Phoenix News Blog

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."

For those who didn't catch it, here's the segment from Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN last night, which featured a face-off between Sheriff Joe and Isabel Garcia, Pima County Legal Defender and Co-Chair of the human rights organization Coalición de Derechos Humanos. The mini-debate followed a report by Soledad O'Brien (part of CNN's "Latino in America" series) on the plight of Araceli Torres, one of eleven employees arrested during a raid on a Tucson Panda Express in March of 2008.

Torres, 26, was seven when she was brought to this country by her parents. She's attended grade school and high-school here, and has a young daughter who is an American citizen. Her mom's a legal resident, and her sister is a citizen. All she knows is America. Nevertheless, she's been ordered removed by an immigration judge, an order that's pending appeal. It's the sort of story that's painfully common in Arizona, where there are so many people who are in legal limbo because they were brought here while they were kids.

Anderson Cooper asked both Arpaio and Garcia to comment. (Garcia is actually representing Torres.) Arpaio, as you might expect, showed little-to-no sympathy.

"We have 10,000 people in jail," Arpaio told Cooper. "We have mothers, fathers split up from their families because they have violated the law. But when you talk about the illegal immigration problem, it takes it into a different situation. They're split up too. But what about everybody else in jail that are split up?"

Garcia, a pro-immigrant firebrand whom I've always admired for her stridency on this issue, responded to Arpaio's claim that he's just enforcing state law.

"Illegal entry is a federal offense, and a misdemeanor," she pointed out. "The bottom line is that the economy of Arizona has suffered because of the sweeps, because of the lack of workers being able to engage in economic activity. The fact that [Arpaio] has been able to promote laws, that are state laws focusing on immigrants, really is reminiscent of post-slavery, almost. We have like our own black codes here targeting immigrants in this particular situation."

I give the MCSO points for trying. Ever since the sheriff's office cited a non-existent law and text from a nativist Web site to justify its claim of federal authority after being stripped of 287(g) street power by ICE, the MCSO's been attempting to walk the conversation backwards and extricate themselves from the legal tar pit they've wandered into. Joe's even claimed that he can stop you and ask you about your immigration status, if "you look like you just came from Mexico."

Now the MCSO has issued a press release, and what looks like part of a 2005 Immigration and Customs Enforcement training manual, which the sheriff's flacks say will "set the record straight." The page from the ICE manual states that an immigration officer must have "reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts" (kudos to commenter Tommy C for his posts concerning reasonable suspicion). It gives examples of articulable facts, such as speech, demeanor, dress, general observations, and so forth.

Interestingly, looking like you "just came from Mexico" is not listed.

From a 2008 anti-Arpaio demo: This alien is definitely pro-immigration

I dialed up the venerable Phoenix costume and party supply store Easley's Costumes and Fun Shop to see if they had one of the illegal alien outfits currently causing a stir, and if anyone was raising Cain about it. I spoke with one of the owners Carol Easley, and she informed me that they had started with haf a dozen, but quickly sold out. She says people have been asking for it, though.

The Halloween costume pulled from so many stores recently

"It was funny, a play on words," Easley said of the orange-jumpsuit wearing "illegal" space alien with a green card. "I think people need to get a life."

Generally, I agree with Easley about this year's most politically incorrect Halloween outfit, which has been yanked from Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, etc. The costume retailed for $34.95, and was fairly mild compared to some of the other costumes you can purchase out there. Also, there was more than a little fake outrage in some lefty quarters over the garb. Particularly, since the same play on the word "alien" has been used by activists to lampoon the other side in the immigration debate.

From the 2008 demo at Macehualli by anti-nativist activists

Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, and now state Senator Russell Pearce on the state Capitol lawn in June of 2007 (see below)

This comedy regarding Joe Arpaio's supposed legal authority to question people on the street about their immigration status is reaching epic proportions, like some Monty Python sketch gone awry. Our geriatric top gendarme recently told Channel 12 News that he will seek a legal opinion on whether or not he has 287(g) authority without having 287(g) authority.

