Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer carries questionable baggage in barring Planned Parenthood funding

Continuing to worship at the altar of Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, her conservative supporters in the legislature and her like constituents have once again given her the impetus to dump on those in need, turning them out to fend for themselves.  Arizona already bars tax dollars for abortion, but backers, including the Susan B. Anthony List group, say the law is needed to prevent indirect monies from reaching these organizations.



Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer,
still at her best 

Forbes magazine accuses Brewer of “Slipping Back into the Dark Ages.”  What Forbes may not realize is that the country’s worst governor entered the dark ages when she first got into politics and has just continued to unravel since then.  The magazine called her a woman governor playing God with women’s rights.  And this was all in the headline.  What Forbes and most of the other articles about this issue don’t mention is Brewer’s family connection which I cover later. 

Planned Parenthood does provide abortion funds but they do much more for the needy including: providing cancer screenings, birth control, plus regular wellness exams for women.  Only 10 percent of females seek abortion services from Planned Parenthood of Arizona.  But Jan Brewer’s bill shuts out the other 90% that need regular healthcare.  This all stems from ideology originating with the domination of conservatives including the religious right, and the Tea Party.

See a video on Arizona's new law:

As the Republican Party has added seats in state legislatures across the country, in many cases led by TPers, the strength to pass laws like Arizona’s has become more prevalent.  What these ideologues don’t understand—or maybe they do and just don’t care—is that this kind of legislation only delays the inevitable which is the fact that these folks eventually end up in the emergency room at taxpayer expense.  But common sense has never been a staple in Arizona politics.



Planned Parenthood protestor

Planned Parenthood says this is just “bad health policy, bad fiscal policy, and bad politics.”  But it is the GOP way and it is an election year.  PP recounts that “Court decisions in Indiana, Kansas, and now North Carolina have made it abundantly clear that it is unacceptable for states to pass laws that prevent women from going to their trusted health care provider to get primary and preventive care.”  We’re not talking abortions, just plain healthcare.

Laws similar to Arizona’s have already been signed in Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, Indiana, and Kansas and are under consideration in New Hampshire.  Many are already being disputed.  And the statistics do support Planned Parenthood.  Forbes reports: “…fully 42% of abortions are requested by women below the poverty level; 61% of women seeking abortions already have at least one child; and 1/2 of the pregnancies in the United States are unintentional.”

Co-PP’s founder, Margaret Sanger, says, “They live and die on the fringes of society, in pockets of dire poverty and inner city tenements, even in an ultra-rich country like ours.  Yet they might as well not exist as far as politicians, and commentators are concerned.”  No doubt she means the conservative talk-radio circuit.  Another point is made that Arizona’s and other states’ budget deficits might be solved by releasing this financial burden on families.

But Arizona’s Gov. Jan Brewer has a deeper, more covert interest in Arizona’s “Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act.”  Almost sounds wholesome, doesn’t it?  The only site that had the guts to report this aspect of the story was Jezebel.com, saying in its headline, “Governor Who Cut Funding for Sexual Assault Victims Has Son Who Was Charged With Sexual Assault.”  Brewer’s new law won’t help the victim but it will help her son.

Ronald Brewer “…broke into a woman’s apartment, slapped her several times, and committed sex acts on her.”  And although the man had been functioning as a normal human being prior to the attack, his mother, the Governor, had him committed because she said the trauma had deteriorated his health.  At the same time she had the case’s records sealed by the court.

The question is whether she put the guy away to help him or was it because she didn’t want Ronald to embarrass her during her administration?  She needn’t have worried, Brewer has done nothing but embarrass herself since becoming Governor.

Forbes had an interesting statement at the end of their article.  It read: “It is reprehensible enough when governments like the Chinese enforce a rule of no more than one child per family.  How is it any different when a government insists that we cannot limit the size of it?”  The anti-abortion people should take note of this.  But Jan Brewer wouldn’t have a clue what they are talking about.

Florida man provided driving force behind “Stand Your Ground” law

An elderly James Workman in Pensacola, Florida was the impulse for the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) to devise and advance Florida’s, the nation’s first, “Stand Your Ground” law in 2005.  It was November 3, 2004, at 2 a.m., seven weeks after Hurricane Ivan made landfall, when FEMA worker Rodney Cox came to the Workman’s door and asked for a drink of water.  Workman and his wife were in a temporary RV in the driveway of their unlivable home. 

