Domestic Policy

Arizona Lawmakers Introduce Firearms Bills to Further Loosen Restrictions

  Arizona State Representative John Kavanagh, a Republican from Surprise, saw his bill passed last year that allows people to store guns in their vehicles in the parking lots of businesses that otherwise prohibit guns.​What kinds of firearms-related bills will Arizona lawmakers be work ... More >>

Arizona and Guns Go Together: State Laws Give Firearms Owners Legal Cover

​ Arizona's gun laws are on national display following Saturday's shooting, but whether they're "weak" or "strong" depends on whom you ask. According to an article today in the Los Angeles Times, "Arizona has some of the weakest gun-control laws in the nation." (Emphasis ours.) Put that way, ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, January 6, 2010

What Would Comprehensive Immigration Reform Look Like If the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and to Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans

Rodney Glassman: Put Off "Largest Middle-Class Tax Increase in History" -- Of Course, That's Only "Until the Economy Recovers"

​ Rodney Glassman, the young, rich, Democrat running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican John McCain, loves the tax cuts put into place by former President George W. Bush. It's surprising to hear any Dem praising a move by Bush, who still gets the credit by President Obama for today' ... More >>

Spokesman for Rodney Glassman Says Dem Senate Candidate Supports Making Bush-Era Tax Cuts for Middle Class Permanent

Rodney Glassman would make Bush-era tax cuts permanent, says his spokesman.​ Rodney Glassman, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, would make the Bush-era tax cuts permanent for the middle class, says his spokesman, Blake Morlock. The candidate's spokesman, Blake Morlock, called us after rea ... More >>

Seized: Inside the Brutal World of America's Kidnapping Capital

Owen "Buz" Mills "Suspends" Gubernatorial Campaign

Owen "Buz" Mills​Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's life got a little easier today with news that her last remaining opponent in the GOP primary for Governor, Owen "Buz" Mills, is suspending his campaign.Mills announced his decision to suspend his candidacy today saying the focus of the campaign was no ... More >>

Jan Brewer Writes President Obama Thank You Letter/ Immigration Wish List. Then She Offers to Buy Him Lunch

Brewer and Obama meeting at The White House earlier this month.​As you are probably aware, President Barack Obama penciled in Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in for a little face-time earlier this month so the two could discuss Arizona's controversial, new immigration law.Obama had originally not agre ... More >>

Morning Poll -- Who's Lying: Senator Jon Kyl or President Barack Obama?

​At a recent meeting of Teabaggers here in Arizona, Senator Jon Kyl made the stunning allegation that during a private conversation he had with President Barack Obama, the president basically told him he was holding lawmakers "hostage" by not securing the border in order to pass some form of ... More >>

Phil Gordon's Anti-SB 1070 Resolution Passed by U.S. Conference of Mayors

usmayors.orgMayor Gordon speaking before the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma CityThe U.S. Conference of Mayors, wrapping up their 78th annual meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma today, passed a resolution condemning SB 1070 that had been submitted by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. The Gordon resolu ... More >>

Saturday Night Live Skewers SB 1070; Al Sharpton Plans Freedom Walks in Arizona

Saturday Night LiveSNL's Weekend Update on Arizona: "It's a dry fascism"Like you need more proof that Arizona has become a national joke due to its wingnutty gun laws, its conspiranutty birther bill, and its racist new immigration law SB 1070, Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update took aim at the sta ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Immigration Bill Moving President Barack Obama to Action on Immigration Reform? Nah, Doesn't look like it

Hard to fathom that there could be  Russell Pearce​anything positive about state Senator Russell Pearce's immigration bill, SB 1070, an extremist "solution" to undocumented immigrants in Arizona that makes their mere presence in here state a crime.The bill would also allo ... More >>

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Signs Wild West Gun Bills Into Law

www.motivatedphotos.com​Governor Jan Brewer signed two bills into law yesterday that -- if nothing else -- solidify Arizona's reputation as the Wild West.One of the bills, HB 2307, allows Arizonans to own guns without registering them with the federal government, as long as the guns are made ... More >>

Arizona Gun Laws "Lack Common Sense," Report Claims; What About Bringing Your Gun to the Bar Doesn't Make Sense?

www.motivatedphotos.com​Arizona has some of the weakest gun laws in the country, and one gun-violence-prevention group claims they flat out "lack common sense."We could have told you that -- in Arizona, you can bring a gun to the bar with you for fuck's sake.The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun ... More >>

Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform President, Endorses McCain in Senate Primary; He Takes a Swipe at J.D. Hayworth, Too

American for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist​The president of the Conservative group, Americans for Tax Reform, gave Senator John McCain a ringing endorsement this week in his primary bid to fend off his GOP opponent, former congressman turned AM radio host, J.D. Hayworth.Grover Norquist says ... More >>

