#Gov. Jerry Brown

[bibliophilicstranger]

King Charles III and Governor Jerry Brown have the same awful taste in official portraits.

theroyalfamily: "It was a privilege and pleasure to have been commissioned by The Drapers' Company to paint this portrait of His Majesty The King, the first to be unveiled since his Coronation. When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I've painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject's role in our public life has transformed. I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter's face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. To try and capture that for His Majesty The King, who occupies such a unique role, was both a tremendous professional challenge, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am immensely grateful for."

Today The King unveiled the portrait at Buckingham Palace. The new work depicts His Majesty wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, of which he was made Regimental Colonel in 1975. The painting will ultimately hang in Drapers' Hall in London.

[morbidology]

Marlene Olive was born in Norfolk, Virginia, to an unwed mother who placed her up for adoption. She was subsequently adopted by Jim and Naomi Olive. After living in Quito, Ecuador, for Jim’s work until Marlene was 14, they moved back to the United States, settling in Marin County, California.

After their return, Marlene - who was used to her privileged life in Quito - found it hard to adapt. Naomi - who was used to having an active social life, a lavish home, and servants - also found it hard to adapt. Marlene developed a stomach ulcer and was prescribed pills to combat the ulcer. She soon began to take these pills, and other drugs, recreationally and fell in with the wrong crowd.

Naomi had difficulties dealing with Marlene’s behaviour and started to drink and get into screaming matches with her daughter. Marlene accused her mother of being an alcoholic while Naomi retaliated by telling her daughter she was nothing more than the unwanted daughter of a whore

When Marlene was 15-years-old, she met 18-year-old Chuck Riley and the duo started to date. Life at the Olive house soon became unbearable and Marlene referred to her mother as “that disease.” Jim attempted to keep the peace but it was unfruitful and soon, Marlene started plotting to kill her parents.

On the 21st of June, 1985, while Marlene was out with Jim, Chuck crept into their home and bludgeoned Naomi to death as she lay on the daybed in her sewing room taking an afternoon nap. When Marlene returned with her father, he was shot dead. Following the murders, the couple wrapped the bodies in sheets, hauled them to China Camp State Park, doused then with flammable liquid and then set them on fire in an old sewage cistern user as a barbecue pit. When firefighters discovered the remains, they initially believed hunters had been roasting deer in the pit.

Following their arrests, the once-lovers turned on one another. Chuck claimed that Marlene had forced her to kill her parents. However, Marlene claimed Chuck killed her parents of his own accord and then forced her to take drugs. Chuck Riley was sentenced to death but his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1975. Marlene Olive was tried as a juvenile and sentenced to the California Youth Authority where she remained until she was released when she turned 21.

In 2015, Riley was granted parole. However, this was soon reversed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who stated Riley “continues to downplay his active role in the planning and carrying out these murders.”

[californiastatelibrary]

Larry Itliong Day!

Today we celebrate Larry Itliong, labor organizer and civil rights activist. Oct. 25 was designated Larry Itliong Day by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015. Learn more about Larry at the California Museum's online exhibit at https://californiamuseum.org/california-hall-of-fame/exhibitions/virtual-exhibitions/larry-itliong/

[beardedmrbean]

Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to pay a $13,000 fine Friday for failing to report on time over a dozen charitable payments made at his request by notable foundations and businesses, including Microsoft, Amazon and T-Mobile, between 2018 and 2024.

California's political ethics law requires elected officials to report donations made on their behalf within 30 days. On 18 occasions, the Fair Political Practices Commission said, Newsom and his 2018 campaign committee failed to make those reports on time, often submitting them several months late.

The commission noted that Newsom, having served in public office for more than 25 years, should have known better than to lose track of what amounted to more than $14 million in payments. Newsom has filed more than 1,100 such reports since 2011, totaling over $300 million, and eventually filed all the reports before being confronted by enforcement officials.

Read more: Big companies donate millions on Newsom's behalf, raising concerns about corporate influence

One payment from T-Mobile was more than $12 million — others ranged from $5,000 up to almost $500,000 from Amazon. Newsom's campaign said some filings were late because it had to rely on third parties to track the necessary filing information.

"There is inherent public harm in non-disclosure of the payments because the public is deprived of important information and deprived of the timely opportunity to scrutinize the payments," the FPPC wrote in its settlement agreement with the governor.

The commission did not fine Newsom for missing deadlines on several payments he requested to help the state during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is common for elected officials to ask companies to make charitable donations to specific organizations, and such payments are not subject to the limits that apply to direct campaign donations. The reporting requirements are meant to allow timely public scrutiny over these "behested payments," which might be an attempt to curry favor with elected officials.

