Hopkins returns to Tucson tonight for the 12th Thanksgiving Casa Maria benefit he's organized, Tuesday, Nov. 25, at Club Congress, 7:30 p.m. $7 donation or bring a nonperishable foods donation.

Besides Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios, other performances tonight from Cesar Aguirre y Amigos, Cesar Gonzales and our Tucson cumbia lovies, Chica Dust.

• Image courtesy of shutterstock.com

Let's move the focus off of Ed Supe-elect Diane Douglas and check out what's happening education-wise with our Governor-elect Doug Ducey. He's chosen his three education advisers for the transition period: Lisa Graham Keegan, Matthew Ladner and Erik Twist. It's not exactly Lincoln's Team of Rivals. No one from a school district on the team — teacher, administrator or superintendent — only people from the conservative privatization/"education reform" part of town. The three are cut out of pretty much the same cloth in terms of their educational priorities, which is pretty much the same cloth Ducey is cut from. If Ducey follows their advice, here's the education agenda we'll be hearing out of the governor's office for the next four years: No more money for K-12 schools than is absolutely, legally necessary; a redistribution of education funds to favor charters and high-rent school districts; and a push for more vouchers. Most likely Ducey will advocate for Common Core as well, though it's hard to say what form that will take.

Let's take a look at the three advisers.

First, Lisa Graham Keegan. Two decades ago when Keegan was in the legislature, she sponsored a bill to create vouchers, and it had a good chance of passing. To head off the voucher bill, Democrats and teachers unions reluctantly decided to back a bill creating charter schools that made it easy to start a charter and assured that the new schools would be lightly regulated and have minimal oversight. Keegan became Ed Supe directly after and set up the system that guaranteed Arizona would be the Wild West of charter schools. When she left office, she became a mainstay of the national "school choice" movement. For the past few years, she's been pushing for a new system of distributing public education funds here in Arizona which would result in moving money in the direction of charter schools as well as school districts that serve children from high income families. That would mean less money for schools with the hardest-to-reach students. Keegan supported David Garcia in the recent Ed Supe election, not because she's become more progressive, but because she fears Diane Douglas' Tea Party education agenda, and she felt she could trust Garcia to be a reasonable actor in the job, even though she doesn't agree with him on many issues.

"We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions.
While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.

Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown, Sr.
Parents of Michael Brown, Jr.

Last night, watching CNN, it was easy to understand why most people have given up watching mainstream media coverage of events like what was taking place in Ferguson, Missouri—response to the grand jury not charging police officer Darren Wilson, who took the life of Michael Brown. Doth protest much on tear gas, a car fire and what in actuality wasn't a riot, CNN?

For you? Two choices. Two local organized responses.

Can't recommend "Black Lives Matter: On-going UA Dialogue & Discussion," enough if you're a UA student or find yourself on campus. The good people from the African American Student Affairs are hosting a dialogue from today through Dec. 10, at the MLK Center, 1322 E. First St., Room 209.

Throughout the rest of the semester, AASA and the UA Black Student Union will host space for dialogue, brainstorming and action related to issues of police violence, Ferguson, and racial justice.

As news and plans of additional events are developed and scheduled, we will continue to update this event page. We will begin with a lunchtime meeting on Tuesday, November 25th, and post additional events leading up to January's Black Lives Matter Conference being held at the UA on January 15th - 18th 2015.

Tuesday, January 25th: Non-Indictment Brown Bag - Bring your lunch and meet at the MLK Center, 12:00pm.

Wednesday December 3rd 5:30pm - BSU Dialogue and Discussion

Wednesday, December 10th 5:30pm - BSU Dialogue and Discussion

If there's any group in town more qualified to lead dialogue on racial justice and police violence, it just might be people associated with the AASA—who recently traveled to Ferguson in response to a national Black Lives Matter call to action.

If you wished you could be in cities like Oakland, who had what seemed like instant responses to the grand jury decision, than perhaps this other response from Tucson Responds to Police Violence is what you had in mind. The rally takes place tonight, 6 to 9 p.m., at the Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E Congress St,

Along with cities across the country, we'll rally against police violence following the Darren Wilson Grand Jury Announcement.

Meet at the Ronstadt Center at 6PM the day AFTER the grand jury announcement.

Bring signs, noise, and friends to demonstrate solidarity with Ferguson and confront police violence everywhere.

More information on national responses at http://fergusonresponse.tumblr.com/

Congressman Ron Barber's legal team filed action in federal court this morning to force state officials to include ballots that were rejected in the Nov. 4 election. Barber trails Republican challenger Martha McSally by 161 votes.

Press release from Team Barber:

This morning attorneys for Ron Barber for Congress and Southern Arizonans whose votes have not been counted went to Federal Court to seek relief, asking the Federal Court to order Pima and Cochise Counties to count 133 wrongfully rejected votes.

