Blue State Graft Watch- Feds Ordered to Delay Arrest of New Jersey Senator's Staffer Until After Election

Recently released documents obtained by the Associated Press show that federal agents investigating an unpaid intern working for Sen Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for being in the country illegally and aggravated sexual assault were under pressure to postpone any arrest until after the November 2012 elections.

[A]ccording to the internal agency documents, the agents were ordered by Washington to hold off after officials warned of "significant interest" from Congress and news organizations since the suspect was a volunteer intern for New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.

Luis Abrahan Sánchez Zavaleta was an immigrant from Peru who had overstayed a visitor visa that allowed him to enter the United States. He eventually was arrested at his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6. He has since been released from an immigration jail and is facing deportation.

When The Associated Press first disclosed the delayed arrest of last month, Sanchez, 18, the Homeland Security Department said AP's report was "categorically false."

According to those documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Newark had arranged to arrest Sanchez at the local prosecutor's office on Oct. 25. That was fewer than two weeks before the election.

Noting that Sanchez was a volunteer in Menendez's Senate office, ICE officials in New Jersey advised that the arrest "had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest" and were "advised to postpone the arrest" until officials in Washington gave approval. The documents describe a conference call between officials Washington and New Jersey to "determine a way forward, given the potential sensitivities surrounding the case."

In a letter Monday, Assistant DHS Secretary Nelson Peacock said an allegation that the government delayed Sanchez's arrest "for political purposes" was categorically false. Neither the unnamed U.S. official cited in AP's original story or the senators in their letters to the department had specifically alleged that the arrest had been delayed for political purposes. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez's immigration case, told AP last month that the department had instructed federal agents not to arrest Sanchez until after Election Day.

The documents provided to Congress do not indicate why the arrest should have been delayed or whether anyone outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement — such as in the headquarters offices of the Homeland Security Department — was consulted.


According to police records, Sanchez was 15 when he was arrested on a charge of aggravated sexual assault in 2009. The records show he was accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy at least eight times and sentenced to two years' probation and required to register as a sex offender. The AP is not reporting the boy's relationship to Sanchez to avoid identifying the victim.

The agency documents show that Sanchez failed to update his sex offender registration, and local prosecutors considered arresting him for that. During the same time, immigration officials learned that Sanchez had applied for the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which would have allowed him to stay in the country and legally work for two years. He did not disclose his arrest or status as a sex offender on the application and was eventually denied, according to the documents.

Prior to the 2012 election, Sen Menendez was enmeshed in a sex scandal when two women from the Dominican Republic said that the Senator paid to have sex with them, reportedly short-changing one of the women.

A high-ranking Dominican official confirmed that both Sen Menendez and a donor identified as Dr Salomon Melgen were frequent visitors to the island nation and attended parties at Megen's villa where orgies were said to hake place.

GAO Audit Uncovers Department of Homeland Security-Approved Flight School Run by Illegal Alien Training 25 More Illegal Aliens

A report released by the Government Accountability Office this week found that even a decade after the September 11th terrorist attacks, flight schools remain a weak spot for national security- one that could be easily exploited by terrorist organizations.

In testimony before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Government Accountability Office said it found fault with TSA's Alien Flight Student Program, which attempts to establish whether foreign students hoping to enroll at U.S. flight schools are a security threat to the United States.

Before foreign nationals can begin flight training, the Alien Flight Student Program requires they undergo name- and fingerprint-based background checks. They also must submit security documents, such as a passport, said Kerwin Wilson, the TSA official who oversees the flight school screening program.

But according to the GAO, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to keep its database of these background checks up to date.

By cross-referencing the Federal Aviation Administration's database of registered pilots with similar information kept by the TSA's Alien Flight Student Program, the GAO found that some of about 25,000 foreign nationals registered with the FAA were missing from the transportation agency's database, the GAO's Stephen Lord told the committee.

Moreover, the Alien Flight Student Program does not determine whether these individuals are in the country illegally, Lord said.

When Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., asked at the hearing Wednesday whether an individual who was unable to board a commercial plane because he posed a threat to U.S. security could begin to learn to fly that same plane, officials from both the GAO and the TSA said yes.

The report cited a 2010 case from a Stow, MA based flight school that was run by an illegal immigrant and was certifying at least 25 other illegal immigrants as pilots. The owner, who was charged with overstaying his visa and ordered to return to Brazil in late 2010.

The owner of the TJ Aviation Flight Academy and more than 30 students accused of being in the United States illegally received clearance to train as pilots despite strict security controls put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Each of the three showed documents from the TSA approving pilot lessons through the federal agency's alien flight student program.

