Subject: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

• Channel 12 uncovers more of David Hendershott's dirt in the Honduran scam (W/UPDATES).

  March 14, 2008

• Not just for conspiracy theorists, anymore: Jay Johnson-Castro and Operation ENDGAME.

  May 21, 2008

• Big Brother could be your APS meter-reader

  July 11, 2008

• Alien Victory

  Appeal court affirms federal judges' right to review immigration decisions

  March 13, 1997

• Flashes

  April 3, 1997

• Critics of Arpaio's Immigrant Policies Can Put Hope in Homeland Security Position for Napolitano

  November 5, 2008

• The Bird Marches with Zack de la Rocha and Laughs at the Latest Arpaio "Death Threat"

  March 5, 2009

• Sen. Barry Goldwater, Anchor-Grandbaby

  An excerpt from Bill McCune's 1991 documentary, Barry Goldwater: An American Life.Someone recently sent me this YouTube clip from Bill McCune's excellent bio-doc Barry Goldwater: An American Life, which I first watched while researching my 2006 cover story about the ribald Goldwater we rarely see represented, Goldwater Uncut. I had forgotten about this segment of the film dealing with Goldwater's family tree, and how his grandfather was a Polish Jew by the name of Michel Goldwasser (the last na

  November 25, 2008

• Janet Napolitano's "Friendship" With Sheriff Joe Arpaio Criticized

    Janet Napolitano is catching it from both sides as the national media continues to weigh in on the next likely Homeland Security chief. While conservative pundits like Debbie Schlussel and Michelle Malkin slam Arizona's governor for her actions on renaming Christmas trees and dealing with illegal immigration, former Arizona Republic reporter Tom Zoellner takes a swipe at her on slate.com for failing to rein in Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio over the

  November 25, 2008

• Janet Napolitano Heads to Homeland Security, Joe Arpaio Dances a Jig

    Part One of Amy Goodman's recent Democracy Now! segment on Janet Napolitano. Part Two from the same Democracy Now! show. If you want a quick video primer on why today's official pick of Gov. Janet Napolitano to be Obama's Homeland Security Secretary is a disaster for those concerned about immigrant rights, take a look at these YouTube clips from Amy Goodman's November 26 Democracy Now! news show. (You can watch it uninterrupted on Goodman's site, here.) Goodman interviews pro-immigrant

  December 1, 2008

• Janet Napolitano Sends E-mail to Democrats Announcing Acceptance of Cabinet Post Offer

  Janet Napolitano says in an e-mailed letter to Democratic supporters today that she will submit a balanced budget proposal for the state's fiscal year 2010 and keep working for Arizonans if she is confirmed as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The full text of her e-mail follows:

  December 1, 2008

• Janet Napolitano Confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary; Jan Brewer to Take Oath as New Governor on Wednesday

  Janet Napolitano was confirmed today as the third chief of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department was created in 2003 as a reaction to the 9/11 attacks, and oversees the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies. It will be interesting for Arizonans to see how the soon-to-be ex-governor handles this important position, especially the issue of illegal immigration. Barack Obama's decision to pick her for the

  January 20, 2009

• Jan Brewer Becomes Arizona's Governor; Pledges "Freedom" From Tax and Regulatory Burdens

  Jan Brewer took her oath of office as governor of Arizona today, completing the transfer of power required after Janet Napolitano left the state to become secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Here's a shot of her accepting a Native American blessing on stage just prior to officially taking the reins. Brewer gave a short speech following her swearing-in before a packed crowd on the State Capitol lawn, referencing the state's fiscal woes and saying she felt sort of like she just

  January 21, 2009

• Obama's Aunt, Zeituni Onyango, Must Be Deported, Says Anti-Illegal-Immigration Group; Aunt has April Court Hearing

  Tom Pilston/The TimesObama's "Auntie Zeituni"An anti-illegal-immigration political group is calling on Barack Obama today to deport his aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who apparently remains an illegal immigrant fugitive from justice in Cleveland.Americans for Legal Immigration posted its "public demand" on its Web site, basically telling Obama he's a hypocrite if he won't have his aunt arrested and removed to her native Kenya:"Actions speak louder than words, Mr. President," said William Gheen. "If you

