at 11:32 AM
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake at the studio of AZTV7 after a 30 minute televised Q&A with talk radio host Mike Broomhead on Oct. 22, 2022.
I’ve been asked more than once why the media pays more attention to Kari Lake than to Katie Hobbs and the answer is fairly simple.
First, Lake is way more entertaining. Sorry, that’s how it is.
Second, news reporters are tasked with alerting the public when politicians say stuff that causes harm, or could cause harm, or is cheap hyperbole, or demonstrates a measure of ignorance about a particular subject.
In simple terms, nonsense makes more news than sense.
So … Lake gets more attention than Hobbs.
The NFL wouldn't cancel the big game
A recent example might be what Lake had to say about border security, the influx of the deadly drug fentanyl and the National Football League.
www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/kari-lake-nfl-super-bowl-arizona-rcna53701
During a television interview Lake was asked about her wild campaign rhetoric, particularly the part where she has says that, if elected, she would declare an “invasion” on the southern border and send National Guard troops and who knows what else down there, supposedly over the influx of the deadly drug fentanyl.
Echoing Trump: Kari Lake calls immigrants 'rapists' www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/15/kari-lake-says-immigrants-rapists-arizona-governor-campaign-rally/10382643002/
With the Super Bowl planned for Arizona not long after a new governor is inaugurated Lake was asked what she would do if the NFL suddenly decided to pull the game.
It’s a silly question.
It wouldn’t be possible for the NFL to pull the Super Bowl from Arizona a few weeks before it is to be played. The logistics wouldn’t work. If it were a year before the big game, maybe, but not a few weeks.
Send in the National Guard? For what?
However, the question allowed Lake to launch into her tough talking act, which illustrated how little she knows about the NFL, border security or fentanyl.
She said in part, “You want to tell me that a bunch of football teams owned by billionaires are OK with fentanyl pouring across our border at a record level, killing our young people? Number one killer right now is fentanyl, 18 to 45, it’s killing a generation of people. If the NFL is OK with that they have to do so some soul searching.
“I don’t think the NFL is that stupid, I really don’t. We want to make sure that we’re stopping the cartels. … I’m not going to be taking marching orders from the NFL. I’m taking marching orders from the people of Arizona who are tired of their children getting their hands on the most deadly drug this country’s ever seen.”
I’d guess that Lake already knows she need not worry about those billionaire sports team owners.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick already helped fund the group that created despicable Willie Horton-esque campaign signs attacking Democratic Maricopa County Attorney candidate Julie Gunnigle.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/10/20/arizona-cardinals-diamondbacks-owners-fund-hateful-attack-ad/10549168002/
I’d guess they’d be more than tolerant about Lake’s xenophobic tendencies.
Fentanyl is not smuggled by 'invaders'
As for the fentanyl part, rather than rely on me to point out how uninformed Lake’s view is, I’d suggest you check out the Cato Institute, a right-wing libertarian think tank with a fairly close association to the right-wing libertarian think tank in Arizona, the Goldwater Institute.
The folks at Cato analyzed the available law enforcement data concerning fentanyl and the border and discovered some very salient facts. Something Kari Lake and her campaign staff didn’t bother to learn.
For example, Cato analysts found that the vast majority of fentanyl drug traffickers are not – NOT – illegal immigrants. In 2021, the vast majority of convicted traffickers – 86.3% – were U.S. citizens.
www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-not-asylum-seekers
In addition, Cato analysts found that the overwhelming majority of fentanyl was not being smuggled into the United States by illegal immigrants though gaps in the border fence or anything like that.
No.
.02 percent matches Lake's knowledge
Instead, 90% of fentanyl seizures were made at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, with the traffickers being U.S. citizens, who generally receive less scrutiny at such locations.
There’s nothing the National Guard or any other military force could do about that.
Finally, the percentage of people who were caught carrying fentanyl after being arrested by the Border Patrol for illegally crossing into the U.S. was .02%.
Which, coincidentally, seems to be the same percentage of knowledge Lake has about border security, fentanyl or the NFL.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
For more opinions content, please subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake is clueless about the border, fentanyl and the NFL
www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/10/28/kari-lake-clueless-border-fentanyl-and-nfl/10620252002/
GOP candidate for governor Kari Lake is clueless about the border, fentanyl and the NFL
www.yahoo.com/news/gop-candidate-governor-kari-lake-140022114.html
EJ Montini, Arizona Republic
Fri, October 28, 2022 at 11:32 AM
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake at the studio of AZTV7 after a 30 minute televised Q&A with talk radio host Mike Broomhead on Oct. 22, 2022.
