Phoenix News Blog

Could J.D. eat McCain's lunch? The Rasmussen poll suggests that it's a possibility.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll just out shows KFYI lip-flapper and former congressman J.D. Hayworth in a dead heat with U.S. Senator John McCain for the 2010 GOP primary nod. Hayworth is within the 4 percent margin of error, trailing McCain 43 to 45 percent with likely Republican primary voters.

That's a little too close for comfort for McCain and for anyone who remembers Hayworth's buffoonish performance as a congressman from Arizona's fifth district until he was bested by Democrat Harry Mitchell in 2006. Hayworth's Southern accent, which he has labored unsuccessfully to lose over the years, earned him the nickname "Foghorn Leghorn," by detractors. The former sportscaster was born and raised in my home state of North Carolina, you see.

Hayworth is a committed right-wing extremist, and a darling of Arizona's anti-Mexican nativist knuckledragging crowd. He regularly bashes the undocumented on his afternoon drive-time radio show, and hosted the popular hate-Obama tax day tea party at the Arizona Capitol earlier this year. In 2007, he spoke at a nativist rally where neo-Nazi J.T. Ready also spoke. In his remarks, Ready called Hayworth and now state Senator (then state Representative) Russell Pearce "statesmen."

Dennis Gilman's outdone himself yet again in his latest video, this time focusing on the November neo-Nazi march to the state Capitol, and the links between the Nazis and the nativists. It's a creepy, almost apocalyptic vision of Arizona dominated by racist politicians such as state Senator Russell Pearce, done to the tune of Tom Waits' Rain Dogs, electronic music by local composer D.warf, and some guitar by Gilman himself.

Gilman's latest: Nazis and nativists in Sand Land

Thanks to New Times Web Editor Jonathan McNamara, you can now watch Phoenix muralist Francisco Garcia creating the Blue Boy image that so freaked out the little town of Pine-Strawberry, Arizona, that he was ordered to take it down and replace it with the image of a cabin. McNamara squeezed four hours of video into about a two minutes, so it's an easy watch.

Francisco Garcia Paints "Blue Boy" from Jonathan McNamara on Vimeo.

Garcia's mural, of which the Blue Boy was just a part, is the subject of an item in my Bird column this week. School officials insist the move was not racist. But statements they made in e-mails to Garcia reveal that race and ethnicity were issues in the decision for the school, which only has one African-American kid, and a few Latino children.

You can check out more of Garcia's work at his Myspace page myspace.com/grafftruth. He's a talented cat, and he tells me that he's planning to make prints of the Blue Boy image to sell online. Hey, why not T-shirts, with slogan like, "Too blue for Pine," or "Censored in Strawberry"?

I'll post some of the other images from the mural shortly.

from Stormfront.org

Trouble in Hitler-land? David Irving's gal friday sounds like she's ready to bolt

I haven't given much thought to Holocaust-denier David Irving since July, when I covered his appearance at the Phoenix diner Jerry's. There he spoke to a group including local neo-Nazis such as Harry Hughes, J.T. Ready, and Jesse Curnow, as well as Mexican-flag-burning lesbian nativist Laine Lawless. Though the event was meant to be secret, it was successfully protested by cluster of Phoenix anarchist, led by the activist "Ghost."

I followed up that same month with a piece on Irving's statuesque assistant Jaenelle Antas, who regularly posts to the white nationalist site Stormfront.org. The precise nature of the relationship between Antas and Irving has remained a mystery. Though no one, not even I, would begrudge the failed historian and peddler of Hitler memorabilia a fetching sidekick.

Anyway, Irving's been on the road again in the U.S., this time on the East Coast, and the tour has been even more troubled than the Western leg this summer. As has been admirably reported on by my colleague Thomas Francis of our sister paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Irving's October 26 lecture at a Ritz-Carlton there was the occasion of a stabbing between two attendees Christopher Nachtman and John Kopko. You can read Francis' most recent report on the assault, here.

Even more intriguing has been the recent hacking of David Irving's e-mail account by anti-racist activists seeking info on his New York appearance. The hackers posted a treasure trove of info on the site WikiLeaks, everything from Irving's credit card accounts and cell phone number to private correspondence and his full e-mail contact list. The list includes e-mail addresses for Arizona Irving admirers Laine Lawless and Harry Hughes.

One of the more interesting back and forths in the e-mails posted is between a clearly frustrated Antas and querulous, fussy Irving. At one point declares to Antas that "I love you far more than Kevin ever will," Kevin apparently being someone else in Irving's employ. But other than that, their discussions are argumentative, with Antas threatening to abandon the 71 year-old geezer.

Disgraced historian David Irving at Jerry's diner back in July

from NSM's Web site

Mike Harris to the right of the blonde in a neo-Nazi group shot

The lead item in my Bird column this week, titled "SS IGNORANT," is about 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Harris and his flirtation with white supremacy. Read the article for all the gritty details. I didn't have room in the column for the photos of Harris, screenshots of his NewSaxon profile, and other visual evidence of his crossover to the dark side. So I'm posting some here for your perusal.

from NewSaxon

Harris' NewSaxon profile, which he recently deleted

Joe claims ABC just happened to be in town when the sweep started in this Channel 3 piece

Following up on my blog post of yesterday, wherein I quoted sources telling me that Arpaio's latest anti-immigration sweep was done with an out-of-town film crew in mind, specifically one from ABC national news, I finally got a rep from ABC on the horn. She confirmed that a crew from ABC Nightline was in Phoenix for the sweep, but denied that the dragnet had been staged for ABC's purposes.