  February 2, 2009

• Janet Napolitano's Final Solution for Undocumented Hispanics: More 287(g) Men

  photo by Eduardo Barraza of Barriozona.com To borrow a line from Alfredo Gutierrez's La Frontera Times, this woman is not your friend.Ever since Janet Napolitano's nomination to be director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, some liberals and immigrant rights activists have held out hope that Napolitano would rein in the excesses of the department's 287(g) program and its worksite enforcement raids. The New York Times trumpeted her as "the most powerful voice of reason in a state that

  February 5, 2009

• Anti-Joe Arpaio Action Scheduled for This February 28 in Phoenix

  Time to get pissed by this clown, and to march... Looks like February will be going out like a lion, with a massive anti-Joe protest scheduled for the 28th demanding the termination of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's 287(g) agreement. Some 70 activist groups will march by the Arizona ICE office, the Wells Fargo Tower, where the MCSO has its executive offices, and the Phoenix Federal Building, according to local human rights activist Sal Reza. I'll be there to observe as a sympathetic party. But to t

  February 12, 2009

• Huffington Post, Amy Goodman Cover Joe Arpaio's Misdeeds; and Don't Forget, Desert Politics is Back on 1190 AM Tomorrow

  photo by Adolfo Maldonado and Dennis Gilman.The classic Arpaio snarl, patented in 25 countries, including the Emirate of Kuwait ...Both the Huffington Post's Dawn Teo and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now have produced long pieces in the past week covering Joe Arpaio's recent outrages against those with brown skin, Arpaio's "200 Mexican March" a couple of weeks ago, and the request from four House leaders, including House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, asking that Arpaio be investigated by th

  February 20, 2009

• Lawsuit Filed Over Mexican with Valid Visa Held in Jail for Seven Days

    Talk about a nightmare. According to a lawsuit recently filed by a Mexican citizen, a busted tail light could earn you seven days in the county jail -- even if you're here legally and all your papers are in order. Martin V. Flores was stopped by a Phoenix police officer on February 8, 2008, since one of his two license plates was burned out. But even though Flores had a valid passport, visa, and boarding crossing card, the officer decided that his Mexican driver's license must be a

  February 24, 2009

• Janet Napolitano Meets with Congressional Hispanic Caucus Thursday: Let's Hope They Grill Her Fat Ass

  photo courtesy of Eduardo Barraza at Barriozona.comThe Congressional Hispanic Caucus needs to turn her fanny into virtual ground round till Nappy yanks Arpaio's 287(g).The congressional daily The Hill is reporting that Department of Homeland Security czar Janet Napolitano will be meeting privately for the first time with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus tomorrow in D.C. If true, one can only hope they grill Nappy's generous fanny till it practically resembles the face of that poor Co

  February 25, 2009

• Zack de la Rocha Leads an Army of Thousands Against Arpaio's Racist Rule

  De la Rocha, raging against Arpaio and Janet Napolitano. My conservative estimate is that today 3,000 to 4,000 people braved 90 degree weather to march from Steele Indian School Park to the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse in downtown Phoenix to protest Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration abuses.  Zack on point during the march... Led by Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha, as well Phoenix civil rights activist Salvador Reza, and Maricopa County

  February 28, 2009

• Joe Arpaio Blasted by John Conyers, Zoe Lofgren, Mary Rose Wilcox Tomorrow in D.C.

  Check this video the group America's Voice has been using to gather signatures for the anti-Joe petition to be ballyhooed tomorrow. This is one I wish I could be in D.C. for: Tomorrow at 1 p.m., House Judiciary Chair John Conyers, Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, and apparently our own Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, along with other national and local civil rights leaders, will publicly call on the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to invest

  March 10, 2009

• ICE and Janet Napolitano's Gulag Archipelago for Women

  from the Human Rights Watch report Detained and Dismissed. It's Napolitano's responsibility to make sure these women are treated humanely. I've gotta give a shout out to our sister paper Miami New Times' Riptide blog for this disturbing post about the medieval health care female immigrant detainees receive in ICE's countrywide gulag archipelago. In it, reporter Tim Elfrink covers a news conference in Miami where the results of two studies condemning the health care available to illegal i

  March 20, 2009

• Phoenix Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Passing Secrets to Potential Terrorists