Residents were on edge following an earlier incident where police had to subdue a man with a machete at the house next door.  Rodney Cox approached the workman’s front door as Kathryn Workman—awake because she couldn’t sleep—watched, then woke her husband who grabbed his .38 pistol and confronted Cox.  After mumbling and asking for a drink of water, Workman ordered him off his property, firing a warning shot.

At that point they say Cox dashed toward the trailer where Kathryn was waiting, a phone in one hand, her own .38 in the other.  She screamed at the 911 operator who heard a struggle, then was told by the wife that her husband had shot the intruder, who apparently got up after being shot.  In the hours before being shot Cox had called 911 himself to report he had been a victim of domestic violence, his skull fractured, possibly explaining his disoriented condition. 

It was this particular episode that was the motivation for “Stand Your Ground.”  But, interestingly, the Workmans were never asked to testify at the legislative session considering the law.  They had to find out about it on the evening news.  It would almost appear that the NRA saw the incident as an excuse to enact another stupid law that is now being questioned in many of the states where it has been passed. 

Then on to another loose gun state, Texas, where Jose Luis Gonzales, fed up with burglaries at his house, shot and killed Francisco Anguiano, 13, when he broke into Gonzales’ house around midnight.  He was with three other kids ranging in ages from 11 to 15, and was shot in the back with a shotgun.  Looking for snacks, the boys were told to “drop it” referring to a bag of Cheetos, then said they were smacked with the shotgun.  They ended up on the floor face-down.



Texas guns



Uriel Druker, Webb County district attorney said the kids were subdued and “weren’t going to go at him.”  Gonzales was screaming at them to stay down, all of this which Druker said disproves Gonzales’ claim of self-defense.  Gonzales said he thought the 13-year-old was about to “lunge” at him.  Now common sense would tell most of us that, assuming the kid was on his stomach on the floor, and was shot for lunging at Gonzales, how did he get shot in the back?

The medical examiner even confirmed this, and, according to Druker, the homeowner didn’t even mention the kids lunging at him until he retained a lawyer.  It only took three hours for a jury to acquit Gonzales.  When Druker later confronted jurors meeting them around town, he asked why the jury agreed to acquit.  The standard answer was that they feared losing their right to protect their own homes.  That is gun mentality at its worse.  The statute was on trial.

The CNN article in the above link says, “The shooters feel remorse but are resolute in the belief that the law is on their side.”  I say that is a double-edged sword, and one these self-styled vigilantes should have to fall on instead of their victims.

When does self-defense become murder?

The “Stand Your Ground” law has taken flak since Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Florida where the legislation was enacted for the first time under the complete supervision of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) in 2005.  Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder and there is some concern over Zimmerman’s pursuit of Martin in the incident, which the bill’s sponsors say was not intended as an option.

It’s like playing Wyatt Earp or vigilante, and we all know that isn’t allowed anywhere but in Arizona.  Precisely where SYG was re-enacted recently; that state passed the law in 2006 after only 20 seconds of justification by the NRA before legislators.  A total of 33 states have passed a similar version that allows the expansion of deadly force in protecting yourself outside the home.  Some question whether the 2^nd Amendment intended this.

Typical Arizona shootings yellow tape

Arizona just couldn’t wait to test the law and one of the state’s gun worshippers decided to do just that on April 3, at a Taco Bell in Laveen.  He shot Daniel Adkins, Jr. in what he claimed was self-defense.  The young man was 29 but with the mental capacity of a 13-year-old.  The shooter was not charged.  Adkins was walking past a Taco Bell just as the 22-year-old shooter was picking up his order.  The latter slammed on his brakes barely missing Adkins.

The two men exchanged words and according to the shooter Adkins swung his hands in the air in the direction of the SUV.  The question at this point is whether the shooter almost hit Adkins with his SUV; if so, who was the instigator of this altercation?  Or is that not considered under the SYG law?  Adkins wasn’t even close enough to touch the vehicle but when he waved his hands in the air again, the driver shot him with his S&W 40-caliber weapon, hitting him in the chest.