Read more: California sets new rules for mystery donations made on behalf of lawmakers

Concerns were raised when Newsom reported requested payments that were six times as much in 2020 as those reported by former Gov. Jerry Brown over his final eight years in office combined.

A Newsom spokesperson defended the governor’s record of soliciting charitable donations.

“This work, connecting private resources to public needs, is what we need more of across government,” Nathan Click said in a statement.

Click noted that Newsom has filed a thousand other reports on time, and said, “Many of these identified in the report were filed only a few weeks late and due to delayed notification of receipt of payment by the recipients.”

[msclaritea]

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2019/01/gavin-newsoms-keeping-it-all-in-the-family/?s=09

Gavin Newsom’s keeping it all in the family

BY DAN WALTERS

JANUARY 6, 2019

This story is part of California Voices, a commentary forum aiming to broaden our understanding of the state and spotlight Californians directly impacted by policy or its absence. Learn more here.

Gavin Newsom will be the first Democrat in more than a century to succeed another Democrat as governor and the succession also marks a big generational transition in California politics.

A long-dominant geriatric quartet from the San Francisco Bay Area – Gov. Jerry Brown, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – has been slowly ceding power to younger political strivers.

Moreover, Newsom is succeeding someone who could be considered his quasi-uncle, since his inauguration continues the decades-long saga of four San Francisco families intertwined by blood, by marriage, by money, by culture and, of course, by politics – the Browns, the Newsoms, the Pelosis and the Gettys.

The connections date back at least 80 years, to when Jerry Brown’s father, Pat Brown, ran for San Francisco district attorney, losing in 1939 but winning in 1943, with the help of his close friend and Gavin Newsom’s grandfather, businessman William Newsom.

Ties among the Brown, Newsom, Pelosi and Getty families date back three generations. Click on image for a larger view. Graphic for CALmatters by Nazneen Rydhan-Foster.

Fast forward two decades. Gov. Pat Brown’s administration developed Squaw Valley for the 1960s winter Olympics and afterward awarded a concession to operate it to William Newsom and his partner, John Pelosi.

One of the Pelosis’ sons, Paul, married Nancy D’Alesandro, who went into politics and has now reclaimed speakership of the House of Representatives. Another Pelosi son married William Newsom’s daughter, Barbara. Until they divorced, that made Nancy Pelosi something like an aunt by marriage to Gavin Newson (Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law was Gavin Newsom’s uncle).

The Squaw Valley concession was controversial at the time and created something of a rupture between the two old friends.

Become a CalMatters member today to stay informed, bolster our nonpartisan news and expand knowledge across California.

William Newsom wanted to make significant improvements to the ski complex, including a convention center, but Brown’s Department of Parks and Recreation balked. Newsom and his son, an attorney also named William, held a series of contentious meetings with officials over the issue.

An eight-page memo about those 1966 meetings from the department’s director, Fred Jones, buried in the Pat Brown archives, describes the Newsoms as being embittered and the senior Newsom threatening to “hurt the governor politically” as Brown ran for a third term that year against Ronald Reagan.

Pat Brown’s bid for a third term failed, and the Reagan administration later bought out the Newsom concession. But the Brown-Newsom connection continued as Brown’s son, Jerry, reclaimed the governorship in 1974. He appointed the younger William Newsom, a personal friend and Gavin’s father, to a Placer County judgeship in 1975 and three years later to the state Court of Appeal.

Justice Newsom, who died a few weeks ago, had been an attorney for oil magnate J. Paul Getty, most famously delivering $3 million to Italian kidnapers of Getty’s grandson in 1973. While serving on the appellate bench in the 1980s, he helped Getty’s son, Gordon, secure a change in state trust law that allowed him to claim his share of a multi-heir trust.

After Newsom retired from the bench in 1995, he became administrator of Gordon Getty’s own trust, telling one interviewer, “I make my living working for Gordon Getty.” The trust provided seed money for the PlumpJack chain of restaurants and wine shops that Newson’s son, Gavin, and Gordon Getty’s son, Billy, developed, the first being in a Squaw Valley hotel.

Gavin Newsom had been informally adopted by the Gettys after his parents divorced, returning a similar favor that the Newsom family had done for a young Gordon Getty many years earlier. Newsom’s PlumpJack business (named for an opera that Gordon Getty wrote) led to a career in San Francisco politics, a stint as mayor, the lieutenant governorship and now to the governorship, succeeding his father’s old friend.

He’s keeping it all in the extended family.

[mariacallous]

SAN FRANCISCO (J. Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Dianne Feinstein was an eshet chayil, the Hebrew term for a woman of valor, Rabbi Jonathan Singer proclaimed in his opening remarks on Thursday at a memorial service for the U.S. senator who died Sept. 29 at 90.

