But the new news is that you can watch this flick for free now via the NetFlix.
It’s just released. See?
“This movie is: Exciting”
(But, sorry streamer-only NetFlix people, right now you can only have them mail you the DVD or the Blu-Ray – you can’t just stream this to your device.)
And no, I don’t think Vietnam Tom Bruso, or anyone else on the bus that day…
Apply today. (Please note that this job expires by the end of the year, if not sooner. And leave your TASER at home.)
And you’ll get a driver and everything. Hey, maybe they’ll even let you use the old hybrid Ford Expedition that the old Mayor loved so. (It’s the same one that our current Mayor rejected – he thinks it’s a big piece of crap, srsly.)
The mise-en-scene, complete with the two other top lawyers of official San Francisco, Dennis Herrera and Jeff Adachi, along with new Supervisors Scott Wiener,* Malia Cohen,* (icy, icy cold**) Mark Farrell,* and Jane Kim,* plus tried-and-true Supes President David Chiu and Bevan Dufty, and plus, George’s foxy blonde wife Fabiola:
“Herrera praises Gascón as a ‘stellar choice’ for District Attorney of San Francisco. City Attorney had hailed SFPD Chief as key to civil gang injunctions’ success, is certain he’ll be a continuing ally as District Attorney
SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 9, 2011) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera today praised Mayor Gavin Newsom’s appointment of Police Chief George Gascón as District Attorney to fulfill the unexpired term of Kamala Harris, who recently vacated the office to become California’s Attorney General.
Reacting to this afternoon’s announcement in City Hall, Herrera issued the following statement:
“Police Chief George Gascón is a stellar choice for District Attorney of San Francisco. I’ve repeatedly credited his leadership as key to making our civil gang injunction program a success. I couldn’t hope for a better ally to continue Kamala Harris’s record in aggressively prosecuting gang injunction cases. I know Mayor Newsom had a very tough decision to make among a number of excellent potential successors, and he has made an experienced, top-notch pick. I look forward to working closely with our new District Attorney in the months and years to come.”
Last September, Herrera’s motion for an injunction against two warring criminal street gangs in Visitacion Valley was granted by a San Francisco Superior Court judge. The new injunction against the Down Below Gangsters and Towerside Gang represented the City’s fourth civil gang injunction, which now involve seven different criminal street gangs. Herrera’s office has worked closely with police, to compile the exhaustive evidence necessary to obtain gang injunctions, and the District Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes violations of them. Prior to the Visitacion Valley injunction in September, Herrera had secured injunctions against the Bayview Hunters Point-based Oakdale Mob in October 2006; the Mission-based Norteño gang in 2007; and the Western Addition-based Chopper City, Eddy Rock and Knock Out Posse gangs in 2007. In 2009, Herrera moved successfully to modify the Oakdale Mob injunction to add six new adult gang members to that injunction’s provisions. In all, 134 adult gang members are currently subject to San Francisco’s four injunctions. No juveniles are named in any of San Francisco’s civil gang injunctions.”
“MAYOR NEWSOM APPOINTS GEORGE GASCÓN AS DISTRICT ATTORNEY
San Francisco, CA—Mayor Gavin Newsom today appointed Police Chief George Gascón as San Francisco’s District Attorney.
“As Police Chief, George Gascón has brought continued reform and accountability to the police department, introduced innovative crime prevention strategies and helped bring violent crime in our City to historic lows,” said Mayor Newsom. “I am very proud today to appoint George Gascón as our City’s top law enforcement officer to complete the term of Kamala Harris and bring that same spirit of accountability, innovation and collaboration to the District Attorney’s office.”
“I am profoundly honored by this opportunity to serve the people of San Francisco as District Attorney,” said District Attorney Gascón. “Together, with the hardworking attorneys and professional staff of the District Attorney’s office, we will bring criminals to justice, continue the innovative efforts begun under Kamala Harris and ensure new levels of cooperation between police and prosecutors.”
Appointed as Chief of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) by Mayor Newsom in 2009, Gascón also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Western State University College of Law and has been an active member of the California Bar Association since June 1996. Gascón also graduated from the FBI’s National Executive Institute, and is a member of the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety. Gascón will be San Francisco’s first Latino District Attorney in history.
