Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Courts & Rulings Sergeant can't use qualified immunity to stop lawsuit in Riverside fatal police shooting, court rules A California judge on Thursday denied an appeal for qualified immunity from a Riverside County Sheriff's Department sergeant who is accused of shooting and killing a man with excessive force. Nearly every key detail of the years-long case against the sergeant and the county is disputed, including whether the man was retreating from the property at the time of the shooting; wheth...
One of the more astonishing aspects of Russia's actions in Ukraine is that Russia has not been subtle or shy about proclaiming hatred for all things Ukraine. A recent piece equates Ukrainians with Nazis, and says they should no longer have national identity. The author is Timofey Sergeytsev, a well known Russian political theorist. "Yesterday, RIA Novosti published a lengthy article entitled "What Russia should do with Ukraine", which explains in detail what Russia understands by...
The Russian censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has decided to fine Wikipedia 4,000,000 rubles (about $44,000), for disseminating false information about the Russian "special operation" in Ukraine. "Roskomnadzor sent a notification to the administration of the Internet resource to immediately remove inaccurate information on the subject of the special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine," the agency said on Telegram. Separately, Novaya Gazeta, the last liberal website to dare...
March 24, 2022 - A poll commissioned by the Los Angeles Police Protective League shows a plurality of voters would vote to recall controversial LA County District Attorney George Gascon. The same poll conducted last year showed an opposite result, with strong plurality supporting the district attorney. Over the last year, more voters grew undecided and sentiment against Gascon shifted 18 points. The poll, conducted by New Bridge Strategy, solicited the opinion of 800 "likely" voters throughout...
Santa Monica has hired a new Interim City Attorney while the long search for a permanent chief counsel continues. At its Tuesday night meeting, the City Council appointed Deputy City Attorney Susan Cola as Interim City Attorney. She replaces Interim City Attorney Joseph Lawrence who is leaving his position April 5. Cola will start her new post with a salary of $288,120 on April 6. "Susan has proven herself to be an extremely talented legal expert who understands the many complexities of...
Russia's expansion plans may have been revealed in a song. In a clip that is circulating widely on social media, a Russian singer seemed to indicate that Putin plans to incorporate Ukraine and Moldova into Russia. From twitter: "Kremlin's favorite singer Oleg Gazmanov at the pro-war rally Putin attended on March 19th, sang the following: "Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, that is my country." This clip was sent to me by an acquaintance in Chișinău where it's being shared with i...
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was nominated as US Ambassador to India six months ago, but his appointment has been held up by the Jacobs Affair. Naomi Seligman is LA Mayor Eric Garcetti's former communications director. The Mayor has testified that he never witnessed any inappropriate behavior from Rick Jacobs, the Mayor's Chief of Staff. Seligman, appearing on the John Phillips show on KABC, says otherwise. "Rick Jacobs would comment on people's body parts in very graphic details. He would...
You've no doubt seen the story of Marina Ovsyannikova, the gal who carried a Poster that said "No War, they are lying to you, don't believe propaganda" unto live Russian TV. The young production assistant works at Channel One News, the CBS Evening news of Russia. After 14 hours of interrogation at a police station, Marina was fined $200 and released. The fine was for posting an anti-war video; she may still be charged with "hooliganism" for carrying the poster onto TV. But did anyone see her?...
16: Moscow held a rally today to support its armed forces in Ukraine. The stadium which holds 81,000 people was pretty much filled to capacity. The authorities said that 200,000 people supported the rally. Below is a long quote from Will Vernon, a journalist for the BBC, who attended the rally. This is the picture the Kremlin wants you to see: thousands of people who support President Putin and the "special military operation" in Ukraine, crammed into Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. We went...
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday referred to pro-Western Russians as “scum and traitors” who needed to be removed from society… setting the stage for an ever fiercer crackdown at home and even more aggression abroad. Translation from the Russian by Polina Ivanova, who writes for the Financial Times. The West, Putin said, is betting on the support of a 'fifth column', on "national traitors...on those who make money here, in our country, but live there, and "live" not even in the geograp...
While the majority of Americans both on the political right and left, deplore last month's Russian invasion of Ukraine; a few welcome it as being on the right side of history. "CPI opening ceremony with Soviet and American flags with The Internationale and The Star-Spangled Banner playing in the background before the unvailing of the Donetsk People's Republic flag! Proud to be apart of this historic day!" Tweeted Dr. Ryan L. Cotten. He is a self described "Marxist-Leninist," anti-imperialist,...
You may have heard that Vladimir Putin arrested Sergey Beseda, FSB Chief of Foreign Intelligence, and his deputy Chief of Foreign Intelligence. It was assumed in the West that this was because both men had provided incorrect assessments of the welcome Russian troops would receive in Ukraine. Turns out it's about something far more mundane: the corrupt misuse of government funds. "The arrests seem to be connected to literally billions that were spent by the FSB on recruiting against in the...