(Confused? Don't worry. So is he.)

"We're going to ask for an official, official decision [sic] on this federal law," Arpaio told reporter Brahm Resnik, "whether law enforcement can get involved -- uh -- you know, supporting that law and arresting those that are here illegally. I will ask for an opinion very soon, and I think it will put everything to rest, depending on what the decision is."

"Don't you think you should have done that before the sweep this weekend?" asked Resnik. "That way, everyone would know what your authority is."

"I know what my authority is," shot back Arpaio.

Er, then why ask for this big legal opinion? I'll tell you why. Because Arpaio needs to pull a lame CYA move after asserting he has the right to stop, question and arrest people whom he suspects of being in the country illegally based on appearance. (This is generally known as "racial profiling" in civilized parts of the country.) Remember last night, Channel 5 reported that Joe said his deputies can stop you if "you look like you just came from Mexico."

God's gift to bloggers: Arpayaso! (FYI, payaso means "clown" in Spanish)

Here's the latest walnut of wisdom from Maricopa County's tin-pot tyrant of a sheriff, courtesy of CBS 5/KPHO. It pretty much falls in line with many of the dumb as dirt statements Arpaio's made on Glenn Beck and elsewhere recently regarding how he will magically pinpoint illegal aliens during his anti-brown dragnets:

"Certain criteria; no identification, look like you just came from Mexico, and they admit it, so that's enough," said Arpaio. "We had no problem in identifying the people that we stopped."

Channel 5 called him on it, but our wattled wonder of a lawman wasn't available for a rebuttal. So Arpaio's handlers claimed to Channel 5 reporter Sarah Buduson that the sheriff just misunderstood. You know, grampa didn't take his Geritol that day, so he wasn't 100 percent.

Buduson interviewed Bill Straus, regional director of the Arizona Anti-Defamation League, who agreed that what the sheriff had just admitted to was racial profiling. Which just happens to be the very thing the U.S. Justice Department is investigating him for. (Boy, is its job gonna be easy!)

"Stopping people because of their appearance -- that's profiling," Straus stated, emphatically.

On Friday's Rick Sanchez show on CNN, Immigration and Customs Enforcement head John Morton made it sound like the link between Arpaio and ICE was forever severed -- that ICE would no longer have anything to do with Arizona's corrupt top constable.

According to Morton, Arpaio's sweeps "aren't consistent with our priorities as an agency," which is, "to identify and remove serious criminal aliens from the streets of Arizona."

Morton went on to criticize the sweeps in detail, and the man responsible for them.

"[Arpaio's] sweeps are overbroad," Morton told Sanchez. "They don't have a particular focus or priority on criminal offenders, and he does it in a way that isn't marked by cooperation and coordination within the communities that he serves. And if we're going to enter into a partnership to enforce portions of immigration law, it needs to be done with someone who is working closely with the communities within which they serve, and someone who is focused on the right priorities, namely going after the worst offenders first." (Italics, mine.)

What was never mentioned on the Sanchez show, is that Arpaio and ICE are still joined at the hip in Maricopa County through the new 287(g) jails enforcement agreement. That means that although Arpaio is not focused on "the right priorities," according to Morton, and though Arpaio's jails have lost their accreditation and have been the sites of documented human rights abuses, they still receive the federal seal of approval, with at least 60 of Joe's gendarmes operating as 287(g) in the jails.

When it comes to what Morton referred to as Arpaio's 287(g) task force authority -- meaning the 287(g) deputies in the street -- yes, it has been severed. But ICE continues to back up Arpaio's non-authorized sweeps by taking into custody non-criminal aliens through the LEAR program. LEAR stands for Law Enforcement Agency Response, and through it, any law enforcement agency can drop dime to ICE's Office of Detention and Removal on any suspected illegal immigrant, and DRO will come pick 'em up. The undocumented individual in question need not have violated any state criminal statute to be subject of detention by ICE.