"No, not at all," replied Nightline spokeswoman Alison Bridgman of the allegation. "We were already there. We've done profiles of Sheriff Joe in the past. This was already arranged."

Bridgman explained that an interview with Arpaio had been scheduled for Monday, and that the news show learned of the sweep while on the ground in Phoenix. She said Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir did the interview with our corrupt top constable. So far, there's no air date for the piece, according to Bridgman.

During his press conference yesterday, Arpaio copped the same line when someone asked him about ABC being along for the ride.

from Joe's Twitter

Well, it's only saying what everyone thinks...

"Oh, so I arranged this because ABC is here?" asked Joe, rhetorically. "The answer is no, we happened to be here. And they're smart enough to know that they may want to film the sheriff."

Biden: Too cool to meet with that fool Joe, we hope...

Sounds like Joe Arpaio's been fibbing on Twitter, at least according to the White House. Vice President Joe Biden was in town for a meeting with local Dems in downtown Phoenix, and according to Biden's deputy press secretary Annie Tomasini, Joe just showed up, desperate for publicity as always.

Another Arpaio media stunt; and Arpaio meets with Veep Joe Biden?

Sheriff Joe's PR flacks are working overtime. They just sent out a press advisory on a new countywide anti-immigration dragnet beginning today. What they don't tell you in the statement is that Arpaio and Co. have set up the sweep for an out-of-town camera crew from a major broadcast network, according to my sources.

My sources alerted me this weekend that the sweep would be happening today, and that it was being done at the behest of a national news show. I've not yet been able to confirm the news show involved. (UPDATE 11/16/09 2:10PM: I now have two sources telling me that the news show involved is ABC national. They have yet to return my call for a comment.)  

If true -- and the fact that the source was solid on today's sweep suggests that it is -- it would come as no surprise. Arpaio's sweeps are generally publicity stunts, dog-and-pony shows meant to garner Arpaio publicity. Though disruptive and terrifying to members of the Latino community, they rarely result in the arrest of very many illegal immigrants, certainly not by contrast to a drop house raid done by the Phoenix PD.

The face of nativist hate...

Who're worse, behavior-wise, the nativists or the neo-Nazis? Sure, neo-Nazis are nefarious and nuts. But the nativists make the neo-Nazis look urbane by comparison. And in some ways the nativists are more violent, despite the fact crazy old crones with canes and old dudes in mobility scooters are overrepresented in their ranks. Plus, the nativists are far more hypocritical.

Motorcycle thugs on the lawn of the state Capitol

Saturday's anti-amnesty tea party at the Arizona state Capitol was no exception to the rule. Around 80 lumpen losers turned up to bag on "anchor babies" (otherwise known as American citizens born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents), and to scapegoat Mexican immigrants for everything from the H1N1 virus and the financial crisis, to the collapse of the housing market and Arizona's budget mess.

Their big speaker? Minuteman and joke-of-a-Senate-candidate Chris Simcox, who is running as an asterisk in the GOP primary against U.S. Senator John McCain. Hobbled by multiple personal scandals, as well as charges of financial impropriety from former members of the Minutman Civil Defense Corps he founded, Simcox is as likely to beat McCain in a primary as Miley Cyrus is of winning an Oscar for Best Actress.

Neo-Nazis Harry Hughes (left) and J.T. Ready: Quite civil by comparison to the nativists

The other "big name" who had been promised for the hate-fest was state Senator Russell Pearce. Pearce, however, was a no-show. The word was he had a funeral attend. Although, you have to wonder if he knew his former pal and persistent political albatross, neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, was going to be present. The pair worked a larger, more significant crowd of nativists on the state House lawn back in 2007.

At that time, they were as tight as a pair of Sith. But Pearce was reluctantly forced to distance himself from Ready during Pearce's state Senate primary run against fellow Republican Kevin Gibbons. Ready still sounds hurt by Pearce's stab-in-the back, though Ready's gone on to become a hero of sorts in white supremacist circles.

"I don't think [I'm] mad," said Ready wistfully, as he held a large cloth portrait of Adolf Hitler, while standing on the sidewalk facing his former nativist buds."[I'm] disappointed that he didn't have more backbone. He likes to parade around the fact that he has a half-Hispanic [grandchild]. What about the other 99 percent of his family? But you know what, he was like a father figure to me, and I appreciate that. A lot of guidance and close family friends. I'll always cherish those memories."

Videographer Dennis Gilman surrounded by vicious bikers

Two years ago, many of the same anti-immigration types present cheered on Ready as he whipped them into a fervor with a practical blueprint for American fascism: Marine divisions on the four sides of the Lower 48, moving in toward the center to mop up the unwanted while securing the border. Saturday, these same people wouldn't allow him on the Capitol lawn with them. (Permit holders for the lawn can exclude folks from the area under their control, according to the Capitol police.)

This, of course, was highly ironic considering the fact that, aside from such symbols as swastikas, the nativists and the neo-Nazis share the same views on immigration. It's an irony not lost on the wannabe Ernst Roehm of the East Valley.

If only the nativists would do the latter

"They say they're for legal immigration," observed Ready. "It doesn't matter if they're Mexicans or anything. If they're for [everything being] legal -- you know what? -- when Obama passes amnesty, that is legal. That [will be] the law. What are they going to say then? They either have to acknowledge they want a European-American homeland or not...They're caught in a conundrum that I'm not. They're stuck with trying to say they're not racist. While at the same time trying to preserve European culture. They can't do both. At least I'm intellectually honest."

