Anti-illegal immigrant group comes to City Hall for raucous protest
(07-30) 12:43 PDT SAN FRANCISCO —About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall today to decry the city’s sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign.
They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city’s Juvenile Probation Department, “accessories to murder” for the city’s now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation.
One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from the policy, Edwin Ramos, has been charged with three counts of murder for the June 22 shootings of 48-year-old Tony Bologna and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Ramos, now 21, was arrested as a 17-year-old for an assault and an attempted robbery, but city officials did not turn him over to federal immigration authorities. . .
Jim Gilchrist will be on the show at 4:00
Council bans new fast-food outlets in South L.A.
A law that would bar fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.
The council approved the fast-food moratorium unanimously, despite complaints from representatives of McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and other companies, who said they were being unfairly targeted.
Councilwoman Jan Perry, who has pushed for a moratorium for six years, said the initiative would give the city time to craft measures to lure sit-down restaurants serving healthier food to a part of the city that desperately wants more of them. . .
After Crackdown, Number of Illegal Immigrants Declines
The number of illegal immigrants in the country appears to have significantly declined over the last year, at least partly due to the chilling effect of stepped-up enforcement, according to a report released today by a Washington think tank that advocates stricter limits on immigration.
The study by the Center for Immigration Studies based its findings on Census data indicating that the number of less-educated, working-aged Hispanic immigrants-defined as 18 to 40-year-olds with a high school diploma or less—has dropped by more than 10 percent, or about 830,000 people since last August.
Previous research suggests that a large share of less-educated foreigners are in the country illegally, and that they make up the bulk of the illegal immigrant population. Furthermore, while earlier declines in the number of these Hispanic immigrants have been linked to a rise in their unemployment rate, the current drop-off began last year almost immediately after the Congress abandoned legislation to legalize undocumented immigrants and six months before there was any significant rise in their unemployment rate. . .
Steve Camarota from CIS will be on the show at 5:00
My thoughts on the 5th Circuit’s Ramos & Compean decision
By Edd Hendee
On December 3, 2007 a three judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court heard appeals on Case 06-51489, United States of America v. Ignacio Ramos; Jose Alonso Compean. I was there seated in the front row witnessing the proceedings and taking specific notes.
The 5th Circuit has a non-binding policy of rendering an opinion within 60 days on criminal trials so the questions, statements, and body language of the three judges last December 3rd were clearly indicative of what a timely opinion would be.
Yesterday July 28, 2008 the Court rendered a 46 page opinion upholding the indictment, Federal Gun Charges (924C), trial proceedings, convictions, and mandatory 10 year add-on sentences. Certainly the conclusion of the court is not what we had expected or hoped for – but there are two obvious problems in their ruling and stated opinion. . .
Postville job experiences vex Somali immigrants
Postville, Ia. – African immigrants are adding to Postville’s multicultural story, but their chapter could wind up being short.
Scores of people from Somalia have arrived here in recent weeks to work at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant. Most are young men who are filling jobs previously held by hundreds of Guatemalan and Mexican workers seized May 12 in the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history.
Several of the Somalis said they came to the United States legally as refugees from the chaos and death that civil war brought to their east African homeland. They said many of them were living in the Minneapolis area when labor recruiting firms or word-of-mouth recommendations drew them to Postville. . .
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
5.4 earthquake rocks L.A. area
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 shook large parts of Southern California late this morning, shaking a wide swath from Ventura County to San Diego.
The quake shook downtown L.A. buildings and was felt as far east as Palm Springs.
It was centered near Chino Hills, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. . .
Schwarzenegger delays pay-cut order
After signaling that he would sign an executive order Monday slashing state workers’ pay to the federal minimum wage, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to wait until later this week to pull the trigger.
The delay will give legislative leaders a few more days to broker a compromise on a budget that is now four weeks overdue. Absent a breakthrough, the governor is expected to sign the order to slash the pay of some 200,000 employees to $6.55 an hour, lay off about 22,000 temporary workers, and enact a hiring freeze.
“He will take action on Thursday to make sure the state does not run out of cash,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. “That’s unequivocal. . .
Lawsuit dropped over Calif. congresswoman’s home
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — A man who paid $388,000 for a congresswoman’s home dropped a lawsuit that claimed she got special treatment when a bank rescinded the foreclosure, it was reported Saturday.
