March 29, 2022

Amazing rescue of large uncooperative dog today. LA river

Usually no water in "river" but it rained hard today

KTLA Los Angeles: Crews rescue dog from L.A. River after saving 2 people.

March 28, 2022

The Bottomless Corruption of Ginni and Clarence Thomas

The Bottomless Corruption of Ginni and Clarence Thomas
She helped push the Big Lie. He might preside over cases related to January 6. And we’ve not yet plumbed the depths of their venality.

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It’s always useful when thinking about such matters to imagine how I’d feel if the situation were reversed. Let’s say that Ketanji Brown Jackson’s husband was not a distinguished gastrointestinal surgeon but was instead, say, the CEO of the Democracy Alliance, a group of wealthy liberal donors who direct their money to certain progressive 501(c)3’s and (c)4’s for various political battles? Imagine also that Patrick Jackson attended weekly, very political meetings about how to advance the rights of undocumented immigrants or transgender Americans, or fight voter suppression lawsuits. I’d write in a heartbeat that he should resign all such positions immediately, and I feel confident that all my liberal columnist friends would do the same.

But that isn’t how it works on the right. The Thomases are a moral disgrace. This one couple has put this entire nation in a terrible position. Her hard-right activism on so many matters that come before the Court, up to and including the condition of our democracy, and his hand-waving insouciance about it all, have done huge damage to the Supreme Court’s reputation. The select committee can’t fix that, but at least it can try to get to the bottom of what Ginni Thomas knew and did—by slapping her, once she inevitably refuses to appear voluntarily, with the subpoena she has so richly earned.

https://newrepublic.com/article/165866/january-6-ginni-clarence-thomas

March 28, 2022

LGBT activist who conceived the AIDS quilt - one bedroom rent more than doubling to $5,200

Cleve Jones, a famed LGBTQ activist known for conceiving the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and co-founding the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said he’s been displaced from his Castro home of over a decade after his new landlord more than doubled his rent from $2,393 to $5,200 — an increase that he called “impossible,” according to a March 21 Facebook post that was later reported by the Guardian, the Bay Area Reporter and the San Francisco Chronicle.

“We will be ok and we are grateful for the financial security that will see us through this unpleasant moment,” wrote Jones, who had been living in the unit with his friend and roommate, Brenden Chadwick. “But it is very clear to us how an event like this could be truly catastrophic for so many others.”

Jones, who works as community and political coordinator for Unite Here, the North American Hospitality Workers union, has been a resident of the Castro since he first moved to the city as a 19-year-old in 1973, subsequently befriending Harvey Milk and working in his office while he studied political science at San Francisco State University. Five decades later, he’s moving out of his rent-controlled, one-bedroom apartment after the new property owner, Lily Pao Kue, notified him of the increase in a letter on March 18. Jones said the letter stated that she believed he had vacated the property and was entitled to invoke a Costa-Hawkins petition, a California law that allows landlords of rent-controlled units to raise the price of a property to market rate if a tenant has moved out.

“With all the misery in the world today it feels somewhat self-indulgent to post that the building in which I rent an apartment in San Francisco has been acquired by a remarkably aggressive, hostile and greedy new owner,” wrote Jones. “In just a few weeks she's transformed our sweet little one-bedroom home in the Castro into a truly wretched example of how rent-controlled housing units are lost to wealthy investors.”

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/SF-LGBTQ-activist-Cleve-Jones-Castro-rent-doubled-17032088.php

March 28, 2022

Austin Hopp, cop who violently arrested dementia patient in 2020 and laughed, takes plea deal

A former Loveland police officer accused of injuring an elderly woman during an arrest in 2020 has accepted a plea deal from the Larimer County district attorney.

Austin Hopp arrested Karen Garner, who suffers from dementia, near a Loveland Walmart in June 2020. Workers had called police to report that Garner left the store without paying for some small items, and officers approached her as she picked flowers along the side of a nearby road.

Garner suffered a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and bruises while being forced to the ground. Officers were later recorded laughing at her injuries. According to her family, she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Loveland Police Sergeant Involved In Forceful Arrest Of 73-Year-Old Woman With Dementia Resigns
Hopp appeared in Larimer County Court Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge that can carry 2 to 8 years in prison. That would be a significantly shorter sentence than the 10 to 30-plus years he could have faced if found guilty of his additional charges, which include official misconduct.

