Tag: arizona

Arizona AG suggests state’s self-defense laws allow residents to shoot masked ICE agents

Arizona Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes said during an interview that residents could fire upon ICE agents who are masked if they feel they are in danger due to the state’s laws on self-defense.

Mayes explained that Arizona has a “Stand Your Ground” law that allows people to use lethal force if they believe their life is in danger.

“It’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks,” Mayes said during an interview with 12News.

She said that the “Stand Your Ground” law in Arizona allows residents to use lethal force if they feel like their life is in jeopardy.

“And we have a Stand Your Ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force,” Mayes said.

Keep reading

REVEALED: Here is the Pivotal Error the Democrat Pima County Sheriff Made that Hampered the Investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s Alleged Abduction for Several Hours

The Democrat sheriff running the investigation into the disappearance of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, made a critical error due to his own ego, which has hampered the investigation.

The Daily Mail reported on Friday that the Pima County Sheriff’s Office failed to launch its Cessna aircraft, equipped with high-resolution thermal-imaging cameras, for several hours.

This was reportedly due to a staffing shortage and lack of pilots, thanks to Sheriff Chris Nanos.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Deputies Association president, Sgt. Aaron Crossm, told The Daily Mail that possible pilots for the aircraft were moved to another unit before Nancy’s disappearance.

Fox News secured a statement that the pilot of Pima County’s high-tech search aircraft had been disciplined following an argument with Nanos. He was reassigned to street patrol as a punishment despite appealing the decision to the sheriff.

As a result, the aircraft’s takeoff was delayed by several hours after Guthrie was reported missing around noon Sunday.

“Three hours in a search for a vulnerable adult is an eternity,” a law enforcement source told Fox News.

The aircraft was eventually launched at 5 pm.

The Pima County Deputies Organization criticized the decision to reassign the pilot and noted that it was part of a pattern of failed leadership decisions by Nanos.

While failing to launch the aircraft on time was the biggest error Nanos was responsible for, there was another inexcusable one during the search for Nancy Guthrie.

According to the Arizona Republic, Nanos admitted that his department released Guthrie’s home as a crime scene too quickly, then returned days later to recover additional evidence.

Nanos said that the scene should have remained secured longer, and other agencies should have been called in earlier.

Keep reading

Third U.S. State Introduces Legislation Designating mRNA Injections as Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction

Tennessee State Senator Janice Bowling has just filed Senate Bill 1949, the “mRNA Bioweapons Prohibition Act,” prohibiting the manufacture, acquisition, possession, or distribution of mRNA injections and products—punishable as a Class B felony under Tennessee’s weapons of mass destruction statute.

Just last week, Arizona Representative Rachel Jones Keshel introduced HB 2974, amending existing statutes to designate modified mRNA injections as biological agents and weapons of mass destruction, and that their manufacture, possession, or distribution may be prosecuted as terrorism, carrying penalties up to life imprisonment if a violation results in death.

Credit to Dr. Joseph Sansone for drafting the “mRNA Bioweapons Prohibition Act,” now filed in three states.

There are now multiple legislators, international bodies, and peer-reviewed scientific publications declaring that mRNA injections constitute biological or technological weapons of mass destruction:

It’s only a matter of time before these dangerous products are outlawed.

Keep reading

Savannah Guthrie’s mom’s disappearance now being investigated as crime: ‘She did not leave on her own’

The mysterious disappearance of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mom is now being investigated as a crime, authorities said Monday — citing “suspicious” circumstances at the 84-year-old woman’s home.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:45 p.m. Saturday at her million-dollar residence in the rural Catalina Foothills area near Tucson, where officials said they found a “very concerning” scene — and some of the grandma’s key personal items were reportedly left behind, including life-saving medicine.

“We know she didn’t just walk out of there. She did not leave on her own,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a press conference Monday.

He refused to elaborate further on exactly why cops think a crime was committed, saying, “It would be inappropriate at this time.”

But authorities said they recovered Nancy’s cellphone and are combing through it for possible clues — while a source told the Daily Mail that the missing woman left behind other basic crucial personal items, too.

“Her stuff was left behind at the house: keys, ID, purse, phone, everything,” someone close to the star told the outlet.

The elderly woman also apparently left behind medicine she needs to take daily to survive.

“It’s not a situation where she voluntarily went away because she didn’t take any of the things you would normally take if you voluntarily went out,” the source told the outlet.

Nanos told reporters, “We believe now, after we process that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime, and we’re asking the community’s help.”

Authorities have been searching for the elderly matriarch since she was reported missing by her family late Sunday morning.

Nancy was last seen Saturday night by at least one of her children, who dropped her off at the house, authorities said.

Savannah, who has an older brother and sister, is currently in the Tucson area, officials said.