Must reading for MCSO detention officers?

Federal District Judge David Campbell today denied a motion to dismiss the indictments against white supremacist twin brothers Dennis and Daniel Mahon, who are charged in connection with the 2004 package bombing of Scottsdale's Office of Diversity and Dialogue Director Don Logan.

Lawyers for the Mahons alleged that the pair's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights had been violated because of the actions of MCSO detention officers at the Fourth Avenue Jail, where the Mahons are being held. Daniel Mahon's lawyer Barbara Hull stated in her motion that MCSO staff asked Daniel questions about the bombing without counsel being present.

Dennis Mahon's federal public defender Deborah Williams joined the motion to dismiss, contending that an MCSO guard by the name of John Hansen "walked into Dennis Mahon's cell and asked him to autograph a book on the Oklahoma City bombing." She also suggested this was part of an effort "to arrange a meeting with Dennis Mahon." This, in spite of the fact Dennis had already invoked his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in writing. 

ABC15 is reporting that the MCSO will be conducting its latest Hispanic-hunting sweep in Surprise today. Apparently, Joe will be holding a press conference at 5 p.m. at his command post at the sheriff's substation at Dysart and Bell Roads. The operation begins at noon, with the usual 200 deputies and posse members. This, despite the fact that Immigration and Customs Enforcement head John Morton stated in a press conference call this morning that Arpaio does not have federal authority to conduct these sweeps.

Human rights observers and activists are already heading to Surprise to monitor deputies' activities with video cameras. Arpaio has said he has a "new tool" to combat such Constitutionally-protected monitoring. Many of the activists believe they may just be arrested by the MCSO on false charges, even though they do not interfere with the MCSO and they observe MCSO arrests and stops at a distance.

This is Arpaio's second sweep in Surprise, if I recall correctly. The first took place back in 2008 when Arpaio's re-election was being challenged by Democrat Dan Saban. Saban was doing a town hall nearby, and it was believed Arpaio pulled the sweep as a way of disrupting the event. I know the sprawl out that way caused some problems for the activists monitoring Arpaio's beige-shirts last time around.

And so the injustice rolls down like a mighty river here in Ari-bama. Will this climate of oppression ever recede, I wonder?

Stay tuned. More as I get it.

Arpaio remains ICE's "partner," despite all his misdeeds

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency finally made its official announcement today regarding signatories to its controversial 287(g) program, and there were no surprises. Of the 55 new agreements approved by ICE, the Maricopa County Sheriff's office is one. As expected, the MCSO scored a new jails agreement. Its street authority was not renewed.

In all, 55 new agreements were signed nationwide, 12 agreements await approval by the localities involved, six agreements are in negotiations, and six local jurisdictions opted out of the program altogether, including the Houston Police Department and Florida's Brevard County Sheriff's Department.

(You can see the list of participating agencies, here.)

I took part in a press conference call with ICE honcho John Morton this morning. I asked him how he could go forward with a new jails agreement with Sheriff Joe Arpaio considering the fact that serious human rights abuses have occurred in Arpaio's jails, and by 287(g)-trained officers, no less. Morton said he would not comment on my characterization of the MCSO's jails, but that ICE had decided to go forward with a jails agreement because it allowed for the removal of criminal aliens.

However, Arpaio's field enforcement was a different story.

"We ultimately determined that his sweeps were not consistent with our priorities," Morton stated.

Stung by criticism from yours truly this past Sunday when I pointed out that Sheriff Arpaio had cited a nonexistent law as the legal justification for his anti-immigrant, down-on-the-brown sweeps, the MCSO has just sent out an e-mail admitting their fumble, and attempting to right it. Problem is, they end up citing a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly harbor or bring an illegal alien into the country.

What does that have to do with using pretextual traffic stops to ask people about their immigration status? You guessed right, sports fans, nothing.

