In addition to being found at fault for the notorious homeless encampment in downtown Phoenix known as “The Zone,” the city of Phoenix must also pay over $221,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney issued the order for attorney’s fees on Monday. This latest order followed his September ruling which determined that city of Phoenix officials had not only failed to abate the public nuisance known as The Zone but had maintained it.
“The City of Phoenix shall maintain its public property in the Zone in a condition free of: (a) tents and other makeshift structures in the public rights of way; (b) biohazardous materials including human feces and urine, drug paraphernalia, and other trash; (c) individuals committing offenses against the public order. The Court will employ a reasonableness standard to future allegations of violation of (b) and/or (c). The Court does not intend this order to create a private cause of action for every non-pervasive violation of subsection (b) and/or (c). Further, the Court will require evidence of a substantive, good faith attempt to address any future violations of this order with the City before seeking court involvement.”
As reported previously, the city cleaned up The Zone several days in advance of the court-ordered deadline. This resulted in an over 82 percent success rate in admittance of the area’s homeless into shelters. The city also installed signs prohibiting encampments and other criminal activities around the area that formerly housed The Zone.
Blaney’s September ruling found the city to be at complete fault for The Zone. Blaney declared that the city had displayed an utter disregard for law-abiding citizens and tolerated crime by the homeless.
“The City’s refusal to meaningfully enforce statutes and ordinances in the Zone has created a classic siren song to certain individuals that are enticed at their peril by the Zone’s drugs, sex, and lack of societal rules.”
Additionally, Blaney found that the city intentionally stopped or materially reduced enforcement of laws in The Zone, as well as transported the homeless using taxpayer-funded “courtesy rides” from police officers and community organizations.
All in all, Blaney found unequivocally the city to blame for the increase in violent and organized crimes such as assaults and murders, drug usage and sales, public defecation and urination, rape and prostitution, and property damage and theft. City officials admitted to decriminalizing these behaviors.
A home for sale in the middle of the ‘zone’. The zone is in Phoenix Arizona and extends for several blocks. Everyone talks about the rights of the homeless. We need to balance that with the rights of all others. Homeowners and business owners also have rights and deserve better pic.twitter.com/n0VjLRJ6W5
Despite what city officials have indicated, it is unknown how many of the homeless population in Phoenix are homeless by choice. City representatives admitted that determinations of involuntary homelessness have been based on self reporting, not investigatory efforts into that individual’s case. They also admitted to being stumped by “service resistant” homeless: those who refused services like shelter because they didn’t want to adhere to any rules imposed, such as leaving behind contrabands like drugs or weapons. About 20 percent of homeless were “service resistant” according to a survey.
Despite the mass encampment cleanup, some community members have noted that homelessness persists in the area.
I just drive thru there today. Even tho they cleared the tents, it’s still hundreds of homeless in the zone area. If you are in the Phoenix area and want to help out, dm me. If you want to donate, the cashapp link is at the bottom of the flyer. Give thanks by giving back 🤲🏾📈 pic.twitter.com/GKLJpRC3dW
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is most favorable among voters for the 2024 Senate race according to a new poll, beating out incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and challengers Kari Lake and Mark Lamb.
Gallego led with a 19-point net positive favorability. Lamb and Sinema both trailed at a 10-point net positive favorability, and Lake had an eight-point negative net favorability among voters.
Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) conducted the poll, their Arizona Public Opinion Pulse (AZPOP). NPI surveyed over 1,000 registered voters in late October, estimating a three percent margin of error. NPI said in a press release that a three-way race with Sinema in the mix as an independent was “anyone’s game.”
NPI Founder and CEO Mike Noble speculated that Gallego’s strength came from branding, while Sinema’s weaknesses came from her divisive voting record.
“It’s interesting to see that Gallego is still ahead even as Republicans lead in the presidential and generic House races (R+8),” said Noble. “Part of that may be the presence of Sinema scrambling things for voters. But part of it may be Gallego cultivating a strong personal brand.”
In a hypothetical matchup between Gallego, Sinema, and Lake, Gallego led by a single digit. Democratic respondents expressed the highest preference for Gallego over Sinema. Republican respondents expressed a similar, though slightly lower, preference for Lake. Sinema had a near-equal division across Republicans, Democrats, and Independents for favorability.
In a hypothetical matchup between Gallego, Sinema, and Lamb, Gallego captured more voters. NPI noted that Lamb had “more room to grow” since 44 percent of voters had no opinion or had never heard of him.
With Republican voters carved out from the pack to determine Senate primary frontrunners, Lake led with 40 percent favorability. 33 percent were undecided, 14 percent expressed preference for Lamb, 10 percent expressed preference for Blake Masters, and four percent expressed preference for Brian Wright.
Masters is running for Congress, not Senate; the poll was conducted prior to Masters’ announcement of his congressional run. Noble said that Lake would likely pull most of the voters that expressed a preference for Masters.
“With Blake Masters no longer in the mix for the Arizona Senate contest, Lake is likely to benefit the most as his 10% share of support gets distributed,” said Noble. “Lake is in the driver’s seat in the GOP primary contest, meanwhile, Mark Lamb needs to step up his fundraising if he wants to mount a serious challenge to Lake.”
