The now-recalled Russell Pearce with the soon-to-be-recalled Joe Arpaio

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has engaged in racial profiling and must not use Hispanic ancestry as a factor when making law-enforcement decisions, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow issued the ruling Friday, more than eight months after a seven-day trial on the subject concluded. The trial examined longstanding allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s emphasis on immigration enforcement led deputies to target Latino drivers based on their race, and that by doing so, they violated the constitutional rights of Maricopa County residents and the sheriff’s own policies requiring constitutional policing.

[…]

“The evidence introduced at trial establishes that, in the past, the MCSO has aggressively protected its right to engage in immigration and immigration–related enforcement operations even when it had no accurate legal basis for doing so,” Show [sic] said.

Snow was the sole arbiter of facts in the bench trial conducted without a jury. He was tasked with weighing the plaintiffs’ arguments that the Sheriff’s Office developed an immigration enforcement policy that encouraged deputies to discriminate against Latino drivers, depriving them of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection. A ruling from Snow late last year expanded the plaintiffs in the 41/2-year-old case to cover a class that includes every Latino driver the Sheriff’s Office has stopped since 2007. The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and pro-bono attorneys from a Bay Area law firm, and were faced with the burden of proof in the case.

[…]

Read it all here: Judge: Sheriff Arpaio’s Agency Engaged in Racial Profiling

(Click below if you can’t see the MP4 video.)

We laugh at Texas Gongressmoron Louie Gohmert a lot, because he comes out with so many deliciously stupid remarks. But this story is a reminder that, comical though he may be, Gohmert is also a first class heartless Republican bastard, as he tells a woman who had a medically necessary late term abortion that she should have carried the baby to term — even though the child had no chance of surviving and would have died in agony.

Ms. Zink, having my great sympathy and empathy both. I still come back wondering, shouldn’t we wait… and see if the child can survive before we decide to rip him apart? So, these are ethical issues, they’re moral issues, they’re difficult issues, and the parents should certainly be consulted. But it just seems like, it’s a more educated decision if the child is in front of you to make those decisions.

Good grief. I tried to come up with a snarky ending, but all I can think is “what a horrible, horrible person.” There’s something seriously wrong with Gohmert — and he’s far from the only right wing Congressman with these sickening misogynist views.

Via: Louie Gohmert: Women Should Be Forced to Carry Nonviable Pregnancies to Term

Also see:
Congressman: Women Should Be Forced to Give Birth to Fetuses With No Brain Function

This morning half-governor Sarah Palin took to the Internets to spread her signature dumbassitude, getting the IRS scandal confused with the James Rosen scandal and chirping:

The IRS is closed for the day, feel free to use your phones.

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) May 24, 2013

Credit: Skagit Valley Herald

SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. - — Both north and southbound lanes of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge collapsed Thursday evening, said officials with the Washington State Patrol.

The collapse happened between south of Burlington and north of Mount Vernon just after 7 p.m.

According to the State Patrol, people and vehicles are in the water.

Via: I-5 Skagit River Bridge Collapses; People, Vehicles in Water | kirotv.com

RT @kiro7seattle: I-5 bridge collapse photo tweeted to us by @dustystarling >>> twitter.com/dustystarling/…

— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) May 24, 2013

BREAKING - photo of man on his car in Skagit River after I-5 bridge collapse: twitter.com/KING5Seattle/s…

— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 24, 2013

BREAKING PHOTO: Large crowd at site of I-5 bridge collapse on Skagit River in WA; people/cars in water -@king5seattle twitter.com/NewsBreaker/st…

— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) May 24, 2013

@kiro7seattle @gina_svh here is a better one taken from my sister in law who is standing on the dike. twitter.com/hazhauler/stat…

— Josh (@hazhauler) May 24, 2013

BREAKING - photo shows man standing outside his truck in the river after I-5 bridge collapse over Skagit River twitter.com/KING5Seattle/s…

— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 24, 2013

Photo via the @komonews facebook page from viewer Molly Olsen #SkagitBridge #I5bridgecollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

