The Justice Dept. has filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They accuse him, Maricopa County and his office of failure to cooperate with the civil rights investigation of his office.
The Justice Department has been investigating allegations that the sheriff’s office has engaged in discrimination against Hispanics. As a recipient of federal funds, the sheriff’s office is required to cooperate with such investigations.
But today, the Justice Department said it’s been trying to get the sheriff’s cooperation for more than a year without success. That makes his department “an extreme outlier,” given that no other local law enforcement organization has refused to cooperate with a civil rights investigation in the last 30 years, the government says.
“The actions of the sheriff’s office are unprecedented. It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities,” says Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division
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Sheriff Joe is already a national folk hero to many people. If this keeps up he will be a national saint. It will be interesting to see who blinks first. I doubt if it will be Sheriff Joe. There has to be a better way than this. In Sheriff Joe’s case, it seems like he wins regardless of what he does.
This video best exemplifies why I have zero respect for Fox News. Kirsten Powers is a regular contributor on Fox News. Megyn Kelly is rude, out of control, and is bullying a regular contributor. At one point Kelly threatens to cut her guest’s mic.
There is much controversy over this case as to wrong doing. Apparently the one main witness who speaks out on Fox News is Christian Adams who is a right wing activist and was with the DOJ under George Bush. I don’t think anyone is disputing that the black panther, Samir Shabazz, intimidated voters and was in the wrong. The dispute seems to be over the charges that DOJ did nothing.
This afternoon, Kelly invited New York Post columnist — and regular Fox contributor — Kirsten Powers to debate the importance of this story. Kelly bemoaned that “no one seems to give a darn” about the allegations promulgated by former Bush DoJ lawyer J. Christian Adams. The conservative activist claims that the Obama Justice Department dropped voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party due to racial considerations. Contrary to the claims, the Obama DoJ has issued an injunction against the member of the NBPP who was seen engaging in voter intimidation tactics, prohibiting him “from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of any Philadelphia polling place through 2012.”
Powers effectively dismantled the faux scandal for what it is, telling Kelly, “You can put me in the same category of people who don’t really give a darn.” “You don’t seem to know what you’re talking about,” Kelly immediately responded, growing more enraged as the two wrestled, jabbed, and bickered over the facts:
POWERS: The minute I challenge you, you tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about?
KELLY: Because you don’t.
POWERS: You just want people to come on and just agree with you –
KELLY: No, I want informed people.
POWERS: — that what you’ve been doing and the way you’ve been completely doing the “scary black man thing.”
All evidence indicates that DOJ did prosecute the case. The contention seems to be that they didn’t go far enough with sanctions.
I have not put up a thread over the story because I felt we were lacking on actual facts. When Fox News is leading a story, I have to have a back up from another source. It wasn’t there. No one disputes that Samir Shabazz is a creep. No one disputes he was wrong. No one disputes that voter intimidation took place. The dispute is over the action taken by DOJ. Apparently action was taken–Just not enough to suit out onf control Megyn Kelly, Christian Adams, or Fox News.
