As that great Phoenix philosopher Fronzo “the Fonz” West once asked in a riddle worthy of a Buddhist koan, “How do you call the cops on the cops?” Here in Mari-Kafka County, the problem’s compounded by the fact that one of the most corrupt law enforcement agencies in the nation…
The Goldwater Institute can be reactionary on various issues, particularly when it comes to denouncing President Obama on health care reform, siding with the tea bag types or rah-rahing charter schools. Hell, it ain’t named after the late Senator Barry Goldwater for nothin’.Still, you have to give G.I. props for…
I’ve often fantasized about an anti-Joe Arpaio art show utilizing the talents of the Phoenix art community, a show that would address the ongoing repression and tyranny here in Marikafka County (as some call it) in specific, and our beloved state of Ari-bama, in general. I’ve even promoted the idea…
Because I was upstairs at the Cronkite School building this past Monday watching Sheriff Joe get blistered by the journalism profs, then sung off the stage by the Freddie Mercury impersonators, I missed all the action taking place on the ground floor. There, a peaceful revolt was in full swing, with the anti-Joe…
There’s beaucoup speculation out there about the location of MCSO detention officer Adam Stoddard, the poor, poor deputy (sniff) who’s been jailed for contempt of court by Judge Gary Donahoe following Stoddard’s refusal to apologize for his videotaped swiping of a public defender’s docs right off her desk.My colleague Sarah…
The county lawyer for a detention officer thrown in jail for contempt of court refused to say on Thursday whether the officer was being held in a cell. Adam Stoddard (left) was officially booked into jail this morning following two nights he spent in jail “voluntarily,” according to his lawyer,…
Whenever Congressman Ron Paul shuffles off this mortal coil, he’ll have no dearth of hagiographers. Indeed, he already has plenty, like the makers of the documentary For Liberty, who have produced a slavish, worshipful portrait of the man and the movement that will be screened at Tempe’s Harkins Valley Art…
An investigation should be launched against four retired and current Maricopa Superior Court judges who committed ethical breaches, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s chief deputy demands in letters to the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct. The complaint letters by Dave Hendershott (left in festive shirt while in Houduras on alleged MCSO business), dated…
Maricopa County detention officers plan to hold candlight vigils starting this evening to protest the jailing of a fellow officer who swiped papers from a defense attorney’s file. The Web site for the Maricopa County Association of Detention Officers says the vigil will run “nightly” from 6 p.m. to 8…
It was mass confusion at the Maricopa County Courthouse today. About 20 county Sheriff’s Office deputies and detention officers called in sick, a possibly orchestrated “action” that wreaked havoc with courtroom schedules and the transportation of inmates from the county jail for hearings and other matters. The sick-out, if that’s truly…
Back in September, shortly after MCSO’s South Phoenix anti-immigrant sweep, I blogged about a 2006 letter signed by Sheriff Joe to the head of Phoenix Copwatch acknowledging the constitutional right of citizens to videotape his deputies in public.Galindo’s first video of his run in with the MCSO at Gran MercadoDespite…
Yesterday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s officer accused of brazenly swiping — and photocopying — a defense lawyer’s paperwork reportedly checked himself into jail, as ordered by Judge Gary Donahoe.Detention Officer Adam Stoddard had refused to apologize for his actions, which ignited a firestorm from defense attorneys across the country. That…
The detention officer who swiped papers from a defense attorney’s file during an October sentencing hearing will report to jail today, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. “My officer will surrender,” Arpaio said during a news conference, adding that he wouldn’t say exactly where officer Adam Stoddard will be, because of security…
A Maricopa County detention officer made a choice last night to defy a judge, and now he faces jail time for contempt of court. The officer, Adam Stoddard, held a news conference Monday but did not apologize for taking papers from a defense attorney’s file, as Superior Court Judge Gary…
Call it the cost of clapping. Five anti-Arpaio activists were awarded legal fees Monday by Justice of the Peace C. Steven McMurry in a case that involved four of them being arrested for applauding at a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ meeting in December 2008.The five activists — from the groups…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s circus came to ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism Monday night, only to be cut short by the sounds of a pro-immigrant ditty, sung to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.The evening was filled with protest signs, serious journalism, civil disobedience, and Arpaio wearing funny hats. It was…
An apology ordered by a judge in the case of a detention officer who took papers from a defense attorney’s file doesn’t appear to be coming in time for a December 1 deadline. Instead, the judge may receive only a few words tonight from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The Sheriff’s Office…
If CBS 5’s follow-up to its October Joe Arpaio special didn’t pack the combination punch of the first episode, it did bring home the notion that anyone can get caught up in Arpaio’s web of cynical, trumped-up investigations. Indeed, ordinary clerks, secretaries, and functionaries have become the targets of Joe’s…
Like you needed further evidence of Joe Arpaio’s involvement with far right extremists, Arpaio recently stated on his Twitter account that his contributions to wing-nuttery will be acknowledged this December 3 in D.C. by the ultra-conservative Let Freedom Ring think-tank, one of the orgs behind the tax day tea party…
On this day after Thanksgiving, I want to show my appreciation to the nativist knuckleheads who’ve helped me fill endless blog items with reports on their stupidities and racist deeds. Without you white pride doofuses to kick around, all I’d have left would be neo-Nazis, bigoted politicos, corruption, and Sheriff Joe. Of…
Sand Landers want former guv and now-DHS czar Janet Napolitano to keep polishing her chair in D.C. And not as a U.S. Senator. That’s what a new Cronkite-Eight poll reveals. In a hypothetical 2010 head-to-head between Nappy and Senator John McCain, McCain’d top Napolitano 50 to 41 percent. No surprise there, really. Nappy’s…
The one thing you can always count on with minutemen, nativists and neo-Nazis is more backstabbing than backstage at a Miss America Pageant. This video from VronRN2 of a conversation between anti-racist YouTuber Naui Ocelotl Huitzilopochtli (try saying that three times fast) and minuteman Jim Gilchrist is a perfect example. It took place…