I’ve been asked more than once why the media pays more attention to Kari Lake than to Katie Hobbs and the answer is fairly simple.
First, Lake is way more entertaining. Sorry, that’s how it is.
Second, news reporters are tasked with alerting the public when politicians say stuff that causes harm, or could cause harm, or is cheap hyperbole, or demonstrates a measure of ignorance about a particular subject.
In simple terms, nonsense makes more news than sense.
So … Lake gets more attention than Hobbs.
The NFL wouldn't cancel the big game
A recent example might be what Lake had to say about border security, the influx of the deadly drug fentanyl and the National Football League.
www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/kari-lake-nfl-super-bowl-arizona-rcna53701
During a television interview Lake was asked about her wild campaign rhetoric, particularly the part where she has says that, if elected, she would declare an “invasion” on the southern border and send National Guard troops and who knows what else down there, supposedly over the influx of the deadly drug fentanyl.
Echoing Trump: Kari Lake calls immigrants 'rapists' www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/15/kari-lake-says-immigrants-rapists-arizona-governor-campaign-rally/10382643002/
With the Super Bowl planned for Arizona not long after a new governor is inaugurated Lake was asked what she would do if the NFL suddenly decided to pull the game.
It’s a silly question.
It wouldn’t be possible for the NFL to pull the Super Bowl from Arizona a few weeks before it is to be played. The logistics wouldn’t work. If it were a year before the big game, maybe, but not a few weeks.
Send in the National Guard? For what?
However, the question allowed Lake to launch into her tough talking act, which illustrated how little she knows about the NFL, border security or fentanyl.
She said in part, “You want to tell me that a bunch of football teams owned by billionaires are OK with fentanyl pouring across our border at a record level, killing our young people? Number one killer right now is fentanyl, 18 to 45, it’s killing a generation of people. If the NFL is OK with that they have to do so some soul searching.
“I don’t think the NFL is that stupid, I really don’t. We want to make sure that we’re stopping the cartels. … I’m not going to be taking marching orders from the NFL. I’m taking marching orders from the people of Arizona who are tired of their children getting their hands on the most deadly drug this country’s ever seen.”
I’d guess that Lake already knows she need not worry about those billionaire sports team owners.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick already helped fund the group that created despicable Willie Horton-esque campaign signs attacking Democratic Maricopa County Attorney candidate Julie Gunnigle.
www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/10/20/arizona-cardinals-diamondbacks-owners-fund-hateful-attack-ad/10549168002/
I’d guess they’d be more than tolerant about Lake’s xenophobic tendencies.
Fentanyl is not smuggled by 'invaders'
As for the fentanyl part, rather than rely on me to point out how uninformed Lake’s view is, I’d suggest you check out the Cato Institute, a right-wing libertarian think tank with a fairly close association to the right-wing libertarian think tank in Arizona, the Goldwater Institute.
The folks at Cato analyzed the available law enforcement data concerning fentanyl and the border and discovered some very salient facts. Something Kari Lake and her campaign staff didn’t bother to learn.
For example, Cato analysts found that the vast majority of fentanyl drug traffickers are not – NOT – illegal immigrants. In 2021, the vast majority of convicted traffickers – 86.3% – were U.S. citizens.
www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-not-asylum-seekers
In addition, Cato analysts found that the overwhelming majority of fentanyl was not being smuggled into the United States by illegal immigrants though gaps in the border fence or anything like that.
No.
.02 percent matches Lake's knowledge
Instead, 90% of fentanyl seizures were made at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, with the traffickers being U.S. citizens, who generally receive less scrutiny at such locations.
There’s nothing the National Guard or any other military force could do about that.
Finally, the percentage of people who were caught carrying fentanyl after being arrested by the Border Patrol for illegally crossing into the U.S. was .02%.
Which, coincidentally, seems to be the same percentage of knowledge Lake has about border security, fentanyl or the NFL.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
For more opinions content, please subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake is clueless about the border, fentanyl and the NFL
www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2022/10/28/kari-lake-clueless-border-fentanyl-and-nfl/10620252002/