"If I was not supposed to do it, they were supposed to block everything and not give me permission. Not just me, but others," another said.

"You cannot start classes without clearance from the TSA," he said.

The school's owner- Thiago de Jesus- denied in a Boston Globe interview that he was in the country illegally, but reportedly declined to show any documentation that would prove his claim. The majority of the students from TJ Aviation flight were also from Brazil.

The findings came the within days of another security breach at an airport. On Tuesday, a fugitive pilot wanted in connection with the stabbing death of his Colorado girlfriend scaled the fence at a St George's, UT airport and attempted to steal a parked passenger plane before crashing while taxiing and before shooting himself.

Authorities were trying to determine just how Hedglin -- wanted in the murder of his girlfriend in Colorado -- gained access to the 50-passenger plane while the airport was closed, among other details.

The short ride was jarring enough to collapse the plane's front landing gear as it careened over landscaping, crossed a road and hit a curb before crashing into cars in the parking lot, St. George police Capt. James Van Fleet said

SkyWest officials said the company deactivated Hedglin's access cards and put him on administrative leave after Colorado authorities named him a murder suspect, but declined to explain how he was able to steal one of their planes.

The 50-passenger Bombardier passenger jet was scheduled for a flight later on Tuesday when Hedlin gained entry. A SkyWest spokeswoman declined to state whether or not the aircraft was secured within FAA guidelines when it was stolen.

Supreme Court Upholds Provisions of Arizona's SB1070 Immigration Law

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a provision in Arizona's controversial SB1070 that allowed state and local officers to enquire about a suspect's immigration status but struck down other provisions that included requiring all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers, making it a state criminal offense for an illegal immigrant to seek work or hold a job and allowing police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants without warrants.

The portion of the law allowing city, county or state police in Arizona to investigate the immigration status of an individual detained or questioned if there is reasonable suspicion that individual is in the country illegally is expected to face additional challenges from civil liberties and open borders activist groups.

After the Supreme Court announced their ruling, the Obama Administration and the Department of Homeland Security would suspend existing agreements with law enforcement in Arizona, issuing a directive to Homeland Security to ignore many of the calls they might get from police and sheriff's departments in Arizona.

Federal officials said they’ll still perform the checks as required by law but will respond only when someone has a felony conviction on his or her record. Absent that, ICE will tell the local police to release the person.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said the court’s decision frees police up to perform immigration checks. In anticipation of the ruling, she issued an executive order calling for guidance to be issued to every police department on how to fairly carry out the law.

On Monday the administration officials also said they are ending the seven 287(g) task force agreements with Arizona law enforcement officials, which proactively had granted some local police the powers to enforce immigration laws.

The task forces, named for the section of law that allows them, have proved popular among many localities but have been a political headache for the Obama administration, with immigrant-rights groups saying they led to abuses.

In July 2010, US District Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction against the implementation of many parts of SB1070, but permitted one that included making knowingly harboring illegal immigrants a crime to remain. A few weeks prior, the Department of Justice had filed a lawsuit against the Grand Canyon State over SB 1070.

Interestingly, the state of Rhode Island had similar laws implemented via executive order from then-governor Carcieri, but Little Rhody never drew the wrath of the Obama Administration or open-borders activists like Arizona's SB1070 did. On the flip side, a Vermont state trooper was accused of racial profiling and Gov. Shumlin ordered an internal investigation after the trooper arrested two illegal immigrants who were passengers in a speeding car in September 2011.

Arizona's SB1070 ruling is one of two decisons from the Supreme Court- after much buildup and anticipation, the justices are expected to rule on 0bamacare later on this week.

Awesome: Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Background Among Those Granted Amnesty Thanks to Obama's Executive Order

During a speech on Friday in the White House's Rose Garden that turned contentious towards the end, President Obama announced a new executive order that would allow children of illegal immigrants to avoid deportation.

The order is expected to apply to as many as 800,000 illegal immigrants whose families brought them here when they were still children. In addition to being a glaring example of election-year pandering on the part of the president, critics also pointed out that Obama's executive order clearly undercut the enumerated powers of Congress.

The executive order will apply to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before they were 16 and are younger than 30. They also must have no major criminal offenses, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have graduated from a U.S. high school or have earned a GED, or served in the military.

Individuals who have been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, or three or more other misdemeanor offenses not occurring on the same date and not arising out of the same act, omission, or scheme of misconduct are not eligible to be considered for deferred action under the new process.

Those now eligible also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed.

However, despite the statement the Administration disseminated on Friday, the language of the executive order still left the door open for illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds to avoid deportations [nor did it clarify whether those who received an Other-Than-Honorable or Dishonorable Discharge from the military- NANESB!].

