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[Bal]

The history of gun use on college campuses is quite a remarkable one, when you think about it.

[Royal☭]

People in my art classes who keep advocating for guns on campuses, acting like making everything like the wild west would solve problems.

[Thad]

Today is Arpaio's deadline to respond to the DoJ.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he intends to send a letter to the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday promising cooperation with federal officials.

[...]

Sheriff's Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre [...] would not reveal its content but characterized the Justice Department findings as "a pile of unsubstantiated allegations."

"We promise to cooperate with the Justice Department but totally do not acknowledge any validity whatsoever to its claims."

So basically, another stalling tactic.  Surprise surprise.

Arpaio is 79 years old.  I legitimately believe that at this point his strategy is to stonewall until he dies of old age.

[Thad]

...crap, when did Fiddlesticks close?

Meanwhile: Joe Arpaio Meets DOJ's "Cooperation" Deadline by Making Demands, Setting Deadline

In a 29-page letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Arpaio's attorneys pledge cooperation with the federal government -- but only if the DOJ provides evidence for all the allegations it's made against the MCSO.

[...]

The sheriff also wants evidence of every "individual account" the DOJ cites as evidence that Latinos are stopped by MCSO deputies based on their appearance.

Makes sense.  After all, he once demanded that the New Times turn over records of every single IP that had ever viewed its website.

My girlfriend, on hearing that Arpaio was demanding evidence of racial discrimination, suggested that maybe the DoJ could just direct him to that video of the deputies beating Marty Atencio to death.

Aaaand, Governor Jan Brewer's Lawsuit Against Medical-Marijuana Law Dismissed by Federal Judge. 

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the case without prejudice and invited the state to file an amended complaint to correct the flaws in their argument. However, Brewer and state Attorney General Tom Horne have made it clear they're loathe to do what Bolton asks: Pick a side for or against the law.

More.

I understand why Horne won't come right out and just say he's opposed to medical marijuana, but Jan's not worried about reelection.  Wonder what her waffling is about.  Does she just want people to like her?

[François]

My girlfriend, on hearing that Arpaio was demanding evidence of racial discrimination, suggested that maybe the DoJ could just direct him to that video of the deputies beating Marty Atencio to death.

Unfortunately, that's no good; the MCSO could easily avoid charges of discrimination by filming themselves beating a white guy to death. And then you have to find something else to put them away for.

[Büge]

The question is, are they willing to beat a white guy to death on camera to duck those charges?

[Mongrel]

If it's one of the prosecuting attorneys, no problem.

[Thad]

Or a county supervisor.

Or Stephen Lemons.

[Cait]

Governor Brewer to spend $105 million to buy back the leases to the Capitol buildings. After selling them for $81 million two years ago.

My favorite line?

[Brewer press aide Matthew Benson] said that $24 million difference should not be seen as an exorbitant interest rate for just two years of borrowing. Instead, Benson said, it actually is a savings: If the state had taken the full 20 years to pay off the debt, the cost would be far more.

[Brentai]

If I'm figuring this right, she ended up with a 26-27% APR on that secured loan.

[Shinra]

Hey, considering what people with bad histories of revolving debt are seeing as aprs on mortgages these days, that's not too bad!

[Thad]

A stuck clock is right twice a day -- Brewer's not the one who screwed the pooch on this one, the legislature is, and she's right to say they should buy the damn things back.

Where she's wrong is in letting her 1-cent tax increase expire so that we don't actually have any way to pay for them.

[Thad]

DoJ responds to Arpaio's stalling and request for evidence of racism in his office:

In fact, the basis of our findings is largely in your possession. Since our Title VI lawsuit, you have provided us with thousands of documents including policies, procedures, reports, correspondence, training materials, raw data and other documents prepared and kept by MCSO. In addition, we interviewed dozens of MCSO command staff, staff, deputies, detention officers, and posse members. MCSO was fully aware of each employee and posse member interview, and counsel for MCSO was present for the interviews with command staff. Compliance with the majority of your requests would require us to return your own documents to you. If you review your own documents, or consult with the attorneys who were present for many of the interviews, you will be able to gain ample understanding of our findings.

Oh and meanwhile another inmate died in Tent City.  MCSO's claiming natural causes.  That's all the information they've released at this point.

Nice to hear the DoJ's unimpressed with Arpaio's stalling tactics.  Now where are the indictments?

[Thad]

Hey, Arizona State Legislature!  Do you have any incredibly, embarrassingly stupid ideas to share with us this week?

Universities and community colleges in Arizona would not be allowed to require their students be immunized, under a bill that won the approval of a state House committee Wednesday.

Well, that's pretty fucking stupid, all right!  But come on, I know you can do better than that!

State Representative Eddie Farnsworth, a Gilbert Republican, says he decided to sponsor the bill after a constituent told him a community college would not let him take classes to get trained as a certified nursing assistant, because he hadn’t been immunized.

[Brentai]

All of a sudden building a big concrete wall around the entire state to keep out immigrants sounds like the best idea ever.

[Mothra]

How... how did immunization ever become a controversial issue again? Is it just that the government is essentially forcing people to do something, and this in itself is wholly resented?

[Büge]

Aren't there people who claim their religion forbids immunization?

[Thad]

Some Jehova's Witnesses, but in my anecdotal observation most are willing to bite the bullet and get their kids shots so they can go to school.

I'm guessing that the constituent in question likely objects on religious grounds (and was probably homeschooled prior to trying to enroll in the community college), but that's all a guess on my part.  Don't know anything about Farnsworth and his profile page is pretty useless (except that it says he's on both the K-12 and Higher Ed committee, which would be terrifying if I were still capable of being terrified by how uniquely unsuited our officeholders are to their offices).  But at another guess, he's probably in it both for the "government regulation bad" AND the "government interfering with religion bad" angles.

...I should add that I still have just enough faith in my state legislature to believe this thing is DOA and has no chance at passing.  But it's a fucking embarrassment that it even got out of committee.




Meanwhile the top stories on Google News seem to be about Governor Jan arguing with Obama yesterday.  It's none of it very relevant to much of anything, but man that photo of her wagging her finger at him is going to see a lot of play.

[Brentai]

If I ever go into politics I'm getting my index finger cut off, just in case.

[Disposable Ninja]

How... how did immunization ever become a controversial issue again? Is it just that the government is essentially forcing people to do something, and this in itself is wholly resented?

There was this one, single bullshit cherry-picked study that linked autism to immunization shots in children, which created a stigma against immunization in general, which then got conflated with Obama-era Neo-Conservative anti-government rabble-rousing.

It's a regular rolling snowball of stupid.