Ready has a point. The nativists are xenophobic, bigoted, and in many cases straight-up racists, yet, they don't want to be labeled as racists. Unlike the neo-Nazis, they are hypocrites. And they are more likely to become violent when confronted face-to-face with folks who don't buy the line they're selling.

Bob the Contractor: He acted like he wanted to swing, but punked out

During last week's tense neo-Nazi march to the Capitol, there were no real physical altercations, and even the threat of violence on the part of the Nazis seemed like posturing more than anything else. But at the nativist rally, there was a constant threat of violence coming from the nativists. 

screenshot from americanprogress.org

Janet Napolitano, speaking at the Center for American Progress

In a speech today before the Center for American Progress, the think-tank that essentially acts as the Obama administration's gray matter, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke about comprehensive immigration reform, mostly from a law-enforcement perspective. Afterwards, Napolitano fielded questions about her old Arizona political ally Sheriff Joe Arpaio, even going so far as to defend his freedom of speech.

"I'm not here to curtail any sheriff's First Amendment rights to say whatever they want to say," Napolitano responded when asked by a reporter from the Orange County Register if she would do anything regarding Arpaio's boast that he will continue to enforce immigration law, even without 287(g) authority in the streets.

You'll recall that ICE recently stripped Arpaio of his federal 287(g) authority in the field, the authority he used to bolster sweeps of immigrant communities in Maricopa County. But ICE let him keep it in the jails.

Nappy then evaded the question by yammering on about ICE's "secure communities" program, which checks the immigration status of everyone booked into participating jails. The OC Register reporter stayed on her case, however, asking if Napolitano was going to do anything to stop Arpaio's raids and sweeps, since ICE no longer does those sort of operations, for the most part.

"Well, the Department of Justice is actually looking into those raids from a civil rights perspective," replied Napolitano. "And I think it's fair to say that I do not believe that raids are the most effective way to conduct law enforcement except from a media perspective."

Of course, the media perspective is the only one that matters to Arpaio. Napolitano continued, stating that there are other sorts of law enforcement things you can do if "you're really focused on public safety." And we all know how committed Arpaio is to public safety.

"He is acting under Arizona state law," Napolitano offered of Joe's sweeps,"not under federal law at this point. He has an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, but that is only with respect to identifying illegal aliens that are in his jail."

Ex-journo Joe Watson could be looking at 25 to life...

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Brnovich has set a "firm trial" date of December 14 in the case of alleged "Salon Bandit" and former New Times scribe Joe Watson. Brnovich ordered all subpoenaed witnesses to appear in court on that date.

Watson, who has been incarcerated in county jails for over two years now, faces a possible 25 years to life in prison if convicted of three of the nine counts of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery stacked against him. This, according to Watson's court-appointed attorney Christopher Winchell. Winchell says the Maricopa County Attorney's office is seeking the sentence under what is essentially Arizona's version of a three-strikes law.

The former journalist was popped in March of 2007 for a allegedly sticking up a string of Valley tanning salons and assorted businesses, such as a Blimpie's, a UPS outlet and a Hollywood Video store.The irony is that Watson apparently didn't use a gun, just suggested he had one, with his hand in a paper bag or in his pants pocket.

Unfortunately for him, Arizona's law for armed robbery makes no distinction between an actual deadly weapon or a "simulated" one.

An admitted gambling addict, Watson was arrested at the card tables of Casino Arizona, after his girlfriend Ashlea Deahl, the editor of Phoenix Magazine, recognized Watson in a surveillance video broadcast on the local evening news. She then contacted the Scottsdale Police Department to I.D. her boyfriend.

At one point, the pair had planned to marry, but those plans had cooled prior to Watson being collared.

from El Diario

CNN's former in-house migrant-basher...

I'm not going to weep any tears for CNN's erstwhile token nativist Lou Dobbs, who resigned on air Tuesday, handing a victory to Latino groups who've sought his ouster through the Basta Dobbs campaign, led by activist/writer Roberto Lovato's Presente.org.

Dobbs has been a despicable opportunist, cynically dousing the anti-immigration bonfire with gasoline, spreading rumors and untruths about Mexican immigrants, slandering them as carriers of disease, and as criminals.

His latest blunder, insinuating that a stray bullet that hit his home was some sort of attack on the life of himself or his wife, surely did not help his cause as Hispanics cried for his head. Dobbs said it was due to a "climate" created by critics of his brown-bashing ways. The police chuckled at this characterization, suggesting it had more to do with hunting season in rural New Jersey, where Dobbs owns a farm.

Ironically, it may have been CNN's Latino in America series, which delivered the coup de grace. Latinos tarred CNN with the label of hipocresia, for appealing to them via the sympathetic series, while allowing Dobbs to spew his anti-Hispanic blather. The label stuck.

The New York Times reports that Dobbs had been given an ultimatum by CNN months back: Keep the nativism confined to his radio show and do a straight broadcast, or hit the bricks. His contract did not expire till 2011. But, Dobbs informed viewers, he and CNN President Jonathan Klein "have agreed to a release from my contract that will enable me to pursue other opportunities."

The reaction of Hispanic groups has been one of total ecstasy. The Basta Dobbs campaign's Web site declared "WE DID IT!" in bold letters. When I spoke to Phoenix civil rights activist Sal Reza, whose group Puente was part of the Basta Dobbs coalition, he couldn't stop laughing. Later, he e-mailed me the following statement:

"CNN with a huge viewing audience of CNN en Espanol, all over Spanish Speaking Countries, had to make a hard dollar decision during hard economic times. The global consumers won, led by a media savvy campaign led by Roberto Lovato. CNN had to make a choice toward the multiculturalism of the 21st century or the backwaters of racism and xenophobia spouted by Lou Dobbs.