The e-mail from MCSO spokesman Lt. Brian Lee is below. As I'm normally not on the MCSO mailing list (can't imagine why), I'm guessing the fact they put me on the list for this one time is a rare acknowledgement that my criticism was correct.

You'll recall that during Arpaio's press conference last week, he claimed he still had federal law on his side, and handed out a press release citing federal code 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii). But that citation doesn't exist. Worse still, the language that came immediately after the citation was from a nativist Web site, though it looked like the MCSO was implying that text was the law itself, and not what it was -- an extremely conservative interpretation of the law.

Arpaio even went on several national talk shows, insisting there was a law that allowed him to act without his 287(g) street authority, which has been stripped from him by the feds.

Now the MCSO is citing part of 8 USC 1324, "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens," specifically, 8 USC 1324(c), which states,

"Authority to arrest: No officer or person shall have authority to make any arrests for a violation of any provision of this section except officers and employees of the Service designated by the Attorney General, either individually or as a member of a class, and all other officers whose duty it is to enforce criminal laws."

from DavidIckeWikimediaCommons

David Icke: Lizard nutter, anti-semite, or both? You be the judge.

For the Coast to Coast AM set, British conspiracy theorist David Icke is the equivalent of an international rock star. A former soccer player and sportscaster who in 1991 announced on a British TV talk show that he was the Son of God and that disasters would soon beset the Earth, the author/lecturer is now well-known as the backer of the sci-fi conspiracy fantasy that a secret race of bloodsucking, reptilian overlords rules the planet, a race that he calls the Babylonian Brotherhood. Members include Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, the British Royal Family, the Rothschilds, Kris Kristofferson, and, inexplicably, Boxcar Willie. (I always knew there was something funny about that hobo shtick.)

Icke will be lecturing all day long this Saturday, from 10 a.m to 7 p.m., at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, for the low-low-price of $50 per head. (Don't everyone call Ticketmaster at once.) Already, the local Ron Paul/911 Troofer/The-World-Is-Coming-To-an-End crowd is organizing a pilgrimage. I'm curious to see who shows up, and am toying with the possibility of attending myself.

See, I confess to finding Icke a genuinely fascinating peddler of froot-loopy moonbattery acid. Icke's brain is an encyclopedic compendium of paranoid nonsense, which he can spew forth with all the zeal and conviction of an erstwhile TV personality. In addition to the reptile bunk, Icke also believes 9/11 was an inside job, that Adolf Hitler was a Rothschild (well, that explains everything), that the Earth is hollow, that the swine flu was invented in a lab, and that mass vaccinations for H1N1 are an illuminati plot to bump off much of the planet's population and enslave the rest.

So what's the big deal, another nutter for the psycho ward? Why should we non-nutters be other than amused by Icke and his adherents?

Problem is, Icke has made a number of apparently anti-semitic statements, and has incurred the ire, in the past, of the ADL and other Jewish organizations. British journalist Jon Ronson explored Icke's alleged anti-semitism in the documentary, David Icke, the Lizards, and the Jews. It's a fascinating portrait of one of the most charismatic and outrageous conspiracy theorists alive today. In it, Ronson delves into the charge by many that Icke is anti-semitic, and that when Icke talks of a race of blood-sucking, baby-killing lizards that controls the fate of humanity, this code for "the Jews."

Ronson ultimately concludes that Icke really does believe in the lizards as lizards, and not as Jews, but Icke sometimes borrows from, or echoes, anti-semitic legends and literature, such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious piece of anti-semitic twaddle that was, in fact, a forgery. Icke has denied in several forums that he is an anti-semite, saying that he's only talking about the upper echelons of the Jewish hierarchy. And indeed, there is much in his most famous book The Biggest Secret that would offend other faiths as well.

Certain statements by Icke are overt regarding the Anti-Defamation League. In the Ronson documentary, he states that, "My feeling is the ADL is an illuminati plot." And in The Biggest Secret, Icke states that the ADL, "was set up precisely to condemn as racists those exposing the [Babylonian] Brotherhood."