The section at issue states in part that young illegal immigrants eligible for the program must have “not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the first administration official to announce the plan, said Friday morning the policy change was an attempt to keep the agency’s enforcement resources focused on removing the most potentially dangerous illegal immigrants, including felons and repeat offenders.

She also attempted to assure Americans by saying those eligible under the program must apply for a two-year suspension of deportation and a work visa, after which they can reapply for renewal. She also said each applicant would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Still, the attempt a reassuring the public that those eligible, included illegal immigrants as old as 30, did not satisfy Arizona GOP Rep. David Schweikert.

“I am extremely disappointed by this election year executive order for several reasons,” he said Saturday.

Schweikert called the order backdoor amnesty full of unintended consequences that puts hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants ahead of millions of unemployed Americans in the workforce.

He also said called applicants being eligible despite having a criminal record “the latest facet of the plan, that we are just discovering … seriously dangerous and inexcusable.”

The Department of Homeland Securtity’s 8-page memo on the major, election-year policy change attempts to clarify several anticipated questions on criminal history, including what qualifies as a “significant misdemeanor.”

The response states it part: “A federal, state, or local criminal offense punishable by no more than one year of imprisonment or even no imprisonment that involves: violence, threats, or assault, sexual abuse, larceny, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the unlawful possession or use of a firearm, drug distribution or trafficking, or unlawful possession of drugs.”

Among other concerns raised is that now millions of out-of-work Americans or legal immigrants will be competing for even scarcer employment with the 800,000 or so illegals who were granted backdoor amnesty thanks to Obama's fiat-by executive order.

Feds Arrest Moroccan Citizen For Allegdly Attempt to Carry Out Suicide Bombing at US Capitol

Federal officers arrested a 29 year old man reportedly on his way to the Capitol building in Washington D.C. to carry out a suicide bombing on Friday afternoon in an apparent 'lone-wolf' style attempt.

The federal criminal complaint against the suspect identifies him as Amine El Khalifi,

He was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, initiated after he allegedly expressed interest in conducting an attack. Court documents say he came onto the radar screen in early December after he told an undercover agent about an earlier plan to bomb a northern Virginia building.

Khalifi was charged Friday in U.S. District Court in northern Virginia with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The suspect allegedly weighed hitting various targets ranging from a military installation to synagogues to a Washington restaurant before settling on the Capitol.

The man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda.He purchased bomb materials including jackets, nails and glue in preparation for an attack

When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying with him a vest that he had been led to believe was packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous,

A short time earlier, Khalifi had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area. His destination was Capitol Hill.

The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, officials said. The FBI provided the suspect with a disabled gun during their ongoing operation

The U.S. Capitol Police, in a statement that confirmed the arrest but provided few details, said the suspect had been "closely and carefully monitored."

A senior source involved with law enforcement at the Capitol also told Fox News the investigation was "all very controlled." The source said the U.S. Capitol Police was involved with the FBI and other agencies in tracking the suspect "not more than a year."

Khalifi had reportedly set off explosives in a remote quarry in West Virginia while accompanied undercover agents as part a test before carrying out his attack.

Khalifi was been staying in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the USA on in 1999. While living in northern Virginia, the Moroccan had a run-ins with his Arlington landlord who had called local police.

Frank Dynda said Friday that a woman who leased an apartment in his Arlington building apparently married Amine El Khalifi and then moved out. He says when Dynda told El Khalifi to leave, he said he had a right to stay and threatened to beat Dynda up.

Dynda says he thought El Khalifi was making bombs, but police told him to leave the man alone. Dynda had El Khalifi evicted in 2010.

Agents from FBI counterterrorism task force and Arlington County police officers searched a residence in Douglas Park, VA in relation to Khalidi's arrest.

Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody in Vermont Traffic Stop; Governor Demands Investigaton- of State Trooper

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin demanded an internal probe of the State Police stemming from traffic stop on Interstate 89 in Middlesex, VT involving two illegal aliens who were taken into custody this week.

After reading this account from the Burlington Free Press, I'll let you guess Gov. Shumlin's political affiliation.

Gov. Peter Shumlin on Tuesday night ordered an internal investigation of a Vermont State Police traffic stop earlier in the day involving migrant farm workers that later led to a protest at the Middlesex state police barracks.

Two passengers were detained in the traffic stop on Interstate 89, including a leader of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project.

“The governor is concerned by accounts of the incident and ordered an immediate internal investigation to determine the facts of what happened and if Vermont State Police bias-free policies were followed,” a news release issued by Shumlin’s office stated.

