joe arpaio Archives

In the Trump Administration’s best approximation of Friday Night Lights, the president (shudder) treated two of his main constituencies to a Shabbat treat. First by throwing civil rights and equal opportunity to the floor when he banned transgender Americans from serving their country in the armed forces, and then when he pardoned convict Joe Arpaio, a move that sent a solid message to those who believe that medieval treatment of prisoners is not just for the 14th century.

Trump’s defense? That Joe was following the law. We should note that Joe was convicted of contempt for not following the law

The silver lining is that in order to receive a pardon, the person has to admit that they committed a crime. So Arpaio is now an admitted crook. Just the kind of guy that Trump admires.

These actions would be bad in any administration, but for one that is committed to really turning the clock back to 1946, before the armed forces were desegregated, these new twists are simply the method by which this country, ruled by white men, informed by white men, and acculturated by white sensibilities, will be…returned to white men.

Pardon my confusion as we slowly twist in the wind.

While the media focuses on the president’s foibles and twitter follies, he and his minions have done real and present damage to the country. They have sent the message that it’s fine to exclude people from participating in and benefiting from our democracy, opened up public land for economic exploitation, set us back at least 75 years as far as pollution and the environment are concerned, rolled back civil rights protections, and essentially made us a non-player in world affairs. And they’ve shown that they have no shame in perpetrating these policies. In fact, if it’s what the ultra-conservative base of the Republican Party wants, then Trump is eager to give it to them.

I would expect more pardons, more executive orders and more erratic and unpresidential behavior in the weeks and months to come. President Trump’s approval ratings are low enough that he doesn’t have to care about what the opposition thinks. After all, how much worse can things get?

Exactly my point.

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Arizona Birthers Forms “Posse” To Investigate President Obama

The Birthers are back, or maybe they just never left.

Even after President Obama officially put an end to the nonsense of Birtherism by providing the very document they’ve asked for since he walked into office, some people just can’t accept the fact that this Black man is living in the White House.

Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has decided to form a posse – a five member group called the Cold Case Posse – to investigate the President’s birth, his birth certificate, or his certificate of live birth…whatever you want to call it, Arpaio’s posse will investigate it. Arpaio says the citizens of Maricopa County demand this investigation be done.

“This investigation does not involve politics,” Arpaio told WND. “I listen to all the residents of Maricopa County who come to my office with complaints, regardless what their politics are.

“My door is open to everyone, and I don’t kick them out. If a complaint is legitimate, I don’t dump it into the wastebasket,” he continued. “When I get allegations brought to me by the citizens of Maricopa County, I look into the allegations, just like I am doing here.”

Arpaio is responding to a complaint brought to his office by representatives of the Surprise Tea Party in Surprise, Ariz., who have expressed in writing their concerns that the voting rights of Maricopa County residents in the 2012 presidential election could be compromised if Obama were to use a forged birth certificate to establish his eligibility under Article 1, Section 2, of the Constitution.

“The Cold Case Posse is a good place to put this investigation,” Arpaio said. “The individuals on this posse have been sworn in by me and I have granted them the authority required to conduct this investigation.”

Arpaio explained to WND that in the final analysis, all decisions stop with him.

“I will have the ultimate authority to decide,” he emphasized. “I gave the Cold Case Posse the authority to investigate, but the results of their investigation ultimately come to me and I will then decide how best to proceed from there.”

I wonder what else this posse would want to see as proof that Barack Obama is an American? Every possible item that can be given as proof of his citizenship has been provided, but he and the citizens of Maricopa County aren’t satisfied yet.

I remember the years they hounded President Bush for his proof of citizenship…oh wait…this wasn’t an issue then as he set off to destroy America’s economy. As a matter of fact, this has never been an issue since George Washington’s inauguration. But then again, all the Presidents before Mr. Obama, have been white.