"It is a lesson that Fox News has not learned yet, or one that Sheriff Joe Arpaio will have to learn the hard way. Whenever, xenophobia and racism show their ugly head, the persecuted with their numbers and buying power sooner or later will overtake. Congratulations to Roberto Lovato and all the organizations that made this victory over intolerance possible."

California videographer and activist Naui Ocelotl Huitzilopochtli captured some cool footage of Saturday's Nazi march and demo at the Arizona state Capitol, including a little confrontation with a swastika-licker from Missouri that I had. Didn't amount to much. Plus, there was a DOJ guy right beside us, and cops all around. So what did this schmuck think he was gonna do? These guys are straight out of 3rd grade.

A Nazi punk gets in my face about 49 seconds in...

Lynne Stevens has always been one of the odder figures in the local anti-immigrant movement, mainly because she doesn't fit the profile of angry old coot, as personified by her peer, convicted public urinator Buffalo Rick Galeener.

A persistent protester of Salvador Reza's Macehualli Day Labor Center, and of the ongoing demonstrations at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's offices at the Wells Fargo Building by Reza's group Puente, Stevens is a big, burly lady in a weathered, greenish Gilligan hat, dark sunglasses and earrings. She's always packing heat, and usually has her video camera with her. A regular attendee of United for a Sovereign America meetings, she rides a red motorcycle, and bears a patch on her vest that states "Lesbian and Proud of It."

Nativist Lynne Stevens' profile on "MySpace for T-Girls"

In the videos she posts to her YouTube site Jackie40d, she documents the mostly mundane comings and goings at Macehualli, Wells Fargo, and sometimes down at the Wal-Mart on 37th Street and Thomas Road in Phoenix, where day laborers congregate in an adjacent parking lot. She also shows up at anti-Arpaio rallies and demonstrations to film, and to show her support for Sheriff Joe.

In these videos, she's been known to share some of her violent fantasies towards others. In an October 16 one, while observing day laborers congregated at Macehualli, she noted the small numbers of those present, and said, "Throw in one grenade and kill 'em all with one shot." In another, as she observed the beginnings of a big May 2 march to Joe's jails, she sighed, "Obama left-wingers, too bad you can't start shooting them."

Stevens showing her support for Joe at Wal-Mart on Saturday

Her sexuality has been the subject of some speculation within and without her movement. A lesbian nativist once suggested to me that she thought Stevens was transgender. Until then, I never really gave it much thought. The first time I ever saw her, I thought she was a man. But when I saw her lesbian patch, I corrected myself and apologized.

Recently, someone sent me a link to Stevens' page on the Web site "MySpace for T-Girls, the Premier Crossdresser and Transgender Social Networking Site." On it, Stevens is pictured in a dark wig and what she later informed me is sort of a camisole. Another pic shows her in makeup, in her bike helmet, with her "Lesbian and Proud of It" patch displayed.  

The fat face of hate...

Some 150 anarchists and other counter-demonstrators showed their mettle yesterday afternoon against a troop of around 60 neo-Nazis, mostly from out-of-state, who marched from 12th Avenue and Adams down to the Arizona state Capitol, flipping sieg heils and crying, "White power" all the way. The anarchists, who made up the majority of the counter-protesters, met the swastika-flag-wielding National Socialist Movement members at 15th Avenue and Washington, and followed them down to the state Senate lawn at 17th Avenue and Jefferson.

Pale and sickly, NSM "commander" Jeff Schoep couldn't fight his way out of a popcorn sack

About 100 Phoenix Police officers, some of them on horseback, kept the peace by enforcing a distance between the two groups. Although a couple of plastic bottles were thrown at one point, the only casualty for the NSMers came as a result of their own error, when they caused an accident at 7th Avenue and Van Buren in one of the rental cars they left in after the demo. An unidentified Nazi was rushed away in an ambulance for an injury to his leg. Phoenix Police Sgt. Brian Murray confirmed at the scene that the accident was the fault of the Nazis, whose small white car collided with a large red truck.

None of the Nazis were taken into custody, though the truck's driver was arrested for not having I.D. and proof of insurance. Murray said the arrested driver would be ticketed and released as long as he had no outstanding warrants. The driver of the Nazi car was ticketed as well, but according to NSM spokesman Charles Wilson, the Nazi wheel man refused to sign the citation. Wilson later blamed the accident on the police, saying the cops were supposed to have kept the street clear for the Nazis' exit.

Hey, at least Wilson didn't blame it on the Jews.

Ex-NSM fuhrer Clifford Herrington

Other than this accident, the day's events were full of noise and posturing and not much else. Three armies dressed in black did their kabuki dance: the cops,the stormtroopers, and the anarchists. Some of the Nazis bore red shields with the NSM logo and the swastika. Others carried Nazi flags, Confederate flags, or American flags perversely altered to represent the National Socialist Movement. The Nazis had a drummer keeping time as they marched and chanted slogans such as "Whose streets? Our streets," and "No reds, no Jews, the Mexicans must go, too."

J.T. in his fuzzy Tyrolean hat

The Nazis goosestepped down the south side of Washington, while the anarchists took the north sidewalk, with a platoon of Phoenix's finest marching down the street's middle. The anarchists taunted the Nazis with chants such as "Nazis go home," and "No racists, no classes, no motherfucking fascists." They held signs and placards that read "Fuck you, Nazis," "Nazis stay out of Phoenix," or just swastikas with red lines marked through them. Many wore bandannas to hide their identities, and many waved black flags, beat drums or shook handmade rattlers.

