by Staff Reporter | Jan 17, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Freshman Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari was the sole “no” vote among Arizona’s congressional members on a bill to deport illegal alien rapists and predators.
Ansari joined 145 of her Democratic colleagues in voting against the legislation. 61 Democrats voted for the bill, including Congressman Greg Stanton.
The bill by South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace (HR 30) would not only deport illegal aliens convicted of sex and domestic violence crimes, it would expand inadmissibility for immigrants who admitted or were convicted of stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, a sex offense, conspiracy to commit a sex offense, a violation of certain protective orders, or domestic violence.
In response to Democrat congressional members’ criticisms that her bill made unfair and sweeping generalizations of illegal aliens, Mace said she would gladly “demonize” those illegal immigrants who rape, murder, and molest American females.
“Under the border policies of Joe Biden and border czar Kamala Harris, our country has been ravaged by a horde of illegal aliens molesting American children, battering and bruising and beating up American women, and violently raping American women and girls,” said Mace. “My colleagues on the other side of this aisle like to minimize this issue because they refuse to acknowledge the consequences that their open borders agenda is here.”
Mace cited the latest ICE non-detained docket numbers (from July), which reported around 660,000 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes. Those numbers include over 100,000 illegal aliens convicted of or charged with assault, over 20,000 illegal aliens convicted of or charged with sexual assault or rape, over 12,000 illegal aliens convicted of or charged with sex offeness, over 3,000 illegal aliens convicted of or charged with kidnapping, and nearly 15,000 illegal aliens convicted of or charged with murder.
The ICE non-detained docket refers to illegal immigrants that are physically present in the United States and not in ICE detention, though they may be detained elsewhere, such as a federal prison.
This past year, ICE’s non-detained docket reached 7.4 million per Fox News.
“That is who the left are defending this morning: rapists, murderers, and pedophiles,” said Mace.
Last week, Ansari also voted against HR 29, the “Laken Riley Act,” named for late Georgia student Laken Riley, murdered by an illegal immigrant last February while out for a morning jog on her university campus.
Ansari acknowledged that Riley’s death constituted “a horrific tragedy.” However, Ansari claimed HR 29 would encourage discrimination against illegal immigrants, especially “DREAMers”: those illegal immigrants brought into the U.S. as minors given an alternative legal status under the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.
“[T]he anti-immigrant bill being pushed by the House Republicans will do nothing to prevent this kind of violence or reform our broken immigration system,” stated Ansari. “Under this legislation, someone charged — just charged, not found guilty — could be immediately deported. This is a gross miscarriage of justice, and I voted no.”
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 16, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona’s Democratic congressional leaders voted against protecting females in sports from the intrusion of males identifying as females.
HR 28, the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025,” passed the House on Tuesday with 218 votes, with full support from Arizona’s Republican congressmen.
206 members voted against the bill, all Democrats. Freshman congresswoman Yassamin Ansari joined her veteran colleague Greg Stanton in a “no” vote on the legislation. Raúl Grijalva was one of nine members recorded as “not voting.”
During the House floor debate on the bill, Ansari pushed the claim of her congressional Democratic peers that HR 28 was a “Child Predator Empowerment Act” (per a sign the party propped up during arguments) that would endanger children.
“Everyone in this room knows that this legislation has the power to threaten the physical and mental safety of minors. Schools and athletic institutions already have rules around fairness and safety in children’s sports. This is literally why we have the NCAA,” said Ansari. “This bill is textbook government overreach meant to fuel division. Further, this bill provides no enforcement guidelines, insinuating Republicans are just fine with subjecting young women and girls to invasive, humiliating medical examinations and physical inspections. This is an attack on the physical and mental safety of all girls in this country as young as kindergarten.”
Days ahead of the vote, Ansari issued a statement online warning of “ongoing attacks on the rights and dignity of the LGBTQI+ community.” Both Ansari and Stanton have been consistent defenders of LGBTQI+ ideology. Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton are all members of the Equality Caucus.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 amends federal law (the Education Amendments of 1972) to preclude federal financial aid recipients operating, sponsoring, or facilitating an athletic program or activity from permitting males to participate in athletic programs or activities designated for females.
The bill defines sex as an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
HR 28 does allow for males to train or practice with female-designated athletic programs or activities, so long as the male participation doesn’t deprive any female of a scholarship, roster spot on a team or sport, competition or practice participation, admission to an educational institution, or other benefits derived from participation in an athletic program or activity.