Adkins was not armed but the shooter “believed” he was carrying due to what he thought he saw was a metal pipe or bat in the victim’s hand.  Since the shooter’s fiancé was also in the car with him, it will be interesting to hear her take on the event.  CNN spoke to the shooter’s father who, behind the door of his home warned the reporter that he had a gun in his hand.  He did defend his son’s use of deadly force.  He also said witnesses said that Adkins “went berserk.”

Adkins family later said that all Daniel had in his hand, what the shooter thought was a weapon, was the leash of his loyal dog, a yellow lab named Lady.

In this retaliation Adkins is purported to say: “What the hell, you almost hit me,” and “watch where the f*** you’re going.”  Sounds like substantiation of the fact that the driver almost did hit him, and his following tirade does not appear to justify the taking of the man’s life.  It sounds more like wild-west justice based solely on the fact that the NRA has apparently driven home the ideology to its members and the public that it is OK to shoot first and ask questions later.

Local TV coverage of Daniel Adkins killing:

The senior Atkins told CNN, "Why didn't he shoot my son in the leg? It would've stopped him. He hit him right straight in the heart. He shot to kill."  Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California, said:

"When you arm people on the streets, the opportunities for tragic shootings like the one in the Martin case increase."  A 2007 Nat’l Dist. Attorney’s study also found that law enforcement is concerned over the “Stand Your Ground” laws.

In the next post, the incident that spawned the “Stand Your Ground” laws.

J. T. Ready had support of top Arizona politician

J.T. Ready with assault rifle

It is reasonably agreed at this point that well-known Arizona racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready killed four people including a 15-month-old toddler in Gilbert, Arizona on May 2, and then took his own life.  He was outfitted with body armor, which in itself raises questions since he shouldn’t have expected much opposition from his gun attack from family members, certainly not the child.  In my post yesterday I described the specifics of the massacre, including Ready’s NRA membership.

J.T. Ready was an avowed white supremacist who had been followed by the Anti-Defamation League, according to its director of investigative research, Marc Pitcavage.  Ready is described on their website as an “anti-immigrant extremist dating back to 2004.  His biography even stated that he believed in “lawful deadly force” to protect the Mexican border, as well as restoring America to a “White, European homeland.” 

Ready’s national attention may very well have contributed to the force behind a recent study by Pew Research that confirmed that only 29 percent of Hispanics think it is more important to protect gun control, compared with 57 percent of whites.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights organization in Alabama that keeps track of hate and extremist groups, documents Ready’s background on its website.  He actually started his political career in the 2000s at Mesa, AZ Community College.  It says that he received a bad-conduct discharge from the Marines having been court-martialed twice, once for larceny and going AWOL, once for conspiracy and assault.  There was also a criminal conviction is 1992.

The hacker group LulzSec posted secret FBI documents online with suspicions neo-Nazi groups were planting “fairly complex” explosives along smuggling routes, according to the Christian Science Monitor.  J.T. Ready was once quoted as saying, “I firmly believe in having a minefield across the border.”  He was also known for wanting to militarize the border and had patrolled there repeatedly with his own militia group, U.S. Border Guard.

But the following must be one of Ready’s most bizarre statements: “Arizona Statues allow the fielding of most weapons short of nuclear weapons and certain chemical weapons.  Therefore we are already in contact with brokers concerning a .50 cal semi-automatic rifle and a MBT– Main Battle Tank.”



Russell Pearce paling with J.T. Ready



Some friends said the man was “cruel and controlling” and one of his victims, his girlfriend Lisa Lynn Mederos, may not have known of his troubled past with women.  In 2009, a Scottsdale woman filed an order of protection against him; in 2003 a woman in Ready's apartment complex accused him of stalking, spying, frequently calling and trying to kiss her.  Some family members hated him and Ready called the toddler, Lilly, he killed “50 % ugly” because she was half-Latino.

    

J.T. Ready was sponsored as an elder in the Mormon Church by former Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce, who was dumped from his job recently by voters, but not until he had authored the state’s anti-immigration bill, SB-1070.  And when it comes to the relationship between Russell Pearce and Ready I must defer to Phoenix New Times writer Stephen Lemons, who publishes the blog, the Feathered Bastard, and his dogged coverage of the two.

