Students protest against Arpaio outside Phoenix high school

Police arrested six demonstrators, including two minors, at a student-led rally to protest Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration policies, the local press reported.
The protesters included students from Trevor Browne High School and other area high schools and colleges.
They rallied Tuesday in the intersection of 75th Avenue and Cheery Lynn Street, forcing police to close 75th Avenue in both directions.


Students were mainly in attendance with a few adults as well. The students running the protest and leading the different chants.


The protesters were also chanting directly to the sheriff in saying, "Arpaio we're here, we're undocumented and have no fear."


The protest is in response to Arpaio and his stance on immigration enforcement.


One of students on the megaphone could be heard saying, "We are not scared of Arpaio, come and meet us. We want to meet you."


Police informed the protesters they were illegally blocking the street. According to one, they believe a statement needs to be made.


"We're going to ask them all to leave the roadway and those who don't will be arrested," said Phoenix police officer James Holmes. "Anyone 18 or over who is arrested will go to the Fourth Avenue Jail and will be processed for breaking the law. Anyone under the age of 18 will go to the juvenile detention center."


Many of the protestors said they do not fear jail time.


"We worry every day and it's time for us to use that same fear we have for the love of our families and say, 'We're not going to be afraid anymore,'" one protester told KNPX- TV.


Other chants that could be heard were; "Arpaio we're here, we're undocumented and we have no fear;" "We're fired up. Can't take no more;" "Up, up with education; down, down with deportation;" "Arpaio we're here. Our community has no fear;" and "No justice, no peace. No racist police."

Robert De Niro: I’m prone De Niro captures father's character

So you write a soul-baring memoir of your relationship with your fame-hungry, delusional, alcoholic and sometimes homeless father, and now Robert De Niro wants to play him in the movie. You figure your father will be thrilled, right?
University of Houston creative writing professor Nick Flynn had no delusion that his dad would be pleased.
"He said Dustin Hoffman should play him."
The movie, "Being Flynn," based on Nick Flynn's much-praised 2004 memoir, "Another Bull**** Night in Suck City," is now showing in San Antonio. Julianne Moore plays Flynn's mother, and Paul Dano plays young Nick in his 20s. De Niro, not Hoffman, plays his father, Jonathan Flynn.


De Niro’s performance style was informed by the two dominant mid-20th-century approaches to acting. By the mid-1950s, anyone who wanted to be somebody came through the Actors Studio, led by Lee Strasberg, who honed an approach to acting that critics were referring to as “Method acting.” Today, we think of a Method actor as one that inhabits his character to the degree that the actor literally puts himself in the shoes of his character – even when he is not on camera. However, there was another acting technique during the era being taught by Stella Adler, where Marlon Brando studied and with whom De Niro enrolled.


Adler taught that the actor does not embody the character so much as he becomes the character onstage (or film) through the actions of the play (or script). Like most actors of the time, De Niro ended up studying both at Stella’s school and the Studio. The schism between Strasberg and Adler created the greatest polemic of 20th century acting, as De Niro recalled when he sat down to discuss his earliest days as an actor and his latest film.

Robert De Niro's Racial First Lady' Joke: Inappropriate

While DeNiro was clearly being mock ironic by recalling the kind of comments that many whites made about blacks within living memory, he ran afoul of the unwritten rule Obama and his tight knit team of advisers have operated under going back to his 2008 campaign. Anything that reinforces racial divisions or focuses attention on the president's race should be avoided.  


Brace yourself for the joke that the GOP presidential hopeful also said would "divide the country."


From The Hill:                                                                


While introducing the first lady at a New York City fundraiser, De Niro jokingly suggested that America isn’t “ready for a white first lady.”


“Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?” De Niro said, to laughter from the crowd. When someone in the audience yelled, “No!” De Niro continued, “Too soon, right?”


The actor later on Tuesday released a statement saying he had not meant to offend anyone with his comment.


“My remarks, although spoken with satirical jest, were not meant to offend or embarrass anyone — especially the First Lady,” he said, according to reports.


