Free Republic

A story in the Arizona Daily Star about an anti-second amendment group included a poll on whether gun laws needed to be stronger, changed a little, kept the same, or reduced.  From the Star: Do you think we need more laws placing restrictions on guns? Yes. We need much stronger laws. Yes, but only a few common-sense changes. No. The laws are OK the way they are. No. We have too many laws, and most of them should be eliminated. What is interesting about this poll is the last choice.   It is almost never given on these old...

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Ruth Alvarez says breast cancer has been her personal prison; she is now facing the disease behind bars. Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies arrested Alvarez-- an undocumented immigrant-- in early April for working with a false identification. She says her arrest comes just a few weeks away from her planned mastectomy scheduled for April 23rd. Alvarez is asking to be release so she can undergo the surgery with her family by her side. "To go through breast cancer is already hard, it's so hard to go through treatments seeing how your whole body, your whole life kinda change,"...

Are there places that should be off-limits to law enforcement? It's a question that some are raising in the wake of a recent incident in Pima county. The incident happened on March 23, in the community of Ajo, about 130 miles southwest of Tucson. The News 4 Tucson Investigators received a number of emails from people concerned that Sheriff's deputies and the Border Patrol stepped over a sacred line. According to a Pima County Sheriff's Department incident report obtained by the News 4 Tucson Investigators, a deputy passing by the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church spotted three Hispanic males on the...

After being deported to Mexico from his home in Arizona earlier this year, Jaime Valdez joins us to detail his attempt today to re-enter the United States. Valdez says he was deported in retaliation for a hunger strike that his family took part in at the Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to protest U.S. immigration policies. "All my family is in the U.S., so that’s why I’m trying to come back," Valdez says. "We’re going to try to get this message to the president, to stop the deportations and to stop the discrimination and injustice in detention centers."...

Two men who were recently deported will attempt to come back to the United States next week to reunite with their loved ones in Arizona. On Tuesday, Jaime Arturo Valdez-Reyes and Ardani Rosales-Lemus, a father of two U.S.-born children, will present themselves at the port of entry in Nogales, Ariz. They will request that their cases be re-opened and that they be granted humanitarian parole.At a press conference held Thursday outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Phoenix, supporters said both men were deported for organizing within the detention center to stop their deportations. Meanwhile, ICE officials told...

When Arizona passed legislation early last year to stop the irrational destruction of valuable property that had come into the hands of local governments, the state required that firearms turned in to government agencies be sold through normal commercial channels, thus insuring that the guns were taken "off the street". Some local governments had been involved in what amounted to a modern Deodand ritual, where inanimate objects were "punished" by destruction as a way to sacrifice to the gods of political correctness.    Even in medieval times, most deodand objects were sold, with the money going to the Church or...

APACHE JUNCTION, AZ - Authorities say a homeowner in Apache Junction shot a suspect who was trying to kick in his door Monday night. According to Tim Gaffney with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred around 8:20 p.m. near McKellips Boulevard and Ironwood Drive. The 59-year-old homeowner heard the men at his back door and looked at the family's security camera, Gaffney said. He then saw the men wearing hoods and holding guns. When they started kicking at the door, the homeowner fired a round through the back door, Gaffney said in a news release. Another person in...

MEXICO CITY - Mention Arizona and many Mexicans grimace. It's still widely viewed here as the most anti-Mexico state in the U.S., even if the tough anti-migrant law behind that perception has been largely voided. But Arizona's leaders are logging lots of miles to put a new face on their home state.

Pistol and holster rig Author was wearing.  Clothes were as described in story I was out running this morning with my usual rig when I am exercising: a Glock 17 in a Fobus paddle holster.  After experimenting with a number of combinations, this is the one I usually use.  In the last 15 years I have worn out two of the holsters and am working on the third. I was headed south on the right hand sidewalk alongside a moderately busy four lane boulevard.  I was wearing a mostly white t-shirt with a nondescript design on it, and light...

. Three weeks ago, John Kerry came, saw, and launched a blitz-diplomatic campaign which promptly resulted in, well, Russia annexing Crimea. Now it is the turn of that other foreign policy titan, neo-con John McCain, to complete Kerry's job and finally launch the GDP-boosting World War III. He may have the chance to do that as soon as Thursday, when he, along with other senators, is slated to travel to Ukraine to "show support for the government there." Or, said otherwise, to show support for the government that is in power thanks to an illegitimate and deadly coup that took...