Keep reading

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Disavows Attorney General Kris Mayes’ Calls to Murder ICE Agents, Calls for Mayes to Retract Statements

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs recently attempted to distance herself from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes following a TV interview, where the radical left Attorney General suggested that Arizonans can shoot and kill ICE agents under Arizona’s stand your ground law. 

Mayes, who is up for reelection this November after stealing the 2022 election by just 280 votes from now-Rep. Abe Hamadeh, recently suggested in an interview that you could lawfully shoot and kill ICE agents in Arizona.

“You have these masked Federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks. And we have a stand your ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger, and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force,” Mayes said.

“You’re not allowed to shoot peace officers,” she added. “But how do you know they’re a peace officer?”

Mayes further presented a possible legal defense for anyone who shoots an ICE agent, telling 12 News’s Brahm Resnik, “It becomes, did they reasonably know that they were a peace officer?”

Keep reading

Arizona Ballot Measure Seeks To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization

A newly filed ballot initiative in Arizona would repeal of key provisions of the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law by eliminating commercial sales, while still permitting possession and personal cultivation.

The “Sensible Marijuana Policy Act for Arizona” is being spearheaded by Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore. Paperwork to register the initiative was filed with the secretary of state’s office this month.

This year has seen a series of attempts to roll back adult-use legalization laws, with anti-cannabis activists in Maine recently approved for signature gathering for a similar ballot initiative and a Massachusetts campaign clearing an initial signature threshold for their version that will first put the issue to lawmakers before it potentially heads to the ballot.

The Arizona measure is distinct from those proposals in at least one significant policy area: It would not take away the rights of adults to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal use.

Also, it explicitly preserves components of the law aimed at expunging prior marijuana records.

Like the anti-cannabis proposals in other states, possession would remain lawful if voters chose to enact the initiative—and Arizona’s medical marijuana program would remain intact—but the commercial market for recreational cannabis that’s evolved since voters approved an adult-use legalization measure in 2020 would be quashed.

“For adults that want to consume cannabis, they will be able to do that,” Noble told the Arizona Daily Star.

But the GOP operative—who has worked with Republican legislators on efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and played a role opposing a failed attempt to legalize for adult use in 2016—said declining revenue and advertising rules he perceives as insufficient to deterring youth use puts the campaign at an advantage among voters.

A findings section on the latest initiative states that “the proliferation of marijuana establishments and recreational marijuana sales in this state have produced unintended consequences and negative effects relating to the public health, safety, and welfare of Arizonans, including increased marijuana use among children, environmental concerns, increased demands for water resources, public nuisances, market instability, and illicit market activities.”

“Arizona’s legal marijuana sales have declined for two consecutive years, resulting in less tax revenue for this state, while some patients have relied on recreational use of marijuana instead of utilizing the benefits of this state’s medical marijuana program,” it says.

Keep reading

U. Arizona professor alleges retaliation for opposing DEI hiring practices

A tenured University of Arizona professor recently filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging retaliation for opposing what he believed were race-based hiring practices tied to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.

Professor Matthew Abraham claims the university sanctioned and excluded him from key faculty committees after he raised concerns about DEI hiring policies and sought more information through public records requests.

“This case is not about opposing diversity,” the professor’s attorney with the Liberty Justice Center told The College Fix in a recent email.

“It’s about ensuring that diversity initiatives comply with federal law and that faculty members are not punished for asking hard questions about whether race is being used unlawfully,” attorney Ángel Valencia said. 

Abraham argues in the lawsuit that he made “good-faith complaints” to university officials between 2017 and 2022 about hiring and selection practices that unlawfully favored candidates based on race and other protected characteristics.

As a result, Abraham was removed from the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the English Department Academic Program Review Committee, according to the lawsuit. He had previously chaired the academic freedom committee.

Abraham told The Fix in a phone interview that through a public records request, he uncovered staff communications that labeled him and two other professors as “problematic” and having “difficult personalities” in discussions about the academic freedom committee.

“We were trouble for the administration, and we were kind of red lined from being on probably the most important committee in the University, because it deals with tenure denials and dismissals like the one I’m dealing with right now,” Abraham said.

He said that since filing the lawsuit, the university has tried to argue that he misused computer networks, had an affair with a student, and sent harassing emails. 

“It’s my sense that they’re just throwing various things at me to see what might stick,” Abraham told The Fix. “None of this is born out of actual facts.”

Keep reading

Gilbert, Arizona Police Accused of Falsifying Crime Statistics Through Underreporting Revealing Possible Nationwide Trend After 2024 FBI Crime Stats Find Massive Plunge in Violent Crime and DC Police Caught Rigging Data

The town of Gilbert, Arizona, has come under fire and calls for an investigation after a former town councilman alleged during a town council meeting last month that police leadership had “fudged numbers” and underreported crime for more than a decade.