Pretty much sums up the day's events

I spotted local neo-Nazis Harry Hughes and Scott Hume in the mix, as well as J.T. Ready, comically wearing some furry Tyrolean hat. I asked NSM "commander" Jeff Schoep why he was only able to produce less than half of the promised 200 Nazis he'd bragged to authorities he was bringing. He sputtered something about the police "protecting" the anarchists, whom he referred to as "your friends." (Schoep is no great communicator.) In reality, there was little doubt about who the cops were protecting. If I even got close to the wannabe shutzstaffels they whined to the police that I was provoking them. What babies.

You gotta love a woman on horseback

If you haven't seen J.T. Ready on the boob tube lately, you haven't been watching TV. Seems like the wannabe Ernst Roehm of the East Valley has been getting his moment in the media sun defending the views of the National Socialist Movement, even though he states in this interview with Fox 10 that he is not currently a member. Just a supporter. Weird, as I'm told his license plate now reads "NSM USA," though I haven't been able to confirm that with him.

Ready refers to NSM in the Fox 10 video as a "white civil rights organization," and calls the Holocaust the "Holohoax." That would be the "hoax" in which 6 million Jews perished. Thing about the Nazis is, they can't decide if it was a hoax, or if they dig the fact that the Jews were slaughtered by NSM's Nazi forebears. The NSMers would like for themselves to be portrayed as victims, so they try to deny the Holocaust, but their contempt and hatred of Jews oozes through their rhetoric with little filter. (The video may take a minute to load, but it's worth it.)

There's no great irony in the fact that a week after the neo-Nazi anti-immigration rally at the Arizona state Capitol this Saturday, there will be another anti-immigration rally at the Capitol on November 14, this one put together as a Tea Party Against Amnesty and Illegal Immigration. It's being spearheaded locally by the Mexican-bashing knuckledraggers at United for a Sovereign America, and nationally by ALIPAC (Americans for Legal Immigration PAC), the North Carolina-based nativist forum, led by the one-issue wonder William Gheen. Apparently, the Phoenix event is one of scores promised across the country. 

The irony-deficiency mentioned above exists because when it comes to immigration, there's not much that separates the nativists and the Nazis. Indeed, though I doubt any of the local nativists will attend this Saturday's neo-Nazi "America First" anti-immigration rally there's plenty of overlap between the two groups, whether it be in rhetoric or, occasionally, membership. 

For example, it's well-known that Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready was once embraced by United for a Sovereign America, and he and fiercely anti-Mexican state Senator Russell Pearce were pals previously. 

An NSM video promoting Saturday's rally parallels the nativist stance on immigration

As for the former association, there's still proof of it on U.S.A.'s Web site, a post from 2007, titled, "JT Ready on the Current State of Affairs," with this statement,

from firesneverextinguished

Where's Brad Pitt when you need him?

There's one group talking a big game about confronting the neo-Nazi scum at the state Capitol this Saturday: the anarchists, the traditional foes of goosesteppers going all the way back to the Spanish Civil War, and then some. They're often badmouthed in many activist circles here in town for being unruly and pigheaded, but I will give them points for at least demonstrating against Holocaust-denier David Irving when he spoke at a Phoenix diner back in July. The anarchists were the only ones there. And for ruining Irving's day at least, I'd label the demonstration a success.

They don't command large numbers, and I suspect that organizing them is a little like herding felines. But they are generally intelligent, and pro-immigrant to the point of being for open-borders. Plus they have no moral quandaries with confronting blackshirts in the streets.

Their class-based political theories are a bit nutty, though. In a recent post to the Phoenix Class War Council's blog, which describes itself as a "fanatical, revolutionary anarchist group," the writer invites the local libertarian community to join the anarchists on November 7 in protesting the Nazis. Um, sorry, but the Ron Paulites and teabaggers are a little too close to the swastika-lickers for comfort sometimes, "states rights" being the battle cry of neo-Confederates, and all that. Paul himself had no problem accepting a campaign contribution from Ron Black, proprietor of the white supremacist messageboard Stormfront.org. He even appeared in a photo op with Black and Black's son.

Will Phoenix ignore the Nazi goon squad November 7?

Let's not mince labels, here: The neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement members who'll be rallying at the state Capitol this coming Saturday afternoon are lowlife degenerates. And I don't just mean that their anti-Semitism, outright racism and adoration of mass-murderer Adolf Hitler (you know, the guy that's always on the History Channel) is vile and reprehensible. No, I mean they're real bottom-feeders, even for neo-Nazis.

For example, National Socialist Movement "commander" Jeff Schoep was, according to a bio of him in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report magazine, arrested in 1998 "for accompanying the mother of his daughter when she stole $4,000 worth of computer equipment." The same bio states that, "Four children were in the back seat of the car during the burglary." (You stay classy, Jeff.)

In 2005, the NSM, which is now based in Detroit, provoked a riot in Toledo, Ohio when they demonstrated there. The NSM, of course, was proud of precipitating the riot. But hardly the "storm troopers" of yore, the swastika-lickers didn't battle it out in the street with their enemies. Instead, they ran to the arms of the Toledo police, who protected them from an enraged mob.

The following year, the NSM was embroiled in charges of Satan-worshipping. Seems NSM's Tulsa post office box doubled as The Joy of Satan Ministry, of which former NSM chairman Clifford Herrington's wife was (is?) the High Priestess. Oh, and in 2004, NSM had a registered sex offender heading up its Indiana chapter, according to the SPLC.

Locally, friend of the NSM -- and of Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce -- J.T. Ready was court-martialed twice and booted from the U.S. Marines. He's had his run-ins with non-military cops as well. Ready's said to be speaking at the November 7 rally. Semper Fi, dude.

