by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The Phoenix New Times is, without question, the best newspaper in the Valley of Hell. It picked fights with out-of-control Sheriff Joe Arpaio for years and was instrumental in bringing many of the scandals involving the dubious lawman to light - often while the Valley's other news sources seemed to be providing cover for the misadventures of the maniacal sheriff. The Phoenix New Times railed on Arpaio as he posed very real threats to the safety and lives of the residents of Maricopa County, particularly immigrants from Mexico, and burned through vast amounts of public revenue. It was the New Times, perhaps more than any other news venue, which ultimately served to enrage the voting public to the point where Arpaio was voted out of office in 2016, even as the same county electorate gave its stamp of approval to Arpaio's hero, Donald Trump - bigly.
But just because Joe Arpaio and his twenty-year war on immigrants is finally off of the daily radar does not mean that The Phoenix New Times has folded its tent and slunk quietly off into the desert. Just this week the venerable publication broke another story, which, though not about Arpaio directly, certainly relates to his unhinged and prolonged war on people with brown skin.
This week the New Times reported that at least two Motel 6's in the Phoenix area had been routinely sending Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) morning rosters of everyone who had checked into their units during the previous day and evening. The reporting revealed that at least twenty "guests" at Motel 6's in the Phoenix area had been arrested by ICE agents.
The motel chain is blaming the problem on a couple of its individual motels and said that the practice only came to light last week and it has been stopped. Law enforcement is barred by a Supreme Court decision of 2015 from forcing hotels to turn over guest information, so it seems likely that some members of staff made a decision to voluntarily release private guest information to ICE. So far the motel chain has reported no reprimands or firings over the matter.
As these rogue Motel 6 units were providing the names of all guests to an agency of the federal government, that might also be of interest to the gun-shoppers who come from out of state to buy Arizona weapons by the truckload.
The lights are still on, for now at least - but Tom Bodett has some 'splainin' to do!
Citizen Journalist
The Phoenix New Times is, without question, the best newspaper in the Valley of Hell. It picked fights with out-of-control Sheriff Joe Arpaio for years and was instrumental in bringing many of the scandals involving the dubious lawman to light - often while the Valley's other news sources seemed to be providing cover for the misadventures of the maniacal sheriff. The Phoenix New Times railed on Arpaio as he posed very real threats to the safety and lives of the residents of Maricopa County, particularly immigrants from Mexico, and burned through vast amounts of public revenue. It was the New Times, perhaps more than any other news venue, which ultimately served to enrage the voting public to the point where Arpaio was voted out of office in 2016, even as the same county electorate gave its stamp of approval to Arpaio's hero, Donald Trump - bigly.
But just because Joe Arpaio and his twenty-year war on immigrants is finally off of the daily radar does not mean that The Phoenix New Times has folded its tent and slunk quietly off into the desert. Just this week the venerable publication broke another story, which, though not about Arpaio directly, certainly relates to his unhinged and prolonged war on people with brown skin.
This week the New Times reported that at least two Motel 6's in the Phoenix area had been routinely sending Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) morning rosters of everyone who had checked into their units during the previous day and evening. The reporting revealed that at least twenty "guests" at Motel 6's in the Phoenix area had been arrested by ICE agents.
The motel chain is blaming the problem on a couple of its individual motels and said that the practice only came to light last week and it has been stopped. Law enforcement is barred by a Supreme Court decision of 2015 from forcing hotels to turn over guest information, so it seems likely that some members of staff made a decision to voluntarily release private guest information to ICE. So far the motel chain has reported no reprimands or firings over the matter.
As these rogue Motel 6 units were providing the names of all guests to an agency of the federal government, that might also be of interest to the gun-shoppers who come from out of state to buy Arizona weapons by the truckload.
The lights are still on, for now at least - but Tom Bodett has some 'splainin' to do!
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