Three Arizona voters, Josh Cohen, Lauren Breckenridge, and Lea Goodwine-Cesarac, have joined with Ron Barber for Congress to file suit in Federal District Court in the State of Arizona, asking the judge to consider 133 declarations signed by individual Arizona voters, asking for their vote to be counted.

"I'm 81 years old, and in all my years, I never thought my vote would be tossed in the trash instead of counted," said Lea Goodwine-Cesarac. "I'm an Arizonan and a United States citizen. I voted and my vote should be counted along with the more than one hundred other Arizonans whose votes were wrongfully thrown out."

"We are talking about 133 Southern Arizona voters who lived up to their responsibility — they registered to vote and then showed up to vote," said Kevin J. Hamilton, attorney for the voters and for Ron Barber's campaign. "We are asking the court to ensure that every lawful vote is counted. That's what America is all about."

While I would have been better off not going to Wikipedia to see what it was New Orleans rapper Mystikal went to prison for, his No Limit-meets-James Brown appearance with Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson on Saturday Night Live was a spectacular bit of live music on TV. Then again, if you throw the horns from Sharon Jones' backing band, the Dap-Kings, behind nearly anything it would be worth a listen.

As a bonus, here's a track from Ronson's 2003 album, Here Comes the Fuzz, "Ooh Wee," which has the good fortune of having appearances by Ghostface Killah and the late Nate Dogg.

Zona Politics Eps.6 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo.

On this week's Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Lea Marquez Peterson and Pima County Democratic Party chairman Don Jorgensen talk about President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration; the Latino voter turnout in the 2014 election; the region's transportation needs; what to expect from the Arizona Legislature; and more. Watch online here or tune in at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on KGUN-9.

The Democratic and Republican parties will both see changes at the top next year.

Pima County Democratic Party Chair Don Jorgensen is stepping down after one two-year term heading up the party. As far as we know at this point, Cheryl Cage is the only candidate to replace Jorgensen.

Meanwhile, Pima County Republican Party Chair Carolyn Cox is also stepping down. We hear that Bill Beard, a former candidate for county recorder, is interested in the gig, as is John Lesko, the party's current fourth vice-chair who worked on GOTV efforts in 2014 election cycle.

President Barack Obama laid out his executive action on immigration yesterday. You can read his whole speech here or check out a breakdown of the elements prepared by the White House here. Talking Points Memo breaks down what it all means here.

Here's reaction from various Arizona elected officials:

Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva:

Today marks a turning point for our nation. After a grueling journey that has both pained and united so many, we are beginning to turn the page on this chapter of our history. I am proud of President Obama for standing by his word, and standing with immigrant communities tonight. He has proven himself a devoted American leader. The actions he announced will provide relief for millions of people who want nothing more than to be our fellow citizens and contribute to our society. The price of entry to the United States of America should not be severed family ties, exploitive employment, or the fear of deportation. These executive actions will help ensure that is not the case for millions of deserving people.

The President’s actions are not all-encompassing — they are a strong starting point with clear opportunities to build from. He acted within the confines of the law, knowing that overreaching would bring legal challenges that could undo the entire effort. The result is historically significant and politically brave action that moves our country forward. I am confident that, in implementing these actions, the administration will do what is right and just to ensure our border communities do not unnecessarily suffer under the facade of security.

Republicans who will undoubtedly attack the president’s plan must recognize that his actions are a direct result of the GOP’s lack thereof. But the relief provided by executive action is temporary and restricted in scope. This journey will endure until a permanent, legislative solution provides a humane and functional immigration system.

The story has a great punchline. After a metal detector was used to find and confiscate students' cell phones and secret transmitters before the test that helps determine which university Chinese students attend,

. . . an angry mob of more than 2,000 people had gathered to vent its rage, smashing cars and chanting: "We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do not let us cheat."

No, this isn't a story from The Onion. It really happened in the city of Zhongxiang in Hubei province during June of last year. I just ran into the story a few days ago. This city's students have done very well on the exam in the past. Then came some evidence that was just too obvious to overlook.

Last year, the city received a slap on the wrist from the province's Education department after it discovered 99 identical papers in one subject. Forty five examiners were "harshly criticised" for allowing cheats to prosper.

So this year, a new pilot scheme was introduced to strictly enforce the rules.
When students at the No. 3 high school in Zhongxiang arrived to sit their exams earlier this month, they were dismayed to find they would be supervised not by their own teachers, but by 54 external invigilators randomly drafted in from different schools across the county.

The invigilators wasted no time in using metal detectors to relieve students of their mobile phones and secret transmitters, some of them designed to look like pencil erasers.

The students and parents were irate because, hey, everybody cheats on these tests. It's like athletes taking performance enhancing drugs because everyone else takes them, and if they don't, they won't stand a chance.