Last Week This Morning: Horne attacks students’ free speech
Good morning, Rj! Happy Sunday! ☀️
How Speaker Mike Johnson threatens abortion access. Johnson’s extremist stance on abortion threatens the ability of providers like Dr. DeShawn Taylor to care for patients. He supports a total ban on abortion and has spent his career trying to roll back access to our freedoms – if he gets his way, providers would be thrown in jail.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva says ceasefire now. On Thursday, Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva joined 30 other U.S. lawmakers to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The death toll is estimated at over 11,000, of which nearly half are children. This update comes after weeks of pressure from constituents, including an outpouring of calls to lawmakers and widely attended rallies all over the state. The power of organizing is real – thanks to Palestine justice groups, Sunrise Arizona, and others for organizing outreach to Grijalva and other lawmakers!
Tom Horne, ASU attack free speech of Arizona students.
- Tom Horne wants to boot service-oriented clubs for discussing current events.Last week, he held a press conference attacking student clubs affiliated with Amnesty International and UNICEF that gave a presentation calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. All Arizona students deserve the opportunity to join organizations that make them feel connected and supported in making their voices heard, especially in light of the youth mental health crisis. Instead, Horne’s use of his position as head of Arizona public schools to attack these students and their free speech has encouraged harassment of these students and fails to support students’ needs.
- ASU silences free speech, cancels event with Rep. Rashida Tlaib. As the only Palestinian American in Congress, Tlaib has advocated for humanitarian intervention and a ceasefire in Gaza. Since August, she was scheduled to speak at a Friday event at ASU, until the administration canceled hours beforehand. State Sen. Anna Hernandez rightfully called out the double standard, citing that ASU has had no problem hosting events with far-right speakers who have caused backlash among students.
Advocates call on ActBlue to boot Sinema. A group of twenty Arizona organizations and a dozen elected officials are calling on ActBlue to remove Senator Kyrsten Sinema from the Democratic donation platform. The letter to ActBlue, published by Politico, says that Sinema has become “a mouthpiece for the rich and powerful,” voting to block a minimum wage increase, student debt relief, and more.
Sustainability beyond zero-waste. Check out this video with 25 tips to live a more sustainable lifestyle without having to buy a bunch of new products!
Call the Mohave County Board of Supervisors and tell them to vote “NO” on their proposal to utilize unreliable and inconsistent hand counts of its elections.
Learn more about the Clean Energy Plan!
Call your lawmakers to urge a ceasefire in Gaza.
Progress Arizona will be out of the office this week. We’ll be back with a new edition of Last Week This Morning on December 3rd!
Thanks for reading Last Week, This Morning! ☕️
Abigail with Progress Arizona