When Joy Reid and Tucker Carlson agree on something, people should take notice. Both agree that the US wants to get involved in Ukraine, rather than say, Yemen or Eritrea, because it is between white people. Both say no one would care if the war was between black and brown people. "MSNBC's Joy Reid made no secret Monday about what she thinks is driving the world to pay such close attention to the devastating war in Ukraine: the fact that it's a European nation made up largely of White people...
Courts & Rulings Judge Ryan grants standing to family of murder victim Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan, the court's specialist in resentencing, has recognized the standing of the kin of a murder victim to speak out, in a public session, against a proposed order vacating a death sentence and substituting a term of life imprisonment without possibility of parole, shunning a request by the office of District Attorney George Gascón that he issue such an order in chambers....
Editor's note: Igor Shushko posted this translation to Twitter. In this absolutely astounding Facebook post, an FSB agent admits the Ukraine invasion was a spectacular miscalculation. The Russians don't even know how many dead soldiers there are, because they have lost contact with entire Army divisions. He believes that by June 2022, the Russian economy will have collapsed due to Western sanctions on a scale FSB did not anticipate. My translation of the analysis of the current situation in...
"This is the beginning of World War III," said one UCLA student named Illia, who was participating in the event on Santa Monica Blvd and Sepulveda. "You guys just haven't figured that out yet," he said grimly. Other demonstrations took place in Westwood Village, near the Santa Monica Pier, and on the Third Street Promenade. One place where demonstrating is illegal is Moscow. Authorities there have arrested 8,000 people, who may be subject to 15 years in prison under newly adopted laws. As...
Some of the finest war photography tweeted in the Russo-Ukraine war, is by a reporter for the Kyiv Independent named Illia Ponomarenko. He posted this photo of Russian soldiers sprawled out on the top of a tank, from a village outside of Kyiv. He also claims that Russian soldiers are keeping 40 civilians as hostages near the Kyiv airport. "In this residential compound in Hostomel, Russia's 31st Airborne Brigade troops are right now holding nearly 40 civilians hiding in the basement. No comms...
3/3/22: For the first time since Russia's invasion of his country 8 days ago, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky addressed Vladimyr Putin directly. In a video released on social media, the Ukrainian leader told his Russian counterpart, let's sit down and talk, man to man. "Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land. If you don't want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with Macron and Scholz. Sit down with me and talk. What are you...
In St.Petersburg, Russia, the police detained a well-known survivor of the Siege of Leningrad at an anti-war protest. At 76, Yelena Osipova was born during the siege, which ended in 1944. She is among 7000 people detained by the police while protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "Even the officers seemed to be relatively respectful/gentle with her, as well as the others keeping many protesters from jumping on the officers while, while commendable could've caused her to be injured," said...
February 22, 2022 - The Association of Deputy District Attorneys, representing over 800 prosecutors working in the county of Los Angeles, voted today to support the recall of their boss, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. In a vote with 83.3% participation, the highest level of any previous ADDA election, 97.9% of respondents elected to support his recall. The ADDA had asked Gascon to meet with them and explain why they should not vote to recall him, but he refused the meeting....
A controversial tweet from former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, is raising a lot of eyebrows. @TulsiGabbard·tweeted: This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia's legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine's becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia's border." Putin does not see NATO as a defensive alliance. He has seen NATO offensive operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "NATO is...
The AP Reports that in a last minute meeting brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joseph R. Biden has agreed to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, possibly in Paris, in a summit next week. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. But the comparison between Biden and 1938's British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, are obvious. In 1938, Chamberlain agreed to meet Hitler, and came away with a deal allowing the Fuhrer to walk away with the Sudetenland, the German speaking part...
February 10, 2022 - On the same day the city was told they could not immediately demolish Parking Garage 3 in downtown Santa Monica, they closed the garage, cordoning it off to cars. The garage has been a bone of contention between the city government and downtown business owners since the city decided a new affordable housing project would be better on the site adjacent to the Third Street Promenade than 336 spaces of parking that had existed there for decades. The business owners believe the...
A last-minute amendment to the COMPETES Act, H.R. 4521, was slipped in, presumably to avoid attention and pushback from the millions of Americans who will be affected, and to bypass congressional hearings. The language creates a major change to the provisions of the Lacey Act that regulate species deemed by US Fish & Wildlife Service to be injurious. While promoted under the guise of protecting the country from invasive species, the true goal of the legislative change is to ban as much of the...
January 4, 2022 - Last night Santa Monica Audit Subcommittee Commissioner and Santa Monica native Marc Verville exploded the myth of a housing supply crisis in the state or the city. The crisis, Verville explained, is in the surge in real estate value. With a series of deeply researched graphs, Verville explained to the nearly 60 participants in the virtual meeting how the supply of housing in California has easily kept up with population growth. In Santa Monica, the housing supply has actually...