Undeterred by a recent Public Policy Polling poll that showed he has only a 30% job approval in his native Arizona, Sen. John McCain said on Fox Business’ “Cavuto” that he is considering running for reelection. McCain denied the poll was accurate

This was the flag of slave holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War. Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans. For the last several decades, protests have continued, demanding that this flag not be displayed in public places. Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate Flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag is...

by Bethany Monk Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Wednesday evening that would have protected people of faith. Proponents of the bill are deeply disappointed — to say the least. Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy — the primary organization behind the bill — said Brewer’s decision marks a sad day for those “who cherish and understand religious liberty.” Passage of SB 1062 would have amended the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). It protects people of faith from laws and state actions that burden the free exercise of religion. Gay activists and news outlets, though, propagandized...

‘Sheriff Joe is the kind of guy that you gotta love, as long as you have papers,’ Kavanaugh can be heard saying on the recording made public by the Southern Poverty Law Center. ‘Going out with Joe is always an adventure,’ he adds as the audience laughs, ‘because usually when we walk into a restaurant, most of the waitstaff and cooks dive out the back window, and when they don't, I never know what the hell's in my food.’ Those jokes and several similar quips have put Arpaio in the uneasy position of defending a man he calls a friend....

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is likely to veto the state’s controversial measure that could allow businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbians due to religious beliefs, according to three people close to the governor and familiar with her thinking. One of those is longtime Brewer political adviser Chuck Coughlin, who told NBC News: “It’s been her proclivity in the past to focus on the priorities she wants them [the legislature] to accomplish, and this was clearly not part of her agenda.” “She doesn’t want to take any actions that could jeopardize the economic momentum we’ve seen here in Arizona,”...

TUCSON – Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents arrested four convicted sex offenders during Valentine’s Day weekend. Two of the felons were convicted for crimes against children: aggravated criminal sexual assault of a minor 16 years old, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child of 14-15. The others were convicted of gross sexual imposition and 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct. Two of the subjects were United States citizens. The others, from Mexico, were previously charged, convicted and removed from the U.S. Last month, however, these criminals were apprehended for illegally re-entering the country or smuggling. The suspects were processed for...

Conservative Christian groups in Arizona cheered the passage Thursday of legislation that would allow individuals and businesses in the state to deny service to same-sex couples due to religious beliefs. All eyes have shifted to Governor Jan Brewer, who must now decide whether to sign the bill. Similar legislation died in Kansas last week, but has also been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. The Arizona law seems to apply to services beyond those tied to weddings, but same-sex weddings are the impetus for these bills. Specifically, they are in response to lawsuits against three different...

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Immigration protesters marched through downtown Phoenix as part of the United We Dream campaign. An estimated 300 activists marched down Central Avenue to the Immigration & Customs Enforcement building where they held a rally. Marchers chanted slogans like "stop the deportations now" and "I'm undocumented and un-afraid". Dozens of Phoenix Police Officers blocked traffic for the protesters, ensured marchers stayed on the sidewalk, and ensured everyone was safe. Some marchers had family members locked up in immigration detention centers. They demanded that the President not deport those family members and tear apart families. Young marchers called on...

Kriston Charles Belinte Chee was shot to death at the Chandler Walmart. (Source: Arizona Department of Corrections) AP or the police made an interesting choice of words in describing the shooting that took place in the Chandler Walmart.  The AP story says: PHOENIX (AP) — A man who shot and killed another man inside a suburban Phoenix Walmart opened fire in self-defense, Chandler police said Monday.  According to Chandler police, Kyle Wayne Quadlin, 25, shot Kriston Charles Belinte Chee, 36, following a fight at a service counter Sunday afternoon. If Mr. Quadlin did not start the fight, it would...

Salvador Sanchez-Orozco penned a suicide note before squeezing his 2-year-old daughter to death and wrapping a dog leash around his neck in an attempt to kill himself, court records show. The Tacoma-area man pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Thursday in the death of Daveena Sanchez. Pierce County prosecutors also included a special allegation that the victim was particularly vulnerable, which opens him up to the higher end of the sentencing range. Commissioner Meagan Foley ordered Sanchez-Orozco, 26, jailed in lieu of $2 million bail. He has an immigration hold and is barred from contacting his wife or her family,...