How exactly does 'bias-free policing' work, anyway? If a policeman pulls over a motorist wearing a Lone Ranger Mask, Hamburglar shirt and bags marked with dollar signs next to him, does he refrain from asking the motorist a few basic questions for fear of having some sort of 'bias' complaint lodged against him?

Vermont State Police Director Tom L’Esperance said a state trooper stopped a vehicle for going 88 mph on the interstate in Middlesex. The trooper followed the vehicle for a short distance before pulling it over, police said.

During the traffic stop, the driver provided valid identification and faces a civil citation in connection with the vehicle’ speed. But the trooper became aware that two of the passengers might not have been in the country legally, L’Esperance said.

The two passengers taken into custody were determined to be in the U.S. illegally, said Mark R. Henry, operations Officer at the Swanton Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

They were later processed at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Richford, Henry said. Henry said both men — whose names and nationalities were not made public – were most likely to be released with an order to appear for a hearing at a later date.

I find it quite telling that the Vermont State Trooper in question did nothing out of the ordinary, yet Gov. Shumlin demanded a probe of the traffic stop that very day. In 49 other states, I think what that State Trooper did would be considered basic police work.

Good to see that in less than a month, Vermont has sufficiently recovered from the worst flooding in nearly 80 years for the good governor to investigate why the State Police are doing things like pulling over speeding motorists and taking people who are in violation of the law into custody.

Don't worry- it gets even better!

After the traffic stop, state police took the two suspects to the Middlesex barracks, where an incident took place involving supporters of the men who were in the car. When the Border Patrol attempted to leave with the two illegal-immigration suspects, five people attempted to block the federal officers, state police said. Troopers ordered the individuals to move, and three did not, police said.

Those three individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. The individuals are accused of forming a shield, said Capt. Dan Troidl, commander of Troop A, which covers five northwestern counties.

I'm guessing that at some point during either the traffic stop or at the Middlesex barracks, the phrase 'Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?' was uttered- and not by anybody in uniform.

Well, the good news is that the Governor of Vermont's term lasts two years instead of the four years that is typical in most other states, so Shumlin could be looking at an ouster for this Bloomberg-caliber micromanaging as early as next year. The bad news is that this is Vermont, and odds are enough people will either see no problem with this or think Shumlin didn't go far enough that he will remain safely ensconced in Montpelier after November 2012.

Obama Urges Hispanics to 'Punish Enemies' in Univision Interview

This from our post-racial, post-partisan President of course.

“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2,” Obama said in the interview, which was taped Friday in Los Angeles.

And what 'enemies' is the Commander in Chief referring to? Al Qaeda? A nuclear Iran? The Mexican cartels and their murderous enforcers?

Gosh no, you naive rubes. He's talking about Republicans- you know, the political party that's been out of power for the last four years.

Obama sought to place blame directly on Republicans, who he said have turned on Latinos by focusing only on border security, supporting Arizona’s immigration enforcement law and opposing the Dream Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for some students and those who serve in the military.

“Those aren’t the kind of folks who represent our core American values,” Obama said of Republicans

Yes, apparently focusing on border security and enforcing this nation's laws is contrary to core American values in Obama's eyes. I mean anybody who opposes wholesome Democrat supported legislative items like 0bamacare, Card Check, Cap & Trade or another stimulus clearly hates mom, baseball, apple pie and all things American.

Let that sink in. We have a sitting president of the United States of America who is exhorting one ethnic group to 'punish their enemies', referring to other US citizens as the 'enemy'.

Nov 2nd cannot come fast enough.

[hat tip- Lonely Conservative; Hugh Hewitt]

UPDATED 8/27- Even More Borderline Psychosis: 72 Migrants Slain at Remote Ranch by Gunmen

The sole survivor of a brutal massacre alerted Mexican authorities to a bloody scene at a remote ranch in Tamaulipas after stumbling into a military checkpoint Monday.

Mexican Marines with helicopter support were directed by the wounded survivor to a ranch roughly 90 miles from the Texas/Mexico border. As the Marines moved in, gunmen opened fire on the marines, leaving one marine and three suspected cartel gunmen killed by return fire while more suspected gunmen escaped by truck.

At the ranch, the military discovered the 72 bodies. According to the sole survivor, an Ecuadorean national, the victims were illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil who were attempting to enter the USA illegally via the Texas/Mexico border.

Authorities also discovered a cache of arms and ammunition as well as a number of trucks painted to look like military vehicles at the crime scene. The perpetrators are suspected to be from Los Zetas, the one-time enforcers for the Gulf cartel comprised mainly of former soldiers and police officers, who have also been extorting, kidnapping and murdering illegal immigrants that transit through their territory en route to the USA.

