Joe Arpaio, recent recipient of a presidential pardon, will run for the Senate.

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

Republican Joe Arpaio, a close ally of President Trump and former sheriff known for his provocative approach to combatting illegal immigration, is running for Senate in Arizona. 

The 85-year-old Arpaio could shake up the late August Republican primary in a critical open-seat race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Trump pardoned Arpaio last summer, sparing the former sheriff jail time after he was convicted of ignoring a federal court order in a racial-profiling case. 

The polarizing yet iconic former Maricopa County sheriff, beloved by many conservatives for his hawkish immigration policies, presents an alternative to the unimpressive Kelli Ward and a potential obstacle to Rep. Martha McSally. She is expected to launch within days and is widely viewed as the Republicans’ strongest general election candidate. 

In a telephone interview with the Washington Examiner, Arpaio shrugged off concerns about his age, dismissed Republican insiders’ anxiety that his poor reputation with nonwhite voters would put the seat in play for the Democrats in the midterm, and discussed plans to work with Trump on behalf of Arizona. 

“I have a lot to offer. I’m a big supporter of President Trump,” Arpaio said. “I’m going to have to work hard; you don’t take anything for granted. But I would not being doing this if I thought that I could not win. I’m not here to get my name in the paper, I get that everyday, anyway.”

Renowned racist, convicted in a court of law, pardoned by an equally racist president, and now running to represent Arizona in the Senate.

Could only happen in Trump's America.

I actually hopes that he wins the nomination, and then loses spectacularly to his Democratic opponent.

THAT would be justice.

Stephen Seagal has "written" a book, and look just in time for Christmas.

Courtesy of the AV Club: 

Apparently smarting after his interview with Piers Morgan was ridiculed far and wide for, among other things, obtusely arguing against NFL player protests and enthusiastically praising Vladimir Putin, lawman and blues guitarist Steven Seagal licked his wounds by writing a book, such that he could better explain his political ideas. It is written in the only language Seagal knows: that of a low-rent, straight-to-DVD action flick, its dual nature upheld by each side of the colon in its title The Way Of The Shadow Wolves: The Deep State And The Hijacking Of America. The foreword is by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, because of course it is.

The book follows John Nan Tan Gode, an Arizona Tribal police officer, described on the first page of the book as having “classic chiseled features,” who stumbles upon a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of power. It is, in other words, a written adaptation of a Steven Seagal movie by Steven Seagal himself, a casting suggested most prominently by its cover, in which the legendary lawman saunters brow-a-furrowed out of some sort of wolf sunset.

I have seen a Stephen Seagal movie so I have been unable to take him seriously as an actor.

Since he started hanging out with Putin I have been unable to take him seriously as an American.

So there is absolutely NO way I am going to be able to take him seriously as an author of a book.

Besides I would be completely unable to read it.

Ever since I graduated from the first grade I have not been able to make heads or tails out of anything written in crayon.

Presidential pardon or not Sheriff Arpaio's record will not be scrubbed clean.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump's pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio ends his prosecution for criminal contempt of court, but does not wipe out the guilty verdict she returned or any other rulings in the case. 

In her order Thursday, Phoenix-based U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton rejected arguments from Arpaio's lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors that the longtime Maricopa County sheriff was entitled to have all rulings in the case vacated, including the guilty verdict the judge delivered in July after a five-day trial. 

“The power to pardon is an executive prerogative of mercy, not of judicial recordkeeping," Bolton wrote, quoting an appeals court ruling. "To vacate all rulings in this case would run afoul of this important distinction. The Court found Defendant guilty of criminal contempt. The President issued the pardon. Defendant accepted. The pardon undoubtedly spared Defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, 'revise the historical facts' of this case."

Well good for his judge!

Arpaio is a racist POS and just because he has a fellow racist POS buddy in a high place does NOT mean he gets to pretend that he is not a criminal. 

Sheriff Joe Arpaio returns, and he is still looking for Obama's birth certificate.

Courtesy of Mercury News:  

Fresh off a presidential pardon, America’s most infamous lawman is coming to California this week as part of an effort to re-enter the political arena. 

