PCWC: JT READY IS DEAD: FASCISM AND THE ANARCHIST RESPONSE IN ARIZONA, 2005-2012

JT READY IS DEAD: FASCISM AND THE ANARCHIST RESPONSE IN ARIZONA, 2005-2012 ~ Fires never extinguished: A blog of the Phoenix Class War Council

JT Ready is dead.  And by his own hand.  It took a while, but in the end JT took the free advice of his many anarchist adversaries and followed his leader into oblivion.  Though in the end he opted for the Goebbels style over that of his boy Hitler.  That's the thing with JT: despite being a consistent white supremacist, he could sometimes surprise you.  Not with something entirely new.  No.  But with variations on a theme.  Most of us figured he would blow up somewhere, at some point, and given the history of white supremacists with regard to child and spousal abuse, we are not surprised that his end mimicked his political practice perfectly: violence mostly aimed down the social hierarchy. Consider the death of National Socialist Movement leader Jeff Hall as another case in point.

According to the cops, on Wednesday, May 2, JT, a former president of the Mesa Community College Republican Club and Maricopa County Republican precinct committeeman, stormed the house of his much-abused and terrified girlfriend in Gilbert wearing full combat gear and then proceeded to open fire on everyone in the place.  The dead included Lisa Mederos, her daughter Amber (JT's former treasurer for his run for Pinal County Sheriff), as well as her fiance, Jim Hiott, who was a fellow militia member.  In a truly cowardly act, JT also killed Amber's 15 month-old baby.  Only Lisa's younger daughter survived, hiding under the bed in her upstairs room.

We in PCWC first began running into JT during the early parts of the immigration movement, around 2005, before there was a formal PCWC, really.  As many probably know, JT had a rather chaotic political career, but in those days he was allied with State Senator Russell Pearce and local car dealer Rusty Childress.  Even then political violence had already begun to rear its ugly head in the anti-immigrant scene.  It might be valuable to review some of what had happened in Arizona in the several years preceding JT's final bloody rampage, and it certainly would be worthwhile to consider the ways that anarchists in Phoenix and Arizona organized against him, his politics and his political allies (and enemies) over the last half decade or more.  While liberals advocated for his free speech, anarchists opposed him every step of the way.

Read more: http://firesneverextinguished.blogspot.com/2012/06/jt-ready-is-dead-fascism-and-anarchist.html

Tucson Shooting Overshadows Border Shooting

Before Congresswoman Gifford and others were shot in Tuscon, Arizona , 17 year old Ramses Barron Torres was shot and killed by a bullet originating in Nogales, Arizona. There have been no national moments of silence for the apparently unarmed teenager. No memes speculating on the sanity of the shooter(s) or if violent rhetoric played a role. That’s probably because Ramses Barron Torres is Mexican and was shot by U.S. Border Patrol.

These points, made by Maegan La Mala on VivirLatino recently are ones that didn't really occur to me, even though I try to be aware of these sorts inconsistencies on the part of the media as well as the left.  The article explores some of the stories around the circumstances surrounding Torres' death.  But even if Torres had been throwing rocks, even if he had been on the US side of the border, the shooting was still unjustified.  Certainly violent rhetoric played a role in this shooting, as it did in the shooting in Arivaca a year and a half ago.

Border patrol agents, like cops, get away with shootings and other violence on a regular basis.  Even Ramos and Compean who were sentenced to prison for shooting at a man on the border (he didn't die), got their sentence commuted by Bush.  It will be interesting to see what comes of this shooting.  Either way, though, the outcry (as it is reported by the media as well as how it is coming across on the part of activists) is not nearly what it is in response to this shooting in Tucson.  Yes, it is different that it was so out of the ordinary and that it was several people who were shot at once, but just because immigrants already live in a state of fear for their lives does not mean it's any less painful or traumatic.

Minutemen Not Concerned with Rule of Law

If anyone hadn't been convinced yet that the anti-immigrant folks are in fact not concerned with the rule of law except for when it benefits them, you ought to check out the letters to the editor in the latest Phoenix New Times.

Well, of course the story that the letters respond to is the main example, but since that could have been seen as an extreme isolated case (and i hope it is), the attitude is reflected in a couple of the letters. The story is that of Shawna Forde and two others and their home invasion and murder that resulted in the death of a man, a seven year old girl, and the injury of the mother. This story was covered in one of the last few New Times.

I would like to personally thank Shawna Forde for doing the job the U.S. government won't do itself. We can all sleep a little better at night knowing that at least one Mex drug trafficker scumbag is gone for good.

Too bad we do not have 100,000 more Shawna Fordes in America. And it is a shame that Shawna has to make the ultimate sacrifice in exchange for this civic deed to transpire.

Instead of getting locks and cold steel bars, Shawna should be presented with the key to the city where she took out the trash. She is a true American tragedy. Victim of ZOG [Zionist Occupation Government] since she was a little girl; a blonde preyed upon for her young body on the streets just to survive.

[For] being imprisoned for eradicating a foreign terrorist who deals in chemical warfare against our populace, she deserves all of our sympathy and adulation as both a brave lady and a strong American patriot.
J.T. Ready, neo-Nazi, Mesa (do a search for this guy, he's all over the place: friends with senator russell pearce, for one)

I see nothing wrong with Shawna Forde's actions, if you want to know the truth. Robbing and killing drug-dealing scum should get her a medal from the president.

The money these drug dealers make might as well go for a good cause — securing our borders.
Randal Randolph, Gila Bend

Of course there were several that were somewhat neutralized the disturbing effect of the others.

[Shawna Forde's] just another name to add to the long list of hypocritical "patriots" who also have sordid pasts (Minuteman leader Chris Simcox, state Senator Russell Pearce, neo-Nazis J.T. Ready, and Thomas Coletto).

I'll take all 14 of those Lindstrom's Car Wash employees over these people anytime.
Chad Snow, Peoria

See also:
How a Teen Prostitute and Beautician Morphed Into a Minuteman American Defense Leader and Alleged Killer

More Shawna Fordes in the Making? Violent Rhetoric and Unbalanced Actions from Phoenix Nativists