I'm running for Congress, to fight for Arizona's 8th.
Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona's water future. We need to fight for our families.
Independents now lead the state in terms of registered voters: over 1.45 million voters (34.6 percent). Republicans are second with over 1.44 million voters (34.3 percent). Democrats are third, with over 1.25 million voters (29.7 percent).
Libertarians and the new No Labels Party each have less than one percent of voters: over 33,700 (0.8 percent) and nearly 18,800 (0.45 percent), respectively.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said that the January 6, 2021 footage in its entirety was “embarrassing” for mainstream media and the Democrat-led January 6 Committee.
Key discoveries in the newly-released footage provided substantiation to claims that police officers didn’t treat activists who intruded the Capitol as criminals on that fateful day. In numerous videos, Capitol Police Officers were seen giving handshakes and fist bumps to the intruders, uncuffing intruders, leading intruders through the building, and holding doors open for the intruders.
“Quite embarrassing for the MSM and J6 Committee,” said Biggs. “How anyone could compare this day to 9/11 or the Attack on Pearl Harbor is beyond me. Shameful.”
Quite embarrassing for the MSM and J6 Committee.
How anyone could compare this day to 9/11 or the Attack on Pearl Harbor is beyond me.
Comparisons of the January 6 rioting to major terrorist attacks has been common rhetoric among Democratic leaders.
In Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress in April 2021, he declared that January’s incident was the worst attack since the Civil War.
“[I] inherited a nation — we all did — that was in crisis,” said Biden. “The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
Vice President Kamala Harris compared January 6 to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor during her speech last January commemorating the Capitol riot. Harris accused the January 6 activists of attempted murder in addition to insurrection.
“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault, dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars but a place in our collective memory,” said Harris. “What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of those elected leaders, what they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is, what they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend.”
That same day, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also declared in a Senate floor speech that January 6 was comparable to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
“We did not look away after the attack on Pearl Harbor. We did not look away after the attacks on 9/11,” said Schumer. “They may have been from foreign powers, but we still, just because it was Americans who did this, we cannot look away after the attack of January 6th.”
Last December, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued similar remarks in defense of the January 6 Committee actions against Republican leaders, including Biggs.
“What we saw on January 6 was the worst attack on democracy since the Civil War,” said Jean-Pierre.
Karine Jean-Pierre says January 6 was the worst attack on American democracy since the Civil War. pic.twitter.com/9uz8HP7sNU
Part of what Jean-Pierre defended was the ethics probe into Biggs after he refused to comply with their subpoena.
Last Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) released all January 6 footage in its entirety. All footage may be accessed here.
Follow the link below to view the January 6th tapes for yourself.
To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency. This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker.
Mohave County officials backed down from a proposed policy to hand count all future ballots after Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened criminal charges.
The Mohave County Board of Supervisors convened on Monday to discuss whether they would hand-count all ballots for the 2024 election and beyond; the board declined the policy in a divided vote. Mayes congratulated the board for heeding her threat.
“I am greatly relieved and commend the Mohave County Board of Supervisors for their decision not to authorize a hand count of all ballots for the 2024 election, upholding Arizona law,” said Mayes. “The Board’s decision to adhere to state-mandated procedures for ballot counting avoids potential legal complications and reinforces public trust in the integrity of our elections.”
I am greatly relieved and commend the Mohave County Board of Supervisors for their decision not to authorize a hand count of all ballots for the 2024 election, upholding Arizona law. As Attorney General, it is my duty to enforce our laws and ensure the integrity of our elections.
During the meeting, State Sen. Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-LD30) said that the county could count on an amicus brief from the House and Senate should the county vote for hand counting ballots and face criminal prosecution.
Supervisor Hildy Angius clarified that hand counting wasn’t as “easy-peasy” as sitting down and physically tabulating the ballot. Angius agreed that problems continue to plague Arizona’s elections, namely calling out mail-in ballots.
Supervisor Ron Gould challenged the notion that no election problems could exist in their county because the law doesn’t allow supervisors access to the voting logs. As a challenge to the strength of voting machines, Gould said that when he served as a state senator in 2005, voting machines in the Republican state representative primary were found to be severely defunct — out of calibration by as much as 18 percent — after a recount flipped the race by 250 votes.
“My biggest concern here today is that folks are losing faith in elections; they don’t think their vote counts,” said Gould. “So much for the infallibility of voting machines.”
Borrelli suggested that Mohave County count ballots through hand counts at the precinct level, then through tabulators at the county level prior to certification. However, Deputy County Attorney Ryan Esplin said that couldn’t be done in light of Mayes’ letter and their own legal analysis. Esplin advised that the board err on the side of caution by adhering strictly to what statute allowed. The county attorney noted that ARS § 16-443 and 16-445 necessarily implied that hand counts could be used, but that 16-622 and 16-602 undermined that argument. Both of those latter statutes were cited by Mayes in her Sunday letter.