The event outside San Francisco City Hall was attended by about 1,500 invited guests, all gathered to remember a pathbreaking politician who spent a decade as the city’s first woman mayor.

Singer, the co-senior rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El — the same synagogue where Feinstein, then Dianne Goldman, was confirmed as a teenager in 1949 — shared the English words of Psalm 23, which begins, “God is my shepherd.” Cantor Roz Barak, Emanu-El’s cantor emerita, sang the psalm in Hebrew.

“She feared no evil, as she courageously pursued justice as a leader in the Senate,” Singer said. “And she gave us hope that we Americans can always be inspired by the values of democracy, even as we walk at times through the valley of shadows.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer were among the prominent speakers. President Joe Biden delivered a recorded message.

“God bless a great American hero. She was something else,” Biden said. “She was a dear friend.”

The service took place on an exceptionally hot San Francisco day, punctuated by the Blue Angels flying overhead as part of Fleet Week, which Feinstein was responsible for establishing in 1981 to honor the armed forces. “Fleet Week would be dedicated to you,” Pelosi noted as the roar of the jets caused her to pause.

Many of the guests, including current and former members of Congress, accented their formal attire with sun hats and baseball caps and fanned themselves with the memorial programs as the sun beat down. A building-sized portrait of Feinstein was displayed outside City Hall, where Feinstein lay in state on Wednesday before a private, family-only burial after the service.

In his remarks, Schumer told a story about his colleague, recalling how she called him in New York shortly after his daughter Alison moved to San Francisco.

“Does your daughter have anywhere to go for the High Holiday services?” Feinstein asked him. He replied that she did not. “Well, then, she’s going to services with me.”

(Feinstein and her third husband, Richard Blum, joined Reform Congregation Sherith Israel in 1992, though it is unknown how long they were members.)

Schumer worked closely with Feinstein to pass the federal ban on assault weapons in 1994. “Dianne Feinstein was a leader of uncommon integrity,” the New York senator said.

Harris described Feinstein as “an American patriot, a giant of the Senate and a dear friend” to her and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

“Dianne commanded respect, and she gave respect. She was a serious and gracious person who welcomed debate and discussion, but always required that it was well informed and studied,” the vice president said.

Pelosi said Feinstein was not only a close colleague in Congress but also a good neighbor in Pacific Heights, their San Francisco neighborhood.

“Dianne loved cultivating people, and flowers,” Pelosi said, describing the hydrangeas growing in Feinstein’s yard as “the most fabulous.” She also knew the senator to be quite the matchmaker and credits her with pairing former Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust.

Feinstein was also an avid painter, giving her friends mugs and painted images of her homegrown flowers, Pelosi said.

Pelosi read off a list of legacies Feinstein leaves behind, including fighting to save San Francisco’s cable cars; authoring legislation to create the breast cancer stamp that benefited research; doggedly battling to pass the federal assault weapons ban; and starting the annual Lake Tahoe Summit with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 1997.

“She left on her own terms,” Pelosi said, recalling Feinstein’s final vote, a day before she died. “She walked into the [Senate] floor and voted to advance legislation to keep the government open for the people,” she said.

John Burton, who served in Congress and the state Assembly and chaired the Democratic Party in California, provided written remarks read aloud by Breed. “She had chutzpah, and I loved her for it,” Burton wrote.

Eileen Mariano, Feinstein’s 31-year-old granddaughter and the final speaker at the hourlong memorial service, described the warm, grandmotherly woman she was behind the scenes.

Feinstein would cut her granddaughter’s hair in her kitchen, often slightly crooked, Mariano joked. “She taught me to play chess, although she hated losing,” she remembered, and would sing “You Are My Sunshine” as a lullaby.

“We had an effortless connection,” said Mariano, who works in the San Francisco mayor’s office.

Among the Jewish elected officials in attendance were Sen. Barbara Boxer, who was elected alongside Feinstein in 1992, becoming the first Jewish women to win seats in the Senate; California state Sen. Scott Wiener; San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin; Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg; Rep. Adam Schiff of Southern California; and Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia.

“Let’s remember what she meant to San Francisco,” Wiener said in a statement. “She became mayor during one of the most difficult periods imaginable for our city. She led San Francisco out of the fires of political assassinations, mass cult suicides, and a mass die-off of gay men due to a new, terrifying virus.”

Heading out after the memorial, Steinberg stopped to share his thoughts. “She represented the best in Jewish values,” he said. “As a public servant, she embodied what we need more of in this country — leaders who have strong values, who fight but fight in the right way and are always looking for common ground. And the one thing that matters more than anything else: accomplish something on behalf of the people. That was Dianne Feinstein.”

[jedivoodoochile]

Eddie signed this check in 1982 to Warner Brothers for 3 gold and 2 platinum records. He and his bandmates had to reimburse the record company for their own Gold and Platinum records...$105 for each record...

