Coming less than a month after Governor Doug Ducey’s solicitation of ideas for the “rebranding”of Arizona, federal Judge Susan R. Bolton’s recent ruling on Arizona’s 2010 immigrant-bashing law, Senate Bill 1070, reminds denizens of the Grand Canyon State why such a rebranding might be necessary. The law itself was a…
Phoenix motorists taking the I-10 over the long Labor Day weekend will have more to worry about than just holiday traffic. They face the unnerving prospect that a windshield, a side door or the gas tank of their vehicle could be pierced by a random bullet, fired by an unknown…
You can’t fault Sheriff Joe Arpaio for lack of chutzpah. The guy continues to beg for campaign donations while his contempt of the federal court in the ACLU’s big civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio is costing us beaucoup bucks. Check this recent gimmicky e-mail (below) desperately seeking any cash you’ve…
During an August 28 status conference in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s never-ending contempt proceedings before federal Judge G. Murray Snow, one of Arpaio’s many lawyers, the sly, irrepressible John Masterson let drop two tidbits, each suggestive of revelations to come. Both involved new documents Masterson said he’d just been informed of,…
Thanks to Republican presidential contender Donald Trump and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, hating on “anchor babies” is all the rage. But Phoenix nativist Michelle Dallacroce, founder and president of Mothers Against Illegal Aliens wants you to know that she was hating on so-called anchor babies before hating on them was…
Local liberals freaked when their top 10 wacky beliefs were skewered. But Arizona conservatives boast equally nutty ideas. Here are 10 of the nuttiest. 10) President Obama is not a natural-born citizen. 9) More guns in America means a safer America. 8) People give a rat’s ass about Hillary’s e-mails. …
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a serious pot connection, one that may score us all legal ganja come 2016: Republican political consultant Chad Willems of Summit Consulting Group. For many years, Willems has been Arpaio’s campaign guru and money man, helping Arpaio raise millions, outspending Arpaio’s opponents, and raking in a…
Despite a recent Gallup poll that shows 87 percent of Americans favor allowing illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens under certain restrictions, the public dialogue on immigration continues to be driven by a billionaire blowhard and a vicious hate-monger. I mean Republicans Donald Trump and Ann Coulter, whose know-nothing rhetoric…
Carrying gruesome placards and signs that read “Choose Life” and “Just a Clump of Sells,” anti-abortion activists crowded into a blocked-off street next to a Planned Parenthood office in central Phoenix today, part of a nationwide effort by those in the pro-life movement to end federal funding for the organization and…
Former Minuteman and alleged child molester Chris Simcox can cross-examine one of his child victims face-to-face as he represents himself in Maricopa County Superior Court, but he will have to cross-examine the other child victim, his daughter, via closed-circuit Television. That’s the ruling of Judge Jose Padilla, the jurist overseeing…
Homophobic religious nut and Republican presidential long-shot Dr. Ben Carson was in Arizona recently, getting schooled in illegal immigration by none other than Pinal County Sheriff Paul “Studboi1” Babeu, during a tour of Pinal and Cochise Counties. Carson’s choice of Babeu for a study-session on border issues was ironic on…
A sadistic pimp who ran a bizarre, cult-like harem of prostitutes modeled on a film of the French novel The Story of O faces a lifetime in prison after being convicted July 17 on 105 felony counts, involving sex with minors, pandering and child prostitution. Prosecutors say 60-year old Anthony…
When it comes to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 22-year reign over Maricopa County, a cursory glance at newspaper clippings from earlier in his career reveals that some things never change. Consider Arpaio’s penchant for investigating his enemies, his critics, and anyone who stands in his way. In January 1999, Maricopa County…
A status conference Tuesday morning in downtown Phoenix before federal Judge G. Murray Snow continued his court’s inexorable march toward a second round of contempt hearings in the ACLU’s big racial profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio, currently scheduled to begin September 22. In Tuesday’s hearing, Snow allowed the U.S. Department…
When a reliable source sends photos of a recycling firm loading up computers in front of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s downtown headquarters at Jackson Street and 5th Avenue — given past events — it’s cause for concern. Though county officials maintain that everything is on the up and up, federal Judge…
Liberals in metro Phoenix, much like their counterparts on the right, have sacred cows ripe for slaughter. Here are 10 of them: 10. Private prisons are 100 percent evil. Never mind the death, rape, and mayhem in public prisons and jails. 9. The ultra-conservative Koch bothers rule the nation, even…
Detective Brian Mackiewicz was in a cranky mood when I called to speak with him about the events of July 24, when federal Judge G. Murray Snow ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to seize evidence from the MCSO’s property lockers. At issue were 1,500 IDs confiscated from Latinos by the…
Like a Roman emperor of old, Sheriff Joe knows how to keep the mob entertained, with the help of his echo chamber — the local media — which too often takes its cues from Arpaio’s PR staff, lapping up whatever drivel that’s dis-engorged, then spewing it forth for the evening…
The words of Sheriff Joe’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan came back to sink their shark-like teeth in his hindquarters Friday in federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s courtroom, where Snow again indicated that the authority of his court had been abrogated by MCSO satraps, and criminal contempt charges could result. During…
It ain’t just Sheriff Joe’s poll numbers that have dropped like a hot rock on thin ice. Arpaio’s much ballyhooed posse has taken a hit numbers-wise as well, according to the court-appointed monitor’s latest quarterly report. Arpaio uses his posse to garner media attention, sending his volunteer force of non-cops…
Though not quite the “raid” that some local media depicted it as, Friday’s events were nonetheless dramatic, with United States District Court Judge G. Murray Snow calling an “emergency meeting” for 3 p.m. at the request of his monitor Robert Warshaw, whose team has been in town for the week…
Former Minuteman and accused child molester Chris Simcox wants you to feel sorry for him, even as he strives to interrogate his alleged child victims in court. In a recent jailhouse interview with the Arizona Republic, Simcox, 54, rationalized his decision to represent himself in his upcoming trial, where he…
