George Rekers

Rekers Was Key Witness For McCollum In Defense Of FL Gay Adoption Ban

Rachel Slajda | May 8, 2010, 10:45AM

George Alan Rekers

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor, paid George Rekers at least $60,900 to be an expert witness in 2008 while defending Florida's ban against gay couple adopting children. When a judge called Rekers' testimony neither "credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy," McCollum explicitly defended him in following briefs.

Rekers is currently embroiled in a scandal for hiring a male escort to accompany him on a trip to Europe. But he's also a leader in the ex-gay movement. He co-founded the Family Research Council and sits on the board of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. He has, by all accounts, dedicated his life to protecting children from the "harmful" influence of gay people.

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Obama Administration

Experts: Obama Admin Pioneering Robust Use Of Miranda Exception In Terrorism Cases (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 7, 2010, 5:52PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama Administration is applying an old exception to the Miranda rule in a new way in order to interrogate terrorism suspects before reading them their rights, several experts tell TPMmuckraker, finding what one law professor calls a "middle ground" between those who want suspects put through the criminal justice system and those who believe they should be classified as "enemy combatants."

Federal agents questioned both Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of planting a makeshift bomb in Times Square, and Umar Abdulmutallab, the failed Christmas Day bomber, under the so-called public safety exception to the Miranda rule for substantial periods before informing the men of their right to remain silent, and to an attorney.

Information gleaned during questioning under the public safety exception -- in which police "ask questions reasonably prompted by a concern for the public safety," according to the 1984 Supreme Court case that recognized the exception -- is admissible at trial.

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Guantanamo

WATCH: Pentagon Announces Banning Of Journalists From Gitmo Trials

Justin Elliott | May 7, 2010, 3:22PM

Maj. Tanya Bradsher talks to reporters

As David flagged on the Editors Blog last night, the Pentagon yesterday banned four journalists from covering trials at Guantanamo after they reported the name of a former military interrogator (which, the reporters note, has been public for years, including from a media interview the interrogator himself gave).

In any case, here's the striking video of Department of Defense spokeswoman Maj. Tanya Bradsher announcing the banning, and the military's rationale, to members of the press yesterday. Watch:

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Carl Swensson

Extremist Leader Seeking To Indict Obama For Treason Says He Was Questioned By FBI

Zachary Roth | May 7, 2010, 12:03PM

Carl Swensson (inset)

The leader of a movement seeking to have President Obama indicted for treason told TPMmuckraker he was interviewed this week by the FBI.

Carl Swensson said that FBI agents, accompanied by state police, came to his Georgia home Wednesday asking for information about what law enforcement fears is a plan to take over a Tennessee judicial building. "They were concerned that we were gonna storm the courthouse," said Swensson.

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Andrew Warren

Fed Court Filing: How An Armed, Drugged-Up CIA Agent Fell Apart

Ben Frumin | May 7, 2010, 10:16AM

The seal of the U.S. C.I.A. inlaid in the floor of the Original Headquarters Building

CIA Agent Andrew Warren was already on probation on charges that he had sex with a drugged woman in Algeria, where he was serving as CIA station chief, before breaking down in Virginia last month in what sounds like an epic unraveling.

According to a new federal court filing, Warren allegedly exposed himself to a woman, lied about his name and social security number when confronted by police about it, and said he had a "Glock service weapon" (that he refused to show police). And then, during a conversation with police at his home on April 3:

Warren then proceeded to show the officer a disguise kit and said that he could use it to hide from anyone because he had been trained by the CIA. Warren told the officer that he had been trained in the martial arts, all types of weapons and spoke eight Arabic languages. During this communication, the officer reported that Warren took down the officers' names and unit numbers and stated words to the effect of "it will be different the next time I meet with you".

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John Ensign

What Happens In Vegas: Senate Investigators Interview Witnesses In Ensign Probe

Zachary Roth | May 7, 2010, 9:31AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The Senate Ethics committee's investigation of the John Ensign sex-and-lobbying scandal is in full swing.

