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Tucson Sheriff Authorizes Use of Mass Lethal Force Against Drug Suspects

Phoenix's Sheriff Joe Arpaio may have a rival in the category of worst Sheriff in America. Pinal County (Tucson)Sheriff Paul Babeu has announced his department will institute a policy authorizing (mandating) the use of lethal force against suspected drug smugglers.

"I've given specific instruction, no less than lethal force is going to be used. It's all lethal force only and we go into that environment knowing that we're likely expecting an armed threat from these people," Babeu said.

Good thing for this Sheriff's deputy, he's in Texas and not Tucson. [More...]

[Former Cameron County Deputy Sheriff]Jesus A. Longoria pleaded guilty on Friday. He admitted to attempting to allow a load of semi-automatic firearms to be unlawfully exported into Mexico in exchange for money. He said the weapons were on their way to the cartels.

Not to mention that the Cameron Sheriffs' Department just got spiffy new AR-15's to use on patrol against smugglers. And the deputies only need 24 hours of training to get one. Welcome to Guatemala.

Whatever happened to "serve and protect"?

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  • Display: Sort:
    It's Tucson, not Tuscon. (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 08:10:48 AM EST
    Yeah, I know, picky, picky, picky.

    I've seen Babeu (none / 0) (#1)
    by gyrfalcon on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 12:24:21 AM EST
    on Fox a number of times now, and he's a really, really nasty piece of work.  I couldn't remember which part of Arizona he's in, but seeing your headline, I immediately knew it had to do with him.

    He's a really vivid throwback to the Southern sheriffs of Jim Crow days.


    As if the cartels won't shoot back? (none / 0) (#3)
    by SeeEmDee on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 07:12:48 AM EST
    Remember what happened when Bush Too (not a misspelling) egged on al-Qaida by telling them to 'bring it on'? Quite a few grunts got whacked within 24 hours of his (safely) boastful jibe.

    Presidente Calderon has given the American DrugWarriors what they have always said they wanted: to "fight the DrugWar as if it were a real war!" Well, real war creates collateral casualties amongst the innocent, as many Mex families caught in the crossfire have found out the hard way. Calderon's name is scheisse in many Mex border towns...the ones that haven't been abandoned.

    But, given that the DrugWar is racist to the core, literally from its' very inception, I suppose the Anglos sitting in their 'drug control' offices in Warshington don't mind it at all if 'little brown brother' gets the chop.

    Why sheer firepower (none / 0) (#4)
    by Harry Saxon on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 07:47:43 AM EST
    doesn't win battles these days, from www.exiledonline(dot)com:

    Let's take the best-case scenario and say that this new weapon, the XM25, makes every American infantry squad so lethal that the Taliban and the Iraqi insurgents lose a huge number of men and can't afford stand-up fights any more. What that would do is force an accelerated evolution in the same direction guerrilla war's been evolving for more than 100 years: away from trying to fight the invading army on its own terms and toward assassination, bombs, betrayal--all the ways insurgents love to fight and conventional armies hate. In practical terms, that means more Taliban enlist in the Afghan Army and wait for the chance to mow down the Western soldiers who are supposedly their buddies. Or more Taliban go home and wait until we lose interest and go home, then dig up their buried guns and go stomp their less-militant neighbors. Or, worst and most likely of all these scenarios, more Taliban forget about chancing a firefight and stick to IEDs.

    According to the U.S. Army's own newspaper, the Army Times, IEDs now account for 75 percent of American casualties in Afghanistan.

    Most of our GIs are not dying or being wounded in the kind of firefight the XM25 is designed to win. They're dying in a much nastier way: getting blown up by remote control while they patrol rural Afghan dirt roads.

    And unfortunately, the only effect a gee-whiz weapon like the XM25 is likely to have is raising that figure closer to 100 percent.



    Drug suspects today... (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 07:55:56 AM EST
    "domestic extremists" tomorrow, old folks scrounging for food next week...we're being prepped for the new world order kids.

    In the future, we will not only all be famous for 15 minutes, we will also all be subject to being shot on sight...for our own protection.

    i did not realize (none / 0) (#8)
    by cpinva on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 01:25:19 PM EST
    local sheriffs were legally authorized to make this kind of policy unilaterally? aren't there standard, department-wide policies & procedures, governing the use of force, authored by the local or state legilsative body?

    He might have the legislature's sympathy (none / 0) (#9)
    by jbindc on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 02:00:21 PM EST
    Especially as a Border Patrol agent was killed there last week who was there patrolling the area because bandits have been roaming the border areas, robbing and sexually assaulting illegal immigrants as they cross into the country.