“Don’t think I’m going fishing,” Joe Arpaio, the 85-year-old former Maricopa County sheriff, said in an interview with the Bay Area News Group. “I am not going away.” 

Arpaio, whose hard-line immigration policies divided the country and led to his own criminal conviction, is speaking at a Republican fundraising dinner in Fresno on Friday, an appearance that has local police bracing for protests and some GOP officials staying far away. 

“Sheriff Joe” was thrust back into the national spotlight last month when he received a pardon from President Donald Trump. He was convicted of contempt of court earlier this year, with a judge finding that he had violated court orders to stop detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes metro Phoenix. The pardon saved him from a possible sentence of six months in prison. 

In an interview on Tuesday afternoon, Arpaio, who lost re-election in November after 24 years in office, said the Fresno event was an example of his renewed “mission” to fight for conservative ideas around the country. That includes, he said, his continuing (and widely debunked) effort to prove that former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake.

My father used to say that there are some people "too mean to die."

Whenever I think of Arpaio that quote comes to mind.

It's like at 85 years old it is only pure hate that keeps him ticking.

He is a vile POS so it is no surprise that Donald Trump went out of his way to rescue him from a prison sentence.

Trump's Arpaio pardon could be used by Robert Mueller in his Russia investigation.

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

The Washington Post's report on Saturday that President Donald Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions about dropping the case against former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio offers a critical window into Trump's thinking. 

Trump's alleged conversation with Sessions and subsequent decision to pardon Arpaio could shed new light on Trump's motives when he spoke to former FBI director James Comey about ending the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn one day after Flynn resigned.

.........


Specifically, Trump's decision to pardon Arpaio is key to determining his intent when he had the February conversation with Comey about dropping the Russia investigation before ultimately firing Comey after he refused to do so, said Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor.

According to Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, Trump privately told Comey, who was spearheading the FBI's Russia probe at the time, he "hoped" Comey would "let this go," referring to the investigation.

Trump supporters and GOP lawmakers have made the argument that Trump was not  pressuring Comey to drop the case, but rather expressing his hope that it would be dropped.

But his conversation with Jeff Sessions, followed by his pardon of Arpaio, now suggests his intention of protecting those he considers allies at all cost.

"[Trump's] defense would be that he thought it was appropriate to end the Flynn investigation because it was meritless and that there was nothing wrong with him, as president, making that determination," Mariotti told Business Insider. 

But the president's decision to pardon Arpaio demonstrates that "this has become a pattern of activity where he tries to end investigations of his friends," he added. "Everything he said, did, and was told as to Arpaio is relevant to help us understand what he was thinking when he tried to end the Flynn investigation." 

Moreover, despite statements from his allies and administration officials who painted Trump's comments to Comey as musings and not a direct order, Arpaio's pardon suggests "that he was serious about ending investigations as to his friends" and it wasn't "just idle talk."

What's more it establishes a pattern of behavior, and THAT might be very helpful in establishing grounds for a charge of obstruction of justice.

Your Saturday morning Russia collusion investigation update.

So the last new information I shared here about the Russia investigation had to do with a newly discovered email from yet another campaign aide trying to set up a meeting between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

That was a whole two day ago, and now there is even more.

Now there is reporting that Michael Flynn is being investigated for possibly working with operatives to get Clinton emails from the Russians.

Courtesy of the Business Insider:  

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators are looking into whether former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn took part in efforts to obtain emails deleted from Hillary Clinton's private email server from Russian hackers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. 

That 2016 effort was spearheaded by GOP donor and opposition researcher Peter Smith, who told the Journal in May that he lobbied several groups of hackers — two of which that may have included Russian operatives — in search of the roughly 33,000 emails. Smith killed himself days after the interview.

Smith bragged to people that he was communicating with Flynn so this is certainly not a wild goose chase.

Of course with him so conveniently no longer with us, it makes this investigation a little more challenging.

So odd how so many people around this investigation keep dying, don't you think?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also issuing grand jury subpoenas directed at folks who worked with Paul Manafort.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued grand jury subpoenas in recent days seeking testimony from public relations executives who worked on an international campaign organized by Paul Manafort, people directly familiar with the matter told NBC News. 