HR 28 also directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the benefits of females participating in female-designated sports, and the potential “psychological, developmental, participatory, and sociological” harms that emerge from male participation. The comptroller general would then submit the results to the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives as well as the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.
The act made quick progress through the House upon its reintroduction earlier this month by Florida Congressman Greg Steube. The congressman invoked Scripture and science during Tuesday’s arguments over the bill on the House floor, arguing that “the radical left” was intent on “dismantling the core of society” by normalizing gender ideology.
“Scripture reminds us that at the beginning of time, God created mankind as males and females and he blessed them. All throughout humanity we have recognized that there are men and there are women as God created, who are obviously biologically different and, dare I say, scientifically different,” said Steube. “Yet our culture and civilization continue to be subjected to the perverse lie that there are more than two genders, or that men can be women or women can be men.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 15, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Pima County Democratic Party (PCDP) deleted a post in which it blamed a California fire victim critical of the Democratic governance for their plight.
In a since-deleted post captured by The Arizona Daily Independent, PCDP said that victims were to blame for not paying more into the government. California has consistently ranked the highest in terms of tax burdens in the nation.
“Maybe pay your taxes and maybe local gov[ernment]s wouldn’t be so understaffed,” posted the PCDP.
PCDP was responding to a California resident, Wes Nichols, who posted on X that politicians had failed his home of 26 years in the Pacific Palisades.
“I’m mad at what I saw. Our politicians have failed us. Unprepared, unimaginative, understaffed, now overwhelmed. Heads must roll for this disaster,” said Nichols.
PCDP deleted their post after it sparked a flurry of criticism.
Turning Point Action activist Lacey Nagao recalled that PCDP also held a “f**k the fourth” party held in 2022 to protest Independence Day. The advertisements for the event were deleted and PCDP issued an apology following public outcry.
“A group of degenerative lost souls strikes again,” said Nagao.
According to LinkedIn, PCDP’s X account was managed by Shelly Burgoyne-Goode, the organization’s social media and digital strategist and (until last week) their executive director.
Burgoyne-Goode had been with PCDP since 2019; prior to that, Burgoyne-Goode was a digital strategist for Veteran Marijuana Majority, writer and contributor for the left-leaning political site “Blog for Arizona.” Burgoyne-Goode identifies herself as an Army veteran who served during the early years of the Iraq War.
PCDP’s new executive director is Alex Kack, a political consultant launched to significance as the “green shirt guy” who laughed at Trump supporters protesting his sanctuary city legislation at a Tucson City Council meeting. Kack was present that day as a field organizer with the People’s Defense Initiative (PDI), the Tucson-based advocacy organization behind the legislation to make Tucson a sanctuary city from immigration laws.
The Pima County Republican Party (PCRP) criticized PCDP’s post as an “extraordinary lack of compassion combined with a childish understanding of a devastating situation,” which the GOP group ascribed as a common trait of “the far left.”
PCDP has a track record of deleting controversial posts in recent years.
In 2023, PCDP deleted a post in which it advocated for Arizonans to “kill” school choice in its entirety — not just the universal pathway, but all school choice funding.
In 2022, PCDP deleted a post mocking a group of young conservative college men for not having any women present in pictures depicting their showing of the Daily Wire mockumentary, “What is a Woman?” The organization promptly deleted its post after Daily Wire host and mockumentary star Matt Walsh questioned how PCDP recognized there were no women present in the pictures observed, an allusion to the driving question on determining gender in the mockumentary.
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 14, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The city of Phoenix reported an overall decline in crime for 2024 but noted a marked rise in violence against police.
Notably, the city reported a “significant decrease” in homicides: around 28 percent. Overall crime declined by four percent. Yet, the incidents of violence perpetrated against police officers continues to increase (only officer-involved shootings declined). The Phoenix Police Department reported 14 incidents in which officers were on the receiving end of gunfire. One of those incidents resulted in the death of an officer.
“These incidents represent a complete disregard for law enforcement, the important role officers play in our community and the sanctity of life,” stated the department. “We have trained our officers well and will continue to take the next steps in advanced training to minimize the risk to our community members and officers as they put their lives on the line every day and night to keep our community safe.”