Washington Mutual Inc., who was Rep. Laura Richardson’s lender, announced Friday that James York’s suit against her and the bank had been resolved, the Torrance Daily Breeze reported.
The details were confidential, the bank said in its statement. . .
$625,000 house on a street wrecked by subprime loans?
It seems like a rare bright spot in a dark real estate market.
A year ago, the house at 920 W. Camile St. in Santa Ana was bank-owned, deserted and tagged with gang graffiti, a symbol of how the subprime lending bonanza had blighted a city block.
In October, the house sold at auction for $304,500, little more than half what a buyer using 100-percent subprime financing paid in 2006.
Today, 920 W. Camile has been renovated, repainted and floored with faux marble. It resold in January for $625,000, according to county records – a $125,000 down payment and a $500,000 mortgage from Wells Fargo Bank. . .
Monday, July 28th, 2008
5th Circuit upholds prison terms for border agents
Donate to the Ramos-Compean Defense Fund
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court says it won’t throw out lengthy prison sentences for a pair of jailed U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted two years ago of shooting an unarmed illegal immigrant and lying about it.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Monday upheld most of the convictions against former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.
The appeals court vacated the convictions for tampering with an official proceeding, but the three-judge panel refused to reverse the convictions that resulted in their lengthy sentences. . .
L.A. Times Finally Does Bologna Story
SAN FRANCISCO —— Frank Kennedy is a third-generation San Franciscan, the son and grandson of local police officers and the proud owner of a Bay Area business. And this week he became Exhibit A for all he believes ails his hometown.
On Wednesday, a 21-year-old undocumented Salvadoran immigrant pleaded not guilty to murdering Kennedy’s brother-in-law and two nephews in a case that has galvanized sentiment nationwide against this “sanctuary city” and its ambitious mayor.
Kennedy has spent much of the time since telling anyone who will listen that San Francisco and cities like it should stop shielding illegal immigrants from federal authorities and that officials here are responsible for his loved ones’ deaths. . .
Bitterroot’s sweet with S.F.’s cowboy mayor, bride
What a party. What a wedding. What a spread.
I’m up here in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley at the family ranch of Gavin Newsom’s new bride, Jennifer Siebel. The place has to be at least six times bigger than Golden Gate Park and just as beautiful in its own way.
It’s a working horse ranch, but the accommodations are cleaner than most airports.
The place is located about two hours outside of Missoula, Mont., where a bunch of us flew in Wednesday for the Saturday night wedding.
The group I came with flew in on one of Google’s corporate jets – a Boeing 757 – and it was like flying in seven connected living rooms. . .
Villar backs out of S.F. gay rights event
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pulled out as keynote speaker for a gay rights group’s fundraising event scheduled for Saturday night following intense lobbying from transgender activists angry over the group’s stand on a federal gay rights bill.
Villaraigosa was scheduled to headline the Human Rights Campaign dinner scheduled for Saturday night in San Francisco. San Francisco city officials and many prominent gay rights leaders already had agreed not to attend the event, which has been billed as a fundraiser to help defeat a November ballot measure that would again ban same-sex marriage in California.
The Human Rights Campaign is one of the nation’s most prominent gay rights organizations and the Washington-based group already has given over $500,000 to defeat the same-sex marriage measure. But many transgender activists and their allies have been angry at the group since the fall, when its leaders agreed to support a federal job discrimination ban that protected gays, lesbians and bisexuals – but not transgender people. . .
Friday, July 25th, 2008
Donations to Anthony Bologna Children’s Fund, c/o Washington Mutual Bank, 845 Laurel St., San Carlos, CA 94070 or checks may be made payable to the Bologna Family Fund, c/o Wells Fargo Private Client Services, 420 Montgomery St., Seventh Floor, SF, CA 94104.
Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters
A hotel security guard told FOXNews.com he intervened this week between a man he identified as former Sen. John Edwards and tabloid reporters who chased down the former presidential hopeful after what they’re calling a rendezvous with his mistress and love child.
The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men’s room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.
“What are they saying about me?” the guard said Edwards asked. . .
David Perel from the National Enquirer will be on the show at 5:00
Still no Bologna Murder Story in LA Times, but they do run this nifty piece on Gavin Newsom
SAN FRANCISCO —— Treat your I.T. workers well. Listen to their concerns. Encourage their creativity. But set up good checks to make sure they can’t hijack your system.