When ex-NSM member Thomas Coletto renounced the neo-Nazis publicly, he alleged that his former comrade NSM-PHX/AZ unit leader Scott Hume (alias, "Shawn Hughes") attempted to "push Satanism" on him and asked Coletto to "accept a Nazi demon," during some late-night chat sessions.

All of which raises the legitimate question: Why should anyone with half a brain bother to counter-protest such a putrid rogues' gallery? (All apologies to the Satanists out there. I'm sure most of you are lovely people.)

"I wouldn't expect that they'd get more than 30 people there," the SPLC's Mark Potok predicted recently of the upcoming supremacist shindig. "There aren't more than 250 NSM members nationally, and they've got about 80 chapters, which shows you how small some of their chapters are."

CNN screenshot

Blue Lou: Many believe Dobbs' house got hit by a hunter's errant bullet

AlterNet scribe Isabel Macdonald's scored again. You'll recall her as the Brooklyn-based journalist who along with cameraman Mark Read captured Arpaio losing it a few months back. This, during an interview with our corrupt top cop in his offices. I posted some of Macdonald's hilarious footage to my blog of Arpaio walking out of his office with his mic still on, crying for his top PR flack Lisa Allen, and referring to the two reporters as a couple of "hippies." Heh. Archie Bunker with a badge in action.

When Macdonald heard nativist alter kocker Lou Dobbs' recent radio tale of a gun fired at his home with his wife nearby -- a shot he alleged was part of a "climate" created by critics of his extremist views -- she called the New Jersey State Police, the law enforcement agency investigating the errant bullet out on Dobbs' farm. A spokesman laughed at Dobbs' characterization of the incident, according to a piece Macdonald posted to AlterNet yesterday.

"Sergeant 1st class Stephen Jones," writes Macdonald, "a NJ police spokesperson I interviewed by telephone yesterday, chuckled out loud after he heard about Dobbs' account of the gunfire incident. Jones commented that he `wouldn't classify it [the gunfire incident] as very unusual.' He also confirmed that there are hunters in the area, and stated that, `at this time of year hunter [shooting] complaints go up.'

"He observed that in the ongoing police investigation sparked by Dobbs' complaint, `nothing has been determined [regarding] what the intended target for this bullet was.'Nor did Jones confirm whether the shots near Dobbs' house appeared to be an accident or intentional.

"Another New Jersey police spokesperson, Julian Castellanos, noted that `it's a wide open area and there are hunters in the area.' Castellanos explained that the bullet had hit the house in vicinity of the attic; it `it the vinyl siding and fell to the ground' without penetrating the vinyl, he said."

Like we needed more evidence of the insidious culture of corruption that pervades the entire Maricopa County Sheriff' Office: Check out this video from Channel 12 News, as reported on by Joe Dana. According to Dana, the video is of a court hearing last week for jail inmate Antonio Lozano, who was before a judge on charges of fighting with another inmate.

During the hearing, deputies casually walk over to defense attorney Joanne Cuccia's table as she's addressing the judge, and pick up some of her paperwork. One fat MCSO guard waltzes out of the room with the docs, and reportedly makes copies, bringing them back as if it was just another day at work. Cuccia flips out, as well she should under the circumstances. And the judge halts the hearing until the matter can be sorted out at a later date.

Dana talked to veteran defense attorney Mike Black who said he's never seen anything like it. Black surmised that the deputies were under orders to do as they did. He also suggested that several laws might have been broken, from petty theft to felony tampering with evidence.

Amazingly (or not, depending on how you look at it), MCSO flacks backed up these two goons, further bolstering the contention by Black that the deputies had been told to grab the papers and make copies. They said that case law allows them to inspect anything passed between counsel and client for contraband, like drugs. What drugs they would be able to obtain by photocopying sheets of paper? Unless, they were rolling papers.

from CBS 5 KPHO

Former federal prosecutor David Iglesias said he would seek an indictment against Sheriff Arpaio

CBS 5's nearly 10-minute segment on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's abuse of power last night did not disappoint. Essentially, reporter Morgan Loew and producer Gilbert Zermeno laid out all of the major cases of retaliation by the MCSO against the sheriff's political opponents: Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, ex-New Times staffer John Dougherty, Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey, VVM CEO Jim Larkin, and so on.

CBS 5's damning report from last night's broadcast

Then they put it before a no-nonsense ex-prosecutor: former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias. He's a Republican, was part of the team from the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps that inspired the Tom Cruise film A Few Good Men, and has more integrity than Arpaio has enemies. Iglesias was one of several U.S. Attorneys purged by the Bush Administration because they would not pursue politically motivated prosecutions. He has never met Arpaio, and has no ax to grind with him.

So what did Iglesias say he would do based on the evidence and his own research? Basically, he'd make Arpaio do the perp walk.

"I would go to a grand jury," said Iglesias. "I would work very closely with the civil rights criminal division in Washington, DC. And, based on the information that I have, I would seek an indictment."

Iglesias was aghast at what he saw in CBS 5's file on Arpaio detailing the sheriff's history of political payback.

"I thought, `This is remarkable, I can't believe this happening in the United States,'" stated Iglesias, who with his buzz cut looks like he stepped out of an old episode of Dragnet. "This is something that I have seen in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Absolutely unacceptable. We don't do this kind of thing in this country without some kind of consequence."