    Hmmm...an evil border patrol agent trying to protect illegal immigrants.  Must have missed the coverage of it here.


    Parent

    selective reporting of the facts... (none / 0) (#10)
    by diogenes on Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 09:29:49 PM EST
    Is not only practiced by Fox News, which is why I try to read news and blogs of all political persuasions to distill what is really going on.


    Parent
    Saying Fox news is biased (none / 0) (#13)
    by Harry Saxon on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 08:05:27 AM EST
    is like saying the Pacific Ocean is wet Gene Lyons on the subject:

    Recently, the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland released yet another study documenting Americans' lamentable ignorance of public events. It found that regular Fox News viewers were "significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe" many things that are objectively false: the economy is worsening, that most Republicans opposed TARP, that the stimulus contained no tax cuts, that their own income taxes had increased, that most scientists doubt global warming, etc.

    A deluded citizenry can't effectively govern itself. Yet complacency and institutional cowardice causes "mainstream" media to play along with the fiction that Fox News is an ordinarily craven, celebrity-driven news organization.

    People, we're in deep trouble.

    Click Me

    Parent

    What a joke (none / 0) (#14)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 09:23:02 PM EST

    It found that regular Fox News viewers were "significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe" many things that are objectively false: the economy is worsening,...

    That "study" is a B.S.  There is no single recognized standard of the economy getting better or worsening.  In the last two years unemployment is up, foreclosures are up, new home sales down 60%+.  While the some indicators are improving, others are not.  

    That "study" does not depend on objectivity, but a cherry picked definition of economic improvement.

    Parent

    Funny how (none / 0) (#15)
    by Harry Saxon on Sat Dec 25, 2010 at 12:07:33 AM EST
    you refuse to look at the facts when they're staring you in the face:

    From www.mediamatters(dot)org:

    It is well established that Fox News has become the defacto communications arm of the Republican party by promoting their agenda and propping up their candidates with softball interviews. However, Fox & Friends may have taken it to a new level this morning with their promotion of Congressman Barney Frank's Republican opponent Sean Bielat.

    Fox & Friends promotion of Bielat started early, when contributor Dick Morris came on the show to encourage Republicans to actively campaign to unseat Congressman Barney Frank.

    Fox & Friends took Morris' advice in the next hour, hosting Bielat for one of their patented softball interviews. Co-host Steve Doocy started off the Bielat boosterism by falsely suggesting that Congressman Frank is to blame for the housing crisis, while co-host Brian Kilmeade asked such hard hitting questions as "Now Barney Frank delivers for his district. Sean, are you gonna, are you willing to tell your district, I'm delivering for your country, not just for you?"



    Click Me


    Parent
    The fact they used a bogus metric (none / 0) (#16)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Dec 25, 2010 at 12:43:36 AM EST

    says everything.  Judging by unemployment, the economy has gotten worse in the past two years.  That is an objective fact, Fox or no Fox.

    Parent
    Don't listen to me, here's what (none / 0) (#17)
    by Harry Saxon on Sat Dec 25, 2010 at 06:31:08 AM EST
    David Frum, not a liberal by any means, has to say about Fox News, from www.gopclownshow(dot)com:

    Host Howard Kurtz asked Frum, I've got about 20 seconds. You recently wrote, "The Republicans originally thought that Fox works for us, and now we're discovering we work for Fox." What does that mean?" Frum answered, "What that means is that Fox, like Limbaugh, has an interest in pushing the Republicans to the margins, making people angry. When people are angry and alienated, they don't vote. They succumb to feelings of helplessness. What people need right now are feelings of power, that they can make a difference by participating in politics."

    Click Me

    From www.worldpublicopinion(dot)org:

    Voters' misinformation included beliefs at odds with the conclusions of government agencies, generally regarded as non-partisan, consisting of professional economists and scientists.

    •   Though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that the stimulus legislation has saved or created 2.0-5.2 million jobs, only 8% of voters thought most economists who had studied it concluded that the stimulus legislation had created or saved several million jobs. Most (68%) believed that economists estimate that it only created or saved a few jobs and 20% even believed that it resulted in job losses.

    •   Though the CBO concluded that the health reform law would reduce the budget deficit, 53% of voters thought most economists have concluded that health reform will increase the deficit.