During Gascón’s tenure as Police Chief, violent crime in San Francisco has dropped to historic lows not seen since the 1960s through the strategic deployment of law enforcement resources, reform and accountability within the SFPD and increased collaboration with the City’s diverse communities to prevent crime. SFPD Assistant Chief Jeff Godown will serve as Acting Chief of Police until a new Chief is selected by the Police Commission and the interim mayor.
Gascón was appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in April 1978. He served as an officer until 1981, when he left to pursue a career in business management while volunteering his time as a reserve officer. Gascón returned to law enforcement full-time in April 1987, and quickly moved through the LAPD ranks gaining experience in a variety of operational and management functions. Gascón served as LAPD’s Assistant Police Chief and Director over the Office of Operations in charge of patrol, detectives, aviation, special operations, and jails. For three years, Gascón was the Chief of Police for the Mesa Police Department in Arizona.
Gascón is a subject matter expert in the areas of police accountability, community policing, police training, hiring practices, management, policing immigrant communities, and use of force. He has published articles on police training, the role of local police and unauthorized immigration, COMPSTAT, and the economic cost of policing.
As San Francisco District Attorney, Gascón will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting crime in San Francisco and supporting victims of crime. With four major divisions – the Criminal Division, the Investigations Bureau, the Special Operations Division, and the Victim Services Division, the District Attorney’s Office brings actions involving consumer fraud, including real estate fraud, insurance fraud and financial fraud against elders, and actions to ensure environmental protection.”
*Wow, s/he’s intelligent. Throw in Carmen Chu* and you’ve got, by far, the most intelligentest incoming San Francisco Board of Supervisors class in 155 years or so of history. The Boardwalk Empire-types have lost and the professionals have won.
**What makes Mark Farrell a Democrat? I don’t know.*** I know what makes the others Democrats, but not him. And just how will he be able to afford to live on a five-figure salary? Once again, I don’t know. We’ll see.
***See? I told you, hewas the interestinginteresting candidate ****
****And BTW, did anybody else call Districts 2 and 10 the day after the election. Believe it or not, no. Last summer I was thinking the punditry was seriously underestimating both these two and, I’ve got to say, that turned out to be correct, non?
(Hey, does Willie have a heretofore unknown skin condition or something?)
Wonder if this is a one-time deal or a permanent, Mr. Gorbachev-tear-down-this-wall! kind of deal. You could say that these particular columns this week might lose their effectiveness while waiting to get published but that’s true pretty much all of the time anyway, right?
“Willie Brown has named 4 or 5 people as the “next San Francisco mayor” over the past several months–and none of them were Ed Lee. Yet today Willie writes a self-congratulory column boasting Ed Lee was “noted here 1st”! Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Willie. The truth is Willie wrote his prediction AFTER word had already started circulating thru San Francisco on local radio and other non-newspaper outlets about Ed Lee as next mayor.”
Anyway, the other news of the day is that frustrated San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is a fully-licensed California attorney eligible to become our next District Attorney. Did not know that. (See below.) Thanks, M&R!
Address: San Francisco Police Dept, 850 Bryant St #525, San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone Number: (415) 553-1551
Fax Number: (415) 553-1554
e-mail: Not Available
County: San Francisco
Undergraduate School: California St Univ Long Beach; CA
District: District 4
Sections: None Law School: Western State Univ COL; Fullerton CA
Status History
Effective Date Status Change
Present Active
6/11/1996 Admitted to The State Bar of California
Explanation of member status
Actions Affecting Eligibility to Practice Law
Disciplinary and Related Actions
This member has no public record of discipline.
Administrative Actions
This member has no public record of administrative actions.”
*I don’t know where to begin with the issues this image has. A longer lens was called for, for starters. And the hair, what’s up with that? And here’s a tidbit: “90% of all you need to know is that you can never let the yellow % fall below magenta % on anyone’s skin unless you’re trying to show sunburn. Your camera may capture images with less yellow than magenta in skin; unfortunately, unless you fix it they won’t print without customers complaining. Nor will magazines accept them for publication.”
