Trump Calls for Store Robbers to Be Shot in Speech to California Republicans

THE GUARDIAN: Former president and frontrunner for GOP nomination also warns ‘this country will die’ if Joe Biden wins election

Any Republican candidate that triumphs in California’s primary will see an easier path to the nomination. Photograph: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Donald Trump called for shooting store robbers on Friday in a bleak speech to California Republicans –and warned “this country will die!” if Joe Biden remained president.

During the address to GOP members, Trump also railed that wealthy Beverly Hills residents smell because of water denials, and repeated election fraud lies, according to the Associated Press.

“We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,” Trump said, spurring applause. “Shot!”

The rhetoric is in keeping with Trump’s tough-on-crime mantra but signified a ramped up emphasis on punishment. Trump has previously pitched shooting migrants to keep them from entering the US. » | Victoria Bekiempis | Saturday, September 30, 2023

This man is quite, quite ridiculous! Yet he is said to be doing well in the opinion polls. This is totally incomprehensible to most people I know outside of the USA. So, I have one simple question. It is this: How can an intelligent, educated American vote for this man? Or isn’t there any correlation between education & intelligence and voting habits? – © Mark Alexander

Magnitude 5.1 Earthquake Hits Southern California as ‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Hilary Batters State

THE TELEGRAPH: It is the first tropical storm to hit the state in 84 years, bringing the potential for flash floods, mudslides and tornadoes

A flooded intersection at Imperial Beach, California ahead of tropical storm Hilary | CREDIT: AFP
Southern California was hit by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake as the state braced itself for the impact of Hurricane Hilary.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injury when the earthquake struck at 2.41pm local time (9.41pm GMT) on Sunday, roughly 4.35 miles southeast of the Ojai community in Ventura County.

Buildings rattled from the impact of the shock and several smaller aftershocks followed.

It came as Hurricane Hilary, classed as a tropical storm, bore down on California where the governor, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency.

The hurricane made landfall in Baja California in Mexico on Sunday before barrelling north.

Hilary is the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. » | David Millward, US Correspondent | Monday, August 21, 2023

California Quake Rattled Nerves, but Didn’t Appear to Cause Major Damage: There were no initial reports of significant damage or injuries from the 5.1-magnitude earthquake, one of several emergencies officials had to juggle. »

California Braces for 'Catastrophic' Impact of Hurricane Hilary | DW News

Aug 20, 2023 | Hurricane Hilary has brought flooding, high winds and at least one death to Mexico's Baja California. It's quickly advancing north toward heavily populated south-western states in the US. Authorities there warn of potentially life-threatening flooding.

La tempête tropicale Hilary touche terre au Mexique et menace les Etats-Unis : Rétrogradée d’ouragan à tempête tropicale, Hilary a déjà causé la mort d’une personne au Mexique, emportée avec son véhicule par une brutale montée des eaux. »

In California and Mexico, a Rare Hurricane Sends Disaster Prep into High Gear

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Hurricane Hilary, now a Category 4 storm, has prompted flood warnings in Southern California and temporary shelters in Baja California, Mexico.

As Hurricane Hilary heads north, Southern California and Mexico are bracing for a rare and powerful storm that could produce dangerous flash flooding and sustained winds that have not been seen for decades.

Residents are racing to fill sandbags and fuel up generators before extreme weather arrives, and emergency officials are warning that roads may be inundated and setting up evacuation centers.

The Category 4 hurricane is so unusual that it has prompted the National Hurricane Center to issue a tropical storm watch for California for the first time in its history. Hilary is currently projected to make landfall in Baja California on Sunday and move northward as a tropical storm near San Diego and across the deserts and mountains east of Los Angeles — though its path could still veer elsewhere. » | Corina Knoll and Aline Corpus, Corina Knoll reported from Los Angeles, and Aline Corpus from Tijuana, Mexico. | Friday, August 18, 2023

I Sold the French Laundry. Then It Became "The Best Restaurant in the World." | Op-Docs

When my father died, he held disappointment in his heart. He was 66 and had only just retired from a life of 80-hour workweeks as a successful lawyer, and this next chapter promised everything he had skimped on since deciding to go to law school: family time, creative pursuits, fun.

His liver paid no mind, however, and he died on the morning of May 1, 2020. Four days later, I interviewed Sally Schmitt, bathed in golden Californian light, via Zoom, from the damp and shadowy basement of my parents’ home in Nova Scotia.

As a filmmaker and entrepreneur, I had always admired and studied the chef Thomas Keller, a walking pinnacle of craftsmanship, refinement and success — my father’s kind of guy. I had only recently learned about Ms. Schmitt, a pioneer of the Napa Valley culinary scene and the creator of the French Laundry, the restaurant Mr. Keller made world-famous. Talking to Ms. Schmitt that morning, I learned she held a different kind of wisdom: that success may have other definitions.