Van Halen had an office at 6525 Sunset blvd., which is home to the famous Hollywood Athletic Club since 1924. The tower (which houses office space) was the tallest structure in Los Angeles when it opened on New Years Eve in 1924. The club fell into disrepair later on and had been on the market for 8 years before concert promoter and investor Gary Berwin purchased the club in 1978 and set about the huge task of restoring the building to its former grandeur.

The Berwin Entertainment Complex quickly became popular with the jet set and celebrities. Some of the famous tenants included the Beach Boys, VAN HALEN, Jose Feliciano, Island Records, and Baby-O Recording Studios. The list of celebrities who visited the building include Priscilla Presley, Lisa-Marie Presley, members of the Michael Jackson family, Steven Spielberg, Muhammad Ali (a regular visitor and friend), Mayor Tom Bradley, Sally Field, Princess Stephanie, Dudley Moore, Michael J Fox, Prince Mashour ben Saud of Saudi Arabia, Madonna, Rodney Dangerfield, Melanie Griffith, Lesley Ann Down, Jon Voigt, Paul Newman, George Lucas, Jaclyn Smith, Jane Fonda, Alice Cooper, Julio Iglesias, Stevie Wonder, Billy Crystal, Shirley McLane, and Gov. Jerry Brown.

[whatisonthemoon]

What the KCIA and the Moonies did to the Editor of the Korea Journal, Song Sun Keun

▲ Pictured: Song Sun-Keun pictured in the December 10, 1976 issue of the San Francisco Examiner

Mr. SONG: I would like to begin with a KCIA attempt to disrupt the speech engagement of Mr. Kim Dae Jung in San Francisco in May 1973 that was foiled; a KCIA-Moon Sun Myung connection through the Korean-American Political Association as early as 1970; and an assassination plot against me.

On May 18, 1973, Mr. Kim Dae Jung, sponsored by a group of Korean-American political science scholars, was to speak at the International Student Center in San Francisco. I understand you are going to question me about this, so I won't go into detail.

Mr. FRASER: Were you going to skip part of your statement?

Mr. SONG: Do you want me to read it?

Mr. FRASER: You might go through your whole statement. It might save some questions.

Mr. Young Shik Bae, a KCIA agent who also acted as vice consul at the Korean consulate general in Los Angeles, showed up with an entourage of more than 10 hoodlums from Los Angeles. Joining Vice Consul Bae were Mr. Dong Jim Kim, consul of the Korean consulate general in San Francisco and a certain Mr. Min Hi Rhee, a well-known karate instructor in the San Francisco area, and several of his karate students. Their tactic to disrupt Mr. Kim's speech was at once all too obvious to the entire audience.

As Mr. Kim began his speech, these hoodlums started to interrupt and harass the speaker. There was a commotion, shouting, and making ugly gestures and all. And they brought with them several bottles of tomato ketchup, dozens of raw eggs, and a movie camera.

The timely arrival of the San Francisco police, which resulted in removing Mr. Min Hi Rhee, saved the meeting from pandemonium. I was an eyewitness to the scene and duly reported the incident in my Korean language biweekly called the Korea Journal. Here I would like to submit the article with photos and its English translation.

Mr. FRASER: Thank you. We will make that a part of your testimony.

Mr. SONG: What surprised me was the fact that Vice Consul Bae Young Shik led this outrage openly. Furthermore, although I didn't realize at the time but later came to learn, Mr. Yang Doo Won, alias Sang Ho Lee, Minister at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., who was also KCIA station chief in the United States, came to San Francisco and stayed at the Hilton Hotel, where Mr. Kim Dae Jung was staying and was the prime mover who directed that fiasco behind the scenes.

Second, I have heard that in 1970, Mr. Sang Ik Choi, a representative of Moon Sung Myung's Unification Church in the San Francisco area, received $25,000 from the Unification Church and set out to organize a Korean-American political group. Thus, the Korean-American Political Association (KAPA) was chartered in the State of California as a nonprofit corporation, and Choi set himself up as its president. Mr. Doo Whan Kim, while consul at the Korean consulate general in San Francisco, became the de facto vice president of KAPA.

The express purpose of this organization was to exert its influence on American politics, local as well as national. To date, KAPA is known to have contributed $5,000 to Gov. Jerry Brown during his 1974 gubernatorial campaign and $1,000 to Mayor Mosconi of San Francisco during his mayoral campaign in 1976. 

However, I would like to point out to you that this nonprofit U.S. corporation had an official of a foreign government as a key officer, and in addition was receiving financial support from Moon's Unification Church as early as 1970. When Mr. Sang Ik Choi was promoted to the position of fundraising manager of the Unification Church of New York, Consul Doo Whan Kim succeeded him as KAPA's president after resigning his post at the Korean consulate general.

