House Speaker moves forward to address problems with IRC
The Arizona Capitol Times is reporting that House Speaker Andy Tobin has introduced a host of measures that would set a special election enabling voters to decide whether to use legislative and congressional maps drawn by elected legislators representing constituencies – as was the practice prior to the passage of Prop. 106 in 2000. Democrats and Republicans worked together to draw the lines.
Arizonans are currently faced with oddly configured and decidedly partisan maps approved last month by Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
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.
FN Five-sevens were among the weapons allowed to walk. Photo: Wikipedia
Arizona’s state legislature will open its own investigation into the Obama administration’s disgraced gun-running program, known as “Fast and Furious,” the speaker of the state House said Friday.
Speaker Andy Tobin created the committee, and charged it with looking at whether the program broke any state laws – raising the possibility of state penalties against those responsible for the operation.
It’s a turnaround from the rest of the immigration issue, where the federal government has sued to block the state’s own set of laws.
A law requiring businesses to check new workers’ legal status was upheld by the Supreme Court last year, and the court has agreed to hear the case of Arizona’s crackdown law that makes being an illegal immigrant a state crime and gives state and local police the power to enforce that law.
A new report from the Justice Department accuses America’s toughest sheriff of racially profiling?illegal immigrants from Mexico! Moreover,the man who wrote the report appears to have perjured himself before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission over the Black Panther voter intimidation case.
The Justice Department report cum hit piece accuses Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of “systematic disregard”for the Constitutional rights?of illegal immigrants.
“We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department,a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections,”according to Thomas Perez,the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Eric “My People”Holder.
The report’s most “serious”allegation was that Arpaio racially profiled illegal immigrants. That is,too many of the illegals he arrested were Mexican. The fact that the vast majority of illegal aliens are from Mexico,and 90 percent of illegal immigrants are of Hispanic origin may explain the racial homogeneity of Arpaio’s prisons. Hell,it may explain the increasing racial homogeneity of large swaths of Arizona,where native-born residents now press 2 for English.
The DOJ has given Arpaio until January 4th to tell the feds how he is going to obey their edicts. Arpaio responded,”We are going to cooperate the best we can. And if they are not happy,I guess they can carry out their threat and go to federal court.”
Read the rest.
Hat Tip: Seeing Red AZ
A credible death threat against community activist Randy “Open Borders” Parraz is under investigation. Parraz led the successful recall effort against Senator Russell Pearce.
Texas Attorney General to File Emergency Stay With U.S. Supreme Court Challenging Redistricting Maps
The statement from Abbott’s office said that a stay of the election process is needed because, “elections should not proceed based on legally flawed maps that are likely to be overturned on review.”
The motion comes after a federal court refused his request late Friday to block a congressional redistricting map it drew up for Texas, hours after the Republican accused the court of “undermining the democratic process.”
Abbott had asked the San Antonio-based court to stay the implementation of its interim map, which the court drafted when minority groups challenged the original plan passed by the Republican-dominated state Legislature.
The court-drawn map would ensure minorities made up the majority in three additional Texas congressional districts. If the 2012 elections were held under the court’s map, Democrats would have an advantage as they try to win back the U.S. House.
The same Arizona group that took down the state’s leading immigration hard-liner is now gunning for its best-known lawman.
Fresh off a successful drive to oust Republican state Senate President Russell Pearce this month, leaders of Citizens for a Better Arizona announced this week that they plan to form a “citizens posse” to challenge Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in his 2012 re-election bid. Sheriff Arpaio, who has carved out a national reputation for his no-nonsense treatment of lawbreakers in his county and for his running battles with the Obama administration and immigration advocates, is serving his fifth four-year term.
The group also is considering a recall election against Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, although organizers said they will do so only if at least 5,000 volunteers sign up online to circulate petitions.
“The main focus right now is Joe Arpaio. We’re looking at a bunch of different options to get rid of him,” said Chad Snow, chairman of Citizens for a Better Arizona.
Mexicans were ‘patrolling’ when agent was slain, indictment says
Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show.
A now-sealed federal grand jury indictment in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry says the Mexican nationals were “patrolling” the rugged desert area of Peck Canyon at about 11:15 p.m. on Dec. 14 with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.
At least two of the Mexicans carried their assault rifles “at the ready position,” one of several details about the attack showing that Mexican smugglers are becoming more aggressive on the U.S. side of the border.
While many federal officials claim the American border with Mexico is safe, a retired U.S. Border Patrol Supervisory Agent vehemently disagrees.
“It’s more dangerous than I’ve every seen it during my 26 years in the Border Patrol,” Zach Taylor said Sunday afternoon.
Speaking to more than 40 people at the Cochise County Building in Sierra Vista at an event arranged by the Cochise County Republican Committee, Taylor said the Border Patrol, which is now under the Department of Homeland Security and not under the Department of Justice as it was prior to 9/11, has become more of a political tool for those who do not seem to be willing to address border issues as a law enforcement matter, he said.
One of the founders of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, he said agents of the former organization he served are being denied the right to do their jobs in as federal law enforcement agents.
This is particularly true when access to portions of federal land along the border is denied to agents not only trying apprehend illegal immigrants who are seeking jobs in the U.S., but more importantly the growing criminal elements involved in a number of smuggling activities, Taylor said.
Video: Zack Taylor (1 hour)
As more people became dissatisfied with federal government controls and land grabs, it was inevitable that local law enforcement would eventually see the bigger picture. At the northern California fairgrounds of Yreka last month, seven California sheriffs and another from Oregon gathered with a large group of citizens to say that they are finally going to do something about it.
“A giant has been awakened,” said Plumas County, Calif. Sheriff Greg Hagwood, “and they didn’t count on that,” speaking of the federal bureaucracy.
With exposure of the Emergency Management Center in San Luis Obispo a few decades ago, California began to offer the rest of the nation some evidence of the psychological conditioning aimed from the federal level at state, county and city law enforcement.