Is Sheriff Joe "America's Toughest Sheriff," or "America's Biggest Wimp"? That's what I can't help wondering as I read this latest press release from his PR staff. It lamely attempts to link the folks who protest Joe almost daily outside downtown Phoenix's Wells Fargo Building -- where Arpaio keeps two floors of ultra-expensive executive offices -- to Lou Dobbs' recent report that a gun was fired outside his house three weeks ago.

"The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office security detail is re-examining the level and methods of security it provides to Sheriff Joe Arpaio," reads the statement, "in light of news coming out of New York City today that CNN TV host Lou Dobbs may have been the target of pro-illegal immigration activists when his New Jersey home was shot at three weeks ago."

Dobbs related the tale of the gunshot on his radio show and suggested that it had to do with the "atmosphere" created by critics of his extremist, nativist views. Was this unknown shooter was motivated by hatred of his persistent brown-bashing? The New Jersey State Police are investigating. As there's a campaign by Latino activists to remove Dobbs from CNN, this incident comes at a good time for Dobbs to paint himself in a sympathetic light for his bigoted fans.

What does a random gunshot in New Jersey have to do with Sheriff Joe? Nada. Zip. Zilch. But, all the same, Joe wants to piggybank on it, and have us buy the hooey that his security team is really worried about this, that somehow he might be "targeted" by Latinos, even though no one yet knows who fired this random shot at Dobbs' residence.

"Sheriff Arpaio and Lou Dobbs were called the `two most unpopular figures with millions of American Latinos,'" states the release, "on national television by Fox talk show host Geraldo Rivera this past Saturday, October 24th."

Actually, that quote is a little off. Rivera actually called Joe, "With the exception of CNN's Lou Dobbs...for millions of American Latinos, the most unpopular person in this country..." But close enough, I reckon. Still, um, so what? I thought Joe was, like, the "Toughest Sheriff in America," or something. Apparently, Sheriff Tough Guy is spooked by a random gunshot that hit no one 3,000 miles away.

Even more absurd is the suggestion that the people who peacefully protest outside Wells Fargo -- members of civil rights activist Salvador Reza's Puente Movement -- will somehow inspire an act of violence against our scaredy-cat sheriff.

Sheriff Joe, still not as big of a political dog as he thinks

Everyone's seen the recent Cronkite/Eight numbers showing that Sheriff Joe Arpaio remains popular in Maricopa County, with a 61 percent approval rating overall, and a 65 percent positive rating of those with an opinion. The same poll showed Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard with a 55 percent approval rating statewide. Of those with an opinion, 76 percent gave Goddard a thumbs up.

Arpaio's high numbers, while impressive, are countywide; Goddard's numbers, statewide. However, ABC15 equates the two in a recent report, making it seem as if Arpaio's numbers are actually from across Arizona, thereby tapping him as a viable candidate for governor against the Attorney General, whom most expect will be he Democratic nominee.

"A poll came out this week that measured several state official's approval ratings," writes ABC15 correspondent Dave Biscobing. "Arpaio easily beat several other possible Republican candidates, and the only person who fared better was Democrat Terry Goddard at more than 70 percent approval. At this point, other recent polls show Goddard wins big against any Republican. But the Attorney General's name hasn't been tested against Arpaio."

(The last two sentences concerning Goddard refer to a survey by Public Policy Polling, showing Goddard topping the Republican field of likely gubernatorial candidates.)

Arpaio, obviously, is not a state official. And Cronkite/Eight's press release concerning these latest results make it clear that only "Maricopa County voters" were asked to rate Arpaio's performance. To make this even clearer, the questions dealing with Arpaio are marked in bold and all-caps on the release, "IF MARICOPA COUNTY."

from Simcox for Senate

Despite his good looks, the "Little Prince" has not always had luck with women...

In doing research on Chris Simcox -- the minuteman posterboy currently waging a quixotic campaign for the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate primary nod against the ancient, lizard-skinned Senator John McCain -- I came across an odd exchange of legal paperwork between Simcox's current wife Alena, and Alena's mother Barbara Lang-Lyras Auffret. Seems in 2007, Auffret filed a claim in Maricopa County Superior Court against her daughter regarding the Alena Maria Lyras Trust, Lyras apparently being Alena's name before she became Mrs. Simcox.

Auffret alleged in her claim that her daughter had "unilaterally removed [her] as co-trustee of the trust and deleted Article Ten which required the approval and consent of both trustees affecting the trust." Auffret also maintained that she had "created the trust naming the defendant only as co-trustee due to defendant's inability to manage the trust alone..."

Additionally, Auffret stated that after her daughter married Simcox, her relationship with her daughter became "strained." Her daughter would not speak to her, and "prohibited [her] from visitation with her grandson." The claim mentions that Simcox was being sued by another plaintiff, who was asking for one million dollars in damages.

That's a reference to Fountain Hills resident James Campbell's lawsuit against Simcox and Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. (Simcox stepped down as head of MCDC to run for Senate earlier this year.) The legal tussle was over $100,000 Campbell donated to MCDC for the building of an "Israeli-style fence" on private property near the border. Campbell contended MCDC didn't build the sort of fence they promised, and so sued them for around $1.2 million. The suit is no longer active. Last year, Campbell told The Sierra Vista Herald that he "allowed the civil case to be dismissed because he did not want to continue to fund the litigation." 

In Auffret's application for a temporary restraining order against her daughter, things turned nastier. She alleged the following of Simcox, and made references to a troubled past on the part of her daughter.  

"In July 2005," reads the motion, "after only a few weeks of meeting Christopher Simcox, the leader of the infamous self-appointed private border patrol, The Minuteman Project, defendant married Simcox. Plaintiff seeks to protect the assets and the property in the trust from a defendant who is ill-equipped to handle the trust and unduly influenced by the head of the dubious Minuteman Project, an organization seeking donations of funds for various purposes."