Investigators for the panel were holed up in a Las Vegas hotel yesterday, where they interviewed several key figures in the case, KLAS-TV reports. A woman "who looks just like" Cynthia Hampton, Ensign's former mistress, was seen entering the hotel, accompanied by her husband's lawyer, Dan Albregts, says the station. She stayed for two hours.

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National Council for a New America

Cantor's GOP Ideas Factory Declared Dead A Year After It Launched (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 7, 2010, 8:48AM

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)

It was supposed to be a GOP ideas factory that would fill the leadership vacuum on the right after Barack Obama's landslide election. The National Council for a New America was supposed to be, in the words of founder Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), "a conversation with the American people" to "develop innovative solutions that meet the serious challenges confronting our country."

But, Roll Call reports, the group is now dead one year after it launched to what, in hindsight, appears to be excessive media coverage of an entity that hadn't actually done anything.

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George Rekers

Ex-Gay Leader's Male Escort: Actually, We Did Have Sex

Rachel Slajda | May 6, 2010, 2:40PM

George Alan Rekers

The male escort who accompanied George Rekers, a leader of the ex-gay movement, on a European vacation now says the two did engage in sex acts.

The escort, dubbed "Lucien" by the Miami New Times, told the paper that Rekers paid him to provide daily massages, in the nude. The massages included Rekers' favorite move, Lucien said, which he dubbed "the long stroke."

"Rekers liked to be rubbed down there," he said. He originally said the two did not have sex.

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Bob McDonnell

McDonnell Mum On Cuccinelli's Climate Science 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 6, 2010, 2:12PM

Virginia Att. Gov. Ken Cuccinelli and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell

Since news broke that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is conducting a fraud investigation into the work of a former UVA climate scientist who was caught up in the "Climate-Gate" controversy, reactions have been pouring in -- with even some climate skeptics slamming the probe as a threat to academic freedom.

But one interested observer has been noticeably mum: Governor Bob McDonnell.

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Minerals Management Service

FLASHBACK: The Sex And Oil Scandals Of The Minerals Management Service

Justin Elliott | May 6, 2010, 2:12PM

An oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon accident, and the seal of the Minerals Management Service (inset)

Of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said it best on Tuesday: "In the Bush administration, these were the guys that were having sex orgies and pot parties and weren't showing up for work."

As the government agency that regulates offshore drilling, MMS is already under scrutiny for its handling of the rig that exploded and caused the oil spill. It's not yet clear whether there were missteps by the agency, though the Washington Post reported earlier this week that MMS' environmental impact assessments of the Deepwater Horizon rig had not considered the possibility of a major spill.

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Right-wing extremism

Right-Wing Extremists Take On Local Law Enforcement, Lose

Zachary Roth | May 6, 2010, 11:54AM

Darren Huff

Right-wing extremists who question the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency tried to take on local law enforcement recently -- and they seem to have come out on the losing end.

First, a Tennessee man was arrested after walking into his local county courthouse to try to effect a citizen's arrest of a grand jury foreman who had refused to investigate President Obama's legitimacy to serve -- an encounter partially caught on video. That enraged one Georgia-based member of the far-right OathKeepers group. Responding to a call from an extremist leader, he drove to Tennessee with an AK-47 in a bid to get his comrade released -- only to wind up getting arrested himself.

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Stop Too Big To Fail

New Ad: The Big Banks Back Reform, So Let's Kill The Bill (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 6, 2010, 9:22AM

A screen shot from a Stop Too Big To Fail ad

The latest TV ad from shady anti-financial reform group Stop Too Big To Fail advocates killing financial reform legislation because, the ad claims, the big banks actually want to see reform happen.

The ad follows the same "bailout, bailout -- BAILOUT!!" script of the group's previous ads, but with a new twist. Now, instead of misrepresenting the position of a progressive economist (as the group did with Simon Johnson and Robert Reich), Stop Too Big To Fail makes the twisted argument that financial reform should be defeated precisely because big bank CEOs have made extremely broad statements of support for a regulatory overhaul.