Earlier this year, the Zetas and Gulf Cartel were locked in a bloody turf war to secure lucrative smuggling routes through northeastern Mexico. However, the Zetas have been known to kidnap and ransom migrants or press them into service as drug couriers or prostitutes.

UPDATE- 8/27: The lead investigator in the massacre and an unnamed policeman from the nearby town of San Fernando have reportedly disappeared. There were unconfirmed reports circulating in the Mexican press early Friday that the bodies of the two men were found dumped by the side of the road near where the 72 migrants were massacred.

Speaking of the Mexican press, two car bombs were set off in Ciudad Victoria on Friday with one of them targeting the local Televisa TV station [NYSE: TV]. There were no reports of casualties, but the station lost its signal for several hours. The other car bomb was apparently targeting a transit center.

Federal Judge De-Fangs Arizona Immigration Law One Day Before It's Set to Take Effect

A Federal Judge issued an injunction against much of Arizona's SB1070 law targeting illegal immigrants on Wednesday- a day before the law was scheduled to take effect.

According to the Arizona Republic, US District Judge Susan Bolton's last-minute injunction blocks the following portions of SB1070 from taking effect

• The portion of the law that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there's reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally.

• The portion that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry "alien-registration papers."

• The portion that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.

• The portion that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work. There are three parts to that part of the law. Two of them will go into effect, one of them will not.
The ruling also says that law enforcement still must enforce federal immigration laws to the fullest extent of the law when SB 1070 goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Individuals will still be able to sue an agency if they adopt a policy that restricts such enforcement.

Bolton did not halt the part of the law that creates misdemeanors crimes for harboring and transporting illegal immigrants

The Arizona Governor's office had already filed an expedited appeal with the US 9th Circuit court, saying that yesterday's ruling wasn't completely unexpected. Arizona is currently facing lawsuits from the Justice Department, the ACLU and the Mexican government over SB1070.

Justice Department spokeswoman Hannah August applauded the ruling.

"While we understand the frustration of Arizonans with the broken immigration system, a patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement and would ultimately be counterproductive," August said.

[Note: 'Broken immigration system' is a phrase that's usually a preamble to 'Comprehensive immigration reform', which is in and of itself a euphemism of 'blanket amnesty' -NANESB!].

Yes- the Justice Department understands the frustration of Arizonans so well that they've decided to combat the rampant human smuggling and drug trafficking through the deserts of the border states with signs, lawsuits and calls for stricter gun control laws here in the USA.

No word on whether or not the Justice Department will go after Rhode Island next.

Rhode Island State Police: Doing the Job That Obama Wants to Prevent Arizona Police From Doing

As I mentioned earlier, the Department of Justice has initiated a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over the anti-illegal immigrant SB 1070. Given the sound and fury that's surrounded the law that allows state and local police in Arizona to check the immigration status of somebody they encounter while enforcing other laws (traffic stops, domestic disturbance calls, etc), you would think it would be the first of it's kind.

You would be wrong, however. The Rhode Island State Police have been working closely with ICE over the last three years to help verify the identity of immigrants who have been suspected, arrested or convicted of crimes in the state. This level of cooperation between the Feds and law enforcement in Rhode Island has been going for a few years now, much to the chagrin of the American Civil Liberties Union and various 'community organizers'.

Credit where credit is due- the Boston Globe had a pretty good article highlighting the differences in policies between the State Police in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

SCITUATE, R.I. — Rhode Island State Trooper Nuno Vasconcelos was patrolling Interstate 95 a few months ago when he came upon a two-car accident in heavy traffic. The trooper pulled up, stepped out of his cruiser, and asked one of the drivers for his license.

The man said he did not have a license, and under questioning, confessed that he was here illegally from Guatemala.

If the accident had happened 15 miles north in Massachusetts, the man would probably have been arrested for driving without a license, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 and 10 days in jail, then released pending an appearance in district court.

But in Rhode Island, illegal immigrants face a far greater penalty: deportation.

From Woonsocket to Westerly, the troopers patrolling the nation’s smallest state are reporting all illegal immigrants they encounter, even on routine stops such as speeding, to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

Perhaps the Commonwealth lawmakers on Beacon Hill might have a change of heart before one of their own gets rear-ended by a drunken illegal immigrant that's driving while intoxicated.

Whoops. Too late.



It's a pretty safe bet that since Isais Naranjo didn't bother with the niceties of coming into the country legally or driving while sober, it's also safe to assume that a driver's licence or auto insurance was out of the question.

But whatever keeps the 'community organizers' happy, I guess.