Ms. Schmitt died on March 5, 2022. But in "The Best Chef in the World," she shares with delightfully coy candor a message about the rewards of balance and the trap of ambition. I made this film for all of us who struggle “to stir and taste the soup” that already sits in front of us. Perhaps with time and Ms. Schmitt’s example, we will.

by Ben Proudfoot

The Coming California Megastorm

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A different ‘Big One’ is approaching. Climate change is hastening its arrival.

California, where earthquakes, droughts and wildfires have shaped life for generations, also faces the growing threat of another kind of calamity, one whose fury would be felt across the entire state.

This one will come from the sky.

According to new research, it will very likely take shape one winter in the Pacific, near Hawaii. No one knows exactly when, but from the vast expanse of tropical air around the Equator, atmospheric currents will pluck out a long tendril of water vapor and funnel it toward the West Coast.

This vapor plume will be enormous, hundreds of miles wide and more than 1,200 miles long, and seething with ferocious winds. It will be carrying so much water that if you converted it all to liquid, its flow would be about 26 times what the Mississippi River discharges into the Gulf of Mexico at any given moment.

When this torpedo of moisture reaches California, it will crash into the mountains and be forced upward. This will cool its payload of vapor and kick off weeks and waves of rain and snow. » | Raymond Zhong | Graphics by Mira Rojanasakul | Photographs by Erin Schaff | Friday, August 12, 2022

US Consider Declaring Climate Emergency as Wildfires Tear through California - BBC News

Jul 25, 2022 US President Joe Biden is said to be considering whether to declare a climate emergency as wildfires tear across California.

Around 6,000 people have already been evacuated from their homes as firefighters admit high temperatures are hampering their efforts.

A state of emergency has already been declared around Yosemite National Park where ancient woodland and wildlife could fall victim to the fires.

California ‘Crippling Drought’ Leads to Strict Water Restrictions – BBC News

Jun 1, 2022 • Strict water restrictions come into force for millions of people in California as the US west coast continues to experience a crippling drought.

Many predict will get even worse during the summer.

People in the state's agricultural heartland, who have been struggling with water shortages and contamination for years, say it’s time for people in metropolitan areas to conserve water and do their part.

‘Jesus Loves Me and My Boyfriend’: How One Gay-friendly Town Repelled Homophobic Protesters

THE GUARDIAN: Amid a national resurgence of anti-gay fervor, locals in Guerneville, California, countered the hatred and won – with pizza boxes

Suzy Kuhr, Dax Berg and Jake Hamlin, members of the Pizza Box Brigade. Photograph: Peter-Astrid Kane
Jake Hamlin lives within earshot of a group of protesters who have set up on the main street in downtown Guerneville, California, for the past several weeks. They probably park themselves outside Smart Pizza for the central location and because of the rainbow flag draped in front of the restaurant.

“We can’t get away from it. We can hear them in our living rooms!” he said, adding that they repeat the same chants. “‘This town is gonna burn! There’s more sin here than in San Francisco!’” He said the town will occasionally draw small groups of anti-gay protesters who set up tables with pamphlets, and generally behave politely. But these protesters are different. “The group is very active,” he said.

So locals like him are also taking a different approach to counter-protest, and appear to have succeeded in driving the protesters out.

As the protesters descended from out of town, always on Wednesdays, harassed passersby, and told locals not to eat at Smart Pizza or other LGBTQ+-friendly businesses, according to Hamlin and fellow townspeople Suzy Kuhr and Dax Berg, they have been met by the self-named Pizza Box Brigade. The Brigade is made up of 30 or so locals who organized via group text and greet the protesters with messages including “Hate is toxic” and “Jesus loves me and my boyfriend” painted on pizza boxes. » | Peter-Astrid Kane | Saturday, April 16, 2022

Former California Cop Who Sued over Antigay Abuse Wins $2.2 Million

ADVOCATE: Jay Brome said he was subjected to homophobic harassment throughout his 20 years with the California Highway Patrol.

Former California Highway Patrol officer Jay Brome has received a settlement of $2.2 million in a lawsuit he brought against the CHP, saying his coworkers made his life on the job miserable because he’s gay.

Brome was a CHP officer from 1996 until 2015, when he took medical leave due to the stress of the homophobia he encountered. It began when he was in the police academy and continued throughout his CHP career.

“There was bullying or name-calling — ‘fag,’ ‘gay,’’’ Brome told The Sacramento Bee in 2018. “I had an instructor that told me … to take my skirt off and start acting like a man.”

At one point at the academy, according to his lawsuit, a fellow cadet aimed a training gun at his head and said, “I know you’re gay, tell me you’re gay or I’ll pull the trigger.” » | Trudy Ring | Monday, October 4, 2021

A Right-Wing Shock Jock Could Become California’s Governor

Larry Elder in 2019. Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux
OPINION
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PALO ALTO, Calif. — In ordinary times it would be fairly ridiculous to fret about Larry Elder becoming California’s next governor.

