Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 3/17

[SVPete]

Nevada Sheriff Defies Judge to Keep 35-Arrest Violent Offender Behind Bars

https://pjmedia.com/david-manney/2026/03/16/nevada-sheriff-defies-judge-to-keep-35-arrest-violent-offender-behind-bars-n4950712

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill's decision has sparked a national debate about public safety and the limits of judicial authority. McMahill refused to release Joshua Sanchez-Lopez from jail despite an order from Justice Court Judge Eric Goodman.

Sanchez-Lopez faces charges for battery causing substantial bodily harm, another entry in a long criminal record of 35 prior arrests, including violent offenses.

Judge Goodman authorized release with electric monitoring and a $5,000 bail, an order rejected by McMahill to keep Sanchez-Lopez in custody, arguing that the risk to the community outweighed the court's directive.

Sanchez-Lopez's record stretches across years of encounters with law enforcement. Charges have included robbery, assault, theft, and drug crimes. Police reports tied the most recent arrest to a violent attack that left a victim with serious injuries requiring hospital treatment and charges for battery with substantial bodily harm. Despite his history and the latest charges, Judge Goodman still permitted release under electronic monitoring conditions.

This could get reeeeeeally messy! Obviously, the judge's order is legally binding. Equally or more obviously releasing a guy with a record of violent and felonious offenses longer than the judge's robe is moronic and endangers the public.

Hypothetically, the "proper" way to address this would have been to appeal the decision, BUT during the time for the appeal to be heard and decided, the dude would be out on the streets doing whatever other crimes appealed to him. The sheriff set up a train of possible events in which the judge would find him in contempt of court ... but the law enforcement agency that would be ordered to jail him and release the thug is commanded by the sheriff.

What would the judge do if the whole sheriffs department defied him? The judge, AFAIK, does not have authority over state-level law enforcement.

[Rick]

What if the Sheriff arrested the Judge as an "unindicted Coconspirator".

[SVPete]

The New York Times Hires Editor Who Reportedly Covered Up His Pal’s Child Porn Scandal

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/the-new-york-times-hires-editor-who-reportedly-covered-up-his-pals-child-porn-scandal/

Noah Shachtman, the former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone and The Daily Beast, has been hired by The New York Times as a contributing writer to its opinion section despite his well-documented effort to cover up a pal’s child porn scandal.

In October 2022, Rolling Stone was the first to report that ABC News national security producer James Gordon Meek’s home had been raided by the FBI that April. But its story about the matter bore little resemblance to reality.

That wasn’t the fault of reporter Tatiana Siegel, who had learned and wished to note that the raid was in connection with a federal investigation into images depicting child sex abuse. Shachtman, then serving as the top editor at the publication, reportedly instructed Siegel not to turn in a story with the words “child pornography” in it; and then took advantage of Siegel leaving work to tend to her dying mother by going back on an agreement to note that the FBI raid pertained to “possible criminal behavior outside the scope of Meek’s work” in her article, according to an NPR investigation.

The MSM has levels of "One of Us": Dem pols toeing the party live are second; fellow media Progs are first and unless impossible, will be protected/tolerated.

[SVPete]

Trump formally names Vance chair of fraud task force — with California, New York among states in crosshairs

https://nypost.com/2026/03/16/us-news/trump-to-formally-name-vance-chair-of-fraud-task-force-with-these-states-in-crosshairs/

WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order Monday afternoon formally creating a benefits-fraud task force chaired by Vice President JD Vance as part of his state-focused “war on fraud.”

Vance joined Trump in the Oval Office for the event, the details of which were first reported ahead of time by The Post.

“It seems that it’s usually in blue states. If it’s in a red state, we’re going there too,” said Trump, focusing his ire on the social-services scandal in Minnesota.

Trump joked that Vance would fulfill his fraud-czar duties with greater zeal than former Vice President Kamala Harris embraced her role as President Biden’s border czar.

Had Kammie been less stupid and lazy - and actually given a @#$% about illegal immigration - being an effective "border czar" would have set her up for a good chance to succeed LIEden. It will be interesting to see what Vance does with this opportunity.

[SVPete]

UFW Will Not Celebrate Cesar Chavez After 'Troubling Allegations' Involving Minors (Update)

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/03/17/ufw-will-not-celebrate-cesar-chavez-after-troubling-allegations-involving-minors-n3812972

Two weeks from today is Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday in several states including California. There are usually events held to celebrate the legacy of Chavez and the United Farm Workers union. However, this year the UFW has announced it will not be participating in any Chavez related events because of new allegations of "abuse of young women or minors." The UFW posted this explanation today. [Emphasis in original.]

The UFW has learned of deeply troubling allegations that one of the union’s co-founders, Cesar Chavez, behaved in ways that are incompatible with our organization’s values. Some of the reports are family issues, and not our story to tell or our place to comment on. Far more troubling are allegations involving abuse of young women or minors. Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing. We have not received any direct reports, and we do not have any firsthand knowledge of these allegations.  However, the allegations are serious enough that we feel compelled to take urgent steps to learn more and provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose.

The United Farm Workers will not be taking part in any Cesar Chavez Day activities.

Instead, we call on our allies and supporters to take part in immigration justice events and acts of service to support farmworkers or empower vulnerable people in their own communities.

I do not have knowledge wrt this, but Cesar Chavez was corrupt in other ways (nepotism), so this does not surprise me. This is the statue in San Jose's Cesar Chavez Plaza. Up close and from the right angle, you see the details and head of Quetzalcoatl. From other angles and slightly farther distance it looks like a coiled turd, which I think is rather apt.

[SVPete]

Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years

https://archive.is/0bP3P#selection-499.0-499.72

Ana Murguia remembers the day the man she had regarded as a hero called her house and summoned her to see him. She walked along a dirt trail, entered the rundown building, passed his secretary and stepped into his office.

He locked the door, as he always did when he called her, and told her how lonely he had been. He brought her onto the yoga mat that he often used in his office for meditation, kissed her and pulled her pants down. “Don’t tell anyone,” he told her afterward. “They’d get jealous.”

The man, Cesar Chavez, one of the most revered figures in the Latino civil rights movement, was 45. She was 13. Ms. Murguia said she was summoned for sexual encounters with him dozens of times over the next four years.
...
Ms. Murguia and another woman, Debra Rojas, say that Mr. Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls, from around 1972 to 1977. He was in his 40s and had become a powerful, charismatic figure who captured global attention as a champion of farmworker rights.

The two women have not shared their stories publicly before, and an investigation by The New York Times has uncovered extensive evidence to support their accusations and those raised by several other women against Mr. Chavez, the United Farm Workers co-founder who died in 1993 at the age of 66.
...
The abuse allegations appear to be part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Chavez, much of which has never been publicly revealed. The Times investigation found that Mr. Chavez also used many of the women who worked and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification. His most prominent female ally in the movement, Dolores Huerta, said in an interview that he sexually assaulted her, a disclosure she has never before made publicly.

Many of the women stayed silent for decades, both out of shame and for fear of tarnishing the image of a man who has become the face of the Latino civil rights movement, his image on school murals and his birthday a state holiday in California.

For them, "Taking one for the cause," was painfully and life-long, literal. As I said above, what Chavez did - and the girls/women being too intimidated to tarnish their icon with the ugly reality they were living - does not entirely surprise me. It's akin to the cover-up and delay of revelation of JFK's horndoggery.