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George Rekers

FRC On Co-Founder's Escort Scandal: Bible 'Teaches The Fallen Nature Of All People'

Rachel Slajda | May 5, 2010, 5:53PM

George Alan Rekers

The Family Research Council sends over a statement on George Rekers, a co-founder of the group and leader of the ex-gay movement who was caught hiring a male escort. The council's president, Tony Perkins, denies his group has had any contact with Rekers over the past decade.

He also said it's "not surprising" when a "Christian leader engages in the very activities that they 'preach' against."

The full statement from Perkins:

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New Orleans Police Department

New Orleans Mayor Asks Feds To Reform City's Notorious Police Department

Justin Elliott | May 5, 2010, 5:39PM

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

Just two days after taking office, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu held a press conference today to announce he has asked the Justice Department to intervene and force a "complete transformation" of the city's troubled police department.

"I have inherited a police force that has been described by many as one of the worst police departments in the country. This assessment is made based on several indicators including the number of violent crimes, incidents of rape, and malfeasance by members of the police department," Landrieu wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

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Faisal Shahzad

FBI Releases Diagram Of Alleged Times Square Bomber's Car

Jillian Rayfield | May 5, 2010, 3:57PM

'93 Nissan Pathfinder

The FBI has released a diagram of the vehicle Faisal Shahzad allegedly used in his attempt to bomb Times Square, and it explains where the explosives were placed in the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder.

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George Rekers

Anti-Gay Leader Caught With Male Prostitute Pleads Ignorance, Then Altruism

Rachel Slajda | May 5, 2010, 2:04PM

George Alan Rekers

When George Alan Rekers, a cofounder along with James Dobson of the Family Research Council and a leader in the ex-gay movement, was caught walking off a plane from Europe with a young male prostitute, he first insisted that he didn't know the young man was an escort until halfway through their 10-day vacation.

"I had surgery," Rekers told the Miami New Times, which broke the story yesterday, "and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him."

Rekers had hired the escort, dubbed "Lucien" by the New Times, through the website RentBoy.com (NSFW), a popular site that hosts ads for gay male escorts. There's little mistaking what the site is for.

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Faisal Shahzad

Times Square Bomb Suspect Jogged, Slammed Bush, Defaulted On Mortgage

Zachary Roth | May 5, 2010, 2:03PM

Faisal Shahzad

A day and a half after his arrest, a portrait is starting to emerge of Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-born American citizen who was pulled off a flight to Dubai at JFK Airport Monday night and arrested in connection with Saturday's attempted Times Square bombing.

That portrait, compiled based on accounts in several news outlets, is notable for the way in which Shahzad -- like so many of the young men behind Islamic terror attacks on the U.S. and Europe -- seems to have been simultaneously alien from, and embedded within, western culture. Born in Pakistan's remote and tribal Northwest Frontier Province, Shahzad, 30, grew up in a country that banned alcohol and taught Islam in school, and he maintained close ties to family members in the region. But he also went jogging in his suburban Connecticut neighborhood, and perused used car websites to find the Nissan Pathfinder that he's charged with using in the bomb plot. And he seems to have gone over the edge not long after participating in that archetypal American ritual of recent years -- defaulting on his mortgage.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

TPM's Tour Of The Oil Spill Flack Universe -- Who's On Damage Control?

Christina Bellantoni | May 5, 2010, 12:25PM

Clockwise, from top left: Workers organize for oil cleanup efforts in Venice, LA, the U.S. Capitol, the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling platform sinks, and API President and CEO Jack Gerard

As the oil industry went into full damage control mode following the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico, their corporate public relations went into overdrive too, with firms across Washington jumping in to help British Petroleum and BP firing up its Facebook page and Twitter feed. The universe of flacks Americans might be seeing on television and quoted in news stories has widened, with BP executives making the rounds, hosting journalists for explainer sessions and corporate PR folks helping craft an image of a company doing everything it can to help.