I gained my knowledge of KAPA while serving as a consultant to the San Francisco chapter of KAPA. I have supplied the subcommittee staff with copies of several KAPA documents, concerning the relationship between KAPA and the KCIA.

Third, in May of 1973, I began publishing a local Korean language biweekly, the Korea Journal, and also was its editor-reporter. As the paper started to criticize various overt activities of the KCIA in the United States and the Park Chung Hee regime, a businessman who is a former KCIA agent approached me and indicated that he would help the Korea Journal to expand if its coverage were confined to local matters—in his words, if it became a "pleasant community bulletin board." I declined the offer.

Then I received a substantial offer to purchase the Korea Journal. This offer came to me indirectly through close acquaintances of my family. I told them the paper was not for sale. At the time, I was having considerable financial difficulty. I was approached for the third time again through some close friends with an offer to engage in profitable trade with Korea. It was all too obvious to me that such offers were made to divert my attention and activities away from my critical stand on Korean politics. I refused.

On separate occasions, two old friends of my father, Mr. Il Kwon Chung, the Speaker of the Korean National Assembly, and Mr. Han Lim Lee, the Minister of Construction, sought out my father and tried to persuade him to change his views on the Park regime. My father is a Methodist minister, whose views on the Park regime could not be changed by these visitors.

After all these "friendly" attempts and offers were turned down, I began to receive telephone calls threatening my life. I reported these telephone calls to the local police and wrote about them in the Korea Journal. I would like to submit a 1974 San Francisco Examiner article for your reference.

The threatening calls backfired because I became more vocal than ever. Then Mr. Man Sung Limb, a KCIA agent at the Korean consulate general in San Francisco, came up with a plot to assassinate me. In order to save time, I would like to submit for your files copies of articles which appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, Los Angeles Times, Berkeley Barb, and the San Mateo Times that covered this plot. I am also submitting a tape recording and its transcript in translation of a personal interview with one of the witnesses who was present at the time Consul Limb discussed this plot.

Needless to say, such KCIA harassment and threats would be illegal acts in this country even if I were not a U.S. citizen, and these acts should be duly condemned.

Related articles below

Up against the Human Wall in Seoul - The Washington Post - February 1985

Delay of Chun’s Visit Proposed : Kim’s U.S. Backers Cite Melee at Seoul Airport - The LA Times - February 1985

United States Congressional investigation of UC

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak

Robert Parry’s investigations into Sun Myung Moon

On Young Oon Kim’s Relationship to Butterwick

Young Oon Kim and Bo Hi Pak were both employed by the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG)

Who was “Papasan Choi” (Or Sang Ik Choi, or Bong-choon Choi)?

More details on Papasan (Sang Ik Choi)

Paul Perry, or Paulo-Juarez Pereira, a CIA-Connected Moonie

[midweekpaypaydlans]

MidweekPay Payday Loans

MidweekPay Payday Loans

A key vote occurs Wednesday in the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee. Make no mistake, as in the past, this is a giant uphill battle. The chairman, Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, received $70,400 from 2008 to 2012 from the industry – and he is not alone. Getting this bill to the Senate floor will require pressure from the public, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Gov. Jerry Brown.

The need for change is clear. Under current California law, for a two-week payday loan of $300 – from companies such as Advance America, Moneytree Inc., Checksmart Financial and Cash Plus Inc. – borrowers pay a fee of $45, leaving $255 in cash. That fee is equivalent to an outrageous annual percentage rate of 460 percent for a two-week loan.

[bllsbailey]

L.A. Enacts Sanctuary City Ordinance to Prepare for Trump's Mass Deportations

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a so-called “sanctuary city” ordinance that bars city resources from being used for immigration enforcement and city departments from sharing information on people without legal status with federal immigration authorities, in anticipation of potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.

Council members voted unanimously on the measure, joining more than a dozen cities across the United States with similar provisions. Sanctuary cities or states are not legal terms but have come to symbolize a pledge to protect and support immigrant communities and decline to voluntarily supply information to immigration enforcement officials. Advocates say they are havens for immigrants to feel safe and be able to report crime without fear of deportation.

The measure will come back to the council for a second vote as a formality. Mayor Karen Bass, who has the power to veto it, has said she supports the ordinance.

With Trump's promises of a vast immigration crackdown upon his return to the White House in January, immigration advocates urged Los Angeles council members to move swiftly.

“We're going to send a very clear message that the city of Los Angeles will not cooperate with ICE in any way,” said councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. “We want people to feel protected and be able to have faith in their government and that women can report domestic violence, crimes.”