  A former sailor and Phoenix UPS driver was sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison today for passing secrets to a Pakistan man who ran an Al-Qaeda recruitment Web site.Paul R. Hall, who has apparently changed his name to Hassan Abu-Jihaad, was arrested in Phoenix in 2007 and charged with terrorism- and espionage-related crimes. Hall/Abu-Jihaad was convicted a year ago, but in early March a judge dropped the terrorism charge, delaying his sentencing.Hall was a bona fide rat in the grain house -

  April 3, 2009

• Al Sharpton, Mary Rose Wilcox, ACORN's Bertha Lewis, and Others Blast Joe Arpaio on Media Conference Call

  photo by Juda EngelmayerRev. Al's got his eye on Sheriff Joe...As I promised in a previous blog post, I participated in a national conference call this morning, which featured the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina NAACP, and other civil rights leaders from around the country. The speakers called for Sheriff

  April 7, 2009

• The Bird Wants to Take a Blowtorch to 287(g) and Looks Forward to Saturday’s Anti-Arpaio March

  February 26, 2009

• In George Romero's latest zombie picnic, Diary of the Dead, ghouls feast on the Facebook generation

  February 14, 2008

• Letters From the Issue of Thursday, December 14, 2006

  December 14, 2006

• Right-Wing Extremist Violence Possible as Left Gets Its Way, Napolitano's Homeland Security Warns

  A new report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns of a "resurgence" in violent right-wing extremism, driven by economic and political factors such the election of President Obama. The hardscrabble economy, the return from war zones of "disgruntled" veterans, illegal immigration and the possibility of gun control all provide fodder for right-wing nuts who may join militias or act as "lone wolf" assailants, the report warns. The report worries that religious and political ze

  April 14, 2009

• Jello Shots

  Paranoid punk prose

  November 9, 2006

• Grateful Dead

  Dead Rising's zombies will eat your brain -- and your free time

  September 7, 2006

• Janet Napolitano's Not Worried About Right-Wing Extremists, She Nurtured Them as Guv

  from the Department of Homeland Security While Guv, she was the best Democrat palsy-walsy the nativists ever had... It's been belly-ticklin' reading all the moonbat paranoia over this recent report on wing-nutbars issued by Janet Napolitano's Department of Homeland Security. Every far right, moonhowlin' Web site out there jumped on this so-not-news, from the wackos at WorldNetDaily and the wannabe-Brahmins of Breitbart.com, to the Moonie-owned Washington Times and the headline-kleptomania

  April 14, 2009

• White-Supremacist Activity Is on the Rise in Sand Land, and One Latino-American Family Is the Victim of a Vicious Hate Crime in North Phoenix

  April 16, 2009

• Back Atcha, Future

  December 30, 2004

• Do or Die

  For most Mexicans who're flooding our borders, it's a life-or-death choice

  December 23, 2004

• Geeks Gone Wild!

  Wardriving hackers take the revenge of the nerds to the street

  August 14, 2003

• Swine Flu Arizona: Phoenix School Closes; State Not "Overly Worried"

  Image: www.wesdschools.orgMoon Mountain Elementary School Health officials closed a Phoenix elementary school today following a confirmed case of swine flu, but experts say they're not "overly worried" because United States illnesses have been mild.A child from Moon Mountain Elementary School in Northwest Phoenix showed flu symptoms before news of the virus broke, and tests later proved he was sick with swine flu. The boy has since recovered. The school in the Washington Elementary School Distri

  April 29, 2009

• Napolitano Regrets "That Canada Can't Seem to Get Beyond" Her Mistake About Canada and 9/11

  This is what you a call a non-apology apology.U.S. Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano lashed out at the Canadian media yesterday, still ticked that people noticed a factual mistake she made last month while speaking about the 9/11 attacks. You might hear an apology in her statements to CTV -- but only if you're not really listening: 

  May 28, 2009

• ACLU to Host Forum on "Constitution-Free" Zone Near Border That Allows Checkpoints

  Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on civil rights will be discussed at a forum next week in Green Valley hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union. The topic is a hot one in the southern Arizona community, where some residents have fought plans to install a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 19 near Tubac. But the checkpoints and the "Constitution-free" zone -- as the ACLU puts it -- that allows them received notoriety in the Valley after a local man was Tased at a checkpoint on In

  July 6, 2009

• ICE Agent and Customs Officer Charged With Fraud in Alleged Government Credit Card Scam