Just in time for Friday's sweep, Dennis Gilman's video, "Arpaio's Reign of Terror"

Today, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice told me that an announcement may come as soon as Thursday on whether or not Sheriff Joe Arpaio will get to keep 287(g) authority in his jails. (See below for update.) I tend to be a pessimist, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Obama administration shrugs off the human rights concerns of those of us in Maricopa County (and elsewhere), and allows Arpaio to operate under the imprimatur of federal power in his vast, inhumane incarceration complex.

Even if ICE has -- as Arpaio has maintained -- nixed his 287(g) street authority, Arpaio will continue his rampage on Friday unabated, and persist in profiling and detaining U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents based on skin color and ethnicity. If the Department of Homeland Security and the White House do not take action to stop Arpaio and immediately cancel all cooperation with him through the 287(g) program, then we have no choice but to view the administration's acquiescence to the sheriff as cowardice and betrayal.

Can President Obama really be said to deserve his Nobel Peace Prize if he averts his gaze from the human and civil rights abuses being suffered by Latinos in Maricopa County? What does it say about the man and his administration if he and his apparatchiks ignore the cries for justice that come from so many of those who have supported Obama and helped him attain the highest office in the land?

Videographer/activist Dennis Gilman's latest effort "Arpaio's Reign of Terror" contains some previously unseen footage of victims of Arpaio, including the testimony of Americans who've been falsely detained by his deputies. I don't know how anyone with any sense of right and wrong, especially someone allegedly as progressive as the President, can watch this video and be unconcerned. I know some of Obama's people will watch it. Are they so wrapped up in the petty games of D.C. one-upsmanship and sycophancy that they cannot see that they have the power to change this situation?

I fear the answer to this last query is yes. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Vincent de Groot

I've heard of die-ins, but this is getting ridiculous...

The Phoenix Progressive Democrats of America, along with other members of a group calling itself the Arizona Coalition for a State and National Healthcare Plan will be protesting the offices of the insurance company United Healthcare at Camelback and 24th Street with a "die-in" tomorrow, Thursday, October 15. And there may be some civil disobedience involved, according to Phoenix PDA spokesperson Dan O'Neal. (See update below.)

Seems the national group Mobilization for Healthcare for All is coordinating non-violent actions in nine cities tomorrow, Phoenix being one. So when some protesters lie down and feign death, there may be others either in the offices of the company or on its property willing to do a sit-in of some sort.

"We're planning on doing a die-in," O'Neal told me just now. "Whether there will actually be a sit-in part of it, I'm not sure. It'll be kind of spontaneous. We're hoping to get at least 123 people as part of a die-in, representing the 123 people who die every day in this country because of the lack of health care. That's 45,000 people a year, according to a new Harvard University study."

Joe goes ballistic on two journos from NYC

He hates us, he really does hate us! Yes, the mere mention of New Times (or the East Valley Tribune) causes Grampa Joe to fly out of his chair and run looking for his top PR flack Lisa Allen during this vid. You can't imagine how satisfying it is to know that he cares. (Sniff.) 

The video is part of footage shot by an independent team out of New York, from an interview that took place in June. At one point, Arpaio "stops" the interview to look for Allen, because he's being asked questions based on reports from New Times and the Trib. (He's still wearing the mike as he steps outside his office. I could almost swear he refers to the reporters as "hippies," but I can't be sure.) But Joe being Joe, he returns and keeps on yammering for another hour or so until the gun moll-ish Allen finally appears.

"I don't mind talking to them," Arpaio tells Allen. "And I think I've been pretty favorable to them, even though they're asking questions about the so-called Justice Department investigation. But they keep quoting the New Times! The typical thing."

Apparently, Joe didn't want the interview to veer off course from his immigration abuses, into the catalogue of corruption and jailhouse deaths he continues to accumulate during his tenure as Maricopa County's top constable.