This is the first public indication that Mueller's investigation is beginning to compel witness testimony before the grand jury — a significant milestone in an inquiry that is examining the conduct of President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, among others.

It is also further indication that Manafort, Trump's onetime campaign chairman, could be in serious legal jeopardy.

Speaking of subpoenas there is now talk that Trump's pardon of Joe Apraio was a testing of the waters.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The broader question raised by the pardon, then, is where Trump would draw the line. If he’s willing to pardon Joe Arpaio for ignoring a court order in service of a political goal Trump embraces, why wouldn’t he pardon another individual he respects for similarly ignoring a demand from the court. Say, a former employee or a family member who, say, was issued a subpoena to testify before a special prosecutor? 

One message from the Arpaio pardon is precisely that Trump sees his evaluation of the boundaries of legality as superior to the boundaries set by the legal system. The Constitution gives him that power. As we’ve noted before the presidential pardon is absolute. He can pardon anyone for any federal crime at any time — even before the person actually faces any charges and even if no crime actually took place. There’s nothing anyone can do about it, except to impeach Trump and remove him from office to prevent him from doing it again. (The president who replaces him might be able to revoke a recent pardon, one expert told us, but it’s far from certain.) 

In other words, if any of Trump’s allies decides to tell special counsel Robert Mueller to stick his subpoena in the south side of the National Mall, Mueller can press a court for contempt charges. The person could be convicted of those charges — and then get a pardon identical to Arpaio’s.

Trump does not have to fire Mueller in order to end the investigation. All he has to do is promise to protect those who refuse to cooperate.

And with this Arpaio pardon he has proved that he has the power to do exactly that. 

So this just happened. Update!

NEWS: President Trump pardons former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, per @WhiteHouse statement. pic.twitter.com/Ro2IQhWfns

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) August 26, 2017

Well this should certainly help put those charges that Trump is a racist Nazi sympathizer to rest.

Update: So Arpaio earlier this week called into Info Wars to thank Alex Jones for helping to convince Donald Trump to pardon him.

To be clear, this is the Commander-in-Chief giving a middle finger to the Constitution by pardoning a man who defied a judge's order, after he was convinced to do so by a renowned conspiracy theorist.

Trump's America is a terrifying place indeed.

Donald Trump is seriously considering pardoning Joe Arpaio.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

President Trump told Fox News he is “seriously considering” a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa Country, Ariz. 

Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt last month after he was ordered to stop racially profiling Latinos in his Maricopa County office. 

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump told Fox News at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where he had been staying over the weekend. 

“He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

First you fail to condemn violence by the White Supremacists and now you want to pardon the guy who got busted for racially profiling.

Is Trump in the middle of pledge week for his local KKK fraternity house or something.

What does he do next week, burn a cross on the White House lawn?

Our long national nightmare is over as Sheriff Arpaio "proves" that President Obama's birth certificate is a fake.

FOR ALL YOU OBAMA LOVERS!
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Probe proves Obama birth certificate is fake https://t.co/MlgucGspXF

— Jack (@risetoflyy) December 16, 2016

Courtesy of AZ Central: 

At 4 p.m. sharp, Arpaio and a member of his Sheriff's Office's Cold Case Posse had a message for the 40-odd journalists in attendance: You were wrong. 

Arpaio and his aides announced that a five-year probe had proved that Obama’s birth certificate from Hawaii in 1961 was, in fact, a forgery. 

The news conference opened with a spokesman criticizing members of the media for critical coverage of the investigation. He then turned the stage over to Arpaio, who said he hoped to enlighten the public with information on this “fake, fake birth certificate.” 

Arpaio insisted that the investigation was not linked to his legal conflicts with the Obama administration; it was about the allegation of a forged document.

“Think of it. We were trying to clear the president,” he said, adding, “It didn’t work out that way.”

Oh the renowned racist who has been at war with the Obama Administration for years was only trying to "clear" the President.  And it has nothing to do with his legal battles.

Okay sure.

