Ahead of pro-immigrant demonstrators set to march at noon from Phoenix’s Margaret T. Hance Park to the Phoenix Field Office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE has closed its facility, which remains the target of a “Shut Down ICE” protest, demanding an end to deportations. A letter posted to…
***Please see updates at the bottom of this post*** Pro-immigrant activists chaining themselves to buses and a courthouse entrance today in Tucson forced a halt to Operation Streamline, a controversial federal program that prosecutes migrants arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol after they’ve entered the country illegally. According to U.S…
Now that we know Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the MCSO will be getting a babysitter appointed by federal Judge G. Murray Snow to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, the question is, who is the right man (or woman) for the job? Actually, consent decrees and court-appointed…
What is it with Republicans and Nazis? It used to be, several decades ago in hippie times, the word “fascist” was bandied about so often by lefties that it lost all meaning. These days, seems like every time you turn around some GOP putz is calling someone a Nazi. Teabaggers…
No one would call the sheriff’s lawyer, Tim Casey, a maestro of spin, but his response to federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s final order in the ACLU’s racial-profiling lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio, was a little like painting a smiley face on day-old road kill. Arpaio still is the jefe, Casey told…
Should you need to get anywhere fast on the afternoon of Monday, October 14, you may want to avoid driving near Central Avenue and McDowell Road. That’s because the local human rights organization Puente and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network are promising to “shut down” the Phoenix offices of…
Governor Jan Brewer, recalled redneck pol Russell Pearce, Brewer’s “brain” Chuck Coughlin, and Attorney General Tom “Hit-and-Run” Horne best hope and pray there is no afterlife. Because if there is, I virtually can assure them that they, along with their pal Sheriff Joe, will boil in a hot tub of…
At the beginning of August, I wrote about proposed new ethical rules for Arizona prosecutors, in a petition currently pending before the Arizona Supreme Court. Opposed by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, as well as numerous other county, state and federal prosecutors in Arizona, these amendments to Ethical Rule 3.8…
It’s been a blue moon or two since I gave much thought to Phoenix attorney Carmen Fischer, wife of Angel Garcia, imprisoned honcho of the New Mexican Mafia, an Arizona prison gang that takes its name from the more notorious, California-based eMe, or Mexican Mafia. But along comes a press…
Federal Judge G. Murray Snow issued his much-anticipated final order Wednesday in the ACLU’s big racial-profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio, and you can bet Sheriff Joe will not be pleased. The detailed 59-page command requires strict compliance with the court’s previous injunctions against the MCSO’s prejudiced policing toward Latinos, and…
The scheme by county officials to round up immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves into the country has been busted up by a federal judge.As a result of yet another immigration-related lawsuit filed against the county, a federal judge ruled that Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, and…
Kudos to Morgan Loew for infiltrating yet another militia group, the Arizona State Militia, which Loew exposed on CBS 5’s Wednesday night broadcast. Loew went undercover to document with hidden cameras a statewide recruitment drive by the organization, which bills itself as “a law-abiding, non-racist, non-radical unit.” Sure. That’s why…
***Please see the update at this blog’s end.*** Attorney General Tom Horne’s getting the band back together. Yep, with 2014 ’round the corner, the Man Who Knows No Shame, is relying on a little help from the same crowd who got him over the finish line in 2010, specifically, attorney…
The MCSO has released its report on an August 17 incident, during which Glendale resident Richard Malley allegedly pointed an AR-15 at one of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies in the desert near Gila Bend. Following his run-in with MCSO Deputy P. Arend, which could have easily ended in bloodshed, Malley,…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that a 16-year-old Canadian boy might be facing criminal charges for threatening to murder Arpaio, who’s a “massive dickhead,” according to the boy’s alleged e-mail threat.Adding to the long list of non-credible “death threats” Arpaio has publicized, the boy e-mailed the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office saying…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio issued a press release condemning a Latino organization for not allowing the Sheriff’s Office to run a booth at the organization’s upcoming convention.Gee, can anyone think of a reason why the Hispanic Women’s Corporation would try to keep Arpaio’s office out of its event?Maybe — just maybe…
Operating on the assumption that not all MCSO deputies are as lame as their organization’s titular tyrant and his immediate underlings, I apologize in advance to those beige-shirts who, contrary to this blog’s header, can chew gum and drive at the same time. My title’s query is prompted by the…
Don’t know how many of you are familiar with British conspiracy theorist David Icke, the guy who believes a secret race of shape-shifting lizard people have populated the planet in the guise of our political and cultural leaders, but I’m beginning to believe Icke’s not spouting bunkum and has been…
As long as Joe Arpaio is sheriff, every day in Maricopa County is Groundhog Day. Despite federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s May finding that Arpaio and his immigration-obsessed office are guilty of racial profiling and that the MCSO’s prejudiced policing toward Latinos must cease, Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff has…
How dumb can the nativists get? On Friday, I blogged about an anti-amnesty rally being held at the state Capitol, sponsored in part by nativist extremist Rusty Childress’ new anti-immigrant group Remember 1986. To answer my own question, this is how dumb Basically, Remember 1986 is a rehash of Childress’…
I hate to admit this, but I actually do “Remember 1986,” as prejudiced playboy and former KIA dealer Rusty Childress’ new anti-immigrant organization is named. That moniker is a reference to the Reagan Amnesty, which ended up legalizing nearly 3 million persons. One of the few good things Ronnie Reagan…
Remember when Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery insisted that Debra Milke, the woman whose 1990 conviction for the murder of her son was overturned by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, would not be granted bail? “That’s not going to happen,” Montgomery told reporters in July, asserting that Milke…