“It has to be spelled out in statute, or necessarily implied: that’s the legal standard. There is no statute that specifically authorizes a hand count, and that’s why we say we do not believe you can do a hand count, because there’s no statute that authorizes it,” said Esplin. “Take the safe route: use the machines, because we know those are legal, we know the law, the law says very clear, ‘This is what we do.’”
Supervisors Gould and Angius voted for hand counting ballots; Supervisors Buster Johnson, Jean Bishop, and Travis Lingenfelter voted against.
Mayes sent a letter to the Mohave County supervisors on Sunday that she would file criminal charges against them should they vote to hand count all ballots for the 2024 election and beyond. The attorney general said that the hand count method was not only too slow and less accurate, it also wasn’t permitted by statute. Mayes cited A.R.S. § 16-449, 16-468, 16-602, 16-621, and 16-622.
Mayes also expressed concern that the board was influenced by “bad-faith actors” aiming to sow doubt and undermine Arizona elections.
NEW: AG Kris Mayes sends letter to Mohave County supervisors ahead of today's vote to hand-count ballots.
"We hope you will choose not to violate the law and thus that it will not be necessary for us to consider whether criminal prosecution is warranted"https://t.co/49Whuh7Dq9pic.twitter.com/8c0o0jPSpJ
In a viral response to Mayes’ statement on Monday, conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley criticized Mayes as “an illegitimate attorney general” that benefited from election fraud.
“Yeah forcing ballots into the same machines that shut down on election day in Maricopa is one hell of a way to ‘reinforce public trust,’” said O’Handley.
Yeah forcing ballots into the same machines that shut down on election day in Maricopa is one hell of a way to “reinforce public trust”
You are an illegitimate Attorney General making sure nobody fixes the election fraud you beneffited from
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) is advocating to pass a ban on kill switches in personal vehicles.
Kill switches allow for the remote shutdown of a vehicle. There are variants of the technology all dedicated to the preventing or limiting vehicle operation: fuel line shutoff valves, battery disconnect switches, remote car battery switches, ignition wire switches, and fuse box switches.
In an interview with Newsmax over the weekend, Biggs said that the promise of safety against drunk driving under a kill switch belied the alleged motive of greater governmental control.
“Think about this: there’s already black boxes in your cars. We know that abuse of FISA — the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — against American citizens, we’ve seen the weaponization of government,” said Biggs. “And, ostensibly, this is to stop drunk drivers, supposedly. But this car’s going to be able to monitor the alcohol content of a driver, but they can kill it [the car] at any time because it’s a passive surveillance technique.”
Biggs speculated that kill switches in cars could be appropriated for other purposes, such as government-declared emergencies like the ones enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So, let’s say you have another COVID outbreak. Let’s say they determine that you haven’t been vaccinated,” said Biggs. “Can they then go ahead and kill switch your car? It’s a control thing.”
We should push back on any type of vehicle "kill switch."
This proposal by our government aims to assert more control over the American people.
Biggs’ remarks followed continued controversy over the kill switch provision in President Joe Biden’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Section 24220, “Advanced Impaired Driving Technology,” requires that drunk and impaired driving prevention technology become standard in all new vehicles. The section defines that technology as that which can passively monitor the driver’s performance to determine impairment and then prevent or limit any driving of the vehicle. Additionally, the technology would be able to passively detect whether the blood alcohol content of a driver, and prevent or limit any driving of the vehicle if the driver’s blood alcohol content is higher than the legal limit.
Passive detection includes technology that measures blood alcohol content while the driver breathes or touches certain parts of the car.
For breath-based passive detection, sensors are typically installed in the driver’s side door or in the steering column, and infrared light sweeps the breath for alcohol molecules. Companies maintain that their passive detection technologies are capable of distinguishing between driver and passenger breath.
For touch-based passive detection, tissue spectroscopy sensors on areas like the ignition button shine infrared light to measure blood alcohol content.
Biden’s bill directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop policy fulfilling the directives of Section 24220 within three years. After that, automakers would have up to three years to adhere to the new standards. Under that timeline, kill switches could be standard in new vehicles by 2026.
On Monday, Biggs and 32 other members of Congress — including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) — signed onto a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressing concern about the potential surveillance abuses from the forthcoming technology.
“The potential to misuse this technology to surveil American citizens without a warrant poses a threat to constitutionally protected rights of freedom of association, as well as the protection from unreasonable search and seizure,” stated the letter.
The letter asked Buttigieg to explain the difference between impaired and drunk driving, how kill switch technology would detect a drunk driver in a moving vehicle, how the agency-mandated technology will work and examples of any present existence of it, what passive monitoring under the agency directives will entail, whether cameras would be used and if the video would be stored, how the technology would differentiate between defensive driving and drunk driving, any safeguards to ensure protections for those with certain disabilities, the safety implications and possibility of secondary accidents, for how long a car would be disabled and the procedure for handling stranded drivers, the impact of kill switches on road congestion, any law enforcement notification procedures, and who bears liability for accidents caused by disabled vehicles.
🚨UPDATE 🚨 In 2021, Democrats pushed through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Hidden away in the bill was a provision to require a kill switch to be placed into all vehicles built after 2026. While Democrats claim this kill switch is only to be used for stopping a… pic.twitter.com/esUNSQc3EO
