Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: DOJ 'Sneak Attack' Is Just Part Of Obama's Reelection Bid (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 3:35PM

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday that the Justice Department's extensive three-and-a-half-year probe of his Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was all just part of a bid for President Obama to win the Hispanic vote in 2012, even though the investigation began five months before Obama was even elected.

Responding to the Civil Rights Division's findings that Arpaio "promoted a culture of bias" within the MCSO where detention officers called Latino inmates "wetbacks" and "Mexican bitches," Arpaio took to Fox News on Friday afternoon to criticize Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez for opening up DOJ's Thursday press conference with the words "buenos dias."

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Vern Buchanan

Sessions Defends Buchanan Over Allegations Of Illegal Campaign Finance Scheme

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 2:00PM

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is defending NRCC Finance Chair Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) over allegations he schemed to illegally reimburse employees of his former car dealership for donations to his political campaign.

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Fast And Furious

Inspector's Probe Of Fast And Furious Likely Encompasses Bush-Era 'Gun Walking'

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 1:58PM

The Justice Department Inspector General's review of the flawed ATF program in which guns were allowed to "walk" across the Mexican border will include other investigations that used similar methods, according to the IG's semi-annual report to Congress.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio Opponents: He's Not Gonna Go Quietly

Jillian Rayfield | December 16, 2011, 1:13PM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's critics say they know that despite the Justice Department's scathing report on bias in the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Joe Arpaio is not going down without a fight.

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Fast And Furious

Republicans Buy Into NRA's 'Fast And Furious' Gun Control Conspiracy Theory

Ryan J. Reilly | December 16, 2011, 11:35AM

Out of the sound and fury of Attorney General Eric Holder's day before the House last week one thing was clear: Republican members of Congress are latching onto the conspiracy theory that the Obama administration let guns "walk" into Mexico in order to erode Americans' second amendment rights.

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Mark Meckler

Tea Party Leader Mark Meckler Arrested With Handgun At Airport

Benjy Sarlin | December 15, 2011, 7:13PM

Mark Meckler, Tea Partier

Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots and one of the most prominent spokesmen for the grassroots movement, was arrested at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday after trying to check in a handgun on his flight.

According to the Queens District Attorney's office, Meckler arrived at the airport with the gun, a Glock 27, and ammunition locked in a safe and presented it to the flight attendant at the Delta counter. He allegedly told authorities that he needed the gun for protection after receiving threats, but did not have a New York State license to carry the weapon. He's being charged with second degree possession of an illegal weapon, a charge that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

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Joe Arpaio

Joe Arpaio: This Is A 'Sad Day For America'

Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2011, 6:28PM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that it's a "sad day for America" when he's accused of discrimination.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio Critics: Want Reform? Sheriff Joe Has To Go

Ryan J. Reilly and Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2011, 5:12PM

The findings in DOJ's investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office didn't surprise many local longtime critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, many of whom said Thursday that his departure would be the only way to put a stop to his office's deep-seated bias.

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Death Penalty

Report: Death Sentences At Lowest Level In Decades

David Taintor | December 15, 2011, 2:44PM

The world watched, transfixed, as Georgia man Troy Davis headed for execution by lethal injection in September, with many calling the execution unjust. A Republican debate audience that same month cheered loudly as Texas Gov. Rick Perry defended his state's record of executing more death row inmates than any other governor in modern times. But death penalty opponents might breathe a sigh of relief today.

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Janet Napolitano

DHS Cuts Off Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Access To ICE Programs

Ryan J. Reilly | December 15, 2011, 2:04PM

Updated: 2:55PM

The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement just cut off the Maricopa County's Sheriff's Office's access to the Secure Communities program and terminated an agreement which lets them detain individuals in the country illegally after their initial arrest.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement that the decision was based on the Justice Department's findings of discriminatory policing practices by MCSO and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

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voter fraud

Fox Falsely Claims 'Mickey Mouse' And 'Adolf Hitler' Are On Scott Walker Recall Petition (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | December 15, 2011, 1:32PM

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) shakes hands with Republican legislative members after delivering his budget address to a joint session of the legislature at the state Capitol on March 1, 2011 in Madison, WI.

Fox News reporter Eric Shawn told viewers on Thursday that signatures from "Mickey Mouse" and "Adolf Hitler" were "allegedly on petitions in Wisconsin in the recall for Governor Scott Walker." Fun little story with the potential to go viral? Absolutely. True? Not so much.