It should be noted that this makes the third press conference that Arpaio has called during whihc he claimed to have proof that President Obama was not born in this country.

Those were back in 2012, and Snopes made short work of those allegations.

I listened to the actual presentation, and have to admit I have virtually NO idea what in the hell they are talking about. Though that is certainly not stopping the conservative news sites from rubbing themselves raw over this "revelation."

However I will say this.

The Right Wing has been trying to delegitimize Obama's presidency since before he even took office, and they have attacked him and his administration from virtually every angle imaginable. So does ANYBODY really think that some podunk sheriff in some dusty corner of Arizona really found something that even the Republican party and Donald Trump with all of his billions could not find?

One bright spot in yesterday's election, Joe Arpaio is no longer the sheriff of Maricopa County.

Courtesy of ABC 15:

Maricopa County has a new sheriff in town. 

Democrat Paul Penzone beat long-standing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Tuesday in a campaign that featured plenty of attacks on both sides. 

Arpaio, who has been sheriff since 1993, is still in the midst of criminal contempt charges for continuing to profile Latino drivers after a federal judge barred him from doing so.

In no way does this make up for a Trump victory, but at least it's something.

So at least this one county in Arizona is now a little less racist, while the rest of the country is pulling out their best white sheets and cutting little eye holes in them.

This maybe the very first time I have ever even considered moving to Arizona.

It looks like Sarah Palin's boyfriend Joe Arpaio might be prosecuted for criminal contempt of court.

Courtesy of AZ Central: 

A federal judge on Friday referred Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and three of his aides to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, requesting that they be prosecuted for criminal contempt of court.​ 

The landmark decision comes after U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow found that Arpaio intentionally violated various orders rooted in an 8-year-old racial-profiling case.

Could not happen to a more deserving POS.

Gee perhaps when he gets sent to the big house Sarah Palin can gift him with a pair of pink underwear just like the ones he once gave her.

Like I said, POS.

Violent clashes between protesters and police outside of Trump rally in Utah. And this is just be the beginning.

Source

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Protesters clashed with supporters of Donald Trump after he gave a speech in Utah on Friday, ending a day full of presidential candidate appearances that also saw Mitt Romney intensifying his criticism of the GOP front-runner. 

Hundreds of people chanted "Dump Trump" and "Mr. Hate Out of Our State" as police in riot gear blocked the entrance to the Salt Lake City building, after protesters tried to rush the door and got into dozens of screaming matches with Trump supporters who didn't make into the venue. 

Trump said he loves Mormons in his first public appearance of the campaign in Utah. He had critical words, though, for former presidential candidate and Utah resident Mitt Romney, who said he was supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the state's upcoming caucuses.

 "Are you sure he's a Mormon? Are we sure?" he jokingly asked his crowd at the Infinity Event Center.

For those who thought that perhaps the anger and violence would cool down, and that Trump had learned his lesson after Chicago, uh nope.

In fact there are signs that it is only going to ratchet up even more.

Courtesy of Politico:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County is relishing the opportunity to host Donald Trump at a rally on his own turf Saturday — and serve as the muscle at the same time. 

“Here I’m gonna be kinda wearing two hats — in charge of the security there in the town and also participating, I would imagine, with Trump in the rally, so it makes it interesting,” Arpaio said in an interview with POLITICO, adding that it “is going to be a lot of fun taking care of business there.” 

Arpaio, who officially endorsed Trump back in January, said that he’s expecting protests at Saturday’s event. But the 83-year-old sheriff who has repeatedly been accused of racial profiling Hispanic residents says Trump’s clashes pale in comparison to his own. 

“I’ve had demonstrations against me constantly,” he said. “He hasn’t had that many demonstrators compared to me.”

Earlier today protesters blocked a road leading to the Trump rally in Arizona. And true to his word Arpaio had some of them arrested.

I seriously doubt this will discourage protesters in the future however. In fact I would imagine that their numbers will only increase.

During that speech in Arizona today Donald Trump had this to say:  

“We’re going to win with our Second Amendment,” he said as the crowd cheered. “We’re gonna win big league with our Second Amendment!”

