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Former ATF Agent Talks Straw Purchasers, Background Checks and the NRA’s Relentless Attacks on Gun Laws

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by Kimberley Beatty

Starting in 1990, I was a federal agent with both the DEA and ATF. My first assignment was with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms at their Richmond, Virginia office. At that time Virginia was a major source for illegal gun trafficking to urban centers in the eastern United States.

Over an 18 month period, 1,627 guns were obtained from crime scenes in New York. 41% of those guns had been purchased in Virginia and 10% of those guns were traced to 1 store in Richmond, called the Virginia Police Equipment Co. That gun shop was not far from the federal building where I worked.

Weak federal gun laws permitted out-of-state criminals to purchase large quantities of weapons from gun stores by using straw purchasers. The straw purchasers were often drug addicts needing money to fuel their habit or a poor single mom. When confronted by law enforcement the straw purchaser would first claim their cache of guns had been stolen and then admit to buying them for out-of-state drug dealers, gunrunners and other criminals, often known only by first names.   [Read more…]

Gay Sex Remains Illegal in the Great State of Kansas

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In my home state of Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback created the Office of the Repealer in January 2011. Governor Brownback is a proponent of smaller government so to reduce the size of state government he created a new state office by executive order.

The Office of the Repealer accepts suggestions for statutes, regulations, and executive orders that should be repealed, reviews these suggestions, and then submits recommendations for repeal to the Governor. The Governor may then repeal executive orders or propose repeal of statutes or regulations to the state legislature.

In 2011 the Office of the Repealer received 506 suggestions via its website, and also conducted 26 meetings in 24 cities around the state to solicit input. These meetings were attended by more than 250 people. In January 2012 the Office recommended 51 statutes for repeal of 181 suggested. Not included among those statutes chosen for repeal was Kansas Statute 21-5504(a)(1) which makes gay sex a crime.   [Read more…]

Filner Presents Counteroffer to TMD Board

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Update: TMD Board rejects Filner’s offer

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has presented a modified proposal to the Tourism and Marketing District board that he says would release the disputed funds earmarked for advertising immediately.

The counteroffer was presented to the TMD last week. The board was scheduled to discuss it in a closed door meeting today, but given the pending lawsuit the group filed against the mayor it is unlikely that any movement will be made toward resolving the dispute.

“I am negotiating in full faith here,” said Filner, noting that he has not heard any feedback from TMD executives.

According to a UT-San Diego report, one member of the TMD board has said that he doesn’t trust the mayor and would not support the new proposal.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Saving the Grand Old Party: They Got One Part (Old) Right

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The long awaited post election analysis and plan of action for the Republican Party was released in Washington this morning. While there are reportedly 219 recommendations, we’ll give you the short version inside because it’s like watching a train wreck and you can’t look away.

Whether it was the young man suggesting slaves benefited from being given “food and shelter” at a session on race consciousness, or the rantings of the National Rifle Association Wayne La Pierre, there was plenty of wingnuttia on display as the shock troops of right huddled and muddled. Of course then there was Sarah Palin doing her ‘Statute of Liberty’ pose with a Big Gulp as a stand up for freedom moment.

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Should We Be Outsourcing Public Higher Education in California?

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Suggesting we drop existing standards for the wild west of market based online education will do for education what deregulation did for banks and the stock market.  

Last week State Senator Darrell Steinberg proposed what he thinks of as a bold new way to reshape higher education in California and to deal with the bottleneck of students who have trouble getting into “gateway” classes in our community colleges and universities.  What is Steinberg’s answer to our access ills?  Sadly, it is outsourcing higher education to the corporate interests who have long been aggressively lobbying to get a piece of the publically funded pie that is California’s public education system.   [Read more…]

Filner Joins Rally to Combat Climate Change

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Mayor Bob Filner joined Vibrant San Diego activists this morning at a rally in front of the Walgreen’s on 32nd Street and University Avenue in North Park to promote a more bikeable, walkable San Diego.

Nearly 100 San Diego residents—many of them on bicycles—gathered to promote a cleaner, healthier environment and to encourage more people to use public transportation options. The group marched down University to the Albertson’s on Mississippi St. to end the rally.   [Read more…]

Meet the Candidates: The District 4 City Council Special Election

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 This ‘meaningless’ election could change the face of San Diego politics and community development for years to come.

Part One in this series on District 4 (here) presented (an all-too-small) slice of the history of the area with a general overview of the present-day political situation.

There are nine, count ‘em, nine candidates running for the City Council seat vacated by Tony Young at the end of 2012. A candidate must get more than 50% of the vote to win, and by all accounts that isn’t going to happen on March 26th. So there’ll be a run-off. The trick here will be picking the top two candidates.

Given that this ‘special election’ isn’t going to be ‘special’ enough to drive much of a voter turnout, any candidate could end up in the running. (We’ll tell you our predictions and predications in Part 3 of this series.)