Garner’s family did not approve of District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin’s decision to offer a plea deal.

https://www.cpr.org/2022/03/02/former-loveland-police-officer-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-dementia-patient-karen-garner/

March 28, 2022

Cops: Man Drives Into Oregon Homeless Camp, Killing 4, Enrigue Rodriguez, Jr., 24, has been arrested

A man is accused of driving into a homeless camp in Salem, Oregon, around 2am Sunday, killing four people and injuring two more. Police arrested Enrigue Rodriguez, Jr., 24, who was also taken to the hospital after the incident. He was the only person in the two-door sports car at the time, and police believe alcohol may have been a contributing factor, the Oregonian reports. He is charged with 14 crimes including four counts of first-degree manslaughter and six counts of reckless endangerment, the Salem Statesman Journal reports. Two people were pinned beneath the car when police arrived, and the two people who were hurt suffered life-threatening injuries and remain in serious condition.


One man who lives at the encampment says he saw the speeding car go over the median and fly two or three feet off the ground before landing in the camp, hitting several tents before pinning a woman to a tree. People living there tried to help, including attempting to lift the car off her, he says. "Its [sic] only been a matter of hours, but I’m already seeing social media posts blaming the homeless for camping near a busy street," writes City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke on Facebook. "As if they deserved to die. The dehumanization of the unsheltered, especially in a time of immense suffering and grief, is completely unacceptable." Survivors were moved from the camp to a hotel or another safer location, she says.

https://www.newser.com/story/318600/cops-man-plows-into-oregon-homeless-camp-killing-4.html

March 27, 2022

Reed College has acknowledged this racist drunk man as one of their professors

https://twitter.com/thatdaneshguy/status/1507342683450265607?t

March 27, 2022

tree service owner continually illegally dumps tree debris despite fines. now arrested.

March 27, 2022

Firefighters battling Hudson Valley blaze find nearly 100 cats

Firefighters in the Mid-Hudson Valley got more than they bargained for battling a two-alarm blaze in Orange County: almost 100 cats, a report said.

The animals were believed to be part of “an extreme hoarding situation” at the home where the fire broke out Thursday afternoon, the Woodbury Animal Shelter wrote on Facebook.

“Last night the Woodbury Animal Shelter was called to assist in a horrible house fire,” the shelter said.

“This was an extreme hoarding situation and there were probably close to 100 cats living in this house. The firefighters were absolutely amazing and rescued the cats that were living in cages in the house,”







https://nypost.com/2022/03/27/firefighters-battling-hudson-valley-blaze-find-100-cats/

March 27, 2022

employee left his "plan" on his desk

Utah Man Charged After Boss Found Employee ‘Hit List’ on Desk

A Utah maintenance technician was arrested after his supervisor at the feed mill where he works “found what looks like a hit list on [his] desk” with more than a dozen coworkers listed as targets, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by police.

Kevin Michael Jerman, 56, a U.S. Army veteran who claims to have served in Iraq, is charged with making terroristic threats, which is a felony. Jerman, cops said, “had the firearms, knowledge, and experience to carry out the plan he had written down on paper, especially with his military background.”

That plan, the affidavit says, read as follows:

Bring 9 mm with 3 clips = 36 rounds; Bring 9mm assault rifle with 2 extended clips = 20 rounds; Bring Smith & Wesson .22 caliber with extended mags, 3 = 65 rounds; First take out two in shop 2; Then take out who ever [sic] is in loadout 2; Then the mineral office 3; Then whoever is in the hand add area 2 or 3; Next take out skid loader operator 1; Then the office take out 3. Then one in CUG loadout.

14 Total kills. Have to take out internet so no calls from landline. Build cell jammer so signals could be jammed. If police arrive take a position high up to snipe use .308 for this.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/utah-man-charged-after-boss-found-employee-hit-list-on-desk/ar-AAVwHPd

March 27, 2022

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the most popular Supreme Court nominee in years

Jackson in the court of popular opinion

Five recent surveys have indicated strong support for President Joe Biden's decision to nominate Jackson for the Supreme Court seat retiring Justice Stephen Breyer is vacating. According to an average of polls by Gallup, Fox, Monmouth University, Quinnipiac University and the Pew Research Center, about 53% of Americans supported her confirmation, with about 26% of Americans opposed. This is good for a +27-point net popularity rating.

If Jackson's ratings hold up through her likely confirmation, she would be the most popular nominee to be confirmed since John Roberts in 2005. Jackson's popularity should only help her in the confirmation process.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/26/politics/ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-biden/index.html