It’s been proven over and over again: Governor Jan Brewer’s hysteria and the hysteria of her nativist allies over alleged illegal-alien-perpetrated crime in Arizona is founded on anecdotal evidence, some of it glaringly inaccurate, such as Brewer’s infamous claim that headless bodies have been found in the Arizona desert. That’s a…
It’s Friday. It’s late in the workday. And I’m feeling a little punchy. So I figure it’s the best time to introduce you to the genius that is Minute Man Pete. Minute Man Pete is a proud, Arizona sandbilly who lives in a trailer in Tombstone with his trusty canine “Pedofile.” He…
George Adams’ documentary Panic Nation, which begins a week-long run at Phoenix’s Cinema Latino today, is really two films: one an overview of the United States’ schizophrenic mindset when it comes to Mexican immigration; the other, a detailed examination of Oklahoma’s version of SB 1070 — HB 1804 — which…
America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff,” Joe Arpaio, is heading to New Hampshire this weekend, which has caused the national media to speculate that the aging (and aging) law dog plans to run for president.That theory, as we pointed out yesterday, is definitely probably bullshit. Check out what CNN senior political editor…
Jason Shelton lights one up. Too bad it ain’t a doobie They’re baaaaaack. Yep, like a rash of bed bugs you thought the exterminator had smoked out, the “troofers,” those nutty guys and gals who believe 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration will be active once again…
All the sturm und drang of the past few days over a Florida pastor’s plans to burn a pile of Qurans on September 11 may have paid off. The AP is now reporting that Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville’s Dove World Outreach Center has canceled the holy book bonfire, claiming that he’s reached a…
Amazing, just amazing how our septuagenarian (soon to be octogenarian) sheriff plays the media — both national and local — like a two-bit plastic ocarina.Well, usually, his handlers do it for him. In this case, it was Chad Willems of Summit Consulting Group, the sleaze who cooked up the anti-Rick Romley ads…
Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley’s office today announced the arrest and indictment of the man it calls “the worst graffiti vandal in Phoenix,” 27-year-old Joel Delgado, who tagged under the handle “Jugs” or “Jugz.” Actually, I’ve seen worse graffiti, based on some of the photos the C.A. has provided to…
I wonder if Russell Pearce would endorse this Tee?Even though federal Judge Susan R. Bolton enjoined the most dangerous provisions of Arizona’s “breathing-while-brown law” (a.k.a., SB 1070) on July 28, that doesn’t mean Arizona cops are not going to stop you just because you look Latino. Hell, they do that…
A warden, a deputy warden, and a regional director have all been suspended several days without pay as a result of an inmate being kept in an outdoor cage overnight at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson. According to a Department of Corrections investigation of the incident, inmate Elisio…
The Arizona Democratic Party has joined the legions of geeks parodying director Danny Boyle’s 2002 post-apocalyptic horror flick 28 Days Later with this YouTube video envisioning the aftermath of Governor Jan Brewer’s reign.The analogy works pretty well, as Brewer’s recent Clean Elections Debate performance was definitely zombie-like. I suppose the…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office did not review a 3,000 page internal Arizona Department of Corrections investigation into the 2009 cage death of Perryville Prison inmate Marcia Powell.The County Attorney’s office last week declined to prosecute anyone involved in Powell’s heat-related death. The ADC had asked for charges of negligent…
Props to the campaign of governor-wannabe and current Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. This latest YouTube video from the Goddard camp body-slams Governor Jan “We Have Did” Brewer on her bogus statements about headless bodies in the Arizona desert. Looks like Goddard’s ready to go into cage fighter mode. (I know,”Terry?”…
Recently, someone e-mailed me asking if the aged, stone-faced action hero Steven Seagal, who stars in Robert Rodriguez’s Mexican-immigration revenge flick Machete as a badass drug lord, was one of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “special deputies.” You know, like Lou Ferrigno, Ted Nugent, and other lesser lights.I told the e-mailer I…
Dennis Gilman’s simple suggestion for a Goddard attack adNo use belaboring a point: Governor Jan Brewer’s a colossal idiot. How did this hillbilly queen become governor? Oh, that’s right, she lucked into the job once ex-Gov. Janet Napolitano skipped Sand Land to become the Obama administration’s official border hawk and…
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed the 2008 conviction of No More Deaths activist Dan Millis for placing gallon jugs of drinking water on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona.Millis was cited for “littering” in February of 2008 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers after he…
After more than a year and a-half of investigation, requests for documents and access, and threats and deadlines, the U.S. Department of Justice has at last, reluctantly, taken some action and sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio in federal court to force him to cooperate with its civil rights probe of his…
Last night’s report from KPHO’s Morgan Loew on the ties between private prison behemoth Corrections Corporation of America and Governor Jan Brewer has drawn some serious plasma from Brewer’s camp. Specifically, the hemorrhage is from Brewer’s top political advisor Chuck Coughlin, president of HighGround Public Affairs, which also represents CCA. Seems Coughlin’s squealing like a skewered…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has chosen not to prosecute Arizona Department of Corrections staff in the death of inmate Marcia Powell. Powell, 48, died May 20, 2009, after being kept in a human cage in Goodyear’s Perryville Prison for at least four hours in the blazing Arizona sun. This, despite a…
Today is a red letter day in former County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ life. From here on out, barring a bolt of lightning, he’ll have oodles of free time to pursue other interests. So here are some suggestions for “Candy.” Feel free to add your own. I did leave out him…
Just to keep you updated, as of 5:54 p.m. Monday, state Schools Superintendent Tom Horne had a comfortable 887 vote lead over ex-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas in the GOP primary for state Attorney General. According to spokesman Matt Benson at the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, there are only 900 provisional ballots…
Almost immediately after interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley’s devastating loss in the GOP primary to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s pick for the position, Bill Montgomery, Democrats and disaffected Republicans alike began to whisper about Romley running as a write-in in the general election. The theory, albeit farfetched, went like this: Sure,…