In fact, the original story that Shawn evidently built his report off of is about a strictly hypothetical situation discussed by members of the Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board who were asked what would happen if someone signed the petition as Mickey Mouse. There's been no actual allegation that anyone actually signed the petition against Walker that way.

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August B. Kreis III

Aryan Nations Leader Sentenced For Fraud After Feds Investigated Al Qaeda Ties

Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2011, 1:22PM

Aryan Nations leader August B. Kreis III may be a white supremacist who appeared on Jerry Springer and was investigated for possible Al Qaeda connections, but this week he was sentenced for something much less colorful: fraud.

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Joe Arpaio

Feds: Sheriff Joe Arpaio 'Promoted A Culture Of Bias,' Discriminated Against Latinos

Ryan J. Reilly | December 15, 2011, 11:56AM

Updated: Dec. 15, 12:42PM

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has "promoted a culture of bias" against Latinos in his Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and communicated to officers that "biased policing would not only be tolerated, but encouraged," according to a just-released report by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

DOJ investigators found during a three year probe that there was reasonable cause to believe that Arpaio, who fancies himself America's Toughest Sheriff, and the Maricopa County's Sheriff's Office (MCSO) have engaged "in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing" and "engages in racial profiling of Latinos; unlawfully stops, detains, and arrests Latinos; and unlawfully retaliates against individuals who complain about or criticize MCSO's policies or practices."

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Joe Arpaio

Justice Department To Announce Results Of Investigation Into Sheriff Joe Arpaio

December 15, 2011, 10:03AM

The head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will announce the results of a long running investigation into in Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona on Thursday.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez has a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix scheduled for 12 p.m. EST to discuss the results of their probe into the office run by the man known as America's Toughest Sheriff.

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Lowe's

Right-Wing Rallies Around Lowe's For Not Giving In To 'Radical Islamists'

Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2011, 6:01AM

If you were eagerly waiting for the cacophony of right-wing bloggers to weigh in on the Lowe's controversy, you're in luck.

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Robert Mueller

Obama Enrages Civil Liberties Groups By Dropping Detainee Veto Threat

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 6:03PM

President Barack Obama

Despite concerns from the law enforcement community that provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act that direct terrorism suspects into the military system could hamper national security, the White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama would not veto the legislation.

Claiming credit for last minute changes to the legislation, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in statement that the administration had "succeeded in prompting the authors of the detainee provisions to make several important changes, including the removal of problematic provisions" after "intensive engagement" by administration officials and Obama himself.

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Richard Ulloa

Sovereign Citizen Gets Five Years For Trillion-Dollar 'Paper Terrorism' Scheme

Jillian Rayfield | December 14, 2011, 3:23PM

A so-called sovereign citizen in New York was sentenced to five years for mail fraud after a "paper terrorism" scheme that involved sending bankers and public officials fake bills and liens worth trillions of dollars.

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DOJ

DOJ Report: DEA Needs To Be More Covert About Their Undercover Airplanes

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 12:55PM

The Drug Enforcement Administration needs to keep their undercover aerial operations targeting narcotics trafficking along the Mexican border and in foreign countries a bit more hush-hush, according to a new report from the Justice Department's inspector general.

As of March, DOJ investigators searching the FAA aircraft registration database were able to find records of 25 domestically-based DEA aircraft that "should have been registered covertly to fictitious or cover organizations but that were not." As of Sept. 7, 13 DEA aircraft that should have been registered covertly still weren't (TPM found five planes registered still registered to the DEA in a search of the FAA's database on Wednesday).

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Congress

Mueller: Congress' Terror Detainee Deal Would Create 'Uncertainty' During Arrests

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 12:15PM

As of Tuesday, the federal government wasn't quite ready to render a verdict on the compromise reached by members of Congress on a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act which guides terrorist suspects into the military justice system. But FBI Director Robert Mueller indicated Wednesday that the administration still has concerns, though it's still unclear if the White House will make good on a previous veto threat.

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Wisconsin

First Arrest Made In Wisconsin "John Doe" Investigation

Eric Kleefeld | December 14, 2011, 11:56AM

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)

The first arrest has been made in the investigation of former aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) from his time as Milwaukee County Executive -- reportedly for non-cooperation with the investigation by a Walker supporter.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's "No Quarter" blog reports:

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Kenneth Kratz

Judge: Former DA Has Not Established That 'Sexting' Was Part Of His Job Description

Jillian Rayfield | December 14, 2011, 11:02AM

Calumet County, Wisconsin, District Attorney Kenneth Kratz

A federal judge will allow a lawsuit against former Wisconsin DA Kenneth Kratz, who is being sued for sexual harassment by a domestic abuse victim that he "sexted."