Auffret once again mentioned Campbell's lawsuit, which she described as being for "fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract, fraudulent inducement and concealment, in connection with questionable monetary activities with the Minuteman Project." She stated that she was "concerned that the defendant will use the Trust's assets and the property to defend Christopher Simcox in the civil suit or otherwise for the benefit of the Minuteman Project."

CBS 5's tantalizing promo for their Thursday report

Set the DVR this Thursday night for KPHO CBS 5's 10 p.m. newscast, which will feature an eight minute mini-documentary on Sheriff Joe's abuses of power while in office. The award-winning team of producer Gilbert Zermeno and reporter Morgan Loew boasts sources showing that the FBI is talking to folks about Arpaio's vendettas against his critics and political opponents. They'll lay out the result of their year-long investigation in Thursday's broadcast.

"Speak out against Sheriff Joe and end up with deputies investigating your life," says CBS 5's promo for the report. "It's happened to the mayor of Phoenix, police chiefs, judges, journalists and others. Coincidence? Or is America's toughest sheriff breaking the law? The FBI wants to know."

by Ernesto Yerena

This time, they're protesting Barack

The third time's the charm, and according to civil rights leader Salvador Reza of the Puente Movement, the pleasure will be ours January 16 as Rage Against the Machine/One Day as a Lion frontman Zack de la Rocha returns to the Arizona capital to lead a National Day of Action.

Will people be marching against Joe Arpaio and the 287(g) program? Nope, says Reza.

"Joe's a has-been," said Reza, who's so far organized two such demonstrations this year, drawing thousands to the cause of the oppressed in Maricopa County. "We're protesting the Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security for empowering Arpaio."

Finally, the focus turns on the liberal perpetrators of the status quo. See, President Barack Obama and his lefty apparatchiks are directly responsible for Arpaio maintaining federal 287(g) power in his jails -- jails so filthy and horrendous that they've been condemned by Amnesty International and now operate without accreditation.

photo by Arturo Tolenttino

Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready in Riverside, California: Note the Hitler smiley face

Dressed in black battle dress, helmet, and wielding a bullhorn featuring a smiley face with a Hitler mustache, Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready helped lead a group of about 20 National Socialist Movement members in a rally held in Riverside, California on Saturday.

Local press estimated that the 20 sieg heil-ing demonstrators faced off with some 600 counter-protesters, including Brown Berets, anarchists and, generally, a lot of ticked off Californians. Despite the fact that the Riverside police were out in force, there was a throw-down between the two sides when the Brown Berets and the neo-Nazis went at it at one point, trading blows. That is, until the cops separated them.

This demo was a follow-up to a Riverside NSM rally last month, where some eight to a dozen swastika-lickers protested a location where day-laborers congregate. (Saturday's Nazi bash was in the same place, but across the street, observers tell me.) That September demo ended badly for the NSM, with its supporters being run off by a massive coalition of activists. This time, the white supremacists held their ground, but only because of the efforts of an army of local gendarmes.

According to Riverside's Press-Enterprise, which has the most detailed coverage of the day's events, two counter-demonstrators were taken into custody. No neo-Nazis were collared, alas. Press-Enterprise has a photo gallery of the fight on its site.

Are these guys anarchists? Or just plain ol' Nazi-haters? Either way, cool flier...

I'm hearing rumblings that local anarchists may show up to greet National Socialist Movement neo-Nazis on November 7, when the Hitler-wannabes show up for their shindig on the State Capitol lawn. Some anarchists have been telling me off-the-record that they plan an action of some sort to show NSM Commander Jeff Schoep that he and his boys are not welcome in Phoenix.

In addition, Arizona Indymedia has posted an announcement of an Antiracist Action at the Capitol for November 7 from 1 to 5 p.m., illustrated with a flyer of what looks like a SHARP skin smashing a swastika with a hammer.

from Channel 5's raw footage

Lt. Joe Sousa, helping MCSO maintain its knuckledragging image

In a mentally-challenged media stunt, made more so by the ravings of Rhode Island redneck Lt. Joe Sousa, Sheriff Joe's self-described unit commander for human smuggling, MCSO's 287(g) task force members placed their ICE agent badges in a punch bowl for cameras Thursday. This, so Sheriff Joe and his top Hispanic-hunter Sousa could kvetch to the reporters present.

I knew about yesterday's MCSO circus act, but I'm blocked by the MCSO from such press events held on county property. That's good for Sousa, because I would have loved to ask him about the American citizens and legal permanent residents arrested under his watch, as well as the broken arms and busted jaws some female immigrants have suffered at the hands of his deputies.

Sousa is the same vein-popping blowhard who told elected officials critical of his jefe Joe Arpaio to "Shut up!" in a press conference of deputies earlier this year. He's an unprofessional loudmouth, unworthy of any federal authority. Indeed, his statements today pegged him for the schmuck he is.

"The feds screwed us in Washington, not locally," the nasal-toned nudnik exclaimed at one point in the raw video on Channel 5's Web site. "Do we have to bleep that out, is `screwed' okay?"

Wow, and I thought Arpaio said stupid stuff. With Sousa, you can practically smell the locker room sweat on his breath.

Sousa also said he'd be happy to testify in any depositions concerning MCSO racial profiling, which he denies, BTW. Let's hope the ACLU's lawyers put him under oath in the big Melendres vs. Arpaio racial profiling suit. This doofus could be their star witness.

"We only stop vehicles for traffic infractions that violate state law," Sousa claimed of MCSO pull-overs. "Period. That's our only intent."