The industry already had an army of lobbyists and PR hands deployed in Washington to influence the negotiations over climate change legislation (which may be in dire straits thanks to the spill), and BP brought in the international consulting firm the Brunswick Group.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Halliburton Role On Oil Rig Puts Firm Under Scrutiny Once Again

Justin Elliott | May 5, 2010, 11:16AM

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig on fire before it sank, and a sign at a Halliburton plant (inset)

Halliburton is back.

The Houston energy services giant once led by Dick Cheney became the corporate bête noire of the Bush years as one of the biggest (and most troubled) Iraq War contractors. But the company had largely faded from public view since President Obama entered office -- until now.

As the provider of crucial cementing services on the oil rig that exploded and set off the massive spill in the Gulf, Halliburton finds itself under scrutiny once again.

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Times Square Bomb

The One That Almost Got Away: How The FBI Nearly Lost Faisal Shahzad

Ben Frumin | May 5, 2010, 10:17AM

An Emirates airplane with Faisal Shahzad (inset)

Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad was put on the U.S government's no-fly list at approximately 12:30 p.m. Monday, and airlines were notified of the change three minutes later. At about 3 p.m. the FBI began surveilling Shahzad at his Connecticut apartment. And yet, several hours later -- after somehow eluding the FBI surveillance team -- he received a boarding pass for a flight from JFK to Dubai and made it on board before he was stopped. How'd that happen?

While details are still coming to light, it seems to be a failure at two levels: the FBI surveillance team tracking Shahzad somehow lost track of him, and the United Arab Emirates' national airline apparently didn't catch his name on an updated no-fly list until it was nearly too late.

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Gulf of Mexico Foundation

NYT: We Flubbed Description Of Transocean-Linked 'Conservation Group' In Oil Spill Story

Justin Elliott | May 5, 2010, 8:56AM

A ribbon of oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the board of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation (inset)

The New York Times has published an editors' note saying a front-page story questioning the scope of the oil spill "should have included more information" about the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, which was described as a "conservation group" without noting its close ties to the oil industry and Transocean, the owner of the rig that exploded.

The head of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation was quoted as saying: "The sky is not falling. We've certainly stepped in a hole and we're going to have to work ourselves out of it, but it isn't the end of the Gulf of Mexico."

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Barack Obama

Obama First Briefed On Attempted Bomb At 10:50 Saturday Night

Rachel Slajda | May 4, 2010, 6:50PM

John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, briefs President Obama on the attempted Times Square car bombing in the Oval Office on May 3, 2010

President Obama was first briefed on the attempted Times Square bombing -- which was discovered about 6:30 p.m. Saturday -- at 10:50 that night, according to a White House official.

Administration officials, who today detailed the president's involvement in the attempted attack over the past few days, said White House officials, National Security Staff and the NYPD were in touch before the president was notified.

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Peter King

Rep. Peter King Uses Times Square Bomber To Go Back On The Attack

Zachary Roth | May 4, 2010, 5:35PM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Another attempted terror attack, another chance for Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) to try to gain a political advantage.

In recent years, the New York Republican has gained a reputation for demagoguing every terror incident by hyping the threat of radical Islam and suggesting that Democrats' policies are putting Americans' lives at risk. And now he's back at it.

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Booby Traps

Skinhead Group Member Charged In Connection With CA Booby Trapping Incidents

Jillian Rayfield | May 4, 2010, 5:27PM

A screen shot from the Hemet Police website

Officials in Hemet, CA, have charged a member of a known skinhead group in connection with several booby trapping incidents targeting local law enforcement that led to a series of raids and 23 arrests.

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Gulf of Mexico Foundation

'Conservation Group' Quoted In NYT Frontpager On Oil Spill Has Ties To Transocean

Justin Elliott | May 4, 2010, 3:15PM

A ribbon of oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the board of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation (inset)

A "conservation group" that struck a markedly optimistic tone in a front-page New York Times piece on the Gulf Coast oil spill is made up largely of oil industry executives, and its most recent board meeting was hosted by Transocean, the owner of the rig that exploded, ProPublica reports.

Quenton Dokken, the executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, told the Times, in a story headlined "Gulf Oil Spill Is Bad, but How Bad?": "The sky is not falling. We've certainly stepped in a hole and we're going to have to work ourselves out of it, but it isn't the end of the Gulf of Mexico."