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Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart: TLC's All-American Muslim Isn't Controversial, It's Boring

David Taintor | December 14, 2011, 9:41AM

Jon Stewart

The Learning Channel's programming isn't all innocent shows about young boys and girls dolled-up in pageants. Sometimes the network slips up, Jon Stewart said Tuesday.

Like TLC's new show, All-American Muslim. "What are they thinking?" Stewart said. "Who gives a jihadi terrorist cell a show? I say ... assuming that that must be it, because there's a controversy."

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Stephen Colbert

Blues Harp Player And His Occupy-Inspired Super PAC 'Riding The Coattails' Of Stephen Colbert

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 8:55AM

Updated: Dec. 14, 6:07PM

Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?

Perhaps that's what individuals seeking to donate to Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert's political action committee Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow will be asking themselves if they stumble upon a newly formed -- and similarly named -- super PAC called Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Today.

There's no actual connection between Colbert's 'super PAC' -- which the comedian has used as a means to sarcastically advocate for fewer restrictions on money in politics -- and Americans For A Better Tomorrow Today, which filed its paperwork with the Federal Election Commission last week. But Todd Bailey, custodian of records and treasurer for the new group, said Colbert had "raised a lot of awareness around the issue" and provided his (mostly anonymous) clients with an opportunity.

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Eric Holder

Obama Administration Backs Bill Combating Voter Intimidation, Deception

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 6:05PM

United States Attorney General Eric Holder

The Obama administration is signaling support for a forthcoming Senate bill that would impose tough criminal and civil penalties on individuals who make and distribute campaign literature with false information intended to deceive voters and suppress turnout.

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce in a major speech on voting rights in Texas on Tuesday night that Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) will introduce the bill on Wednesday. The bill will be "narrowly tailored" to respect provisions of the First Amendment, according to Cardin's office. It will apply to "only a small category of false communications that occur during the last 90 days before an election, such as literature listing the wrong date or time for the election, giving inaccurate information about voter eligibility, or promoting false endorsements of candidates." A nearly identical bill was introduced by Schumer and then-Sen. Barack Obama back in 2007 but never passed.

In his speech at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library And Museum in Austin, Holder will call for election systems "that are free from fraud, discrimination, and partisan influence" and will say that protecting the right to vote and combating discrimination "must be viewed, not only as a legal issue - but as a moral imperative." Holder's speech also offers a challenge:

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John Boehner

Emails Suggest Ohio's New Republican-Friendly Maps Save the GOP 'Millions'

December 13, 2011, 3:05PM

by Lois Beckett ProPublica

As we've been documenting in our ongoing series, political parties and other powerful players use the once-a-decade redistricting process to advance their own goals--often at the expense of voters.

A recently released trove of e-mails from Ohio offers a rare inside glimpse into how it works.

The e-mails, sent from June to September, show collaboration between the national GOP and state Republicans to re-draw Ohio's map and thus cement control of both the statehouse and a majority of congressional districts.

In one of the emails, a Republican consultant working on redistricting for the state suggested that the new political maps could save the GOP "millions" of dollars in campaign funds by making districts safer for Republican candidates.

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Indefinite Detentions

Civil Liberties Advocates See Political Shackles In Revised Detention Bill

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 2:47PM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration is continuing to review a compromise struck between the House and Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act that congressional leaders believe solves the issues over the detention of terrorism suspects that caused the White House to issue a veto threat. But civil liberties groups have already given the proposal their assessment, and they don't like what they see.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) announced the changes Monday night, saying that the conference report "provides a number of additional assurances that there will be no interference with civilian interrogations or other law enforcement activities." A Justice Department spokesman told TPM they were still assessing the compromise, while a White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Civil liberties groups, on the other hand, contend the changes aren't enough. Take this language, added to the bill last night:

'Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or any other domestic law enforcement agency with regard to a covered person, regardless of whether such covered person is held in military custody.'

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Drones

ND Sheriff Used Predator Drone To Arrest 'Sovereign Citizens'

Jillian Rayfield | December 13, 2011, 11:59AM

MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft.

A family of "sovereign citizens" in North Dakota was arrested with the help of a predator drone, borrowed from border patrol agents by the local sheriff in an effort to avoid a standoff over some missing cows.

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Blackwater

'Gentlemen, We Shot a Judge' and Other Tales of Contractors' Rampage Through Iraq

December 13, 2011, 11:51AM

John Cook | Gawker

Every time a Blackwater centurion discharged his weapon in Iraq, the company filed a written report with the U.S. State Department. Blackwater shot Iraq to shit. Here are the reports.

Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism, announced yesterday that it has changed its name to Academi (after a previous incarnation as Xe Services) in a bid to distance itself from its history of wanton lawlessness. We've obtained a 4,500-page record of that history in the form of State Department incident reports documenting every time a Blackwater guard shot at an Iraqi between 2005 and 2007.

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Voter Identification

ACLU Sues Scott Walker Over Wisconsin's Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 11:15AM

Wisconsin's voter ID law imposes the equivalent of a poll tax on individuals with out-of-state drivers licenses and discriminates against the poor, students and the elderly, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday.

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Louisiana

Florida Family Association: 'Anonymous' Hacked Us Over Lowe's Campaign

Jillian Rayfield | December 13, 2011, 10:08AM

The Florida Family Association is blaming Anonymous for taking down its website after the social conservative group pressured Lowe's to pull its advertising from the TV show All-American Muslim.

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Eric Holder

Holder: 'You Don't See Huge Amounts Of Voter Fraud Out There'

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2011, 6:00AM

Attorney General Eric Holder

If you've been following the debate over restrictive voter ID laws, the fact that there aren't many instances of voter fraud out there (especially of the type that could be prevented by voter ID laws) isn't news. What's interesting is who's saying it.

"You constantly hear about voter fraud... but you don't see huge amounts of vote fraud out there," Attorney General Eric Holder told the Washington Post.

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World Net Daily

Birthers Fly Aerial 'Where's The Real Birth Certificate?' Ad Over NFL Game

Jillian Rayfield | December 12, 2011, 6:19PM

Apparently there's a lot of potential overlap between football fans and birthers, because the birther-tastic site WorldNetDaily took out an aerial ad asking "Where's the real birth certificate?" at a Cowboys-Giants game on Sunday.

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Tea Party

Tea Party Group Calls 'Half Black, Half White' Obama A Skunk

David Taintor | December 12, 2011, 3:17PM

A Kansas tea party group is saying "pee-eww" to President Obama.

Patriot Freedom Alliance, a tea party group in Hutchinson, Kansas, made a statement on its website recently, depicting Obama as a skunk.

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Rick Perry

Election Lawyer: Supreme Court Hearing Texas Redistricting Case Shows Their Partisanship

Ryan J. Reilly | December 12, 2011, 1:20PM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

The nine (or is it eight?) members of the Supreme Court are set to decide whether redistricting maps drawn by a federal court (after separate maps signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry were found to be discriminatory) can go into effect.

The Supreme Court's one paragraph order on Friday placed a stay on the implementation of the maps, tossing Texas's congressional and state legislature elections into chaos. Political observers and participants in the case are still trying to figure out exactly what it means for the election timeline. A hearing is set for Jan. 9.

Gerry Hebert, an election lawyer in D.C. who is working for intervenors in the redistricting case, told TPM that the Supreme Court's decision shows that they're "just another governmental institution in Washington that's highly partisan."

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Bill Johnson

Anti-Gay Alabama GOPer Secretly Donated Sperm To Lesbian Couples In New Zealand

Jillian Rayfield | December 12, 2011, 1:17PM

We feel safe in saying this is probably the weirdest story you'll read all day...

An anti-gay Alabama Republican was reportedly making secret sperm donations to at least nine New Zealand women he met over the internet, unbeknownst to his wife back in America.

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American Family Association

Lowe's: Existence Of Muslims A Controversial 'Topic'

Jillian Rayfield | December 12, 2011, 10:42AM

Under fire for a decision to pull advertising from the TLC show All-American Muslim, Lowe's this weekend put out a backhanded apology, saying that "individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic" and "we've managed to make some people very unhappy."

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Blackwater

Xe, Formerly Known As Blackwater, Changes Name To Academi

Ryan J. Reilly | December 12, 2011, 10:30AM

The company formerly known as Blackwater is now the company formerly known as Xe.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the security contractor is announcing it's switched its name to Academi, all part of an effort to be more "boring."

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Stop SB48

Anti-Gay Groups Mobilize Against CA's 'Indoctrinating' Gay History Law

Jillian Rayfield | December 12, 2011, 5:58AM

A number of anti-gay groups are pushing initiatives to gut a California law that mandates classes on the contributions of prominent minorities, because they say the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the language "endorses" being gay and is part of the "sexual brainwashing" and "indoctrination" of our nation's youth.

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