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Thread: California is toast thread

  1. #21
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    California Senate approves sweeping gun-control measures

    AP News
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    Posted: May 19, 2016 8:29 PM
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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrats in the California Senate approved a wide-ranging series of gun control bills Thursday, reviving an effort to significantly tighten California's already strict gun laws in the wake of last year's terrorist attack in San Bernardino.
    Lawmakers voted to outlaw the sale of assault weapons with easily detachable magazines and to require that people turn in magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. They also backed a variety of other measures aimed at restricting access to guns and ammunition or limiting the carnage they can inflict.
    The effort drew a sharp rebuke from gun rights supporters who say squeezing lawful gun owners even further won't make people safer.
    It also laid bare tense differences in personality and strategy between senior California Democrats. Legislative leaders are rushing to head off a ballot measure advocated by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, asking voters to enact many of the same policies. They worry the initiative will fail at the ballot box or fire up gun rights supporters, potentially increasing turnout of conservative voters who could give Republicans an edge in close districts.
    California's assault-weapon ban prohibits new rifles with magazines that can be detached without the aid of tools. To get around the law, gun makers developed so called bullet buttons that allow a shooter to quickly dislodge the magazine using the tip of a bullet or other small tool.
    "They are designed only to facilitate the maximum destruction of human life," said Sen. Isadore Hall, D-Compton, who co-wrote the bullet-button ban.
    Law enforcement officials recovered two rifles and two handguns after the San Bernardino attack. Both types of rifles are sold with bullet buttons.
    It's illegal in California to sell magazines holding more than 10 rounds or to bring them into the state, but people who already owned them are allowed to keep them. Senators voted Thursday to outlaw possession of a high-capacity magazine, essentially forcing owners to give them up or run afoul of the law.
    Outlawing bullet buttons and high-capacity magazines is a priority for gun control advocates, who hope that making it harder to reload would slow down a shooter and give bystanders time to escape or intervene. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in 2013 vetoed the Legislature's last attempt to ban bullet buttons, saying it was too far-reaching. A high-capacity magazine ban failed in the state Assembly that year.
    The debate has fallen along familiar lines, with Democrats advocating a crackdown on guns in the name of safety and Republicans saying that tougher gun laws only hinder people intent on following the law.
    "Gun ownership is a constitutional bedrock," said Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado Hills. "We can't smash the 2nd Amendment into a million pieces and expect America to be as free and strong as it's always been."
    Senators approved 11 gun-related bills in total.
    They include regulations for homemade firearms, background checks for ammunition purchases, a mandate to report lost or stolen guns, a ban on loaning firearms to friends and funding for a gun-violence research center.
    The debate in the Senate comes as Newsom, a Democrat running for governor in 2018, is advocating a November gun control ballot measure incorporating many of the policies the Senate backed Thursday.
    Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said he's also concerned that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign will drive more right-leaning voters to the polls and imperil the gun-control initiative.
    "I think it's too risky to put a lot of hard work, decades of hard work, before the voters of California. We don't know if it passes or not," de Leon said. "But if we can get it done in the legislative body, the question is, why not do it?"
    De Leon wrote to Newsom last month asking him to hold off on his initiative and allow lawmakers to tackle the problem. Newsom declined.
    The measures go to the state Assembly, where Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and other Democrats have publicly backed some of the policies approved by the Senate. But they could face a roadblock with moderate Democrats who have watered down or halted legislation from the more liberal Senate.
    The initiative isn't going away, said Dan Newman, a campaign strategist working on the campaign. The initiative takes a different approach to tracking ammunition purchases and also requires vendors to report lost or stolen ammunition.
    "It's one of those situations where more is more," Newman said. "The NRA is so powerful, and the gun violence tragedies are so frequent and so horrific, we need to take bold action in every way possible."
    Gun rights advocates blasted the Senate for rushing the legislation to meet a deadline at the end of June for Newsom to withdraw his initiative.
    "It is nothing short of unconscionable that millions of law-abiding Californians are being used as chess pieces in a twisted political game to see who can race to the bottom first," said Craig DeLuz, legislative advocate for the gun rights group Firearms Policy Coalition
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  2. #22
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    Beyond Boondoggle: California High-Speed Rail Delayed 4 Years

    By Rick Moran May 22, 2016
    chat 82 comments

    Beyond Boondoggle: California High Speed Rail Delayed 4 Years
    (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

    California's high-speed rail project has seen its share of setbacks since President Obama included more than $2 billion in the stimulus bill for its construction.
    But most of the delays have been the result of bureaucratic incompetence. And now, without having laid a single foot of track, the project has been delayed again. The first segment, 119 miles through the Central Valley, was scheduled for completion in 2018. But with only half the land purchased and funding for the project still in limbo, the completion date has been pushed back to 2022.
    Politico:

    State and federal officials downplayed the shift in the timetable, saying it partly reflected more ambitious plans for the Central Valley work, and in any case merely ratified construction realities on the ground. Jeff Morales, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said his agency is accelerating its pace after a painfully slow start, with a half dozen construction crews now building overpasses, relocating utilities, and demolishing structures from north of Fresno down to the Bakersfield area.“Early on, there was a vision, but no clear sense of how to implement that vision,” Morales said. “We have that now, and we’re moving ahead aggressively.”
    To be clear: The project was proposed with "no clear sense of how to implement" the vision. That's a truly remarkable statement for politicians who begged the people of California for a $9 billion bond issue."
    Sponsored


    Concerns about the project’s viability, however, extend well beyond NIMBY-ism and car-bias. The estimated price tag is now equivalent to 35 times the annual federal subsidy for Amtrak. The state’s voters approved $9 billion in bonds for high-speed rail, and Brown has diverted some revenue from California’s carbon trading program to the project, but Republicans shut off the federal spigot when they took back the House of Representatives in 2010. So while Morales says there’s enough money to extend the railway north to San Jose, there’s not yet a long-term funding source to finish the entire job. There is some optimism that private firms can help finance construction in anticipation of profits from running the line, but there is also widespread skepticism about the state’s rosy ridership forecasts.Meanwhile, the choice to start in the middle, in the sparsely populated and economically depressed Central Valley rather than the dense metropolitan areas to the north and south, has been ridiculed as a recipe for a high-priced train to nowhere. The first segment is actually designed to terminate in an empty lot north of Bakersfield. And the authority recently reversed its plans for its second segment, abruptly announcing that it will head north instead of south—understandable given the engineering challenge of tunneling through mountains en route to Los Angeles, but projecting a bit of a whoopsy-daisy vibe.
    “It’s like a Saturday Night Live skit,” Patterson said.
    The original rationale for starting in the middle was that all stimulus dollars had to be spent by September 2017, and the Central Valley run seemed relatively “shovel-ready.” It didn’t require massive urban redevelopment or daunting tunnels.
    Clearly, though, even the out-of-the-way Central Valley section was less shovel-ready than expected. There have been bitter lawsuits over financing and environmental permitting. There have been protracted negotiations over many of the 1400 parcels the state needs to purchase or seize through eminent domain. As late as 2012, California’s high-speed rail agency had just a dozen employees overseeing the megaproject. And after Brown secured the carbon-trading money, the authority expanded its initial scope of work to include electrification of the line.



    Regardless of how much of the project is completed, government will be subsidizing tickets on this white elephant in perpetuity. Really now, what can we expect from planners who terminate the line in the middle of an empty lot?


    21st Century California Reverts Back to the Wild West

    Europe built their high-speed rail lines because they had to. Most European countries had very poor intercity air service, which isn't surprising given how small most of the countries are. Rather than subsidizing air hops the equivalent of Chicago to Des Moines, Europeans made their passenger rail service between cities a priority. The lines are still heavily subsidized.
    It's a shame because with air travel becoming more and more of a nightmare, a cheaper alternative that would shuttle passengers between big cities in a reasonable amount of time might be a viable investment for private industry. Considering that a flight that leaves LA and arrives in San Francisco takes about an hour and 20 minutes, if you factor in the time spent in security lines and baggage claim, a 3-hour high-speed rail ride would make sense.
    Sponsored

    But no one has ever accused government of making sense. So they build a boondoggle to nowhere in the middle of a sparsely populated area and expect people to ride just for the thrill of it?
    The politicians responsible for this disaster -- including Governor Jerry Brown -- should go to jail for misuse of taxpayer funds.
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  3. #23
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    San Francisco Makes It Harder To Deport Criminal Illegal Aliens…


    The San Francisco Board of Supervisors spit on Kate Steinle’s grace.
    Via Washington Examiner:
    San Francisco leaders have approved legislation that would make it harder to deport illegal immigrants who have been arrested and are in police custody.
    The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday in support of a measure that limits conditions under which law enforcement officers would be allowed to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report an illegal immigrant in custody.
    The new conditions maintain the alien must have been convicted of a violent crime in the past seven years.[…]
    The change to Bay City policy comes 11 months after Kate Steinle’s death last July. A five-time deported Mexican man accidentally shot Steinle with a federal agent’s gun. The incident triggered a national debate about the presence of 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., including those who have also broken criminal laws.
    Keep reading…
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  4. #24
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    EcoSexual’ Students At Santa Monica College ‘Marry The Ocean’
    Once you eliminate all norms, why stick to just humans?
    Via Campus Reform:

    Earlier this month, a professor at Santa Monica College led students in an ‘EcoSexual Sextravaganza’ in which participants ‘married the ocean.’
    Amber Katherine, a philosophy professor who helped organize the May 14 event, explained to Campus Reform that the purpose of the “wedding” was to bring about a deeper love for the planet through “ecocentric passion and even lust.”
    “Back when I would hug trees in Santa Cruz, I would sort of ask the tree if it was okay if I hugged it and I would feel their spirit or energy or something give a response back, and then proceed accordingly.”
    The ceremony began with Bruce Cartier, a former SMC student, proclaiming to those gathered at Santa Monica Beach that “today we stand upon this holy earth and in this sacred space to witness the rite of matrimony between the sea and us all.”
    Next, leaders of the event distributed rings to the students, announcing “with this ring, I bestow upon the sea the treasures of my mind heart and hands—as well as my body and soul. With the power vested in us, we now pronounce you ‘married to the sea.’”
    Keep reading…
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  5. #25
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    Oakland police chief resigns as underage sex scandal spreads: Now AT LEAST 24 officers are accused of sleeping with former teenage sex worker Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent (right) resigned Thursday after a sex scandal that began in his department spread to four other cities, with least 24 officers revealed to have slept with the same prostitute - some of them when she was just 16. The woman, who goes by the name of 'Celeste Guap' (left), said that she slept with three of the two dozen officers when she was 17. She turned 18 last August. The investigation began in September 2015, after married Officer Brendan O'Brien (inset), who had been having an affair with Guap, killed himself and named her and several officers in his suicide note.
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  6. #26
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    California Democrats Use Orlando Massacre to Pass More Gun Control Legislation
    Using the Orlando massacre as an excuse to pass more gun control bills, California lawmakers wasted no time, and spared no arrogance in passing new and old bills in legislative committees Tuesday. Some legislators even dragged out old gun control bills to be reheard; bills which couldn’t pass in previous legislative sessions, and wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in the latest terror case.

    Hat tip: JD
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  7. #27
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    Oakland Loses Its 3rd Police Chief in 9 Days Amid Sex Scandal, Racist Texts…


    The Oakland Mayor is looking for a eunuch as the next Police Chief.
    Via Mediaite:
    So the Oakland police department is going through a pretty bonkers series of scandals right now, with three police chiefs resigning in a little over a week.
    Last week, Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent resigned, reportedly due to his knowledge of a pretty alarming sex scandal.
    How bad was it? This bad:
    The Express has learned that the sexual-misconduct scandal involves more than just a few rank-and-file Oakland cops, but also high-ranking officials from departments throughout the Bay Area. A few committed statutory rape of the victim, who was an under-age sex worker at the time, and informed her of undercover police operations…
    [A]t least fourteen Oakland Police officers, three Richmond Police officers, and four Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies had sex with the girl who goes by the name Celeste Guap… Three Oakland police officers committed statutory rape of Guap when she was under-age. She says all of the law-enforcement agents who had sex with Guap knew she worked as a sex worker.
    Both Whent and his wife became aware of the relationship between Guap and one officer before it became news.
    So after Whent resigned, Ben Fairow was named interim police chief. Well, this past Wednesday (less than a week into his tenure), Mayor Libby Schaaf announced she’s firing him for unknown reasons:
    Schaaf said she received information that led her to believe Fairow could not lead the agency…
    “As mayor, I need to have absolute confidence that the leader of this department can be 100% effective at leading cultural change based on the current allegations that we take extremely seriously,” she said during a news conference at City Hall.
    So Paul Figueroa was named interim chief after him. He was removed from the position yesterday. The department is currently under civilian control.
    Keep reading…
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  8. #28
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    <
    A Reader Reports On Under-reported Immigrant Carnage In Marin County


    VDARE.com Reader
    June 21, 2016, 1:50 am




    From: Angie Saxon [Email her]
    The local media are very carefully unrolling the full extent of the local crime wave courtesy of a bunch of illegal aliens. Short attention spans make this story hard to follow. So a rapist (?) is booked for rape and released, and goes on to shoot and machete/chop two illegal victims, one of whom dies. I’m told that all are members of the local high school’s JROTC—it’s nice we are training gang members in the art of war!
    Novato homicide suspect, 17, was arrested a week earlier in rape case
    By Gary Klien, and Janis Mara, Marin Independent Journal, June 16, 2016
    A Novato High School student who allegedly murdered a classmate last month was arrested on suspicion of raping another classmate the week before the homicide, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
    Juan Carlos Martinez Henriquez, 17, was booked into Marin County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of rape and sodomy on May 18, sources said. The alleged victim, a 15-year-old Novato High School student, reported she was assaulted at about 1 p.m. near campus at the end of Tyler Street.
    Two days later, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office released Martinez without charges pending further investigation.
    A week after that, Martinez allegedly murdered Edwin Ramirez Guerra, 17, also a student at Novato High School.

    Despite widespread speculation that the sexual assault of a student was a factor leading to the homicide, authorities have not asserted such a connection. The prosecution has described the murder as gang-related, although the investigation is continuing.[ More]











    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/articl...photo-10319937













    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  9. #29
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    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    “As a general rule, the earlier you recognize someone is trying to kill you, the better off you’ll be.”

    "You think a wall as solid as the earth separates civilisation from barbarism. I tell you the division is a sheet of glass."



  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lenno View Post
    America Looks At Itself In The Mirror

    creepy, dying, sickly, insane

    As the obituary is being written for this vast state, the awful reality is detailed in this thread...

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