As my recent cover story “Blood’s Thicker Than Water” dealt, in part, with activist Mike Wilson’s efforts to leave water on the Tohono O’odham Nation for migrants crossing over, I attempted mightily to ask some questions of nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. concerning the humanitarian crisis there. I even buttonholed…
Trent gives the bloggers something to harp on, around 6:12 in…Republican Congressman Trent “Foot-in-Mouth” Franks is truly the gift that keeps on giving. The goofy, amiable wingnut from Arizona’s Second Congressional District is known for his hard-right stance on just about everything from abortion to President Obama’s birth certificate, which…
The West Memphis Three, featured on an episode of 48 Hours Mystery that runs this Saturday, February 27The case of the wrongly convicted Arkansas men known as the West Memphis Three may seem a little far afield of Phoenix, Arizona, but not really. Perihelion Arts Gallery, currently on Roosevelt Street,…
We tuned into Police Women of Maricopa County last night and, as we predicted, it didn’t take long for the jowls of America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” to pop on the screen. It was only about 10 minutes into the show when Sheriff Joe Arpaio made a cameo appearance, which basically set…
According to several sources, a team of eight to nine U.S. Department of Justice investigators looking into civil rights violations by Sheriff Joe Arpaio was in Phoenix this week. On Sunday, February 21, they met with around 15 anti-Arpaio activists, some of whom gave them a tongue-lashing for dragging their…
The local civil rights community should have filled the plaza between the state House and the state Senate Wednesday with protesters as Russell Pearce’s latest legislative abomination was slithering through the House Military Affairs and Public Safety committee, on its way to the House Floor and from there, soon, to…
The House version of a Russell Pearce bill that would essentially make racial profiling a requirement of all local law enforcement agencies in this state hits the MAPS committee tomorrow, and let’s hope it gets lost in there.MAPS stands for Military Affairs and Public Safety, and as the Republicans control…
Between a cult and the Cottonwood rednecks, whom do I chose? That’s the conundrum I’m left with at the news that the Mago “Mother Earth” statue has been dismantled. That’s to the delight of bigots in Cottonwood, Arizona, who decried the 39-foot statue (nearly 50 feet high when you count…
Something wicked this way comes, and no, it ain’t Macbeth, it’s state Senator Russell Pearce’s latest unconstitutional legislation, SB 1394, scheduled to be discussed in the state Senate Judiciary Committee today at 1:30 p.m. The bill makes it a class-four felony under state law for those found guilty of unlawful re-entry,…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s popularity may be plummeting in Maricopa County — but he’s still the politician of choice for donors across the country.In fact, Arpaio’s most recent campaign finance report shows that the surly sheriff garnered a staggering $1.2 million in donations in 2009, much of it from…
Portrait of paranoia: Hendershott during his recent depo. Kudos to Channel 12 for the being the first outlet to post portions of MCSO Chief Deputy David Hendershott’s videotaped deposition in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial-profiling lawsuit. Hendershott was deposed by Steptoe & Johnson attorney David Bodney on behalf of…
The attitude of too many in the immigrant-rights community toward neo-Nazi hugger and state Senator Russell Pearce’s bigoted bill SB 1070 is one of resignation and defeatism. The bill, which passed the Arizona Senate Monday 17 to 13, would turn all cops in this state into immigration agents, and forbid…
I’m not poppin’ bottles, yet. I wanna see the guy indicted first Though I don’t begrudge the celebratory nature of this latest video from Dennis Gilman, I think the dancing in the streets is a tad premature. Personally, I’m keeping my dancing shoes in storage for when (if?) Arpaio and…
Just read the big news that neo-Nazi hugger and bigot Russell Pearce got his plan to erect the Ten Commandments outside the old state Capitol through committee. Yep, Arizona may not have enough dough to keep its rest stops or its MVD offices open, but there’s enough money for this…
Courthouse News Service was the first to catch notice of two lawsuits just filed in federal and state court, respectively, by a Hispanic mom whose jaw was busted during an MCSO immigration raid, and a man allegedly run over by an MCSO deputy. The first case is one you’re familiar with…
Thanks to the work of a horde of Cottonwood crackers, the enchanting Mago Earth Park sculpture representing the Korean version of Mother Earth will be dismantled by February 24, according to Jennifer Sing, a spokeswoman for the Tao Fellowship, which built the park as part of a planned retreat. Already,…
I’ve blogged previously about Sheriff Joe’s stumping for right-wing candidates for sheriff in Southern California, specifically for Jay LeSuer in San Diego County, and for Bill Hunt in Orange County. Now at least one of Hunt’s fellow candidates regards Arpaio’s endorsement as a liability in the OC race.According to a…
District Court Judge G. Murray Snow has ordered sanctions in the big Melendres v. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit still ongoing in federal court. The sanction addresses in a very measured way the systematic destruction of documents by members of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, even after all documents pertaining to…
Squirm though he will, Sheriff Joe is still on the legal chopping block for violating the civil rights of Sgt. Thomas Lovejoy, the Chandler cop Arpaio had arrested and dragged through court on a bogus claim of animal cruelty. This, in the heat-related death of Lovejoy’s K-9 pooch Bandit.That’s the…
Kris Kobach, defensive and dodgy in this Fox 10 interview Fox 10 News has posted a 13 minute interview that reporter Steve Krafft recently did with nativist law prof Kris Kobach, the guy who’ll be “training” all 881 of Sheriff Joe’s gendarmes on immigration law. It’s an interesting watch, if…
Hot on the heels of news that Wells Fargo wants Joe Arpaio out of his pricey executive suites in the bank’s downtown Phoenix tower, human rights activist Salvador Reza is raising the stakes, asking that Attorney General Eric Holder seek receivership over the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, effectively taking control of the day-to-day operations…
As disturbing as the prospect is of a nativist extremist lawyer like Kris Kobach training all 881 of Sheriff Joe’s beigeshirts in immigration law, I have to wonder if it’s a sign that Arpaio’s throwing in the towel on the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial-profiling lawsuit now underway in federal court…