In a May 2 article, Lemons said, “Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Ready was his relationship with ex-Senator Pearce, who helped him join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and groomed him, according to Ready, for a possible run for the legislature.”  Their affiliation later soured when Pearce distanced himself from Ready and actually renounced him in 2008.

Best Buds J.T. Ready with Russell Pearce

In Lemons article on May 3, he accuses Russell Pearce of lying “again,” with documentation that is a must read.  The two were so close, he said, that Pearce ordained Ready as an elder in the Mormon Church’s Melchizedek priesthood for adult men in the church.  But Pearce continues to deny the closeness of their relationship. 

Krysten Sinema, former Arizona state senator, sponsored a 2007 event in the legislature on extremism in the immigration movement.

Lemons asked Sinema if it was possible that Pearce could not be aware of that seminar.  She answered, "I find that very hard to believe,” she told me in 2008. "The entire Legislature was invited to the event. The whole thing was videotaped, and you can watch it on our archive. And I reported it on the floor [of the state House]."  Pearce has been charged regularly by Democrats, the media, even fellow Republicans of misstating facts to make his points.

Video of Russell Pearce endorsing J.T. Ready

There’s more.  The Arizona regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, Bill Straus, says that he informed Pearce of Ready’s extremist activities as far back as 2006.  Once again, Pearce blatantly disputes the fact that the two had close ties.  He even told Lemons in 2007 at a roast of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he really didn’t think J.T. was a “Bad guy.”  When lemons questioned their on-going friendship, Pearce replied he didn’t hang out with Ready.

The “Bird” as the author refers to himself, quickly reminded the ex-senator that he observed him working side-by-side, arm-in-arm at a rally and had the photos to prove it.  Pearce replied, “I don’t push people away.”  This was in December of 2007 after being warned by Straus, also following Ready’s public outing as a white supremacist.  I urge you to read Stephen Lemons full account of the issue of Pearce’s lies in the above May 3 link.

So it is clear that defrocked Senator Russell Pearce was buddies with J.T. Ready until the extremist no longer served his needs, at which time he dumped him and tried to cover up the past with lies that have been confirmed as just that over and over.  It is ludicrous that Russell Pearce still has the unquestioned support of many of his fellow Republicans and has the arrogance to run for the Arizona Senate in the same general area that has already thrown him out of office.

Only in Arizona.

Arizona neo-Nazi murderer J. T. Ready was NRA member



J.T. Ready and pal Russell Pearce



Jason Todd ‘J.T.’ Ready was well known in Arizona as a confirmed racist and neo-Nazi who never missed the chance to demonize the Hispanic community, sometimes along with his pal, Russell Pearce.  See a list of my blog posts on Ready and Pearce here.  It was this past Wed., May 2, when Ready decided to end his career of terrorizing Latinos and shot five people including himself.  I have covered this man for the last three years and this was totally unexpected. 

There was Ready’s girlfriend, Lisa Lynn Mederos, 47, her daughter, Amber, 23, Jim Hiott, Amber’s fiancé, 24, and Amber’s daughter, 15 months.  There is total tragedy in the whole incident, which someone other than Ready should have seen coming, but the killing of a toddler makes it even more horrendous.  Another of Lisa Lynn’s daughters, Brittany Hazel Menderos, 19, was in a bedroom and heard the shootings and was first to discover the bodies. 

The Young Turks on Ready massacre:

For years J.T. Ready has conducted armed civilian patrols at the U.S. border with Mexico with the group he founded, U.S. Border Guard, and although saddened over the loss of their leader and his victims, say they will continue Ready’s work.  In the past, Ready has stated, “I firmly believe in having a minefield across the border.”  He added, “This is 100% effective.”  As a part of the Arizona militia scene he was known to take matters into his own hands.

Ready was a former Marine who started his militia activities after his bad conduct discharge from the service in 1996, preceded by two courts martial.  At one point he belonged to the National Socialist Movement which supports white supremacy.  In 2007 he marched in Omaha, Nebraska with a swastika banner with brown-shirted NSM members.  He was also a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. serving in their border project. 

