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Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Saturday asserted that a Phoenix program to hire more black and Latino lifeguards at public pools was the "same rationale that propped up Jim Crow for 80 years."

NPR last month reported that the city of Phoenix had set out to hire more minorities because more than 90 percent of the swimmers at some pools were black or Latino, but a majority of lifeguards were white.

On Saturday, Crystal Wright, editor of ConservativeBlackChick.com, snarked to Fox News that "if you're downing, you want to relate to a lifeguard that's going to save you, right guys?"

"Is there any social science evidence that shows that people don't want to be saved by people who have a different melanin content from they do?" Carlson wondered.

Wright said that Phoenix "would rather have people drown or risk drowning in our pools all in the name of diversity. It's the most perverse thing I've ever seen."

Co-host Alisyn Camerota pointed out that Phoenix had not said that children would be put in danger by diverse lifeguards, but that the program would help overcome a language barrier for Latino children with poor English skills.

"I'm a black American, I have no language barrier with a white person," Wright replied. "I'm talking to you and Tucker right now, we seem to be speaking English."

"This is the same rationale that propped up Jim Crow for 80 years, right?" Carlson opined. "You want to swim in a pool with people who look like you. You want to sit in the same bus or the same movie theater or use the same water fountain as people who look like you. It's diversity."

"Segregation," Wright agreed. "My parents grew up during segregation and they didn't really like to be on the beach and at pools and seeing white people be able to use a different beach. Phoenix is making no sense, and they're forcing some kind of segregation."

Wright added that the Phoenix program was not like former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's so-called "binders full of women," which she said was "common sense."

"Hispanics and blacks tend to not be as good swimmers as whites, and many more black Americans and Hispanics, actually those kids don't know how to swim," Wright concluded. "This is just putting -- it's not good."

(h/t: Media Matters)

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The police chief in Peoria, Arizona has launched an investigation into what activists are calling a "de facto immigration checkpoint" that nabbed young immigrants attending a speech President Barack Obama delivered on immigration reform last month.

"It was a de facto immigration checkpoint," Respeto executive director Lydia Guzman recently explained to KPNX.

According to police, the checkpoint began as an effort to inspect commercial vehicles, but Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers showed up voluntarily.

"We have an email list and that goes out to all the agencies -- law enforcement, different agencies," police spokesperson Amanda Jacinto said. "ICE happens to be one of the people on that list."

ICE, however, insisted that its agents attended the checkpoint at the request of the Arizona Department of Transportation, which had partnered with Peoria police.

Authorities said that 11 undocumented immigrants were detained during the three-day checkpoint operation. Ten of those detainees had been released by Tuesday.

Lino Garcia Paulino was detained as he was driving back from Phoenix with his pregnant wife. He spent a week in jail before a friend was able to pay the $3,000 for his bail. Paulino's wife was released after telling officers she was in the process of applying for citizenship.

Coincidentally, the checkpoint kicked off on Jan. 29, the same day that President Obama was speaking about immigration reform in nearby Las Vegas, and some of the young immigrants -- or DREAMers -- who attended his speech were also caught up in the operation.

"We thought the timing of this was very suspicious," Guzman observed. "We thought that maybe this was some sort of way to antagonize the activist groups that went out to the president's speech."

For its part, the Peoria Police Department almost immediately denied allegations of racial profiling, but hours later promised to review activists' complaints.

"It was in no way ever intended to be, set up to be or in any way was a immigration check point," Jacinto declared. "At no point were our officers involved in any sort of racial profiling."

Peoria Police Chief Roy Minter on Monday announced that the department would conduct an official inquiry to find out why officers decided to stop private motorists during a checkpoint that was set up to inspect commercial vehicles.

"That operations plan did not state anything about a vehicle registration compliance checkpoint," he noted.

Police said that the 17 vehicles impounded during the operation would be given back to the owners and all fees would be waived as a "gesture of good will."

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Investigators in Arizona on Thursday reportedly recovered a military-style assault rifle in a vehicle rented by a man who they suspect of killing one person and wounding two others at an office building in Phoenix on Wednesday.

Mesa police confirmed that a body found in a Bass Pro Shop parking lot by a landscaper on Thursday morning matched the description of 70-year-old Arthur Harmon, the man suspected in the shooting. The body was found near a rented white Kia Optima that police believe Harmon used to flee after the shooting.

Police said that a handgun was found near the body, and the man had apparently died of a self-inflicted handgun wound.

On Thursday afternoon, Fox 10 KSAZ reporter Andrew Hasbun tweeted a photo of police standing by a white car and holding a military-style rifle in an evidence bag.

"Phoenix police pull assault rifle and ammo out of office shooting suspect Arthur Harmon's car," Hasbun captioned the photo.

There was no confirmation that the weapon in the photo had been used during the crime.

In a statement on Thursday, Phoenix law firm Osborn Maledon said that 43-year-old Mark Hummels, who was a partner at the firm, "will not survive from the shooting."

Police believe that Harmon shot Hummels and 48-year-old Steve Singer after a confrontation at their office on Wednesday over some type of litigation. Singer was pronounced dead later that day. Nichole Hampton, 32, was shot in the hand and was expected to recover.

As the shooting was taking place on Wednesday, National Rifle Association (NRA) chief Wayne LaPierre and Mark Kelly, the husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), were testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about assault weapons, high-capacity clips and universal background checks.

Kelly referenced the incident, describing “what seems to be a shooting with multiple victims with multiple shots fired.”

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It looks like John McCain is in some serious trouble with his reelection battle in Arizona which was pretty much the theme that ran through a good deal of MSNBC's coverage of Sarah Palin out stumping for him in Arizona. Apparently Pat Buchanan doesn't think his opponent J.D. Hayworth's birther problem are going to be an issue for him if he wins. When asked why he liked Hayworth even though he's in the middle of this whole birther controversy, Buchanan's response was "So what!".

Well Pat, that might be much of a problem for him in the primary but I would hope that issue and his Jack Abramoff problems will come back to haunt him in the general election if he gets past McCain. This was about as pitiful as watching Buchanan fawn all over his girlfriend Sarah Palin for the morning.

So how bad was the press coverage for McCain today? Norah O'Donnell was interviewing the crowd there and a great deal of them were not there because they support McCain, but to see Palin instead. They felt McCain is going to have to bring her back in several more times before the primary race is over. And Norah O'Donnell mentioned something about him not even having enough signatures to get on the ballot yet and that he needs Palin stumping for him to help with that.

Rasmussen Reports shows Hayworth closing in on McCain. Election 2010: Arizona Republican Primary for Senate:

Longtime incumbent John McCain now leads conservative challenger J.D. Hayworth by just seven points in Arizona’s hotly contested Republican Senate Primary race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Arizona GOP Primary voters shows McCain ahead 48% to 41%. Three percent (3%) favor another candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

Following the announcement that Sarah Palin would campaign for his reelection, McCain opened up a 53% to 31% lead over Hayworth in January. The two men were in a near tie in November. Read on...

I don't see how Palin stumping for McCain is going to help him with the tea baggers. They hate McCain and I don't see how her appearances with him are going to change that. It's not bringing him any support from the likes of Buchanan either who apparently thinks a candidate in a Republican primary being seen as bat-shit crazy is not an issue. Given the fact that there's nothing left of them but the extreme right wing of the party, I'd say he's probably right.