Soto-Martinez, one of the councilmembers who introduced the initial motion last year, said his parents and many of his constituents are immigrants without legal status. They are “embedded in the larger community,” from cooking and cleaning houses to working as nannies, he said.

But it’s unclear how much will change under the ordinance since the city already does not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The Los Angeles Police Department has a policy mandating that officers not inquire about a person's immigration status or make arrests based on legal status. Its new police chief Jim McDonnell has also pledged not to cooperate with mass deportations work or federal agencies on immigration enforcement issues.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2019 that offered protections to immigrants, but Tuesday’s ordinance would codify those protections into city law.

The state of California has similar protections. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed sanctuary state legislation in 2017 to bar police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities.

Then-President Trump responded by attempting to withhold funding from sanctuary cities and favor cities that pledge to cooperate with immigration enforcement for federal grants.

Cities from New York to San Francisco have long-standing policies to support immigrants, but criticism of those measures grew with the influx of migrants. Some of the backlash occurred after Republican governors in Texas and Florida began busing migrants to Democratic-led “sanctuary cities” last year in what critics have called political stunts.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has since called for expanded cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities, attacking the current city policies limiting such communication as detrimental to public safety.

Migrants were also bused to Los Angeles, though in smaller numbers.

More than 100 people gathered on the steps of city hall Tuesday morning ahead of the vote to urge the city council to enact the ordinance.

Martha Arévalo, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in LA, called the law “long overdue.”

“This is Trump 2.0 where he ran on a platform of hate and division and separating families and mass deportations,” Arevalo insisted. “It's traumatic to the immigrant community. There's a lot of trauma, there's a lot of fear.”

Supporters of the sanctuary city ordinance, many of whom are people without legal status themselves, spoke on their personal experiences with the threat of deportation.

“I grew up in the shadows, constantly fearing separation from my loved ones and being sent back to a place we had fought so hard to escape,” said Jesus Carreon, a current student at Harvard Law School and graduate of University of Southern California, asking the council to vote in favor of the sanctuary policy.

Some brought up concerns that it could encourage more migrants without legal status to come to the city and take resources away from addressing homelessness.

“I'm sure there's millions of people that want to come to LA and we can't be a sanctuary city for everybody,” Charles Brister told the city council before the vote. “We have people in this city who don't have beds, American citizens who are homeless.”

Mayor Bass said recently that “this moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better.”

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

[pashterlengkap]

Will Gavin Newsom sign California’s bill to license more gender-affirming doctors?

California continues to lead among states when it comes to transgender rights and gender-affirming care. The latest indicator: The state Senate recently passed AB 2442, a bill to expedite licensing for specialists in trans healthcare. The legislation passed out of the Senate on a party-line vote, with Democrats all voting yea and all but two Republicans voting against it, The Sacramento Bee reported. Despite their unified opposition, no Republicans spoke against the bill on the Senate floor. Now the fate of AB 2442 rests in Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s hands. Related School district sues Gavin Newsom for the right to out trans kids to their parents California just banned outing trans kids, which made some conservatives angry. AB 2442’s author, California Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, touted his state’s leading role as a sanctuary for trans people and warned of a continuing threat from lawmakers in thrall to MAGA and its culture war on LGBTQ+ people. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today “California has always been a beacon of hope for those seeking essential health care services, whether it’s reproductive health or gender-affirming care. As MAGA-led legislatures across the country attack the transgender community and restrict the care they desperately need, this bill enables California to step up and meet the needs of those traveling here for the services banned in their states,” Zbur in a statement following the bill’s passage. Planned Parenthood, whose facilities in California provide gender-affirming care, called on Newsom to ensure health equity for the trans community. “We hope to see AB 2442 signed into law so we can better meet the needs of (transgender, gender diverse and intersex) individuals by ensuring the health care provider workforce is equipped with providers across California that are trained and prepared to provide comprehensive and equitable gender-affirming care to those who seek it in our state,” President and CEO Jodi Hicks said in a statement. Newsom has until the end of September to sign or veto the bill. As a longtime LGBTQ+ ally, Newsom hasn’t always fallen in line when it comes to trans issues. Last September, he vetoed a bill that would have required judges to consider whether a parent is “gender-affirming” when determining custody of a transgender child. Observers noted that Gov. Newsom’s distaste for such court decisions and their potentially negative effects may stem from his own father’s tenure as an appeals court judge. His father was appointed as a judge by Newsom’s predecessor, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D). In October, Newsom vetoed three pro-LGBTQ+ bills, commending their intent but questioning their reach and constitutionality. Though the bills sought to increase access to gender-affirming and HIV medications, he worried their broad wording could have unintended legal effects. Newsom has been bold regarding LGBTQ+ rights in other instances. As mayor of San Francisco in 2004, he greenlit same-sex marriages at City Hall in defiance of state law. Kamala Harris, then the city’s district attorney, was a frequent officiant during the four-week run of marriage ceremonies. More than half of U.S. states have enacted laws to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors and/or adults, according to the Human Rights Campaign. http://dlvr.it/TCRxLv

[outlookindiacom71]

The latest step in a long-running effort by the tribe to open a casino near Madera, Calif.