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BP

Paying For The Oil Spill: A Guide To Who's On The Hook

Justin Elliott | May 4, 2010, 2:15PM

The Deepwater Horizon rig burning before it sank

There are two broad categories of costs associated with the catastrophic BP Gulf oil spill: one is cleanup; the other is damage caused by the oil -- to shoreline property, local tax revenues, the fishing and tourism industries, and other businesses and individuals.

Here's a guide to who's on the hook for which costs.

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Faisal Shahzad

Did Times Square Bomb Suspect Almost Get Away?

Zachary Roth | May 4, 2010, 2:06PM

Faisal Shahzad

Did the suspect in Saturday night's failed Times Square bombing attempt come close to getting out of the country before he could be apprehended?

The Washington Post reported that according to "a source close to the United Arab Emirates," Faisal Shahzad's name was put on the U.S. government's no-fly list around midday Monday. But despite that, the source added, Shahzad was able to buy a ticket to Dubai through Emirates Airlines, check in at JFK Airport, pass through security, and get on a plane. Shahzad was taken into custody last night by U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement officials, after being pulled off Emirates Airlines Flight 201, which had just left the gate, government officials have said. It appears that Shahzad bought his ticket while driving to the airport. A loaded handgun was found in the car he drove, which was parked in the airport parking lot.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli Probe Of Climate Scientist Blasted As 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 4, 2010, 10:23AM

Climate scientist Michael Mann and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

An investigation by Ken Cuccinelli of a climate scientist who was caught up in last year's "Climate-Gate" flap is being likened to a "witch hunt" -- even by global warming skeptics.

As we reported yesterday, the conservative Virginia attorney general last month demanded that the University of Virginia hand over a slew of documents relating to the grant-funded research of Michael Mann, a climate scientist who worked at UVA from 1999 to 2005. Among the materials requested by May 27 were email correspondence with a long list of other climate scientists, including several who, like Mann, were prominent figures in Climate-Gate. You can see Cuccinelli's "Civil Investigative Demand," first obtained by the The Hook, a Charlottesville newspaper, here.

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Tony Hayward

BP Chief Claims Oil Spill 'Wasn't Our Accident' Despite BP Role In Running Rig (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 4, 2010, 9:26AM

BP Group CEO Tony Hayward

The CEO of BP is trying to get out in front of potential lawsuits by casting the blame for the Gulf oil spill squarely on the owner of the rig: Transocean. But in doing so in media interviews Monday, BP's Tony Hayward appears to have also gotten out in front of the known facts.

"It wasn't our accident," he told the Today Show on Monday. Pressed by anchor Meredith Vieira, Hayward claimed: "the drilling rig was a Transocean drilling rig. It was their rig and their equipment that failed, run by their people, their processes."

But oil industry experts tell TPMmuckraker that BP, as the lease operator on the Deepwater Horizon rig, most likely did have a role in decision-making aboard the drilling vessel. And six BP employees were on the rig when it exploded April 20.

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Jack Abramoff

Casino Jack Clip: How One GOP Rep Helped Jack Abramoff (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 3, 2010, 7:25PM

We recently brought you a review of the new Jack Abramoff documentary, Casino Jack. Now we have an exclusive clip of the film in which Republican Congressman Bob Ney -- who later did jail time in the scandal -- describes how he helped Abramoff.

In the clip, Ney aide-turned-Abramoff associate Neil Volz describes breaking the ban against lobbying one's former boss, in this case Ney, who agreed to do favors for an Abramoff client. The client was the Tigua Indian tribe in Texas, which was trying to get its casino, which had been shut down, reopened.

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Alphonso Jackson

DOJ Drops Investigation Into Bush-Era HUD Secretary

Rachel Slajda | May 3, 2010, 4:40PM

Former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson

Alphonso Jackson, the former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development who resigned amid allegations of extreme cronyism, has been cleared by the Justice Department after a three-year investigation.