[Big ol' tip o' the hat to LoppyD]

Feds Spring Into Action on Deteriorating Border Situation- Files Suit Against Arizona; Appoints Sanctuary City Police Chief as Top ICE Liason

With parts of Arizona effectively ceded to smugglers and cartels south of the border threatening US police officers, the Obama Administration and Department of Justice has sprung into action to protect the citizens of Arizona future community activists and Democrat voters by responding to the Arizona situation like they have for pretty much any crisis: by sending in the lawyers.

No- not to seize assets of the cartels or human traffickers but to sue Arizona, silly! The DOJ made it official today, joining such American as Apple Pie groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the nation of Mexico in challenging Arizona's SB 1070 law in the courts.

PHOENIX – The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's new law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for a clash between the federal government and the state over the nation's toughest immigration crackdown.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix argues that Arizona's law requiring state and local police to question and possibly arrest illegal immigrants during the enforcement of other laws such as traffic violations usurps federal authority.

So basically, the Feds are going to try and make the case that the state of Arizona is trying to usurp its authority when it comes to the enforcement of immigration laws- which curiously is being applied to a state that signed a measure proactively against illegal immigration as opposed to sanctuary cities like Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Portland, Or. and Oakland, Ca that are proactively supporting illegal immigration through non-enforcement.

Speaking of sanctuary cities, former Houston police chief Harold Hurtt has been appointed to oversee cooperation with local and state law enforcement agencies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This announcement comes as the widow of a Houston police officer killed in the line of duty by a repeat offender who was in the country illegally sued Hurtt for failing to enforce already existing immigration laws. Rodney J Johnson was shot and killed during a September 2006 traffic stop by Juan Leonardo Quintero. Quintero had been in the country illegally and was deported in 1999, but managed to sneak back in and was arrested for DUI and lewd acts with a minor long before Houston PD officer Rodney Johnson pulled him over.

The widow- a current Houston Police officer herself- isn't seeking any monetary damages (outside of legal fees) but is hoping the civil suit will bring pressure to change some of the policies that led to the lapses that permitted an illegal immigrant with a rap sheet to be released back out into the public.

The lawsuit comes on the one year anniversary of another Houston PD officer being shot and killed by an illegal immigrant. Officer Henry Canales was fatally shot by Roberto Pedroza Carillo in June last year when Canales tried arresting him during an undercover sting. Carillo opened fire on another undercover officer before being killed by return fire.

More Borderline Psychosis- Mexican Cartel Issues Threat to American Police.

Two weeks after off-duty Nogales, AZ police officers on horseback encountered drug smugglers trying to bring marijuana across the border, drug cartels have issued a threat to off-duty police that the Nogales Police Department learned about through informants. The smugglers were able to flee back to Mexico with some of their contraband, but had to abandon half their cargo after running into the police officers.

“As a result of that,” Kirkham said, “our officers have received threats from the cartel that they are to look the other way if they are off-duty, or they will be targeted by a sniper or by other means.”
Following the threats, Kirhkam said, NPD notified the Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement agencies, which responded by stepping up manpower and surveillance in the area where the off-duty bust occurred.

The border town of about 20,000 is located on the US/Mexican border some 60 miles south of Tuscon and to the south and east of land that the BLM has considered off-limits.

Elsewhere in the Narcoinsurgency: At least 11 Mexican soldiers carrying out anti-trafficking duties were killed when their helicopter crashed in San Miguel De Alto, Durango. A spokesman for Mexico's ministry of National Defense said that the preliminary data indicated inclement weather played a role in the fatal crash.

Last week, 12 Mexican Federal Judicial Police officers were killed in an ambush in the state of Michoacán, a stronghold of the La Familia cartel. An unknown number of officers were wounded and the hospital they were being treated at was under 24/7 guard by heavily armed Federales.

The following day in Taxco, 15 suspected cartel gunmen were killed after a 40-minute firefight with Mexican soldiers. It was not immediately known if the ambush in Michoacán and shootout in Taxco were connected.

You might remember the southern town of Taxco as being home of the abandoned silver mines where the cartels dumped their victim's corpses. As it turns out, Authorities have pulled out 30 additional bodies this month from the mines-turned-mass-graves.

Parts of Arizona Considered Under Control of Mexican Cartels and Smugglers: Feds Respond With Lawsuit Against Arizona

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management has taken to posting warning signs regarding the potential dangers of encountering human and drug smugglers along lands under their jurisdiction in Southern Arizona last week. While not an outright prohibition of entering BLM lands, the signs warn about encountering armed criminals and smugglers in unusually blunt terms.

