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01 Jan 2012 14:12

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U.S.: L.A. arson spree: Officials struggle as wave of fires continue

  • 39 number of fires suspected to be part of an arson spree in the L.A. area
  • 7 number of fires set last night alone — one of the arson attacks was described as “serious”
  • $60k the size of the reward for info leading to an arrest; despite this, details are scarce source
  • » Cars uses as incendiary devices: The damage caused by these fires, many of which were started by unlocked cars and allowed to blaze out of control, sometimes spreading to nearby buildings — in one case a home where Jim Morrison once lived. “Auto fires, as soon as they get going, they get really hot, really fast,” Los Angeles Assistant Chief Patrick Butler said. “They essentially give off their own combustibles.” Officials are asking neighbors to keep their eye out and to offer up any security footage near the scenes of the arson attacks.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2011 23:38

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U.S.: Weather weirdness: Snow in the south, winds in the west.

  • Intense wind storms over the west this morning: Strong Santa Ana winds began Wednesday night; they caused damage (as seen above in home footage near Pasadena) and major power outages. Around 25,000 were without power under Southern California Edison’s jurisdiction. The National Weather Service said that the winds will likely continue through Friday, causing more flight delays. As you might imagine, Winds of this strength are causing some concern. Let’s hope that (on top of all this other stuff) one of California’s four seasons doesn’t start soon: Fire, landslides, earthquakes and riots. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Nov 2011 21:51

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U.S.: Oakland demonstrator questions violence and vandalism

  • I didn’t destroy any property yesterday, but destruction of property is not violent.
  • Derek Winslow • A demonstrator with the “Occupy Oakland” movement who was arrested early Thursday morning after overtaking a building in downtown Oakland. Winslow admitted that the occupation of the building, along with the ensuing fires that were set around the property to deter police, “wasn’t the best reaction, but we are frustrated.” More than 80 people were arrested after police deployed tear gas in the area.  source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Nov 2011 10:16

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U.S.: Occupy Oakland devolves into chaos after successful protests

  • We put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn’t talk about two months ago.
  • The Coup’s Boots Riley • Discussing Occupy Oakland’s big day yesterday, in which thousands of people showed up and made their voices heard, stopping the operations of Oakland’s major port in the process. It didn’t remain non-violent however, with riot police showing up to arrest dozens of people as windows were shattered and buildings were broken into. It was something Riley himself, prior to the incident, didn’t want to think about. “If they do that after all this …” he said with a pause, “They’re smarter than that.” (Edit: As Boots Riley himself says below, the quote was taken out of context. More info here.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Oct 2011 22:51

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U.S.: Federal attorney: Medical marijuana laws lead to drug trafficking

  • Where there’s marijuana there’s money. And lots of it. People are using the cover of medical marijuana to make extraordinary amounts of money. In short, (they’re) engaged in drug trafficking.
  • U.S. Attorney for Northern California Melinda Haag • Comparing medical marijuana dealers to drug traffickers — a harsh take, considering medical marijuana is legal in California. The U.S. government is planning a crackdown of medical marijuana dispensaries in the state within the next two months. This actually follows something Eric Holder said about a year ago, when Prop 19 looked like it might have a chance of passing in California. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 22:46

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U.S.: California inmates hunger strike en masse … for the second time

  • first Roughly 6,600 prisoners went on a hunger strike in California, protesting the rough conditions due to lack of human contact. Officials said they would review their procedures.
  • then Officials reviewed their procedures, and decided, well, maybe there’s something to this whole prisoner-treatment thing, and said they would make changes.
  • now They haven’t done enough: Roughly 4,200 inmates haven’t eaten since Monday, despite the threat of punishment for inmates on hunger strikes. source
  • » Treating “gang members” differently: Many of the concerns the prisoners have with their treatment revolve around the fact that they were put into fairly extreme prison cells, designed to limit human contact, due to their perceived affiliation with gangs. One of the ways they can get out involves a process called “debriefing,” where the prisoner renounces his gang affiliation and discloses information about possible members — which has the effect of putting the prisoner directly in danger. Activists consider this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t approach to handling prisoners akin to torture. “These are inhumane conditions designed to extract information from someone,” noted Carol Strickman of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an activist group.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Sep 2011 21:43

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Politics: UC Berkeley College Republicans hold racially-charged bake sale

  • The pricing structure is there to bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset. But it’s really there to cause people to think more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions.
  • UC Berkeley College Republicans president Shawn Lewis • Discussing his group’s reasoning for having a bake sale where people paid different prices based on their race and gender. The pricing scale’s kinda like this: $2 for whites, $1.50 for Asians, $1 for Latinos, $0.75 for Blacks and $0.25 for Native Americans — with a discount of 25 cents for women of all races. As you might guess, this bake sale, scheduled for Tuesday, is flaring up emotions quicker than a character in the movie “PCU.” It’s not the first time it’s been tried — a couple of other schools have tried the idea, and it’s been shut down at least once. What do you think? Does this seem disrespectful and worth getting angry over, or is there a valid point here? (h/t ProducerMatthew) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Sep 2011 19:02

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U.S.: A local government cracks down on … wait for it … Bible study

  • San Juan Capistrano, calif. claims it’s a zoning issue. A couple in California has held a number of twice-weekly Bible study meetings in their home, but the city says that went against city zoning codes. So they fined them $300. A spokeswoman for the city says that it was to stop them from “transforming a residential area into a place where people regularly assemble” — but emphasizing that the city was in fact not trying to block people from being able to hold Bible studies. Pacific Justice Institute (a “religious legal non-profit group” which sounds like the ACLU, except for issues of Christian faith) is fully prepared to take this to the Supreme Court “if necessary.” source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Sep 2011 11:54

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Politics: Ron Paul wins California straw poll, proving his base is still strong

We’re absolutely positive that the drunk guy in this video put him over the edge. Clearly, it was exactly what Ron needed to ensure his electoral future. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Sep 2011 11:56

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U.S.: Power service restored on West Coast; power grid “very fragile.”

  • Restoring power in the aftermath of the loss of the entire local grid serving San Diego and southern Orange counties was a monumental task. The restoration process, however, has left our local power grid very fragile and we are asking our customers to conserve electricity throughout the day Friday.
  • SDG&E vice president of electric operations David Geier • Discussing last night’s blackout, which affected nearly five million people in Mexico, Arizona and California. The blackout led to some great photos, but fortunately, it looks like it ended relatively painlessly. We’ll keep an eye on this today. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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