Obama Wants 287(g) Agencies to be Held Accountable for Actions; Napolitano Wants Status of Some Agencies Revoked

​ President Obama popped into a meeting today between government officials and immigrant advocates, saying he wants local 287(g)-authorized agencies "held accountable," a pro-immigrant group said today. Reform Immigration for America stated in a news release that the president wasn't expected ... More >>

Barack Obama Makes Joe Arpaio's Pal Janet Napolitano Point Woman for Immigration Reform, 287(g) Ignored

President Obama's remarks after the White House immigration summit today While it was gratifying to see President Barack Obama's much-delayed summit on immigration take place today, and for the President to declare after the meeting that, "My administration is fully behind an effort to achieve comp ... More >>

White House Staffer Disappoints Phoenix Latino Leaders in Meeting at El Portal

Will the White House ever act to protect the civil rights of Arizona Latinos? Don't hold your breath waiting for the Obama administration to do anything in the near future about immigration reform, or yanking Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 287(g) authority. That's the message some local Latino leaders t ... More >>

Arizona Governor Wants New, "Sustainable" Model for Universities; Will Use Federal Money to Ease Tuition

Arizona needs a more affordable business model for its universities in the face of state budget realities, Governor Jan Brewer said this morning to the Arizona Board of Regents. In the short term, hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars will be used over the next co ... More >>

House Judiciary's Witness List for Thursday's 287(g) Hearing

I just received the witness list for Thursday's 287(g) hearing from New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler's office. At this point, it's highly unlikely that the Republicans will try to call Sheriff Joe Arpaio because the Dems are running the show, and Arpaio would be walking into a hostile environment ... More >>

Jan Brewer: Herbert Hoover in High Heels and a Pantsuit

Separated at birth? According to economist Paul Krugman, it's possible. Will soon-to-be Arizona Governor Jan Brewer repeat the mistakes of Republicans in the midst of the Great Depression, specifically those of President Herbert Hoover?It seems likely. With a GOP-led legislature intent on "starv ... More >>

FIRE Catches ICE with Pants Down, Delivers "Notice of Deportation" to Stunned Agents

FIRE's video of its December 4 "ICE raid."Check the graphic at the end. FIRE melts ICE, get it? Well, here's a man bites dog story, if there ever was one. Seems that on December 4, several orange jumpsuit-clad members of FIRE, which stands for "Flagstaff Immigrant Rights Enforcement," delivered a ... More >>

Nativists' recall effort against Phil Gordon fails, not one signature submitted. (W/Update.)

The Mexican on César Chávez and gabacho grammar rules

DEAD IN THE WATER: Ex-ACU Prez Bob Haran cuts ties with Anna Gaines' org, calls recall of Phil Gordon "waste of time."

Flushing Them Out

Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas are teaching the rest of the nation how to terrorize illegal immigrants

The liberals' problem with Freedom of Speech: Why Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage are correct on the Fairness Doctrine.

Meltdown

The Phoenix branch of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau is Exhibit A of this country's failed border policies

Ant Farm

The death of tiny Autumn White should make lawmakers think more carefully about state budget cuts

Gun Nut

The Spike shoots it up with Second Amendment types.

Learning Disorder

The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections fails the state's worst kids

Fiscal Fissure

Deep cuts proposed to state budget set up bleak future for Arizonans

Unpackin' Mama's Pistol

Gun lockers are coming to a public building near you

Letters

From the week of January 11, 2001

Second Thoughts

Alan Korwin is a smart guy. So why does he love guns more than people?

Flashes 08-19-1999

It's the Media Violence, Stupid

Letters

Shafted Again

Mining industry strikes another rich vein in the Legislature

Letters

Budget Bonanza or Bust?

Discord between GOP lawmakers and the governor is just one reason the budget battle might get ugly.

Pistol Whipped

Fife's Myth

Symington's tax cuts had little or nothing to do with Arizona's economic boom, which isn't as robust as it's made out to be

Closed Door Policy

A Chilean national's struggle against deportation raises fundamental questions about the constitutional rights of immigrants

The Price of Welfare Reform

Going Underground

Industry makes secret push to gut laws protecting subsurface water supplies

When Revolution Meets Reality

Governor Symington says his massive tax cuts have brought prosperity to Arizona. Actually, they are bringing on a fiscal train wreck that could damage the state for decades.

Welfare That Doesn't Work

Governor Symington has spoken of helping needy kids and improving the welfare system. His welfare agency, the Department of Economic Security, is famous for astonishing incompetence and children who die.

Quit Polluting Our Aquifers. Please. Pretty Please.

Republican revolutionaries want environmental regulators who cooperate with business. Those who enforce Arizona's groundwater laws have to cooperate; there are too few of them to do much else.