The signs were posted over a month after a Pinal County Sheriff's Deputy was shot by suspected drug traffickers while patrolling the area around the junction of Interstate 8 and Arizona Highway 84. Last week, two bodies belived to those of drug mules were found shot to death in the same area where the deputy was ambushed. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said in an interview Tuscon's KGUN TV that the cartels are in increasing control of parts of Arizona, including Pinal County.

The sheriff admits the cartels are operating in his county and without the federal government's help they can't get control. KGUN 9 News asked Babeu flat out if cartels control parts of Arizona. "Absolutely, they have in terms of the remote areas in the drug corridors in the desert here in west Pinal County. Our government has even erected signs warning citizens to beware this is a known drug corridor," Babeu said.

But don't worry! The Obama Administration is on the case! Besides fighting the spillover from Mexico's narcoinsurgency the blue state way (gun control and blanket amnesty for illegal aliens), US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let slip in a June 8 interview with Ecuador's NTN24 News that the Department of Justice will be filing a lawsuit against Arizona over their recent anti-illegal immigration bill [still wondering if anybody from the DOJ has actually read it yet- NANESB!]. This was confirmed on Friday by White House officials.

*WHEW!* Good thing all those other problems along the US/Mexican border have been taken care of so that the Obama Administration and the Justice Department can take on one of the 57 states (and a red state his 2008 Presidential opponent currently represents as a senator).

Here's an exit question for you, gentle NANESB! reader- if President Obama wanted to give the middle finger and say 'You don't matter' to red states like Louisiana and Arizona, what would he do differently?

Arizona to California: Who Run Bartertown?

In the wake of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signing a strict anti-illegal immigration bill into law, the Grand Canyon state has faced criticism and a wave of shrill, sanctimonious and largely symbolic boycotts from cities like San Francisco, Austin TX, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego. Hell, some geniuses even got together and decided to boycott Arizona iced tea, despite being headquartered in Long Island.

Like I said, the boycotts are largely petulant foot-stomping from various city councils such as Seattle's. The Emerald City's resolution provided a loophole that permitted Seattle to continue doing business with a Scottsdale, AZ-based company that maintains the city's 29 red light cameras.

And in some cases, Arizona has significant leverage with some of these cities that seek to harm their state economically. San Diego hoteliers began to backpedal from their city council's resolution earlier this week when Arizonans began contacting hotels to cancel reservations.

But even more vulnerable is Los Angeles, which gets an estimated 25% of its electricity from Arizona power plants. An official with Arizona's largest public utility drafted a letter in which he openly pondered cutting off electricity to the City of Angels.

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,

I was dismayed to learn that the Los Angeles City Council voted to boycott Arizona and Arizona-based companies — a vote you strongly supported — to show opposition to SB 1070 (Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act).

You explained your support of the boycott as follows: “While we recognize that as neighbors, we share resources and ties with the State of Arizona that may be difficult to sever, our goal is not to hurt the local economy of Los Angeles, but to impact the economy of Arizona. Our intent is to use our dollars — or the withholding of our dollars — to send a message.” (emphasis added)

I received your message; please receive mine. As a state-wide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona’s electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the “resources and ties” we share with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, approximately twenty-five percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.

If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation. I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.

People of goodwill can disagree over the merits of SB 1070. A state-wide economic boycott of Arizona is not a message sent in goodwill.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Gary Pierce

Huh....if I didn't know any better, I'd say the man was angry at various activists and know-nothing entertainers comparing his state to nazi Germany, inferring that anybody who called for enforcement of existing immigration laws was racist and a concerted effort to economically damage their state (moreso than the illegal immigration that's made Phoenix a hub of kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and human trafficking).

Imagine that.

Personally, I think everybody in Arizona should chip in and buy some ad time on all of LA's TV stations at 8:30 PM. At 8:28, they kill the power for about 90 seconds, and then when the juice comes back on, this would be the first thing that the viewers would see.



I'd also like to add that if Mayor Villaraigosa stood by the courage of his convictions, he should also turn away all those Arizona firefighters that show up as part of mutual aid for the next massive, out of control wildfire in Southern California.

[Hat tip Lonely Conservative: Wyatt Earp]

Speaker Pelosi Finds Religion

The year was 2008. An obscure Presidential candidate named Barack Hussein Obama was on the campaign trail obfuscating his 20-year association with a bigoted hate-preacher and explaining the joys of wealth redistribution to an Ohio plumber. Elsewhere that summer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- San FranFreakshow) appeared on NBC's Meet the Press in an attempt to singlehandedly rewrite Catholic Doctorine in order to mitigate her pro-abortion stance.