  An agent with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a Customs officer were arrested this morning after being indicted on suspicion of stealing government money. Agent Michael J. Kittson, 34, and U.S. Customs Patrol Officer Douglas R. Bothof are named in a 47-count indictment that accuses them of buying more than $55,000 worth of personal goods with Border Patrol credit cards. The agent and officer conspired with a former Customs officer and two employees of a Tucson-area au

  July 17, 2009

• Janet Napolitano Pulls a Switcheroo on the Pro-Immigrant Crowd, Arpaio Scores a Latina Judge's Recusal, plus Swastikas in Fountain Hills

  July 23, 2009

• Oops! Former Guv Napolitano Wrongly Hyped "Impending Crime Wave" in 08

  ​Janet, Janet, Janet ...We found ourselves sadly shaking our head while reading the New York Times yesterday, wondering (yet again) how our former governor could have gotten things so wrong.Governor Janet Napolitano, need we remind you, repeatedly insisted the state was not in a budget crisis -- suggesting as late as 2008 that we ought be giving free college tuition to any Arizona student who could muster a "B" average, even though in just a few short months things are bad enough to discuss se

  August 3, 2009

• Letter to Obama Urges End to 287(g), Signed by 521 Organizations

  from the White House President Obama gets whacked, but from the left this time​A just-released letter to President Barack Obama endorsed by a diverse group of 521 civil rights, legal and cultural organizations -- including the ACLU, the ADL, MALDEF, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Episcopal Church -- calls on the president to "immediately terminate the 287(g) program operated by the Department of Homeland Security." Signed by Marielena Hincapie, executive director

  August 26, 2009

• Joe Arpaio Re-signs 287(g) Jails Agreement, According to Sources; ICE Vague on Specifics (w/Update)

  Sources are telling me tonight that Joe Arpaio will soon announce that he has signed a new jails agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one that will continue to allow ICE to partner with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in identifying and removing so-called criminal aliens from MCSO custody. The agreement -- supposedly under the new language of the 287(g) agreements announced by the Department of Homeland Security in July -- would not cover Arpaio's entire 1

  October 2, 2009

• Joe Arpaio Apparently in Violation of ICE Agreement; New MOA Still Unsigned by ICE, Goes Before Supes Wednesday

  Would you buy a used car from this guy, or a played out Memorandum of Agreement? By kvetching to the Arizona Republic and KTAR 92.3 FM's Jay Lawrence over the weekend about his brand-spanking new, 287(g) jails contract with ICE, has Arpaio thereby violated his agreements with ICE, both old and new? In Section XVIII, paragraph two of the freshly minted Memorandum of Agreement, the recently released document, signed by Arpaio on September 30, states that, "The M

  October 6, 2009

• Salvador Reza Calls for Anti-Joe Arpaio March This Friday, October 16

  Sal Reza: On the front lines, as always... In case you haven't noticed, Maricopa County will be coming to a boil this Friday. Not only is it the day of Arpaio's announced anti-immigrant sweep -- his first without 287(g) field authority, but the Rev. Al Sharpton will be back in town for a civil rights forum in downtown Phoenix. And the world still awaits an announcement from the Department of Homeland Security as to whether or not Arpaio will keep his 287(g) agreeme

  October 13, 2009

• One Mother’s Suffering, Joe Arpaio’s Bigotry, and Stories of Racial Profiling by the MCSO

  October 15, 2009

• Dennis Gilman's Latest Video of Joe Arpaio's Misdeeds: Is the Obama Administration Paying Attention?

  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. 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

  October 14, 2009

• Arizona Congressmen Lead Charge in Investigating Congressional Interns Who Happen to Be Muslim; Slangin' Coffee is Apparently a Threat to National Security

  www.fiscalconservatives.com Arizona Congressman John Shadegg​Congressmen John Shadegg and Trent Franks are two of four legislators calling for an investigation into a potential threat in Washington D.C. -- a possible conspiracy where Muslims plan to infiltrate the highest levels of the U.S. government with some highly influential weapons -- the interns. If screwing up coffee orders and forgetting to change the ink in the copy machine are threats to national security, they may be right

  October 21, 2009

• Zack de la Rocha Returns to Phoenix January 16 to Lead National Day of Action

  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

  October 27, 2009

• A Former Arizona Gubernational Candidate Flirts With Facism; Plus, a Grade School in Pine Paints Over an African-American Face on Its Mural

  November 19, 2009