Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center received a call Wednesday morning from Unilever CEO Alan Jope, who informed the SWC of the company's decision to put a halt to Ben & Jerry's Israel boycott. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and CEO of the SWC, was informed of the decision personally in a phone call Wednesday morning from Unilever CEO Alan Jope. Shortlybenandjerrys-unilever-quote_2022 after the call between Rabbi Hier and Mr. Jope, Unilever officially announced it reached a new agreement with its current...
June 24, 2022 - The death rates from Covid-19 for the past month have been so low for those under 50 years old that the Los Angeles County Health Department is unable to show them on a bar chart. Even the unvaccinated are not expiring from Covid at a rate that can be shown on the chart at the health department's Covid central. "Rates for some age categories are not shown due to small numbers," is the explanation given on the chart that only shows death rates for those over 50 years of age. The...
15: The Santa Monica City Council this week approved revisions to the city's 6th Cycle Housing Element Update which will be resubmitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Last October, the Council adopted the 2021-2029 Housing Element, which "prioritizes 100% affordable housing in city-owned land" and "addresses historic discrimination and satisfies affirmatively furthering fair housing." The Element also included the city's plan to build 8,895 units...
15: The State of California has broken grounds on a new pedestrian bridge over PCH that connects Will Rogers State Beach with the George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon. The State budgeted $11 million to build the bridge, and to widen the existing bike path. Located in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Will Rogers State beach is owned by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. However, it is managed and maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches a...
June 10, 2022 - Results from the primary election that was held on June 7 are still preliminary as vote-by-mail ballots still have several days to reach their destination. But results are available from the 580,358 vote-by-mail ballots already received and the 242,187 votes cast at vote centers. The following data from the California Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder are as of June 9 and June 8 respectively. For almost all offices, candidates must run in the...
You may have seen paid solicitors gathering signatures for Santa Monica's half percent transfer tax on real estate. Mayor Sue Himmelrich has proposed the tax to fund homeless programs. Local property owners are bitterly opposed to the proposal. So we spoke to one of the signature gatherers outside Bob's Market on Ocean Park Blvd. "Want to sign the safe homes and schools initiative?" he asked me. I responded as if he was a Russian warship invading my island, and he just smiled. He said his name...
June 2, 2022 - The Westside Current broke the news yesterday that Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin of District 11 has hired a private security company to guard his government office in Westchester. On Tuesday, Bonin voted against a Los Angeles City Council motion to prohibit homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools. Debra Huston, a resident of Westchester, discovered the private security guarding Bonin's office when she attempted to enter the building yesterday. The security guard...
May 18, 2022 - The city of Santa Monica prides itself on being environmentally sustainable. In fact, an entire division of the city is devoted to sustainability, where the government website states, "For more than 25 years, our mission has been to use the power of community to enhance our resources, prevent harm to the natural environment and human health, and benefit the social and economic well-being of the community for the sake of current and future generations." But when it comes to the...
12: Rent Control Board Commissioner Nicole Phillis announced Thursday evening that she was resigning her position on the Rent Control board. Apparently Phillis is moving away from Santa Monica, and that is a requirement for her to sit on the board. "I am with a heavy heart resigning," Phillis said, her voice choking with emotion. "Effective on the adjournment of this meeting tonight. And to represent people that are often forgotten on this board. I appreciate the openness and inclusiveness...
In an unexpected turn of events, California State Sen. Ben Allen is on the ballot unopposed in the June 7th Primary. However, he will probably have to run against one of two write in candidates in the final vote on November 4th. Kristina Irwin describes herself as a local mom and real estate agent, who believes in "medical freedom." She says that more school lockdowns and mandatory covid vaccinations are a threat to our schools. She is running in part to prevent the next wave of school...
May 2, 2022 - Santa Monica City Councilmember Phil Brock says he "got triggered" when he discovered that the dumpster rooms in downtown's public garages are left open at night for the homeless. They are used as bedrooms, bathrooms, drug dens, and have served as initiation points for numerous fires. Brock claimed in an interview he had been promised the dumpster rooms would be closed at night months ago. This clearly had not happened. In response to this information, Brock wrote the below email...
Russian president Vladimir Putin addressed a colorful and well choreographed parade, full of salutes and military Hurrahs on Monday morning in Moscow. Putin said that they had to invade after the United States and the West refused to negotiate for security guarantees. He did not mention Ukraine by name or make any announcements about changes in policies or mobilization. He did draw vague comparisons to Russia's defeat of the Nazi's and the current struggle in the Donbass. The air portion of the...
Special Note To Readers Oral argument in the appeal of ADDA v. Gascon and the companion case People v. Nazir will occur at 1:30 pm Monday, May 9th. The hearing can be viewed using the BlueJeans app vial this link. It is recommended that viewers download the app in advance of the hearing. The audio feed can be accessed by calling +1 (415) 466-7000. Courts & Rulings City attorney must provide discovery in infraction case A city attorney's office is obliged to respond to discovery requests in infra...