“… I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition … St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose,”

This did not go over well with the cardinals, bishops and numerous practicing Catholics at the time. Look- it's one thing to claim to be both Catholic and pro-abortion, but it's another to flat out lie and tell everybody that most other Catholics and the church itself are 100% down with abortion just like you are. Or that the Church hasn't made up its mind yet. Or whatever.

In advance of the 2008 Democrat Party convention in the Mile High city, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput, issued a scathing rebuttal to Pelosi's opportunistic and selective amnesia on Church doctrine.

Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith.

Why are you bringing this up now? you might be asking (and for good reason). I'm not here to singlehandedly fight the abortion debate [although I do find it amusing that the same women's groups who would shout "Keep your laws off of my body!" at pro-abortion rallies apparently have absolutely NO problem with 0bamacare- NANESB!] but it should probably be revisited now that Pelosi's trying to curry favor with the Church once more.

Lately, it seems the human lamprey known as Nancy Pelosi has decided to opportunistically attach herself to the Catholic Church once again, this time weighing in on immigration 'reform'.

"The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me and say, 'We want you to pass immigration reform,' and I said, 'I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. I want you to instruct your' -- whatever the communication is," [emphasis mine- NANESB!] said Pelosi, who is Catholic, speaking at the Nation's Catholic Community conference sponsored by Trinity Washington University and the National Catholic Reporter.

And how would the human lamprey with the 28% Approval rating feel about those same Catholic leaders speaking out in opposition to same-sex marriage or abortion from that same pulpit? Or would the Speaker magically rediscover the separation of Church and State once the Catholic Church's opposition to those particular issues were clarified from the pulpit.

Can anybody else believe the unmitigated chutzpah of this caricature of a woman? Not even two years ago, she was on national TV telling the nation the Catholic Church's stance on abortion was uncertain and ambiguous, so her pro-abortion legislative views weren't in violation of the Church's teachings. Now we're supposed to believe that the same church she gave the middle finger to has come crawling to her to beg for her assistance on amnesty immigration reform.

Actually, that could be partially true. Why do I get the feeling that the church officials who visited Pelosi begging for some kind of amnesty immigration reform to pass would be considered 'Liberation Theologians'? For those of you who don't know what Liberation Theology is, think along the lines of Rev. Wright's Trinity Church of Christ or Jim Jones' People's Temple, but under the guise of Catholicism.

Lord knows I'm a far from ideal Catholic. Hell, the only thing that gets me showing up at Mass in the warmer months is the chance to ogle some of the sundress-clad female parishioners. But I'm not going to take the Nancy Pelosi way out and misrepresent my flaws and shortcomings as a Catholic as being representative of the Church and other parishioners in general.

Since you've suddenly and conveniently decided to find religion, Nancy, here's a little Matthew 22:21 for you.

Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's

Catholics are supposed to be a forgiving lot. But Pelosi's cynical and one-sided use of the Church to try and further her own anti-Church legislative agenda is testing the patience of Catholics far more forgiving than myself.

Arizona Governor Signs Strict Illegal Immigration Bill Into Law; Draws Ire From Obama Administration

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill that would allow police to check on somebody's immigration status in a state that has seen an exponential increase in drug smuggling and human trafficking in recent years. The language of the law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It also allows for law enforcement to question people on their immigration status, allows for litigation against government agencies that hinder the enforcement of immigration laws and makes it illegal to hire or transport illegals for day labor.

Passage of the law comes less than a month after the murder of 58 year old Arizona rancher Robert Krentz on his property in Cochise County. Investigators from the Border Patrol and Cochise County Sherriff's Department reportedly found footprints at the crime scene that led all the way back to the Mexican border, some 25 miles from Krentz's property.

Useless, Pandering Pud-In-Chief President Obama called the bill 'misguided' and said the Arizona bill threatens “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans..".

The only time I remember President Obama addressing the ongoing state of affairs along the US/Mexican border was to use the spiralling narco-insurgency in Mexico as a call to enact stricter gun-control laws......here in the USA. Not a peep from the Southern Poverty Law Center after Krentz and his dog were gunned down on their property, either.

According to critics of the bill, the Arizona state legislature had nothing else to do with their free time but draft up a 'We-hate-Hispanics' bill. Al Sharpton, Chuck Schumer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly aren't too happy with the new Arizona law, either. Interestingly, none of these worthless puds lives in a state that borders a perpetually corrupt and dysfunctional third world nation replete with a bloody drug war that's killed thousands and has seen an exponential increase in human trafficking and drug smuggling. Phoenix, AZ was also recently named the 'kidnap capital of the USA' and there has been a general increase in murders, assaults, home-invasion robberies that corresponds with the uptick of violence between the cartels and the Mexican military.