In 2008, Ready became a Republican precinct captain in Mesa, AZ, further promoting his political career.  Republicans tried their best to get him removed from the position due to his extremist views but apparently Ready had deep support in the Arizona GOP that was able to help him survive.  There is probably another story in just who this was.  And he was currently a prospective candidate for Pinal County Sheriff, running as a Democrat.



J.T. Ready (2nd from right)
as neo-Nazi



Harry Hughes, regional director of the National Socialist Movement said Ready had left the organization two years ago but it is obvious that he left his imprint on the group from the following:  Ready said that only non-Jewish, white hetrosexuals should be American citizens.  Also, that all non-white people should leave the U.S.  Ready entered the news early when firing on a Hispanic man in 2006 with a BB gun while running for the Mesa, AZ City Council.

When police searched the house after the massacre, they found six 40 mm projectile grenades, which an Army surplus store manager said was not available in any store.  They had to be acquired on the black market.  Also found were two 55-gallon drums that the bomb squad said was no immediate danger.  And finally, authorities recovered 2 handguns and a shotgun.  It isn’t clear yet just what gun or guns Ready used on the victims and himself.



J.T. Ready protesting



And now to my headline signifying that J.T. Ready was a member of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), which is true.  Back in 2010 I was doing several blog posts on Ready and Russell Pearce, the defrocked Arizona senator.  The comments, as usual, were vitriolic of me but in support of Pearce, even Ready, in his quest to rid Arizona of undocumented immigrants.  There is no compassion in that state for illegals, a stigma that remains until this day.

I have never minced words about J.T., and one of his supporters took me to task in a comment for berating him for his tactics.  It was posted on Facebook, where I had shared the post.  That same day, Ready posted another comment in reply to his supporter saying not to worry, it {me} was just sophomoric writing.  I couldn’t resist and headed over to Ready’s Facebook page and left him a message.  Ignoring his comment, I asked him point blank if he was a NRA member.

His exact reply was: “I am not current on my dues.  I hold numerous NRA instructor certificates.  You may see wahtwe(sic) do at:” and he directs you to this site.  Warning.  Page 13 has a gruesome picture.  But you can see from the pictures and captions, J.T. Ready was firmly against animal abuse.  Read more on the issue here, here, here and here.

It is not clear just how close Ready’s ties with the NRA were.  His statement above is proof of membership, but apparently he couldn’t or wouldn’t pay his dues.  Over the years I have covered Ready, I cannot remember the National Rifle Assn. ever even questioning his activities.  So far I have seen no statement from the NRA on the issue.  Read more about this on Common Gunsense. 

Since Ready is or was a member of the NRA, and because he operated in a state (Arizona) where the organization has been successful in forcing the loosest gun laws in the country through a clueless Governor and state legislature, I think we are due the consideration of a statement on how this man was armored up to the hilt and allowed to wreak havoc that killed 4 innocent people including a toddler.

More on J.T. Ready tomorrow including his close association with former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce who was booted from office.

66 dead from 69 shootings in April in the U.S. - A 37.5 % increase over March



Yes, guns do kill



This is the second in our new report on shootings that occur throughout the U.S. by month.  Last month was the first, and already April is showing an increase in deaths of 37.5 percent over March; it will be interesting to watch this trend over the coming year.  My figures are taken from reports on nationwide shootings by the national media and there is the possibility I could have missed some.  Please feel free to correct me if I have missed one in your area.

There were shooting incidents in 24 states with deaths resulting in 18 of those states.  Naturally, Arizona was first in both those categories with 18 shooting incidents resulting in 17 deaths.  Texas was second with 8 and 8.  It was interesting that New York with its tough gun laws had only one shooting incident with no deaths, at least as far as I could determine.  Calif., however, also with tight gun laws, had 5 incidents resulting in 12 deaths, one the Oakland spree.

I want to make it clear that these figures are not yet perfect and may never be since they are based on national media.  This is due to the fact that a shooting incident and death may not be reported in such a way that my search parameters find it.  I am working on perfecting this but still need your assistance in identifying any circumstances that I may have missed. 

As you can see, it is clear that Nasty Jack will continue this feature into the future until gun control law receives the attention it needs from the U.S. Congress, state legislatures and the voting public.

