Immigration

Your opportunity to protest Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio’s frivolous lawsuit

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I do not often agree with Robert Robb of The Arizona Republic, but back in July he had a thought provoking commentary with which I agree questioning the utility of Arizona electing so many offices that are appointed offices in other states. Appointed officials would have some advantages.

I mean really, do we need to elect county assessor, recorder, treasurer, county attorney and county superintendent of public instruction? This is simply an attempt to replicate state elected offices, several of which would be better served as appointed positions, e.g., state mine inspector, corporation commission, and superintendent of public instruction.

The one office I have always believed should not be an elected office is county sheriff. Why is this a political office? Wouldn’t we be better served if the sheriff was a professional law enforcement officer appointed by the County Board of Supervisors after a rigorous candidate search and public commentary period?

Babeu-ArpaioThe fact that we elect sheriffs is how we get clowns like Paul Babeu aka Studboi1, and Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio. They demean the office of sheriff and destroy the credibility of professional law enforcement officers with whom they serve with their political antics.

How many millions of dollars has Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio already cost the taxpayers of Maricopa County with his unprofessional and unethical misconduct?

For example, Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio and his unholy alliance with right-wing conspiracy organizations like World Net Daily (Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse investigation into President Obama’s birth certificate),  and Larry Klayman, a disreputable attorney and founder of Freedom Watch Inc., the former Chairman of Judicial Watch, who filed a lawsuit challenging President Obama’s recent executive orders on immigration deferrals of prosecution.

An appointed sheriff would never be able to get away with this kind of partisan political activity and whoring for publicity. They would be fired in a heartbeat for unprofessional and unethical misconduct. Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio would have been history long ago if county sheriff was an appointed office. Food for thought . . . and a ballot measure in 2016.

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DREAMers to get drivers licenses beginning Monday

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On Thursday, Judge David Campbell of the Maricopa County Superior Court, acting on an order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, ordered the state of Arizona to issue drivers licenses to Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beginning on Monday. Merry Christmas! Judge: Arizona dreamers can apply for licenses Monday:

DREAmactYoung immigrants known as dreamers will be able to begin applying for driver’s licenses on Monday, according to a court ruling handed down Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge David G. Campbell.

Campbell issued a preliminary injunction ordering Arizona to stop denying driver’s licenses to young immigrants known as dreamers.

The ruling means the state is now compelled to begin allowing dreamers who have received work permits through President Barack Obama’s 2012 deferred action program to apply for driver’s licenses.

George Wallace in a dress, Governor Jan Brewer, is sounding like a deranged parrot squawking “States rights! States rights! Awk!”

[I]n a statement issued Thursday evening, the outgoing governor made it clear she is not giving up the fight yet.

“The right to determine who is issued a driver license is reserved for the states – not the federal government or an unelected judiciary,” she said in the statement..

“It is important to remember that courts have yet to consider the full merits of the case, and I believe that Arizona will ultimately prevail. Consequently, I have instructed my legal team to move forward in pursuing a full review of this matter before the United States Supreme Court as soon as possible.”

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U.S. Supreme Court rejects Gov. Brewer’s request to deny DREAMers a driver’s license

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Small miracles in the Christmas season — today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Governor Jan Brewer’s request to deny DREAMers a driver’s license out of hatred for people breathing while brown and spite for that Black man in the White House.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court turns down Arizona on immigrant issue:

DREAmactOver the dissents of three Justices, the Supreme Court today rejected Arizona’s request to allow it to deny driver’s licenses to young undocumented immigrants who have been permitted by Obama administration policy to remain in the United States.

In a brief order, the Court refused to block a temporary ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requiring the state to issue driver’s licenses to the so-called “Dreamers” — young adults who came to this country illegally — if they have permits allowing them to have jobs here. Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas said they would have granted the state’s request. There were no explanations by either the majority or the dissenters.

Arizona remains free to pursue a regular appeal to the Court.

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Governor Jan Brewer’s final act of defiance against the federal ‘guvmint’

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AZConfederacyGovernor Jan Brewer, aka George Wallace in a dress, in a final act of defiance against the federal “guvmint” before she rides off into the sunset, is letting her Confederate freak flag fly.

Earlier this week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals told Brewer to go pound sand in response to her motion for stay of the Court’s order to allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) eligible DREAMers to obtain an Arizona drivers license during the pendency of Arizona’s lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive order on DACA. Court moves closer to driver’s licenses for dreamers.

Consumed by hatred for people breathing while brown and spite for that Black man in the White House, Brewer has filed a motion for stay in the U.S. Supreme Court that almost reads like South Carolina’s Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify. States’ rights!

Justice Anthony Kennedy has called for a response to her application, to be filed by noon (Eastern time) next Tuesday, December 16.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Arizona tests delayed deportation policies:

brewer_hateState officials in Arizona, seeking to block undocumented immigrants from getting driver’s licenses even if they have been spared from deportation, asked the Supreme Court today to examine new Obama administration moves on immigration policy.  This marked the first time that the Court has been drawn into the tense national debate over President Obama’s actions on immigration without waiting for Congress to act on a new law.

The Arizona application (14A625) is here; a challenged decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is here.  A federal district court ruling in the case is here.

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The GOP culture of corruption in Arizona, and the media who enable it

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Our blog trolls get their panties in a bunch when I refer to the GOP culture of corruption in Arizona. They are either uninformed or wilfully ignorant.

Most studies on political corruption focus too narrowly on charges filed and convictions obtained. There are many forms of unethical conduct and political corruption that do not result in charges filed or convictions. A classic example of this is the Fiesta Bowl Scandal from a few years ago. Not one of the dozens of politicians implicated were ever charged with a crime or even faced an ethics investigation in the Arizona legislature. Only Fiesta Bowl personnel were prosecuted and plead guilty.

The Phoenix New Times reports on a new survey of political reporters, which uses a broader definition of political corruption, that finds Arizona’s the Most Corrupt State in America, According to Survey:

Arizona’s home to the most political corruption in America.

That’s according to a survey of reporters nationwide, done by researchers at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.

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