The Mono Indians’ quest to bring a gaming property to unincorporated land near the Central Valley town dates back to 2003, when the tribe inked a deal with Station Casinos. Station is controlled by Red Rock Resorts, Inc. and operates nearly 20 gaming venues in Southern Nevada.

Mono’s case – Club One Casino, Inc. v. David Bernhardt – will be heard by the California Supreme Court starting on Feb. 11. According to court documents, the state, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, represented by the attorney general’s office, are tussling with local businesses and other tribal gaming operators that don’t want the Mono Indians to open a casino in Madera.

Currently, there are three gaming properties – the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, Table Mountain Casino, and the Club One Casino – within short drives of Madera.

A request for comment from the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians wasn’t responded to prior to publication of this article.

Long Road Mono is seeking to build a 200-room hotel with an entertainment venue, restaurants, and a gaming area that would feature slot machines and table games on property that is within the confines of the tribe’s ancestral land between Chowchilla and Madera.

In 2012, the Native American group reached an agreement with then-Gov. Jerry Brown, also a Democrat. That pact was approved by the California State Assembly in May 2013 and by the state Senate less than two months later. The next year, a Madera County judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the veracity of the Mono approval, noting California policymakers acted within the bounds of the state’s constitution in granting permission for the tribe to build a casino.

However, a 2014 ballot initiative known as Proposition 48 was approved by Golden State voters, in effect halting construction plans on the Mono gaming venue.

Proposition 48 would ratify gaming compacts between California and two Native American tribes: the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, and the Wiyot Tribe,” according to California Choices. “A ‘yes’ vote on the measure would uphold contested legislation AB 277, which was enacted by the State Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July 2013. A ‘no’ vote would overturn AB 277.”홀짝게임

In 2016, the US Interior Department gave the green light for the Mono effort. Stand Up for California!, an activist group that opposes expanded tribal gaming in the Golden State, later sued the Interior Department, taking that case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

One More Step The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians believes that a win at the California Supreme Court will set the stage for the tribe to proceed with finally breaking ground on the gaming property.

Mono tribal council member Jacquie Davis Van Huss said in a Facebook post last year that if the group claims victory at California’s highest court, it will then commence financing and pre-construction activities.

[californiastatelibrary]

Every January 23 marks Ed Roberts Day, named for the “Father of Independent Living” Ed Roberts. Roberts was a trailblazing advocate for people with disabilities.

Paralyzed by polio as a child, Roberts was considered "unemployable” by the California Department of Rehabilitation, a prejudiced decision he successfully fought to overturn. Roberts was the first UC Berkeley student with significantly limiting disabilities and earned his Masters in Political Science. A decade after graduation, Roberts became head of the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and, after two terms under Gov. Jerry Brown, spent the rest of his life running the World Institute on Disability — the first non-profit dedicated to the development and advancement of a unified body of public policy on disability issues.

The Ed Roberts Campus in South Berkeley was built shortly after Roberts' death and commemorates his many contributions to the fight for disability rights. The Center features fully accessible meeting rooms, a computer/media resource center, a fitness center, a cafe, and a child development center.

Read more about Ed Roberts here: https://cal170.library.ca.gov/so-i-decided-to-be-an-artichoke/

[beardedmrbean]

The brother of San Francisco's mayor was resentenced to a shorter prison term Monday for his role in the 2000 death of his girlfriend as she drove a getaway car over the Golden Gate Bridge following a robbery.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy reduced Napoleon Brown’s sentence from 44 years to just over 31 for involuntary manslaughter, armed robbery and carjacking, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In 2018, Mayor London Breed sent outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown a letter urging him to show leniency and commute her older brother's prison sentence. She referenced her position as mayor in the letter, and the stationery read "Mayor London Breed" at the top. He did not respond.

INCARCERATED BROTHER OF SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR MAY GET REDUCED SENTENCE IN HOMICIDE, ROBBERY CASE

Marc Zilversmit, Napoleon Brown's attorney, said they are pleased the judge agreed to a reduction but they had asked for an even shorter sentence. Brown has served nearly 22 years in prison, according to Zilversmit.

"There are mixed emotions," he said.

FIRST ARREST IN NYC GANG WAR KILLINGS THAT PROMPTED GRUESOME MURDER OF NAIL SALON OWNER FOUND IN BURNING CAR

The mayor’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brown and another man robbed a San Francisco diner in June 2000 and sped off over the Golden Gate Bridge. His girlfriend, Lenties White, drove and was either pushed or fell from the vehicle and was killed by a drunken driver.