Now, on to this month’s gory facts:

• April 1, Dallas, TX, man in car was shot when another car approached and someone demanded money, then shot victim in stomach and hand.
• April 1, Phoenix, AZ, 3 shootings on this Sun. evening resulting in 3 dead.  2 others were wounded.
• April 2, Hattiesburg, MS, 5 people wounded in a Mexican restaurant by a gunman. 
• April 2, Phoenix, AZ, 1 dead and 1 wounded by unknown assailant. 
• April 2, New York, NY, man with 9mm semiautomatic handgun shot 4 police officers.  He also had an assault rifle.  4 officers will recover.
• April 2, Dallas, TX, teenager shot and killed in apparent sleepover where the two others were arrested.  Shooting either accident or result of bullying.
• April 2, Oakland, CA, Korean nursing student went on shooting spree at his college and killed 7 people also wounding 3 others.
• April 2, Inman, SC, 1 dead and 1 injured from shooting in quiet neighborhood.
• April 3, Akron, OH, 2 hurt in 2 separate shootings.
• April 3, Lexington, KY, man was wounded at celebration of Kentucky beating Kansas in the NCAA tournament.  The man’s leg had to be amputated.
• April 3, Des Moines, 3^rd case, at least, of gunfire in 2 days that almost hit a person in their home.  No reason given for why shootings were directed at specific homes.
• April 4, Laveen, AZ, man shot and killed at Taco Bell drive-through when he allegedly threatened man in line with a pipe.  Shooter was not arrested.
• April 5, Albany, GA, 2 people shot with 2 others being questioned over what happened at a mobile park.
• April 6, Carlsbad, NM, woman fatally shot in Denny’s restaurant and indication is that it is random act of violence.  Shooter then shot himself.
• April 6, Yuma, AZ, drive-by shooting earlier in this week which apparently was a street gang incident.
• April 6, Tulsa, OK, 3 dead and 2 injured in alleged hate crime shootings.  All the victims were black, shooter was white.
• April 6, Austin, TX, police officer killed responding to call at a Walmart store.  He struggled with shooter and when knocked to the floor the shooter pulled a semi-automatic pistol and shot officer.
• April 7, Miami, FL, 15-year-old girl shot while sleeping in her bed. 
• April 7, Phoenix, AZ, Walmart manager killed during a robbery of the store.
• April 8, Jackson, MS, gunfire was exchanged at nightspot that was closed      between security guard and unidentified shooter, which was apparently beginning of a robbery attempt.  The guard was wounded.
• April 8, Houston, TX, 1 person killed and 3 injured at beach party where there were thousands of participants. 
• April 9, Brooklyn Park, MN, 3 dead at day care center when woman picked up her unhurt child, the only one there at the time.  No arrests yet.
• April 9, Winston-Salem, NC, 4 people were injured in 2 overnight shootings from man firing a high-powered rifle into a crowd.
• April 9, Tempe, AZ, 1 killed in shooting at apartment complex that occurred near pool area.  Witnesses say could have been fight.
• April 9, South Dallas, TX, teen fatally shot after breaking into home with two others, who fled but were arrested.
• April 9, Eloy, AZ, 2 men in pickup carrying illegals were killed.  Pinal County Sheriff says the 2 were ambushed by people dressed in camouflage and armed with rifles.
• April 9, Akron, OH, 2 men wounded in 2 separate incidents, one in the head.
• April 9, Phoenix, AZ, man who allegedly threatened YMCA staff member with a gun was shot by a police officer after the man tried to pull the gun on him.
• April 10, Bullhead City, AZ, murder suicide of a man and woman, both with gunshots to their heads. 
• April 11, Los Angeles, CA, 2 shot dead at the U. of So. California which is in an urban setting.  At the time the campus was swarmed with high school students looking to enroll.  The incident occurred in a neighborhood area where security has had to be increased.
• April 12, Modesto, CA, sheriff’s deputy shot and killed trying to serve papers on a residence.  SWAT teams were called to where suspect was thought to be barricaded.
• April 12, Anchorage, AK, 2 members of the U.S. Coast Guard were shot and killed at a communications station on Kodiak Island.  FBI and Coast Guard not sure if it was a double homicide or murder suicide.
• April 12, Burnside, KY, man shoots woman and then kills himself.
