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Riding with the King in Burkina Faso
Great story you have become, and written. Please, extend to the king our kindest greetings.— February 6, 2013 3:17 a.m.
Mary Jo White fretted about "aggressive" regulator
Don, I think Taleb is referring to the journalists of my generation. You have done courageous work, and continue to do so. But you will be the first to acknowledge how few do that today. So many reporters are mere stenographers, repeating what government spoke-mouths (themselves former reporters) have been told to say. The journalist in San Diego salivates at the thought of getting one of those safe, comfortable, well paid spokes-mouth positions. I don't think you ever aspired to that. I would point out in particular Gerry Braun as an example of a political reporter become spokes-mouth...what do you think of your former colleague at the UT?— February 6, 2013 3:09 a.m.
Bonnie Dumanis kicks off campaign for fourth-term as District Attorney
What about the Rebecca Zahau murder, which Dumanis passed off as a suicide? What about Bonnie's continued crusade, along with Duffy, against the pot dispensaries? The first is evidence of how San Diego bends laws to benefit the wealthy and well-connected, covering up a murder to avoid prosecuting someone who could afford to hire Pfingst to prevent evidence from being collected, so Bonnie could concentrate on running for mayor instead of enforcing justice. The second is the source of dozens of campaign volunteers and potentially some deep pockets who are willing to spend what it takes to get "drug warriors" out of public office. No wonder Bonnie is doing what she can to raise as much of a war chest as she can as early as she can...she's quite vulnerable in 2014, especially if a legalization proposition is on the ballot and there's a credible opponent willing to step up and make the case against her.— February 5, 2013 10:49 p.m.
Jacobs says he is bowing out of Balboa Park makeover
It gets even worse the further back in time you go with Irwin Jacobs... Remember that midnight stadium demolition, which Golding and McGrory orchestrated to make the change to football only a fait accompli? This avoided Henderson and Rider's efforts to have a public vote on this awful deal. A little while later, it turned out that the re-configuration went over budget. As a result, there was a second chance to have a public vote. In rode Jacobs...he paid the difference, got the politicians off the hook from having a vote, and got the naming rights that converted Jack Murphy into Qualcomm stadium. This is one of the cheapest naming rights deals in all of professional sports, and the city lost a huge amount of potential income through this last minute behind closed doors deal. We could also talk about how Qualcomm stiffs its American engineers by replacing them with low-paid and under-qualified H1B visa holders, who are little more than indentured servants...modern slavery. Or we could go further back and talk about how we the taxpayers funded the research and development of Qualcomm's technology, taking all the risk, but he then turned that into his private profit...which he uses today to buy political power. Matt, there's a great expose waiting to be written about this misanthropic "philanthropist"...— February 5, 2013 9:12 p.m.
Top Gun brought back in IMAX 3D (for those who care)
I was enlisted and assigned to VF-211, one of the Miramar squadrons whose planes were featured in the film. My buddy Wayne Gates is the yeoman who spills coffee on the Commander. In real life he was a yeoman too. When we returned from our deployment on the Kitty Hawk, the film was released and we got free admission if we showed up in uniform. I saw it at Horton Plaza along with some other guys from the squadron. We howled with laughter. This was the most unrealistic portrayal of life in a fighter squadron ever made. * Riding on base without a helmet? A serious offence punished with extreme harshness. No possible way that would ever happen at Miramar. * The flight deck guys surrounding a returning bird and cheering? Not likely. They've got work to do, and no particular love for the officers who break their planes. * How does a helicopter return to the carrier before the F-14s? So much was so stupid about this movie...even Berlin's hit song was a big drop in quality from their previous music. But it was a huge hit. The public loved it. Everyone suddenly wanted to be...me! I cannot tell you how many dates I got, how very popular I became with the single young attractive females of San Diego, just because I was in a real F-14 fighter squadron at Miramar. It was great. Back in those days, I could bring a visitor on base, take her to the hangar, show her the planes...and my specialty was running the squadron's computers so we could crank out paperwork. Yep...dumb movie. Great times...— February 5, 2013 8:56 p.m.
Mary Jo White fretted about "aggressive" regulator
Don, it's not only the militarization (though that is deadly serious)...it's also about "testilying" under oath, so casually done every day by almost every cop. Here are two recent articles with details: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/W… http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/… We also have to look at how seriously flawed the forensic labs are...not at all what the television dramas would have us believe, a lot of these "scientists" are hacks and cranks, yet they wield the power to put people in jail for life or worse. Then we have prosecutorial immunity...the doctrine that a DA and all their subordinates can prosecute as maliciously as they like, destroying lives, with no consequences. Put all this together and anyone who still has faith in the American justice system looks pretty naive.— February 5, 2013 9:50 a.m.
Bonnie Dumanis kicks off campaign for fourth-term as District Attorney
We need to find a candidate to run against Dumanis, and kick start their campaign now... Would Mike Aguirre be willing? If yes, I'll personally walk ten precincts for him.— February 5, 2013 9:42 a.m.
Atheist advocacy billboard goes up in Encinitas
Am I the only one who doesn't find the Almost Factual News articles funny. I've tried. I like to laugh, and a good parody would be welcome. I love The Onion. But this is anther example where the author COULD do something funny, but it just comes across as odd, disjointed, and weird. Hmmm...maybe if there were an item about how Bob Filner got Papa Doug in a headlock and gave him a nuclear nuggie...or about Duffy being found passed out at a reggae show, or Dumanis coming out of the closet as a life-long heterosexual...maybe Todd Gloria holding a press conference taking credit for personally filling all the potholes in his district, or Marti Emerald quiting the council to join a reality TV show. These could all be kinda funny if written right. But this item, which has a paragraph of sort of bitter pseudo-atheist rant disguised as Almost Factual News...it's really just not funny. Maybe something about the Atheists declaring holy war, going on a crusade, chanting in unison to their lord and savior Richard Dawkins, reading as a group from The Selfish Gene...that might be funny. But this? Nah. It's just weird and disjointed. This week it would be hilarious to do a bit about SOHO being bought by Irwin Jacobs, with Bruce Coons saying, "We welcome the new investment and change of direction for SOHO that someone with Irwin Jacobs concern for historic preservation and public involvement brings.." Reader Staff...what do you pay for these items? Maybe I'll write some for you, if you want...(just ask Barb to contact me.)— February 4, 2013 1:47 a.m.
Mary Jo White fretted about "aggressive" regulator
Nassim Taleb says about journalists: In the past journalism was an act of courage, revealing truths in the face of powerful establishments and risking jail or even death. Today (except in such repressive regimes as as Syria or Russia and except for war correspondents) it is becoming the refuge of disconnected cowards. In my entire career I have never seen a financial journalist go to "the other side", that is pull the trigger or engage in risk taking or in any situation in which one can be exposed to harm from one's opinion. This can be generalized to journalists in general, who rarely, if ever, switch to doing, all the while pontificating on "Steve Job's mistakes" or similar purported errors of others, or praising Geithner and other powerful frauds. Jazi Zilber wondered why journalists seemingly so knowledgeable about politics never become politicians. It is the same problem: modern journalists are designed to be either cowards, or have a need to escape reality. Yet the tragedy is that doers are in contact with the world through journalists. (SKIN IN THE GAME (BOOK VII), comment)— February 4, 2013 1:35 a.m.
Mary Jo White fretted about "aggressive" regulator
Reposting to make this link more prominent: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/the-agitator Radley Balko is another outstanding journalist. If you like Bauder, Potter, Taibbi...you'll also like Balko. His work documenting the militarization of police is required reading for anyone concerned about the future of democracy in America.— February 2, 2013 10:27 p.m.