Brown denies prosecutors’ assertions that he pushed White.

[bigtittygirl420]

Kamala Harris supported racists in an illegal US land claim that infringes Indigenous Tribal Land Sovereignty

Now, with support from Gov. Jerry Brown and California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, French is fighting back in a federal court case that many tribal members regard as an assault on their government on the reservation straddling the river in Arizona and California French’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, accuses four tribal judges and two tribal council members involved in his eviction proceedings of acting illegally because of the dispute over whether the land belongs to the reservation. “It’s not tribal land, never has been,” French said. […] Rusty Flanagan, 53, who gets by on odd jobs and describes himself as a “noncompliant,” lives near French’s former home. “Roger is our savior. And Gov. Brown and Kamala Harris, I love them all!” said Flanagan, using a rag to wipe rainwater off a neighbor’s battery-powered golf cart.

[back-and-totheleft]

Spotlight on: Politics

Despite his reputation as a hardcore left-winger, Oliver Stone has always resisting identifying himself by any political label, particularly in the context of the American two-party system he abhors. He's allowed himself to be defined as a leftist, liberal or a progressive, but has consistently resisted being labeled as a Democrat.

Political contributions are public record in the U.S, so the FEC does have Oliver's donations going back to 1986. They show that, while he may not identify as a Democrat, Oliver's almost exclusively contributed his money to Democratic candidates and PACs (political action committees). Oliver Stone was also an official delegate for California Gov. Jerry Brown at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

Records show the Party PACs he's donated to over the years: the Senate Majority PAC (dedicated to building a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Born Fighting PAC (to promote Democratic leadership), HopeFund (Obama's PAC), California Victory '98 (for Democratic candidates in CA that election), the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, and the Democratic National Committee.

Over the decades, Oliver has donated to the following politicians (from president to Congress), all Ds: Bernie Sanders, Barbara Lee, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Boxer, John Edwards, Howard Berman, John Kerry, Al Gore, Ralph Nader, Patrick Kennedy, Bobby Shriver, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, John Edwards, Tom Daschle, Bill Clinton, Larry Agran, Chris Dodd, Bill Bradley, Bob Kerrey, Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson.

Strangely, the only Republican Oliver Stone ever donated to was James E. Rogan for Congress. I could not find any apparent reason, except that Rogan promoted himself as a moderate who could bring together Dems and Republicans, due to his background as a child of poverty turned lawyer turned judge. Also, both Oliver and Rogan are fans of Robert F. Kennedy Snr, maybe??

Oliver's most recent donations are to the presidential campaign of Democrat turned Independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (His wife Chong Stone also donated the maximum to RFK Jr.) While Oliver has not yet endorsed RFK Jr. for the 2024 election (they have at least two main differences on the topics of nuclear energy and Gaza) this is not surprising. Oliver is a longtime friend and neighbor of RFK Jr. and has stated he supports neither Biden nor Trump in 2024.

While his views on foreign policy are pretty self-evident, Oliver's expressed the following stances on domestic issues over the years:

Eliminate reliance on all fossil fuels to help reduce climate change and convert to clean energy, primarily nuclear energy, but also wind and solar.

Abolish the Electoral College.

Require universal voter registration and paper ballots to everyone (he is fine with digital voting in tandem with paper ballots).

Reverse the Citizens United Supreme Court decision to eliminate PACs and corporate funding of political candidates.

Restore the FEC's Fairness Doctrine and stop corporate monopolies on media.

Roll back Congressional raises.

Abolish the PATRIOT Act and blanket domestic surveillance.

Increase financial regulations on Wall Street to hold corporate raiders and Big Finance responsible and prevent another collapse like 2008.

Drastically cut the military's budget. Use the money instead to fund a reasonably sized, highly trained military for U.S. protection only, and use the extra money to support existing veterans via the GI Bill (of which he was a recipient) and to overhaul and fund Veterans Affairs hospitals and support.

Stop funding the militarization of the police and fund more first responders who actually help people.

Legalize all drugs, especially marijuana and psychedelics. Oliver believes even hard drugs like heroin should be legalized and provided by prescription, so they can be taken safely under supervision. Addicts should be provided healthcare support and not prison.

Legalize abortion.

Eliminate all funding to Israel over its occupation of Palestine. Invest that money instead into domestic homeless support programs.

Stop any tax raises on the middle class.

Protect gay marriage/marriage equality.

Fund a robust new Civilian Conservation Corps and Peace Corps and promote them to young people.

Eliminate ICE. Promote open borders as immigration increases diversity and is the concept on which America is founded.