Photo from KOMO viewer Karissa Garcia of #SkagitBridge #I5BridgeCollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

My buddy in Mount Vernon snapped this pic of I-5 bridge collapse. #Skagitbridge twitter.com/NickKrupke/sta…

— Nick Krupke (@NickKrupke) May 24, 2013

Rescue boats are under the bridge and near the submerged truck #SkagitBridge #I5BridgeCollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

Rescue boats transporting people out of #SkagitBridge collapse (Rick Lund /ST) twitter.com/SeaTimesPhoto/…

— Seattle Times Photo (@SeaTimesPhoto) May 24, 2013

Reacting to the Boy Scouts’ decision to admit openly gay youths as members, RedState founder and former CNN contributor Erick Erickson lapsed into full-on swivel-eyed fanatic speaking-in-tongues mode tonight on Twitter, culminating in this glimpse into his tortured psyche:

Yes, Christ is love, but he is also wrath, vengeance, and redemption.The modern emo Christ is a fiction.Christ could throw a punch.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 24, 2013

“Wrath, Vengeance, and Redemption” — wasn’t that the title of the last Whitesnake album? Or was that Stryper?

(h/t: The Mountain That Blogs.)

More right wing reactionary craziness:

Boy Scouts of America: Born February 8, 1910. Died May 23, 2013 #RIP

— Matt Barber (@jmattbarber) May 24, 2013

BSA now stands for Boy Sodomizers of America, because that’s what will happen. Mark my words.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) May 24, 2013

A memorable moment in CNN’s coverage of the Oklahoma tornado disaster was Wolf Blitzer’s interview with a woman who, after Blitzer asked her several times whether she “thanked the Lord” for surviving, turned out to be an atheist. Oops, Wolf.

When the full import of this diabolical “interview” slammed into the fevered brain of Glenn Beck, bless his little stunted raving freakazoid wingnut soul, it triggered a rant about plots and the forces of darkness. SINISTER HIDDEN REASONS that only Glenn can see.

“We are not fighting against flesh and bone,” Beck said. “We are fighting the forces of spiritual darkness and it doesn’t matter what people’s intent are, but I will tell you that that was there for a reason.”

Via: Beck: CNN Interview With Atheist Tornado Survivor Was a Set-Up | Right Wing Watch

EDL leader Stephen Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, (left) with EDL supporters outside The Queens Arms pub in Woolwich

The drunken racist British yahoos known as the English Defence League took to the streets and rioted yesterday following the attack on a soldier in London: Woolwich: Riot Police Contain EDL Supporters.

The EDL are allies of our home-grown Bigot Brigade, led by Anti-Muslim demagogues Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and these two hateful thugs are now doing their damnedest to incite similar violence against Muslims in America. Thankfully, we don’t have fascist groups like the EDL in this country, but it’s not for lack of trying by Geller, Spencer, and their nasty friends.

English Defence League supporters have thrown missiles at police in Woolwich after a machete attack that left one man dead.

A group of between 75 and 100 men gathered at The Queen’s Arms pub on Burrage Grove, where they sang nationalistic songs.

Sky News correspondent Alistair Bunkall, who is at the scene, said: “As soon as the EDL got into the town centre … it became not only a lot harder for the police to try and contain anything, but also the aggression (increased) quite considerably.

“A few missiles have been thrown, glass bottles and the like. The police are trying to surround them and they’ve been charging them as well with batons.”

Also see:
Woolwich Attack: More Than 100 English Defence League Supporters Gather Near Scene of Killing

Right wing loon Pat Dollard, a writer for Breitbart.com, calls this a “feel-good story:”

Feel-Good Story Of The Morning: Anti-Muslim Reprisals In England bit.ly/13LvRDt#tcot #lnyhbt #tgdn #resist44 #teaparty

— Patrick Dollard (@PatDollard) May 23, 2013

This video keeps me sane. A monkey, a pig, riding (backwards)…

…and suddenly I can deal with the randomness of the universe.

Oh, and apologies for the earworm.