April 28, 2022 - A push poll interview company is calling Santa Monica voters to gauge their response to Sue Himmelrich's ballot proposal to establish an increase over the current tax on sales of property over $8 million. Push polls are billed as surveys of opinion to the respondent but actually give information in an attempt to sway the voter. Himmelrich, who happens to be the mayor of Santa Monica, is allegedly spending her and her husband's own personal money to pay signature gatherers who...
Sheriff Alex Villaneuva spoke at the Santa Monica Bay Women's Club on April 21. He was asked to contrast whether the SMPD's response to the George Floyd riots of May 31, 2020 was adequate or not. He said that the City's response to the rioters was too soft, "too woke," and that the City of Santa Monica called the Sheriff's dept for back up after two hours. "They should have called us immediately, like Beverly Hills did. Santa Monica could have avoided damage with our help," he said. "It's a...
It was first reported in November 2020 that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Parkinson's disorder. The 68 year old has grown increasingly pale and seems strained during public appearances. In a recent televised interview, he was seen to be gripping the edge of a table, as if fearing his hands would start to tremble and reveal his condition to a hostile world. Video tape is making the rounds of a recent televised meeting between Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Putin where officially he...
17: Potemkin Villages originated in Russia in the 19th Century. Today's Potemkin village consist of Russian air fields full of styrofoam planes. "Google's increased resolution over Russian military bases is already yielding hilarity," tweeted Kyiv Expat. "Just how much of the Russian Air Force is styrofoam?" Russia had said it possessed over 1200 fighter jets before the Ukraine war (in contract with Ukraine, which had around 90 aging Soviet fighter planes when the war began on February...
The City Council of Calabasas has published an open letter to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, spurning his requiest to meet and discuss his "vision" of law enforcement. Citing a spiraling increase in crime in Calabasas and the continued presence on the street of an accused serial child predator, Councilmember James Bozajian, a past president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, posted the below letter to Gascon, outlining the reasons a meeting with Calabasas would...
Courts & Rulings Sergeant can't use qualified immunity to stop lawsuit in Riverside fatal police shooting, court rules A California judge on Thursday denied an appeal for qualified immunity from a Riverside County Sheriff's Department sergeant who is accused of shooting and killing a man with excessive force. Nearly every key detail of the years-long case against the sergeant and the county is disputed, including whether the man was retreating from the property at the time of the shooting; wheth...
One of the more astonishing aspects of Russia's actions in Ukraine is that Russia has not been subtle or shy about proclaiming hatred for all things Ukraine. A recent piece equates Ukrainians with Nazis, and says they should no longer have national identity. The author is Timofey Sergeytsev, a well known Russian political theorist. "Yesterday, RIA Novosti published a lengthy article entitled "What Russia should do with Ukraine", which explains in detail what Russia understands by...
The Russian censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has decided to fine Wikipedia 4,000,000 rubles (about $44,000), for disseminating false information about the Russian "special operation" in Ukraine. "Roskomnadzor sent a notification to the administration of the Internet resource to immediately remove inaccurate information on the subject of the special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine," the agency said on Telegram. Separately, Novaya Gazeta, the last liberal website to dare...
March 24, 2022 - A poll commissioned by the Los Angeles Police Protective League shows a plurality of voters would vote to recall controversial LA County District Attorney George Gascon. The same poll conducted last year showed an opposite result, with strong plurality supporting the district attorney. Over the last year, more voters grew undecided and sentiment against Gascon shifted 18 points. The poll, conducted by New Bridge Strategy, solicited the opinion of 800 "likely" voters throughout...
Santa Monica has hired a new Interim City Attorney while the long search for a permanent chief counsel continues. At its Tuesday night meeting, the City Council appointed Deputy City Attorney Susan Cola as Interim City Attorney. She replaces Interim City Attorney Joseph Lawrence who is leaving his position April 5. Cola will start her new post with a salary of $288,120 on April 6. "Susan has proven herself to be an extremely talented legal expert who understands the many complexities of...
Russia's expansion plans may have been revealed in a song. In a clip that is circulating widely on social media, a Russian singer seemed to indicate that Putin plans to incorporate Ukraine and Moldova into Russia. From twitter: "Kremlin's favorite singer Oleg Gazmanov at the pro-war rally Putin attended on March 19th, sang the following: "Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, that is my country." This clip was sent to me by an acquaintance in Chișinău where it's being shared with i...
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was nominated as US Ambassador to India six months ago, but his appointment has been held up by the Jacobs Affair. Naomi Seligman is LA Mayor Eric Garcetti's former communications director. The Mayor has testified that he never witnessed any inappropriate behavior from Rick Jacobs, the Mayor's Chief of Staff. Seligman, appearing on the John Phillips show on KABC, says otherwise. "Rick Jacobs would comment on people's body parts in very graphic details. He would...