Gilbert is the largest town in the United States and the fourth municipality in Arizona, with nearly 300,000 residents.

In December 2023, the town boasted its ranking as “the second-safest city in America among the 100 largest in the nation,” according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting data. However, according to former councilman Bill Spence, based on conversations with current Council Member and former Gilbert Police Department leader Kenny Buckland, Gilbert Police Chiefs have been “manipulating the numbers” to lower reported response times and make the city appear safer.

Spence said during the “communication from citizens” portion of the November 18 town council meeting that Buckland had made “several concerning statements about Gilbert Police Department policies implemented by former police chief Tim Dorn.” Dorn “fudged numbers” and “changed how we do our calls for service” by creating a “Priority Zero” crime category, which cut reported police response times by about 40%, Spence told the Council.

The changes to crime reporting, allegedly made under Tim Dorn, had been “codified by” Chief Mike Soelberg when he succeeded Dorn in June 2017. “And the practice continued until 2023, when the reporting systems no longer allowed for this type of data manipulation,” Spence stated.

Chief Mike Soelberg and Patrick Banger, Gilbert’s outgoing Town Manager, first appointed in August 2011, Spence said, “were made aware of the trouble caused by these policies, yet they continued to report manipulated information.” He continued, “They betrayed our police officers, misled numerous councils, and jeopardized the safety of our residents.”

In closing his speech, Spence demanded “immediate investigation of the town from an outside law enforcement agency.”

“Failure to do so would make this entire council complicit in the conspiracy to cover up misconduct in what may be the biggest scandal in the history of our town.“

Keep reading

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego Lied on VA Mortgage Application, Claimed DC as Primary Residence – Kari Lake Calls for Investigation: “Is His Main Residence in DC or Arizona? That is a Crime.”

Kari Lake is calling for accountability for her 2024 Senate opponent, Ruben Gallego, over a $940,000 VA-guaranteed loan for a DC home that he fraudulently secured in 2022 by listing the address as his primary residence.

Kari Lake faced Gallego in the 2024 general election for Arizona’s US Senate seat but lost under mysterious circumstances. Lake also said in a recent interview with The Gateway Pundit, “When we start to dig further into the election fraud that’s been happening for a long time in Arizona, I think there’s gonna be some hell to pay.”

Despite being a Congressman from Arizona at the time, he listed his Washington, DC home and his Phoenix, Arizona Home as primary residences to secure a more favorable interest rate. Gallego abused the Department of Veterans Affairs home loan program, which is designed to make it easier for veterans to buy a home with a lower down payment and a lower interest rate, for use as a primary residence. The loan can only be used for a second home if the home is occupied as a primary residence.

As Politico reported in 2023,

When Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego bought a house near Capitol Hill last year, he claimed the Washington property as his primary residence as part of a special mortgage rate afforded to military veterans.

But Gallego and his wife also say a home they own in Phoenix is their primary residence.

The loan documents for the Washington property, obtained by POLITICO, confirmed he counts D.C. as his primary home even though his campaign maintains he resides in Arizona. Politically, it means the Democratic congressman aiming to take out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) in a hotly contested race next year may have to explain why he declared he was primarily a resident of the nation’s capital.

Gallego signed terms for a Veterans Affairs-backed loan in which he agreed to “occupy, establish, and use the Property as [the] Borrower’s principal residence within 60 days,” according to the loan document.

In September 2024, Lake highlighted this scandal, while condemning Gallego’s horrendous record, including his involvement in opening a bank for illegal aliens that defaulted and robbed its clients, working for a company that settled for $2.8 million in a medicare fraud investigation, and walking out on his wife when she was nine months pregnant to shack up with a DC lobbyist with whom he had a secret wedding.

Notably, his marriage license with wife Sydney Gallego is also from Washington, DC.

“I actually live in this state. And on federal forms, he said he lives in Washington, DC; that’s his main residence,” Lake said.

Keep reading

Turning Point leader pleads guilty to attempted election fraud

Former Republican state legislator Austin Smith pleaded guilty Monday to what he previously called “ludicrous” charges that he personally forged more than 100 signatures on his petitions for reelection last year. 

The Republican from Surprise was a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, which has a history of spreading false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed for election law changes in the state legislature. 

“As a part of his guilty plea today, Smith admitted signing the name of a deceased woman on one of his candidate nomination petitions in March of 2024,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “He also admitted that he attempted to deceive the Secretary of State’s Office by knowingly filing petitions containing forged signatures of purported supporters of his nomination for the Republican primary for State Representative from LD 29.”

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of attempted fraudulent schemes and practices, an undesignated offense, and to one count of illegal signing of an election petition, a misdemeanor. 

Keep reading