• April 12, Chicago, IL, mother and her baby girl were shot while sleeping in their family’s home.  Shots were fired into the home in the early AM wounding one in the head, the other in the leg.
• April 13, Greenland, NH, Police Chief killed and 4 officers wounded in a drug bust when a man opened fire.  The Chief was just days from retirement.      
• April 13, Colorado Springs, CO, bicyclist, riding with a friend at 1:30 AM, wounded and four others had a scare when bullets flew into an apartment complex in a separate incident.
• April 13, Tulsa, OK, 2 injured when man with a semi-automatic weapon opens fire.  Police think shootings are random.
• April 13, Fort Wayne, IN, man shoots a marshal and then is shot and killed by Fort Wayne police officer.
• April 13, Brooklyn, OH, man kills 2 and wounds 1 in restaurant, then is killed by police.
• April 13, Tucson, AZ, man kills a woman in house and then shot dead in a standoff by SWAT team. 
• April 13, Chicopee, MA, 3 hour gun battle by a man in a third-story window of home firing a rifle during rush hour and with children going to school.  Police had no idea of why he did it.  The suspect was killed and one officer wounded in the hand and leg.
• April 13, Columbia, SC, man and woman shot dead, the woman’s husband not hurt and was talking to authorities.  No charges were filed in a case that is apparently still in a state of confusion with the husband telling 2 stories to police.
• April 14, Chicago, IL, 3 killed and 7 wounded in overnight shootings. 
• April 15, Flint, MI, in multiple shootings over the weekend producing the third homicide of the month.  The other 2 were on Easter Sunday (not recorded above on Apr. 8, but included in killings).
• April 16, Glendale, AZ, late night shooting at Luke Air Force Base in the housing area.  All authorities would say is that it isn’t terror-related.
• April 16, Phoenix, AZ, in a drive-by shooting, a woman was shot in the stomach while walking from a pickup that drove up behind her. 
• April 16, Glendale AZ, 1 dead 1 wounded by assailants wearing black clothes and bulletproof vests who stormed their apartment.
• April 18, Spring, TX, mother shot repeatedly and newborn was abducted outside suburban pediatric center.  The 3-day-old boy was found later.
• April 19, Edcouch, TX, cockfight at a ranch resulted in 3 shot dead and 8 others wounded.  It was a “massacre” according to the county JP.
• April 20, Pinellas County, FL, 2 incidents resulting in 2 people shot.  One happened as a club was closing.
• April 20, Cedar Rapids, IA, 3 shot on Friday in 2 incidents with all 3 in critical condition.
• April 20, Fresno, CA, 1 man dead from shooting and another wounded in a separate incident.  One of the shootings suspected to be gang-related.
• April 22, Aurora, CO, pastor’s mother shot and killed outside church.  An off-duty officer in the congregation shot a suspect who also died.
• April 22, Phoenix, AZ, man shot and killed with his child in the car after an altercation with 3 men.
• April 23, Tampa Bay, FL, shooter in a nightshirt opened fire on a speed-enforcement van in the middle of the night.  The van’s video camera recorded the entire episode.
• April 24, North Bend, WA, man looked for in the shooting deaths of his wife and daughter and who hasn’t been seen since the bodies were discovered.  He is considered a “person of interest.”    
• April 24, Scottsdale, AZ, janitor is dead from a shooting at a medical center where he was working at the time. 
• April 24, Phoenix, AZ, 2 men were shot dead in a stalking incident.  A police officer shot one of the victims after he shot another man during a scuffle on the street.
• April 24, Cedar Rapids, IA, 1 dead in an incident here at a strip club.
• April 24, Roanoke, VA, a man and his wife are recovering after he accidentally shot himself and his wife at a firearms safety class.
• April 25, Phoenix, AZ, woman shot by boyfriend on school campus when she tried to run away from him.  She is in serious condition.
• April 25, Houston, TX, Walmart guard quit after killing shoplifter earlier.  There have been at least 16 shootings on Walmart properties in a 6 month period. 
• April 26, Savannah, GA, 1 person injured in drive-by shooting. 
• April 27, Des Moines, IA, at least 2 drive-by shootings with those arrested known gang members.
• April 27, Buckeye, AZ, and we appropriately end in the loose gun laws state where 5 people were arrested for shooting out more than 50 car windows. 