Elder is a longtime conservative talk radio host from Los Angeles, a fixture of right-wing punditry in the mold of Rush Limbaugh. His schtick is offense and outrage, and over nearly three decades in the business he has minted an oppo-research gold mine of misogynistic and racially inflammatory sound bites that would seem to doom his prospects in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly two to one.

But California sometimes feels as prone to political earthquakes as geological ones; every once in a while voters here throw a tantrum and the seemingly unthinkable becomes sudden reality. This state’s voters have passed Proposition 13, a revolt against property taxes; Proposition 187, which denied public services to undocumented immigrants; Proposition 209, which prohibited affirmative action in the public sector; and Proposition 8, the 2008 ban on gay marriage whose reversal by the Supreme Court paved the way for marriage equality in the land.

You can also thank us for the Reagan era. And the last time we recalled a not particularly likable Democratic governor we ended up with the Terminator as our chief executive.

So when I received my mail ballot this month asking whether our current governor, Gavin Newsom, should be booted from office, my heart sank. For weeks the Newsom recall has felt like a meaningless political circus. The effort was prompted by a right-wing group that has criticized Newsom’s positions on immigration and taxes. The petition for Newsom’s recall went viral last November, after he was photographed dining at the French Laundry in violation of his own Covid-19 guidelines. » | Farhad Manjoo, Opinion Columnist | Wednesday, August 25, 2021

California Governor Declares Homeless Crisis ‘a Disgrace’

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Vulnerable to the charge that the problem has exploded under Democratic rule, Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded with legislators to take action.

SAN FRANCISCO — With tens of thousands of people living on the streets of California, the homelessness crisis has become the state’s defining issue. For Gov. Gavin Newsom, the emergency had become so dire that he devoted his entire State of the State address on Wednesday to the 150,000 Californians without homes.

“Let’s call it what it is: It’s a disgrace that the richest state in the richest nation, succeeding across so many sectors, is falling so far behind to properly house, heal and humanely treat so many of its own people,” Mr. Newsom told lawmakers in Sacramento. “Every day, the California dream is dimmed by the wrenching reality of families and children and seniors living unfed on a concrete bed.”

Vulnerable to the charge that the problem has exploded under Democratic rule in California, Mr. Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, pleaded with — and at times admonished — legislators to take action.

“The hard truth is for too long we’ve ignored this problem,” Mr. Newsom said. “We turned away.” » | Thomas Fuller | Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Young Turks Founder Cenk Uygur Announces Congressional Bid

TRUTH DIG: Cenk Uygur, host and founder of the online progressive news show The Young Turks, announced late Thursday that he is running for the California congressional seat left vacant by the recent resignation of Rep. Katie Hill.

“I’m going to represent those people in a way that they have not seen before. I will not be a standard politician. I will fight for them,” Uygur said in his announcement Thursday. “I’m going to fight to get money out of politics, and I’m going to call it like it is.”

“You know what campaign donations are from big corporations and lobbyists? Bribes,” Uygur added. “They’re bribes when Republicans take them, they’re also bribes when Democrats take them. I’m not going to take any of that, and I’m going to fight to get you guys higher wages and to get you healthcare that your family needs.” » | Jake Johnson / Common Dreams | Friday, November 15, 2019

California Is Burning Down and Trump Blames It on Environmental Laws

The state of California is suffering from major wildfires at the moment that have caused multiple deaths, but rather than trying to fix the crisis, Trump is out there tweeting that the reason the fires are getting so out of control is because environmental laws aren’t letting them get enough water to spray on them. Not only is this false, but it shows that he has no concept of crisis management. Sadly, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins points out, that wasn’t the worst thing Trump said about the fires.

Tehrangeles: Why Are There So Many Iranians In Los Angeles?

Legal Weed Comes to California

California will become the eighth state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018. The new law however, is raising a lot of questions for the state's users -- and producers -- of the drug. CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports from Los Angeles, where only a handful of dispensaries will be ready to hit the ground running in the new year.

Bishop Ron Allen: Pot Legalization a Sad Day for California

Former drug addict has a warning for the state on 'Fox & Friends.'

Fishers of Men: Winning Converts to the Orthodox Faith

Baptisms and Chrismations in the Parish of St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church in Riverside CA.

California Dreaming: Calls for State Secession from USA Grows

Furious opposition to President Donald Trump's leadership and policies is continuing to grow across the U.S. And in the state of California, one in three now think secession may be the only solution.

Calexit? California Paves Way for Independence Vote

EURONEWS: Grassroots organisers have received the green light to start campaigning for California to secede from the United States.

Spurred by widespread discontent towards Donald Trump’s presidency, the Yes California group has begun collecting signatures to pave the way for the western US state to effectively become its own independent country. » | Tuesday, January 31, 2017