American demagogues, such as Senator Joe McCarthy, tend to over-reach in a system designed to prevent over-reach (how we can explain the lack of resistance to Bush’s over-reaching, I haven’t yet figured out). Eventually, these authoritarian personalities, drunk on power and their initial success take a bite they are unable to chew. In McCarthy’s case, … Read more
In the parlance of thugs, to greenlight an enemy is to put out the word that the mark is fair game, and anyone who takes a whack at the target will be rewarded. It is therefore contextually appropriate to say that Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has greenlighted Judge Ryan to the hate-filled immigration crowd … Read more
The current Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is a savvy politician. He knows what red meat smells like and he knows his constituents’ feeding schedule. And he has skillfully used ballot propositions to position himself with voters and to shape the debate on crime and immigration. He created and sponsored a proposition in 1996 that … Read more
One of the most egregious violations of our constitutional traditions in the so-called PATRIOT Act is the power of issuing National Security Letters given to the FBI. These letters allow the FBI to harvest massive amounts of private and confidential information without a warrant, judicial review, any means to challenge the demands’ validity, or any … Read more
The US District Court for Arizona handed down an order of partial summary judgement in the big Prop200 election rights case, Gonzales v. Arizona, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer reacted as if she had just parted the Red Sea. Her press release crowed: “I am extremely happy to have earned this sweeping court victory … Read more