    •   Though the Department of Commerce says that the US economy began to recover from recession in the third quarter of 2009 and has continued to grow since then, only 44% of voters thought the economy is starting to recover, while 55% thought the economy is still getting worse.

    •   Though the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that climate change is occurring, 45% of voters thought most scientists think climate change is not occurring (12%) or that scientists are evenly divided (33%).

    Other key points of misinformation among voters were:

    •   40% of voters believed incorrectly that the TARP legislation was initiated under Barack Obama, rather than George Bush

    •   31% believed it was proven true that the US Chamber of Commerce spent large amounts of money it had raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates

    •   54% believed that there were no tax cuts in the stimulus legislation

    •   86% assumed their taxes had gone up (38%) or
    stayed the same (48%), while only 10% were aware that their taxes had gone down since 2009

    *   53% thought that the bailout of GM and Chrysler occurred only under Obama, though it was initiated under Bush

    Clay Ramsay, of WorldPublicOpinion.org commented, "While we do not have data to make a clear comparison to the past, this high level of misinformation and the fact that voters perceived a higher than usual level of false and misleading information, suggests that the increased flow of money into political advertising may have contributed to a higher level of misinformation."

    Click Me

    Sorry to bust you on the facts, but then these days if you're a Republican you might as well
    have "SUCKER" stamped on your forehead in big, red letters.

    Parent

    I was not commenting on Fox. (none / 0) (#18)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Dec 25, 2010 at 02:07:52 PM EST

    Only that some outfit lost credibility by using a bogus metric.  

    BTW, "saved" jobs is B.S.  The only thing that really matters is net jobs added or lost.  It matters not a fig how some group or another chooses to define a "saved job."  The more expansive the definition, the more jobs saved.  

    Since the claim is from 2.0 to 5.2 million, that level of uncertainty alone should tell you that this is a mere estimate rather than a count.  

    Parent

    The greater point is (none / 0) (#19)
    by Harry Saxon on Sat Dec 25, 2010 at 02:12:10 PM EST
    that besides statistics about the economy that could be doubtful, there is a clear record of Fox News not being truthful in furtherance of a political agenda, as I outlined above.

    Parent
    Perhaps (none / 0) (#20)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Dec 27, 2010 at 11:11:37 PM EST
    But I just came across this analysis of that "study."

    Click for link

    Parent

    The reaction from Fox News is pretty revealing (none / 0) (#21)
    by Harry Saxon on Mon Dec 27, 2010 at 11:39:24 PM EST
    From www.mediamatters(dot)org

    Fox News VP Reacts To UMD Study By Attacking College Students

    Asked for comment on the study, Fox News seemingly dismissed the findings. In a statement, Michael Clemente, who is the senior vice president of news editorial for the network, said: "The latest Princeton Review ranked the University of Maryland among the top schools for having 'Students Who Study The Least' and being the 'Best Party School' -- given these fine academic distinctions, we'll regard the study with the same level of veracity it was 'researched' with.'"

        Mr. Clemente oversees every hour of objective news programming on Fox News, which is by far the nation's most popular cable news channel.

    ....................

    But let's take a step back and appreciate that Fox News and Clemente clearly took the time to research and craft this reaction. And after this careful consideration, they decided that their best response to an academic study on their misinformative news habits was to call college students stupid.

    You stay classy, Fox News.


    Click Me


    Parent

    I followed your link (none / 0) (#22)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 28, 2010 at 08:27:08 PM EST

    But it offered no factual support for the assertions in the "study" the Fox quotes were reacting to.  

    Again, I am not asserting that Fox does or does not mislead its viewers.  It is clear that the Maryland "study" is a load of bunk.  Check the link on my previous post.  Is that analysis faulty in some way?

    Parent

    Re:Response (none / 0) (#23)
    by Harry Saxon on Tue Dec 28, 2010 at 10:33:36 PM EST
    But it offered no factual support for the assertions in the "study" the Fox quotes were reacting to

    There were no factual objections offered by the Fox VP, either, didja notice that one?

    And I linked to factual support of the study earlier, if you care to go up the thread and find it.

    Again, I am not asserting that Fox does or does not mislead its viewers.

    Again, I am not asserting that the sun does or does not revolve around the earth.

    It is clear that the Maryland "study" is a load of bunk.

    Study the methodology and if you have a sufficient grasp of statistics, you can prove your point without sounding like Henry Ford.

    It takes more than a Youtube video to prove a point, perhaps you should find a better example than a video, something written down so that comparisons can be made side by side.

    Youtube video.

    HA!

    Parent