What follows are thumbnail sketches in alphabetical order. Most of this is simply lifted from candidates’ web sites, whatever turned up on Google searches and whatever gossip we’re heard recently. Nine candidates! I’ll be lucky to spell everybody’s name right.   [Read more…]

North Park – Leading the Charge to Rid the Sidewalks of Ugly Electrical Boxes

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Utility Companies Not Cooperative with Community Groups

By Jim Bliesner 

Cheryl Dye, a North Park resident and business owner, President of the North Park Main Street and a member of the North Park Planning Committee presented a full blown summary of the problem of unsightly electrical boxes littering the streets of North park at a City Council Committee hearing on September 24, 2012.

According to her testimony the electrical boxes, put in place by SDGE, Cox Communication and ATT as an alternative to overhead wires, haven’t worked out very well:  “Our urban landscape is being blighted by unsightly utility equipment. The proliferation of this equipment is damaging neighborhood character, impeding walkability and reducing property values.”   [Read more…]

Dirty Tricks Fly in San Diego’s District 4 City Council Special Election

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Part One of a three part series: Setting the Scene

There’s a special election coming up in San Diego on March 26th to pick a City Council person to represent the residents of District 4. Ho-Hum. Expect low voter turnout. Nobody cares, right?

Somebody cares. Somebody cares enough to send out smear mailers from a shadowy group trying to discredit progressive candidate Myrtle Cole. It’s getting nasty out there.

Voters in the 4th District are getting mail from a group called ‘San Diego County Voters for Progress and Reform’. Last they were heard of was last fall when they funneled $25,000 from California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee of Los Angeles in support of the failed city council candidacy of Republican Ray Ellis.

The mailers have the City of San Diego official seal at the top of the page and on the front of envelope. In bold type with a bright red background they say “Urgent City Message to Residents… Open Immediately”.   [Read more…]

Award-winning film “Greedy Lying Bastards” pulls back curtain on corporate-funded climate denialism

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Pay no attention to the Koch behind the curtain

By Eclectablog / Daily Kos

Greedy Lying Bastards is a new documentary released to theaters this past week that reveals the intentional, corporate-funded deception campaign that has shaped our conversation about climate change in profound and dangerous ways. While it’s long been known that the fossil fuel industry — “Big Oil” — has been throwing up a smokescreen (pardon the pun) to confuse the debate over the existence of human-caused climate change, Greedy Lying Bastards picks up where Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth left off to show us just how deliberate and well-funded this effort has been.

The film has already won numerous awards including the 2012 Burbank Film Festival, the Eco-Award at the 2012 Boston Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2012 United Nations Film Festival, 2012 Bahamas International Film Festival and 2012 Costa Rica International Film Festival.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mayor Filner Takes to the Streets, Carl DeMaio Re-emerges to Obstruct Plans

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Mayor Bob Filner is making two high profile appearances as the week winds down to highlight pro-active aspects of his agenda for San Diego. Meanwhile, the proxy war aimed at thwarting his programs continues, as opponents wage their own media onslaughts.

This morning Filner’s holding a press conference with ex-councilwoman Donna Frye to announce details of an open government initiative designed to make the inner workings of the City more accessible to citizens. The Mayor’s decision to bring the popular ex-councilwoman into his administration has been widely lauded.

The Mayor’s defeated opponent, Carl DeMaio, is also taking the stage today, with an op-ed piece in UT-San Diego this morning and a morning speech at an event hosted by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. DeMaio’s message would seem to be a clarion call to warn San Diegans about Filner-approved ‘double-dipping’ for city pensioners.

The Mayor is trying to make it possible for Donna Frye to work in his administration and get paid for her time. Period. End of story.

Taking a cue from his Congressional brethren, DeMaio’s mission is to simply obstruct where ever possible, using alarmist rhetoric to cover his real intentions. You can bet that nobody in the mainstream San Diego media will see through this ruse; the ex-Councilman will be all over the evening news.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Rumors of LA Times Koch Bros – Manchester Deal Rise and Fall with the Sun

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Los Angelenos were caught up yesterday in successive waves of speculation that the regions’ dominant daily newspaper was about to be purchased by billionaire brothers/conservative activists Charles and David Koch. Alt paper LA Weekly broke the story, followed by echoes from the Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and even Forbes.

The Weekly story claimed multiple sources in reporting that the Koch brothers were contemplating purchasing “either the Tribune Co. newspaper group, which includes the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun or the entire Tribune Co., which includes more than 20 stations like WGN and KTLA Channel 5.”

An unnamed member of the LA Times editorial board was credited with adding that the Kochs were actually acting as financiers for a bid by UT-San Diego publisher Doug Manchester. The embellishments appearing in various reports and comments about San Diego’s media mogul were nearly as ridiculous as the local daily’s self promotional efforts.

INSIDE: IRS Employees Protest Sequester Cuts, Judge Rants on SDReader Wrongs, Pedestrians Fight Back   [Read more…]

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