That may be the lesson in the wake of the 10-day standoff here between a computer network expert and the municipality for which he worked.
Terry Childs, 43, a suspended systems administrator for the city and county of San Francisco, sits in a jail cell, accused of tampering with the very computer network he was hired to maintain.
Until Mayor Gavin Newsom intervened, the systems administrator had refused to hand over the key passwords to unlock a multimillion-dollar municipal network, the pipeline for such critical data as the city’s e-mail, inmate records and payroll. The city discovered too late that Childs, who had set up the codes, was the only one who knew them, according to court documents. . .
Why work? Carona hits pay dirt in retirement
The Watchdog imagines that it’s with some relief that Mike Carona and George Jaramillo note that being a convicted felon does not disqualify one from receiving public pension payments.
(We noted yesterday that former county treasurer/felon Bob Citron has received about $1.3 million in public pension payments since he was forced into retirement in 1994, after his risky investment strategy imploded and local governments lost $1.6 billion.)
Carona, for the record, was indicted on federal charges that he deprived the public of the honest services of a public official by using his office to suck cash and gifts from friends in exchange for favors.
His sidekick Jaramillo, meanwhile, was convicted of two felonies (perjury and misappropriation of public funds), and pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and mail fraud. . .
Bilbray: Suspect’s release in Mexico ‘a huge blunder’
LOS ANGELES — A Republican congressman is accusing the Bush administration of failing to own up to “a huge blunder” that led to the release in Mexico of a man wanted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Rep. Brian Bilbray, who represents an area of San Diego near the border of Mexico, said this week that he will continue to press the Justice Department for answers it has refused to provide him about the apparent failure to seek timely extradition of Jesus Navarro Montes last month.
The Justice Department and White House last week wrote Bilbray that they were unable to offer an explanation, saying information sought by Congress would “inevitably compromise highly sensitive law enforcement investigative information. . .
Congressman Brian Bilbray will be on the show at 4:00
THE X FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
Here’s is my relationship with “The X Files” – there isn’t one. I saw the show maybe five times (once because it followed a Super Bowl), the first movie ten years ago, and that was it. So, is it fair I review the movie? Hey, this is “The John & Ken Show”, who cares about fair.
Were you as shocked as I was that there was going to be another movie? The show has been off the air for six years, what gives? Ah, yes, the cash register gives, that’s what. David Duchovny is a fine actor, but things have pretty much dried up for him, and Gillian Anderson, well, I’m not sure but I think she purposefully pulled away for a while, and did have a small splash in artsy films, but, let’s just say the “time was right” for both of them to bring back “Scully and Mulder”.
And if you’re a fan of these characters you won’t be disappointed. I’ll admit, they have something between them in that “now they love each other, now they don’t” kind of thing. In case you didn’t know, they were FBI agents specializing in the “unusual”. She’s the doctor, he’s the guy with the amazing intuition, all right, enough about that. What I’m trying to emphasize is that if you’re not into their chemistry, or at least their “guiding beliefs”, you may not be into much of what goes on here. (more . . . )
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
AP Weighs in on Bologna Murders, Still Nothing from L.A. Times
SAN FRANCISCO—The scene repeats itself every day on city streets: A driver gets stuck bumper-to-bumper, blocking the intersection and another car’s ability to complete a left turn.
San Francisco authorities say that was enough to prompt Edwin Ramos to unload an AK47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing all three.
The murders immediately sparked public outrage, which only intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who had managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law. . .
Governor set to slash state workers’ pay
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week intended to temporarily reduce pay for 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash until lawmakers reach a budget deal, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.
The governor’s order also would terminate about 22,000 retired annuitants, temporary workers and seasonal employees, as well as impose a hard freeze that blocks the hiring of roughly 1,700 new employees per month.
Administration officials said the Republican governor expects to take the action Monday, when the budget will be four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over how to resolve a $15.2 billion shortfall. . .
Why you want this tax hike
By Antonio Villaraigosa
In 2005, I asked Angelenos to join me in re-imagining their city as a dynamic world capital defined by its flexibility and mobility, not by traffic and smog.
I challenged them to imagine communities connected not by bigger, wider highways but by a real network of public transit options—rapid buses, trains and subway lines—connecting every neighborhood in our county’s 88 cities.
I asked them to imagine cleaner and greener neighborhoods where we each pitch in to combat global warming and create a more sustainable city. . .