Phoenix police attributed part of the reduction in homicides to its 2024 Crime Reduction Plan released last June. That plan dedicated the department to prioritizing crackdowns on violent offenders, active areas of crime, prohibited gun possessors, and those with warrants. Police reported the number of juveniles arrested for homicide dropped from 23 in 2023 to seven last year; the number of juvenile homicide victims dropped from 23 in 2023 to 15 last year.
The city’s police attributed the overall reduction in crime to its coordinated investigations of syndicated crime and repeat offenders. These included Operation Makeup Breakup to investigate organized retail theft, Operation Full Court Press to investigate certain violent offenders, an FBI partnership investigating a hotel operating as a brothel, and Operation Night Owl to investigate a drug and money laundering network.
“The Phoenix Police Department will continue to strive to be a self-assessing and self-correcting agency while looking for additional ways to increase accountability and transparency,” said the department.
Phoenix police reported that staffing continued to be a challenge last year. The department took in just under 2,300 applications for sworn police officers, and about 160 started the Phoenix Police Academy (in 2023, there were about 150 recruits).
The top sources for applicants, in order, were the department website, a friend or family member, Indeed, employee referral, and then social media. However, the top sources for hired recruits came, in order, from a friend or family, an employee referral, social media, the website, and then billboards.
The department remains understaffed. The city has budgeted for about 3,000 officers; total sworn officers as of last November amounted to just over 2,500.
During last Tuesday’s meeting for the Public Safety and Justice subcommittee, Phoenix police also reported that their hiring total reduced from 167 officers in 2023 (150 men, 17 women) to 144 officers in 2024 (124 men, 20 women).
In order to improve its numbers, the police department said that it has continued traditional advertisement forms in TV, radio, print, and digital media as well as creating recruitment opportunities with Arizona Christian University, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona State University, and Grand Canyon University.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 13, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The inventor and top distributor of the Taser, Axon Enterprise, scrapped plans for its new headquarters in Scottsdale.
Not only will the Scottsdale-based company not be breaking ground on its new headquarters as planned — they may move out of Arizona completely after over 30 years in the Valley. Axon says that the results of a forthcoming ballot referendum from another state’s labor union are to blame.
Rick Smith, Axon Enterprise CEO and founder, said in a press release that ongoing “political games” from a California-based labor union-led referendum put their entire operations at risk.
“[T]he uncertainty caused by this referendum forces us to confront a tough reality: we can’t allow political games to put our mission or our team at risk,” said Smith.
Apart from its headquarters in Scottsdale, Axon also has offices in Boston, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; London, England; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Tampere, Finland; Sydney, Australia; Melbourne, Australia.
Axon’s decision to cancel the groundbreaking came just two months after the Scottsdale City Council approved the company’s plans for the development.
The labor union, Unite Here, and its Phoenix-based political arm, Worker Power Institute, led on the offending ballot referendum, which would effectively reverse the Scottsdale City Council’s zoning changes allowing residential development.
The planned complex site was formerly established as an industrial zone. The new headquarters would have housed about 1,900 apartments and condos, a hotel, and multiple restaurants.
Last month, reports emerged that Unite Here attempted to coerce Axon into “a shakedown” agreement awarding the union exclusive collective bargaining agency in exchange for a withdrawal of the referendum. A spokesperson with the labor union denied their organization having any contact with Axon; an organization attorney reportedly contacted Axon over the leaked communications.
Under the alleged proposed agreement with Unite Here, Axon would have been required to notify the union of plans to solicit bids or proposals from business operators and require operating businesses to work with the union to screen applicants.
Scottsdale has been home to Axon since its founding in 1993. The company grew from Taser production to other technologies and weapons for law enforcement, military, and civilians.
“Our focus remains on saving lives, improving public safety and attracting the brightest minds to join us,” said Smith. “If that means relocating to a community that fully supports those goals, we’re prepared to make that move. This type of political interference risks not only this project but also Arizona’s ability to attract and retain major employers in the future.”
Axon’s press release also noted that Unite Here and Worker Power Institute led a successful campaign to thwart arena development efforts for the Arizona Coyotes.
“That campaign ultimately led to Arizona losing a major sports franchise,” stated the press release. “Axon’s leadership has raised concerns that such political interference risks undermining Arizona’s ability to attract and retain major employers.”
One impact study cited by Axon projected their new headquarters would support up to 5,500 high-wage jobs, generate $11.5 million in annual city tax revenues, and contribute $3.6 billion to the state’s economy annually.
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