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[Thad]

So a federal judge blocked the nastiest bits of 1070 from going into effect.  Score one for the good guys, but this is a long way from being over.

This is why we have three branches of government.  (Though the "This is a REPUBLIC, not a democracy!" crowd seems strangely quiet on that score.)

[Thad]

Can't find an article yet but my coworker just told me he heard on NPR -- like, within the past hour -- that the feds are threatening to cut off Arpaio's funding due to his noncompliance with their subpoenas for his records.

Not exactly firsthand and I may have the details wrong; more as it develops -- but it sounds an awful lot like news I've been waiting to hear for 15 years.

[Thad]

So I've mentioned before that people in Phoenix metro -- not brilliant goddamned drivers in the first place -- are totally incapable of operating motor vehicles in the rain.

To wit: 69-car freeway accident.

Surprisingly, nobody dead and only 7 hospitalized.

[A²]

Can't find an article yet but my coworker just told me he heard on NPR -- like, within the past hour -- that the feds are threatening to cut off Arpaio's funding due to his noncompliance with their subpoenas for his records.

Not exactly firsthand and I may have the details wrong; more as it develops -- but it sounds an awful lot like news I've been waiting to hear for 15 years.

Was there any news on this?

[Thad]

Kinda.

ABC is spinning it as "Feds talk tough, give us the records or else," while Stephen Lemons of the New Times started off the 25th with an article called Joe Arpaio Punks the Feds Yet Again? and then wrote a second later that day called Joe Arpaio Gets New Deadline from DOJ; County Offers Its Subpoena Power To Feds.

At stake are federal funds received by Maricopa County. These are governed by Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance," the DOJ's Web site explains.

Though, as his first article notes, they've already extended his deadlines multiple times.

And at this point, our county attorney is a lame duck; Arpaio's hoping to wait out the clock until November, at which point his hand-picked candidate will get the job.  (Via the Feathered Bastard again, "Montgomery takes over as County Attorney as soon as the final canvass of the votes is done in the general election. (No, we don't have till January.)")

[TA]

It would appear the Feds got tired of waiting.

[TA]

Jan Brewer, caught in 'immigrant beheadings' lie, runs from the press

[Classic]

I'm so confused, Arizona is beheading immigrants now?

[Ziiro]

Brewer Claims Illegal Immigrants Are Beheading People
She had previously claimed that Immigrants were Beheading people.

[Bal]

You have to understand, for context, that she is a fucking lunatic.

[Thad]

It would appear the Feds got tired of waiting.

...Duke Nukem Forever gets a release announcement AND Arpaio's getting sued?

I really need to go on more vacations.

[Thad]

Holy fucking shit.

A top Arpaio aide, Deputy Chief Frank Munnell, has issued a 63-page complaint against his second-in-command, Chief Deputy David Hendershott.  azcentral has the story; the Village Voice has the complete complaint.  Worth at least skimming; there's a hell of a lot in there.  I think I'll run an OCR and put a nice HTML version up on my website if I get the time.

Arpaio's handed the complaint off to Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a close ally.  It's entirely possible he's doing it so the whole thing will go away.  Stephen Lemons at the New Times brings up a different possibility: Arpaio (and possibly Munnell) may be using Hundershott as a sacrificial lamb.  The memo depicts Arpaio as a victim, ignorant of all the corruption within his department; it would be awfully convenient to lay everything at Hendershott's feet just when the MCSO's being sued by the feds.

Whatever happens, I think it's going to be big.

[Thad]

Joe Arpaio's office misused up to $80 million, Maricopa County says

Other major findings by county budget officials substantiated that the Sheriff's Office tapped the jail-operations fund to pay for functions not allowed under jail-fund rules, such as salaries for deputies who worked on public-corruption investigations into county supervisors and judges.

[...]

Wilson said the Sheriff's Office kept a separate set of personnel books detailing actual work assignments. Those assignments are different than information kept on the county's official human-resources records.

Ah yes, the Bialystock and Bloom school of bookkeeping.

Shit's coming down.  I don't see him wriggling out this time; too many allegations from too many different sides.

I'm sure I'm a bad person for picturing Arpaio going out like Warden Norton.  Not nearly as bad a person as he is, though.

[McDohl]

The image of Sheriff Joe singing "I Want To Be a Producer" while signing off illegal warrants and doing roundups.

[McDohl]

Ka-DOUBLEPOST!
Sheriff Joe's office taps the general funds to the tune of $64 million.

TPM's placing it in the neighborhood of $80 million.

[Bal]

Jesus christ, is he keeping secret files on John Lennon too?

[Bal]

Thad, I need your help. Jan Brewer can't really win, can she? I mean, she's fucking crazy, and everyone knows it. Tell me I don't have to move.

[Ziiro]

Well, Bal. As an outside observer, it is my opinion that you should look at your options.

I mean, even after saying she will no longer debate - she still has supporters. (Final line of the article, and read the comments.)

[Mongrel]

Good God, that picture is terrifying.

[Bal]

Fortunately that's only a photo. As a gorgon, her true visage would have turned you to stone.