There's no room in the 24 hour news cycle of sound bites to evaluate whether anyone was actually offended or to analyze the ways in which the impact of a racial joke is informed by our country's history and the context in which it's told. So it makes sense that the White House has backed away from the statement. But we wonder whether anyone was able to listen to Gingrich's comparison of De Niro to Limbaugh with a straight face.

Robert De Niro apologizes for "first lady" joke at Obama fundraiser

 Robert De Niro said he meant no offense when he joked at a presidential fundraiser featuring Michelle Obama that America might not be ready for a white first lady.




"My remarks, although spoken with satirical jest, were not meant to offend or embarrass anyone - especially the first lady," De Niro said in a statement.


The tough-talking actor was host of the re-election fundraiser Monday night in New York. He opened by listing the wives of Republicans running for president.


Addressing a starry exclusive crowd in the back room of Locanda Verde, De Niro deadpanned: “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white First Lady?”


The NYC crowd roared its approval, but Gingrich did not appreciate the humor. During a campaign stop in Shreveport, La., on Tuesday, he blasted the actor and called for the President to apologize on his behalf.


“I think Robert De Niro is wrong,” Gingrich said at the top of his speech at Strawn’s Eat Shop. “I think the country is ready for a new First Lady, and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”


Gingrich described De Niro’s comment as “beyond the pale,” adding: “I call on the President to apologize for him.”


The snowy-haired candidate had barely finished speaking when the First Lady’s press secretary issued this statement:


“We believe the joke was inappropriate,” said Olivia Alair.


De Niro spokesman Stan Rosenfield informed media outlets that the actor was not going to respond to Gingrich’s criticism.


“It was obvious satire,” Rosenfield said in an email.


Satire is something that the First Lady’s Secret Service contingent would appreciate.


The handful of suit-wearing, earpiece-sporting presidential protectors who stood guard outside Locanda Verde while Obama fired up the crowd inside turned out to be a real bunch of cut-ups.

Human remains found near where missing Texas cheerleader Hailey Dunn was last seen

Human remains have been discovered in a pasture 40 miles from Colorado City, Texas, where 13–year-old Hailey Dunn disappeared more than a year ago.


Authorities in Big Spring, Texas, confirmed that human remains were found near the McMahon Wrinkle Airpark Tuesday afternoon. The airpark is about one mile from the home of the mother of Shawn Adkins, Hailey Dunn's mother's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, and the only named person of interest in the case.


Det. Sgt. Tony Everett said the remains appeared to have been there "for a long period of time," according to the San Angelo Standard Times. Everett said an FBI evidence recovery team from Dallas is expected to process the scene this morning.


No official connection has been made between the remains found Tuesday and Hailey Dunn.


Adkins, who was 25 at the time of the girl's disappearance, was called one of several people of interest in January 2011 by investigators in Colorado City. He was the live-in boyfriend of her mother, Billie Dunn, but the couple is reportedly no longer together in the aftermath of Hailey's disappearance.


Adkins was the last person to see the 13-year-old cheerleader Dec. 27, 2010. Dunn, 33, reported her daughter's disappearance the next day.


Both Dunn and Adkins failed polygraph exams during the initial investigation into Hailey Dunn's disappearance. Billie Dunn took a lie detector test twice, and the first test ended prematurely when investigators discovered she was under the influence of narcotics. The second exam indicated that she had been deceptive, according to the affidavit.


Adkins took three polygraph exams. The first two times he walked out of the room before the test was completed. The third time he was found to be deceptive during the first part of the exam.


During the second stage of the exam, Adkins revealed that Hailey might be in Scurry County, Texas. Investigators deemed him to be telling the truth. When pressed about a more precise location for the girl, Adkins refused to complete the test, according to the affidavit.


Investigators said that Adkins has given contradictory statements about the day Hailey disappeared.

Romney Wins Where It Counts Scoring Delegates While Raising Cash

Mitt Romney racked up a decisive victory Tuesday in the Illinois primary, shoring up his claim that he will inevitably take the Republican presidential nomination and dealing another blow to Rick Santorum's bid to block him.


With 99% of precincts reporting, Mr. Romney led with 47% to Mr. Santorum's 35%. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had 9%, and Newt Gingrich trailed with 8%.


That gave Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, fresh momentum heading into a month in which the race moves largely to Northeast and mid-Atlantic states that are friendly terrain for him.