Jackson's lawyer told the Washington Post that the DOJ has closed its investigation into Jackson without pressing charges. The DOJ didn't comment.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli Targets 'Climate-Gate' Scientist

Zachary Roth | May 3, 2010, 12:05PM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the Virginia state seal

Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia's ambitious and deeply conservative attorney general, has launched two new fronts in his right-wing crusade: one absurd, the other deeply troubling.

Absurdity first: Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff lapel pins with a redesigned version of the state seal, which shows the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, the Virginian-Pilot reported over the weekend. In the usual version of the seal, Virtus's left breast is exposed. In Cuccinelli's version, it's covered up.

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Hutaree

Judge Rules Charged Hutaree Members Can Be Released Until Trial

Ben Frumin | May 3, 2010, 12:05PM

Members of the Hutaree militia: Joshua Stone, Tina Stone, David Stone, Jr. (left-right, top row); Michael Meeks, David Stone, Sr., Joshua Clough (second row); Kristopher Sickles, Jacob Ward, Thomas Piatek (bottom row).

Nine members of the Hutaree militia group accused of plotting against the government can be released until their trial.

The nine members of the Christian militia group were indicted in March on multiple charges involving an alleged plot to attack police, including seditious conspiracy and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

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Jeff Greene

Billionaire Senate Hopeful Brings Colorful Past To Florida Race

Justin Elliott | May 3, 2010, 11:53AM

Jeff Greene

The latest entrant in the Florida Senate race is an eccentric billionaire who counts Mike Tyson and madam Heidi Fleiss as close friends and made his fortune betting against the real estate market before the crash.

The business and personal life of Jeff Greene is providing an embarrassment of riches for oppo researchers working for Greene's competition in the Democratic primary, Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL).

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BP

AG: BP Trying To Get Alabamians To Give Up Right To Sue Over Spill

Zachary Roth | May 3, 2010, 10:56AM

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

BP has been offering $5000 payments to residents of coastal Alabama areas, in exchange for essentially giving up their right to sue the oil giant over its deadly Gulf Coast spill, according to the state's attorney general.

AG Troy King last night urged BP to stop the effort, and told Alabamians to be wary. "People need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that," King said, according to the Alabama press.

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Goldman Sachs

Buffett Continues Defense Of Goldman: I Want Lloyd Blankfein To Stay Put (VIDEO)

Ben Frumin | May 3, 2010, 10:55AM

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is continuing his rather full-throated defense of Goldman Sachs, saying in a Good Morning America interview broadcast this morning that CEO Lloyd Blankfein shouldn't step down -- and that Goldman has done nothing wrong.

The SEC has filed a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs over a shoddy mortgage product that Goldman allegedly knew was shoddy, and a Senate subcommittee hearing that put many of the firm's top executives on the spot last week has brought the firm under even more fire.

But Buffett -- whose company invested $5 billion in Goldman during the height of the financial crisis -- is standing by Blankfein's company.

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Times Square

The Failed Times Square Bomb: What Do We Know (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 3, 2010, 10:12AM

The bomb squad at work in Times Square, May 1, 2010

At around 6:30 p.m. Saturday night, a green 1993 Nissan Pathfinder driving west on 45th street stopped west of Broadway in New York's Times Square.

T-shirt vendor Lance Orton noticed smoke coming out of the SUV and pointed it out to a police officer. He called backup, the area was evacuated, and the bomb squad came in. While several popping sounds emanated from the SUV, which filled with smoke, the makeshift bomb did not go off.

Here's what we know about the investigation and what happened:

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Immigration

Not Just Arizona: From Utah To Maryland, States Eye Harsh Immigration Laws

Zachary Roth | May 3, 2010, 8:44AM

Anti-immigration protesters in Fort Worth, Texas

Arizona isn't the only state looking to take extreme measures to crack down on illegal immigration. At least 10 other states -- many inspired by Arizona -- are talking about enacting similarly draconian legislation. And most aren't places that are traditionally thought of as hot-spots in the immigration battle.

With a major hat tip to Think Progress, here's a quick rundown:

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