An interesting observation exists in this documentation of shootings and killings.  It is the fact that there are large clusters by certain dates.  April 2, April 6, April 9, April 13, and April 24.  I plan to analyze these events for anything that makes the collection of episodes significant and report on them later.  In the meantime, May has already started with a bang.

The real downside of the Supreme Court and Arizona’s anti-immigration law

Are we sure why many of us disagree with Arizona’s case on illegal immigration in the Supreme Court?  After 40 years that brought 12 million Mexican immigrants into the U.S., more than half illegally, many have decided to shut their own door to the border and stay in Mexico.  A report by the Pew Hispanic Center says more illegals returned South of the Border in 2010 and 2011 than entered the U.S.  But Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer and Russell Pearce want them all out.



Russell Pearce with Jan Brewer



Russell Pearce is the author of Arizona’s anti-immigration law, SB-1070 and the former state Senator who was removed from office because of his radical views on immigration.  Yet he, along with Brewer, was in Washington last week pushing the Supremes.  It might have done some good, along with the fact that many of the Justices, including the liberal ones, don’t completely agree with the feds’ case.  It’s the old “States Rights” issue raising its head again.

The case is not a test of the legality of racial profiling in Arizona but rather a challenge to the federal government which says SB-1070 is unconstitutional because it preempts federal law.  In a Salon article there is a list of the four provisions for preemptive concern as outlined by Lyle Denniston of the SCOTUS blog.  They are:

1. individual’s legal right to be in the U.S., if the officer has a “reasonable suspicion” of illegality.  If arrested, the individual cannot be released until his legal status is verified by the federal government.  That is the law’s Section 2(B).

2. A provision making it a crime under state law for an individual to intentionally fail to obtain and carry legal immigrant papers with him while in Arizona (Section 3). 

3. A provision making it a misdemeanor for an undocumented immigrant to apply for a job, publicly solicit a job, or actually work in AZ (Section 5[C]). 

4. And, a provision that allows police to arrest without a warrant any person for whom the officer has “probable cause to believe” that the individual has committed any crime, anywhere, that would make that individual subject to being deported (Section 6). 



Hispanic Supreme Court Justice
Sonia Sotomayor



An editorial in the Phoenix Arizona Republic said, “This case is not about civil rights. It's about state vs. federal power. Chief Justice John Roberts made that clear as arguments began. Civil-rights questions are the subject of other lawsuits. ‘So this is not a case about ethnic profiling,’ Roberts said.”  That was followed by the following from the paper:

“Yet those are the deeply troubling aspects of SB 1070. The law put a shadow of suspicion over all Latinos, created painful divisions in our state and gave Arizona an ugly reputation.”

The implication is that many of us progressives disagree with the law, as well as those copy-cats in other states, due to their violation of civil rights.  It is a known fact that law enforcement in Arizona was stopping individuals simply based on the color of their skin, for minor violations, arresting many, some legal residents.  The feds have initiated a program of rounding up illegals but they are only interested in the ones with criminal records, turning minor offenders loose.

Fareed Zacaria of CNN wonders if Mexicans are “giving up on U.S?  He cites the delicate economy here and how NAFTA has made Mexico more competitive.  Some of their exports are even cheaper than China’s.  Zacaria thinks we are losing our “allure.”  He refers to our demographic advantage that is shrinking due to an older median age, which produces less needed young workers.  That had been satisfied to some degree by legal and illegal immigrants entering the U.S.

Illegals are scared to death in states with stringent immigration laws, afraid to leave home without the proper papers.  The issue has also caused a drop in citizens from Latino communities reporting crime, a reaction which has become a major problem for law enforcement.  But, again, this case is not about civil rights.  But it is for those who believe in human rights, so the question is what to do.  The Democrats plan to force a vote in Congress to invalidate Arizona’s SB-1070.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York has announced his intention of bringing up his “fallback legislation” in the Senate if SCOTUS upholds the law  which probably has little chance of passing there or in the GOP House.  But it would certainly make points with the Hispanic community and act as the prelude to what the Dems might accomplish in November with Obama winning re-election and an increase in numbers in both the House and Senate.