Agency offers to talk before going to court
In its developing battle with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio over alleged violations of the civil rights of Hispanics, the Justice Department appears to have blinked, backing away from an earlier threat to take the Arizona lawman to federal court immediately.
Still, the Civil Rights Division under the direction of Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez has made it clear that the DOJ has no intent of proving its charges, as Arpaio has demanded.
In an email sent to WND on Jan. 5, the DOJ stated, “If MCSO wants to debate the facts instead of fixing the problems stated in our findings, we will do so by way of litigation.”
Yet, in a six-page letter delivered to Arpaio’s office Wednesday, Perez appeared to have softened his position by offering to talk, rather than going to court immediately.
“We stand ready to meet, answer questions and discuss a resolution with you and your client immediately.” Perez wrote to the sheriff’s office’s outside counsel, Joseph J. Popolizio.
In the proposed meetings, nevertheless, Perez made it clear the DOJ has no intent of showing or debating any of its alleged evidence.
Maricopa County, Arizona contains Phoenix and eight other cities with populations over 100,000. The most populace county in the state with nearly four million people could have a significant impact on this year’s presidential election.
In Arizona, the county sheriff is responsible for verifying the eligibility of any candidate wanting to be placed on the ballot in their particular county. In Maricopa County, that responsibility falls to Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Last year, Arpaio announced that he had instructed his Cold Squad unit to investigate Barack Obama’s eligibility to run for President. In that announcement, he pretty much ordered the Obama administration to allow his officer’s access to the original birth documents in Hawaii that the President claims verify his US birth and right to run for the Oval Office.
Since that announcement, the President has launched one attack after another at Sheriff Joe.
Hat Tip: Godfather Politics
Students can sue their public school district for violating their First Amendment right by eliminating a radical La Raza studies program that ignites racial hostility, teaches disdain for American sovereignty and illegally segregates students by race.
Only in America would a federal judge rule that a U.S. taxpayer-funded institution can get sued for refusing to provide such a divisive program that one instructor denounced for igniting racial hostility. The case involves the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican Raza Studies program, nixed after state legislators banned funding for ethnic studies curriculums that advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government.
Tucson’s controversial La Raza curriculum was created in 1998 to promote the Chicano agenda. Years later it was renamed “Mexican-American Studies” to sound less extremist. In 2010 Arizona’s legislature passed a measure (HB 2281) banning taxpayer-funded schools from offering classes that are designed for students of a particular race and promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group (in this case whites).
U.S. Rep. Raul “Mr. Boycott Arizona” Grijalva says he may appeal directly to the White House for funds to expand and modernize the U.S. Port of Entry at San Luis, Ariz., since he can’t get Republican backing to fund the upgrades.
In a visit Friday to Somerton and San Luis, Ariz., Grijalva said he has gotten no support from Republican lawmakers for legislation he introduced in October, the Border Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2011, which would earmark $80 million for upgrades and additional personnel at the San Luis port of entry.
”Unfortunately not one Republican congressman has responded, even though we have told them that if there’s some change to the proposal (that they want), we will be happy to do it,” said the Tucson Democrat, whose district includes Yuma County.
Read the rest.
Remember this headline? “Russell Pearce Supporters Accused Of Running Sham Candidate In AZ Recall Election” Who looks like they ran sham candidate now?
Once again, things got uneasy at the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday morning.
After the leader of Citizens for a Better Arizona started addressing the five-member board, there was uproar when his supporters stood up.
The other side, Sheriff Joe Arpaio supporters, argued their view was being obstructed.
Randy “Open Borders” Parraz, who leads Citizens for a Better Arizona, said they stood to show solidarity.
When things got chaotic, Parraz and his people walked out of the chambers.
Faces ‘resign now’ campaign as Cold Case Posse prepares Obama eligibility report
Just as famed Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is preparing to release results of his investigation of Barack Obama’s eligibility for Arizona’s 2012 ballot, a top-gun activist who led a successful campaign to recall a key Arpaio ally is now targeting the sheriff himself.
In the coming weeks, it will be decided whether transplanted radical attorney-activist and “community organizer” Randy “Open Borders” Parraz can force Arpaio to resign before the sheriff’s Cold Case Posse has a chance to deliver a report in February.
Parraz, who has made his career applying Saul Alinsky-style community organizer tactics for radical leftist movements in the U.S. and Canada, has told WND that Arpaio “has to go.”
Arpaio’s response: “No way will I resign,” he told WND.
The Mexican army announced Sunday that it had captured the head of security for Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, one of the world’s most wanted men.
The suspect, who was not identified by name, was captured in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan and will be presented to the media Monday morning, the army said.
Guzman, Mexico’s top drug lord, is one of the world’s richest men, and has eluded authorities by moving around and hiding since his 2001 escape from prison in a laundry truck.
The army said the man they had arrested also ran cartel activities in Durango and southern Chihuahua state, and was responsible for carrying out secret burials of cartel victims, kidnapping, extortion and arson. They did not say if the arrest moved the military closer to capturing Guzman, an arrest that would be seen as a major victory for the government of President Felipe Calderon.
A federal appeals court has ruled against an Arizona law that requires residents to prove their U.S. citizenship to register to vote, but upheld a part of the same law that mandates residents to show identification before voting.
The decision made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday was part of an ongoing court battle surrounding Arizona’s Proposition 200.
Arizona passed the law in 2004, prompting legal challenges.