Yes, that should do tons to tamp down the violence.

Personally I think we can predict with some certainty that there will be a fatality at a Trump rally. The only question is where will it happen, and will it be inside or outside the venue?

Currently half the country sees "fascist undertones" in Donald Trump's campaign.

And my response to that is, "Really, only half?"

Ben Carson claims that he did not want to endorse Donald Trump but he offered him a job once elected, which is illegal.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Dr. Ben Carson, who endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy on Friday, appears less than enthusiastic about that decision. And the real reason the unsuccessful GOP presidential hopeful endorsed his former rival could be a violation of federal law. 

Carson then said that Trump had promised him a role in his administration, “certainly in an advisory capacity.” Asked by NewsMax’s Steve Malzberg whether this meant a cabinet position, Carson declined to “reveal any details about it right now, because all of this is still very liquid.”

Carson also reveals in the interview that he would have rather endorsed  John Kasich or Marco Rubio, but he did not see either of them winning the nomination.

So apparently Donald Trump's advisers failed to explain this US Legal Code to their candidate:

Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

I imagine that Trump would simply laugh off a fine, but jail time, THAT could really put a crimp in Trump's plans for his next reality show "The Apprentice to the Man who was a Presidential Candidate and has a Yuge Penis."

And of course this also essentially proves that Trump is making deals with people to get their endorsements.

I imagine he offered Chris Christie the Attorney General position, Joe Arpaio Secretary of Homeland Security, and Sarah Palin Secretary of Going into Fake Labor.

Sarah Palin welcomes Ben Carson aboard the Trump train car to destruction.

Courtesy of the Trump Tramp's Facebook page: 

Dr. Ben Carson! Welcome on board the Trump Train. Thank you, from all Americans excited about the yuge growth of the conservative movement! 

Now, GOP Leaders, wake up and realize Donald Trump's energized, positive campaign is bringing in new voters, smashing records along the way...and it's only just begun. The Trump movement, heading far away from the failed status quo, is accomplishing what you've not done - it's finally growing our party with engaged patriots who stand solidly on commonsense conservative planks in our platform. This. Is. Awesome. This makes America great again.

 I have to imagine that Palin is actually feeling pretty good about herself right about now.

After all she discarded the shattered remnants of her dignity and assumed the position for Trump way back in January, and since then she has been joined by likes of Sheriff Arpaio, Jan Brewer, Jeff Sessions, Chris Christie, and now Ben Carson.

It is always great to be among the first to try a newfangled ride and then see others jumping on board much later. Besides how could she not jump on board since Trump has managed to attract many of the same lunatics that once came to her own rallies back in 2008?

Of course as we all know being at the front of the train has its risks as well.

I personally think that when this train inevitably crashes and burns, that there will be a number of folks whose careers simply will not survive the impact.

And that includes Ben Carson, Chris Christie, and Sarah Palin who will see their conservative credibility in tatters and their future marketability damaged beyond repair.

P.S. Speaking of train wrecks today's Donald Trump rally was cancelled after it was infiltrated by protesters. I watched this on TV and after the cancellation things got ugly with quite a number of people getting into shouting and shoving matches.

Eventually the police had to be called to clear the arena. 

I am wondering if this marks the end of any future Trump rallies. At least in their current form.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is asking the public to help pay the legal bills he accrued for being a racist.

Courtesy of LA Times:  

With his legal fees mounting and a trial turning increasingly personal, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is turning to the public for money and the legal system for a new judge. 

Arpaio said in a letter to supporters that he doesn't have the money to continue paying for attorneys out of his own pocket, adding that he feels "targeted" by the immigration rights groups that have sued him to stop what they say are racist policies targeting Latinos. 

"In some instances I have to personally pay for attorneys to represent me in these cases," Arpaio wrote in an email Thursday. "I do not have the personal wealth or the wherewithal to keep up with the costly demands of paying for attorneys to defend me." 

Arpaio made the plea while awaiting a decision by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow on whether the sheriff broke the law in failing to carry out a 2011 court order to refrain from bias against minorities.

Gee what a shame.