While the nominating contest has remained competitive longer than he expected, Mr. Romney has won in every region of the country but the Deep South, including in Ohio, Florida and Virginia—large states that will be battlegrounds when the Republican winner faces Democratic President Barack Obama this fall. The Illinois victory gives him a trifecta in the industrial Midwest, following much narrower wins in Michigan and Ohio.


The Illinois primary gave Mr. Santorum his best shot yet at a head-to-head matchup with Mr. Romney, as Messrs. Gingrich and Paul made little effort to campaign in the state. But Mr. Santorum didn't seem to benefit from the waning of support for Mr. Gingrich, raising questions about whether Mr. Romney's rivals together can achieve their goal of preventing him from winning the nomination.


"With each step after Illinois, it becomes tougher for the remaining three others in the field to raise money and make a compelling case," said Rich Bond, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.


Mr. Romney hailed the results Tuesday night as an "extraordinary victory" before turning his attention to Mr. Obama, saying the president's background before running for office gave him little understanding of how to shepherd the economy.




"You can't learn that teaching constitutional law. You can't learn that as a community organizer,'' Mr. Romney said at a victory party in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg.


"I'm running for president because I have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess," he said.


Mr. Santorum answered on Tuesday night by challenging Mr. Romney's background as an investor and management consultant.

Rights leaders keep up pressure in Fla. shooting

Trayvon Martin's parents appeared on the Today show this morning reaffirming their position that George Zimmerman, the man who shot their son, should be arrested and prosecuted immediately.


Sybrina Fulton, the mother of 17-year-old victim at the center of the controversial investigation, criticized Sanford police for failing to uphold the law.


"[Sanford] police decided on scene to be the judge and jury," Fulton said Matt Lauer this morning.


Accompanied by their lawyer Benjamin Crump, the parents explained how they were able to find the young woman who said she was on the phone with Trayvon when Zimmerman allegedly confronted him.


Tracy Martin said he went through his son's phone logs and realized the call ended at 7:12 a.m., five minutes before police arrived to find the teen face down in the wet grass.


The girl did not come forward before because she was distraught over the killing, Fulton said.


Martin said the young woman's testimony proves his son was not doing anything to merit Zimmerman's suspicions.


The Department of Justice announced this week they would open an investigation into the slaying.


Lauer, quoting anonymous sources within the DOJ, said that the civil rights case is fraught with problems that could make it difficult to prosecute under federal law.

Toulouse suspect still holed up, surrounded by 300 police

TOULOUSE, France — Hundreds of police officers surrounded a small apartment building in Toulouse early on Wednesday and were negotiating with a 24-year-old man suspected in the methodical killings of seven unarmed people in the past ten days, including three young children.


The man claimed to belong to Al Qaeda, telling negotiators the attacks were meant to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and to protest French military deployments abroad, according to Interior Minister Claude Guéant, who was at the site of the raid on Wednesday morning.


Investigators believe the man, identified as Mohammed Merah, a French national from Toulouse, to be behind the shooting deaths of three French paratroopers as well as an attack on Monday outside a nearby Jewish school that killed a rabbi and three children. Mr. Merah fired several heavy volleys at security forces ringing the five-floor apartment building in which he had barricaded himself, about two miles south of the school. Two officers were slightly wounded, Mr. Guéant said.


As the standoff stretched past 11 hours, The Associated Press reported that Cedric Delage, regional secretary for a police union, said the suspect has promised to turn himself into police and that if he did not, the police would attempt to arrest him by force.


Mr. Merah had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and called himself a mujahedeen, or freedom fighter, Mr. Guéant said, and had been under surveillance by the French domestic intelligence service for several years, “though nothing whatsoever allowed us to think he was at the point of committing a criminal act.” A senior Pakistani official said that intelligence services there had no information on whether the suspect had visited Pakistan.


Only after the attack on the Jewish school on Monday did investigators come to suspect Mr. Merah, though those killings did not provide evidence that led authorities to him, according to Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for Mr. Guéant. Rather, on Monday afternoon, investigators traced an IP address used in connection with the first killing, ten days ago, to Mr. Merah’s mother, and began to suspect his involvement.