The Honorable Rep. Rachel Keshel has taught me much more than I ever imagined I would learn about the corruption of all facets of government. She has been deeply immersed in the battle for family court reform in Arizona, and co-sponsored House Bill 2995, “The Alec and Lydia Act,” which was signed into law last month by Katie Hobbs. Here is a brief overview of why HB 2995 bears that name. An excerpt:
What we know:
Hope Hooton is fighting to fix a system that she says failed her family. She believes if this bill had been a law back then, her kids would still be alive today. Hooton is now turning grief into purpose.
“To keep children safe. To make sure that judges have the right criteria to use when abuse and domestic violence are prevalent in a case and to make sure that it holds judges accountable,” Hooton said.
The backstory:
That is the driving force behind House Bill 2995, also known as the “Alec and Lydia Act,” named in honor of Hooton’s children. They were shot and killed by their father, who then turned the gun on himself in May 2024 during his court-granted unsupervised parenting time.
“The judge granted 50-50 unsupervised custody to their father despite domestic violence and coercive control aspects in our relationship and severe mental illness, so we’re just making sure this doesn’t happen again,” Hooton said.
“The judge” is Michael Valenzuela.
Valenzuela knew of the father’s mental health problems, yet let him have unsupervised time with the kids anyway. I am confident it surprises absolutely no one that Valenzuela isn’t the only judge who has been consistently problematic when it comes to custody decisions in the state. Rachel has a laundry list of his cohorts who would be expelled from the judiciary in a properly functioning state and country. The crisis of family courts in Arizona, especially Maricopa County, is no longer something hiding in secret because of the strident efforts of a few good legislators and an organized army of pissed off and estranged parents.
It should also inspire your confidence in Rachel (and by extension, me) that Hobbs’ office refused to allow Rachel to attend the ceremonial signing of HB 2995, despite it being quite common for co-sponsors to attend such meetings. I guess referring to someone as a “fake governor” for long enough eventually gets noticed.
If you’re so compelled, please support Rachel’s reelection campaign:
One Last Run
Over the past three years, I’ve had a front row seat to the daily ins and outs of the Arizona legislature under a Democrat governor who won’t sign any meaningful legislation. That GOP majority, as frustrating as it can be sometimes, is all that stands between an Arizona promising to turn into the next Florida (given enough time) and an Arizona threaten…
Unfortunately, judicial corruption is widespread and infiltrates nearly every segment of the workings of government. We’ve seen one lower court after another issue nationwide injunctions against President Trump’s executive orders, including the latest move against the USPS order by the same Massachusetts judge. They act like this because there are no consequences to such unethical malpractice and tyranny, which they were ironically given equal standing as one of the three branches of government to stop. Ketanji Brown Jackson is essentially what happens when a leftist TikTok influencer becomes a sitting Supreme Court Justice - a rubber stamp for everything the purple-haired, bullring piercing oxygen thieves wish to become widespread and accepted.
Do you remember when Utah, one of the reddest states in America, lost its 4-0 Republican U.S. House map last November? I wrote about it right here in these virtual pages:
2026 File: Democrats Receive Early Christmas Gift in Utah + Crockett’s Hedging
Even though the government shutdown is nearing an end, the political world will slow down very shortly for Thanksgiving and Christmas as we transition into 2026. If you’ve been sitting on X doomscrolling, that interlude will be the best time to take a breather, enjoy family and friends, and make your mind right, because if you remain interested in the national political discourse, next year is going to be much more manipulative than this one has been. As soon as we come out of the holidays, primaries will be just around the corner. The first ones take place on March 3 (full schedule
It just so turns out that Judge Diana Hagen was screwing the lawyer arguing on behalf of Democrats for a brand new House seat in Utah while Republicans are locked out of Harris +6 New Mexico. In what universe is this allowed to stand other than one run by Utah Republicans? I am telling you, Democrats could be ready to impose a law forcing white Americans to pay reparations prior to being swapped one-for-one to Mexico in an immigrant exchange and they would talk about the systemic injustices of the past mandate such a move. They are utterly ball-less and pious, yet when it comes to Judge Hagen’s extracurricular activities actively throwing a House seat under open corruption, she’s allowed to just gracefully disappear from public life without consequence.