Well I am sure that there are plenty of racists in the country who will be more than willing to send Arpaio some money.

Maybe he can get a loan from his friend Sarah Palin?

 After all she just saved a ton of money on a wedding.

Worth a shot.

Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, admits under oath that he used tax payer money to investigate the wife of a judge presiding over a lawsuit against him. Oops.

Courtesy of AZ Family:  

In a bombshell revelation, Sheriff Joe Arpaio acknowledged Thursday that his office was behind a secret investigation into the wife of the judge presiding over a racial-profiling lawsuit against the brash Arizona lawman known for his anti-immigration patrols. 

A contempt-of-court hearing in the case took the strange turn after the sheriff finished his testimony and Judge Murray Snow began asking him questions, including whether Arpaio was investigating him and his family. 

"Are you aware that I've been investigated by anyone?" the judge asked. 

Arpaio said he believed his former lawyer, Tim Casey, had hired a private investigator to investigate Snow's wife after she purportedly made a comment that about the judge not wanting the sheriff to get re-elected in 2012. 

"We weren't investigating you," Arpaio told the judge. "We were investigating some comments that came to our attention."

Yeah we weren't investigating you, just your wife. 

That sounds so much better.

Here's more3 courtesy of AZ Central: 

Arpaio said he had come into the possession of an e-mail from a tipster who claimed to have met Snow's wife at a restaurant, and that Snow's wife said the judge "wanted to do everything to make sure I'm not elected." 

Arpaio said his counsel then hired a private investigator to look into the matter. 

"Results confirmed that your wife was in that restaurant," Arpaio told Snow. "I guess (the investigator) talked to the witness, confirmed that that remark was made." 

Snow additionally questioned Arpaio about a second investigation also related to Snow. Arpaio acknowledged that some time in 2013, county funds were used to conduct investigations into the Department of Justice, which is leading an ongoing racial-profiling lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office. 

Arpaio said an informant had indicated that the DOJ had been penetrating Arpaio's e-mails as well as those of local attorneys and judges. Arpaio indicated that Snow was one of the judges but said he later conceded that his informant was unreliable.

Okay so he kinda sorta was also investigating the judge, as well as his wife?

And he used county funds to conduct these investigations?

Gee I wonder if Sheriff Joe will get one of those attractive pink uniforms when HE gets sent to the big house?

I swear has this woman ever befriended somebody who WASN'T a racist criminal?

Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio is being charged with contempt for failing to follow a judge's instructions during racial profiling trial. Sounds about right, I have always held this guy in contempt.

Courtesy of AZ Central:  

After months of fiery hearings, legal filings and stern warnings, a federal judge presiding over a racial-profiling case has announced he will take legal action against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. 

Sheriff Joe Arpaio will face a civil contempt hearing in federal court this spring. 

U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow announced during a Thursday telephone conference that he will oversee a civil contempt of court proceeding against the six-term Maricopa County sheriff during a four-day mini trial in April. 

Snow has repeatedly threatened to level criminal- or civil-contempt proceedings against the office, and the judge spent the past week reviewing pleadings in which attorneys for Arpaio tried to persuade Snow not to take the monumental step.

Apparently the judge is pissed off that not only is the sheriff's office NOT providing all of the documentation requested by the judge, including body camera footage, but that they have continued conducting the kinds of traffic stops that got them into trouble in the first place.

Arpaio's attorneys are trying to explain away his behavior but the judge is simply not having it.

The trial is set for sometime in April.

Federal judge throws out challenge from Joe Arpaio calling the President's immigration reforms unconstitutional.

Courtesy of Reuters: 

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought against Barack Obama by an Arizona police chief who called the U.S. president's sweeping immigration reforms unconstitutional, saying the plaintiff lacked legal standing in the case. 

Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the demand by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a preliminary injunction to halt the policies. 

Arpaio, who calls himself "America's Toughest Sheriff," filed the case last month, saying Obama had overstepped his powers by bypassing Congress and ordering the changes himself.

No the President did not overstep his powers, but you sure did you pink underwear pimping piece of shit.

Vice Chair of the Arizona GOP resigns in the face of criticism over statements he made about sterilizing poor women.

Courtesy of AZ Central:

 Former state Sen. Russell Pearce, who has recently served as the Arizona Republican Party's first vice chair, resigned his post late Sunday over remarks he made about requiring women on public assistance to use contraception. 

The Republican Party announced his resignation around 11 p.m. Sunday -- hours after GOP candidates expressed their displeasure with his remarks and a day after the Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director DJ Quinlan noted Pearce's comments in a news release and pressed his party's candidates to denounce them. 

Quinlan's statement, issued Saturday, highlighted remarks Pearce made on his talk-radio program on KKNT 960 AM. According to the statement, Pearce talked about changes he would make to the state's public assistance programs and was quoted in the Democratic Party's news release as saying: "You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I'd do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations…Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job." 

In his statement, Pearce wrote that during a recent radio show there "was a discussion about the abuses to our welfare system" and he "shared comments written by someone else and failed to attribute them to the author." "This was a mistake," Pearce stated. 

"This mistake has been taken by the media and the left and used to hurt our Republican candidates."

Yes how dare the media and Democrats use the actual words spoken by a Republican against them.

The audacity!

Of course this is nothing new, as conservatives have long attempted to suppress childbirth among minorities in this country.

This from Public Eye magazine: 

Even a cursory examination of the right's policy agenda demonstrates that, when the focus is changed from abortion to broader reproductive freedom, the right applies race and class criteria that distinguish between the rights of white, middle-class women and low-income women of color. The right has viciously attacked welfare mothers for their "sexuality" and immigrant women for bearing "too many" children. In its worldview, "excessive" childbearing by low-income, single women causes poverty. To eliminate poverty, it is necessary to prevent that childbearing. 

Right-wing activists reserve their most vicious attacks for these groups of women, promoting negative stereotypes of low-income women of all races as dependent, irresponsible, prone to addictions, and inadequate mothers. They use these stereotypes to inflame public opinion against all sexual behavior that lies outside the narrow parameters of right-wing ideology.

So all Russell Pearce was doing was openly expressing an idea that is discussed in the back rooms among conservatives, and he felt safe is saying it aloud because the audience for his radio show would all be nodding in agreement with him.

But you know I can't get over the idea that I have seen this guy before, but where?

 Oh that's right! That is him right there in the middle between Joe Arpaio and some crazy lady from Wasilla.

Joe Miller explains that his totally racist mailer is not totally racist, and does it by doubling down on racism.

"What? Me a racist?"

Courtesy of Salon: 

Attempting to defend himself against charges that showing a bunch of Latino gangsters alongside a warning of “20 million illegals” voting to abolish the Second Amendment is pretty racist, Miller said during a weekend television debate that he was simply confronting a “clear correlation.”

“If you end up granting amnesty to those who don’t value gun rights, who have not been raised in an environment where the Second Amendment is cherished — is considered to be a God-given right — the reality is over a generation or two, the likelihood is very strong that the Second Amendment will not be here,” Miller explained. “We have violent thugs coming across our border and doing violent things,” he went on to say.

So in the Vaguely Bearded One's world ANY brown people who cross our borders automatically do not value gun rights and are likely to be thugs who want to do violent things.

But that should not be construed as racism.

Speaking of not being a racist, my blogger buddy over at Fiery Blazing Handbasket reports that he recently received the following robo-call from the Miller campaign:  

(This is the Joe Miller campaign with an important message.) Hello, this is Sheriff Joe Arpaio. You know our borders are busted and Washington does nothing. But Joe Miller will stop the nonsense. Joe Miller is the only candidate for U.S. Senate with a plan to stop the invasion. Joe will end taxpayer benefits to illegals and foreign aid to nations encouraging illegal immigration and finish the border fence. This Sheriff Joe Arpaio endorsing Joe Miller because he is Alaska's best choice for U.S. Senate.

Yes because when you are trying to convince people that you are not a racist the best tactic is to recruit a sheriff from all the way down in Arizona whose claim to fame is how badly he has treated minorities and immigrants.

Exactly who is running the Miller campaign these days? And does Miller realize that they don't want him to win?