[The Uptown Almanac draws attention to another Gascon video from the same outfit. Is there some volume mixer setting that would render that English-language YouTube video auditorialy legible? And could somebody point me to an event some time in history where David Perry & Associates took our government money and didn't do a half-assed job?]
First thing you do is check out Home for Halloween 2010 – it’s the biggest POS website that nobody looks at AND it’s one that we paid for.
Now, how much did we pay for it? I don’t know. It could be $10k, $20k, $30k, or $40k – the sky’s the limit. But it’s just like something your kid sister could whip up in an evening free of charge while she’s watching the Glee.
Now, how many people actually look at the Home for Halloween website? Well, You Make The Call – the latest numbers are something like a dismal eight visitors (including a fair share of GoogleBots) a day.
You’d think that it would be a lot cheaper to reach a lot more people if the City just placed a simple banner ad on one of the big local sites like SFist or Curbed SF, but you’d be wrong.
Now, here’s where your money goes, into videos with zero production values. Then they get posted on the YouTube, where they get roundly ignored. For example, here’s George Gascon speed reading Spanish muy rapido with his eyes darting back and forth like the methiest of meth heads. It’s mesmerizing in full-screen even if you don’t habla Espanol.
Now, I saw him at the Costco once and he’s not like this at all in real life. Of course he’s a good sport, but how effective is this effort if NO SPANISH SPEAKERS WATCHED IT SINCE IT WAS UPLOADED TWO WEEKS AGO? It’s getting a grand total of one-third of a viewer per day.
Wasn’t this video just a big fat waste of time for the Chief?
“I’m going to wear a powder blue fucking suit, and a white shirt and a red tie and a fucking breast cancer pin…”
Comes now the fight loser “Michael” (who appears to be on a first-name-only basis with DJ “JV“):
“First of all, I’d like to aPOlogize to AC Transit…”
It goes on and on, Black History Month, 5150, bygones, veterans, arthritis, murder, parole, apologies, brothers, stolen money, leaking, ass kicking, Strike Force(?) Showtime TV, 10,000 kids, cocaine - it goes on and on.
Can’t remember which morning-zoo / dawg-pound joint this screengrab came from. Oh yes, it was from WILD 94.9 FM:
Now-famous 62-year-old Bay Arean Thomas Bruso (akaEpic Beard Man, Tom Swift, and Tom Vietnam) picks fights as he rides AC Transit in the East Bay, of course, (incident video now available in high def) but he also has been known to take BART to visit San Francisco from time to time. For example, here he is near Market Street back when he was just 48, as seen by Caliber photographer Troy Holden:
“Back in 1996, I was working at the intersection of 2nd & Market. Each and every day the man pictured above would walk by my shop, wave a loaf of sourdough in my face, and scream obscenities about the San Francisco 49′ers.”
Let’s find out, courtesy of footage of Tom at an Oakland A’s game last year. Is this a proper use of a Taser? I don’t know. It ended up being a time-saver for the cops, certainly. Would they have felt justified in shooting Tom with bullets at that moment? Obviously not. The question after any Taser discharge is what would you have done if you didn’t have the Taser, right?
Speaking of Tasers and the East Bay, check out this excellent report from Demian Bulwa about how the BART Police Department ran the initial stages of its Taser program.
That’s a poorly-run operation. What about the California Highway Patrol? They seem to do be doing better with Tasers these days. For them, a Taser is just another arrow in the quiver. Check it, a CHP officer on San Francisco’s Octavia Boulevard with his two primary weapons, a Smith & Wesson Model 4006 semi-automatic and a TASER International X26:
So why shouldn’t the SFPD have Tasers? We already trust them with handguns and assault rifles, right? We’ll end up with a few more lawsuits but with fewer dead civilians. Sounds like a win, overall.
And finally, let’s hear from the RAND Coporation. They pondered the use of Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) for the NYPD and had this to say:
“Our key less-than-lethal force recommendations:
We reviewed reports of about 455 NYPD shootings from 2004 to 2006 and identified 25 cases where we judged that had a less-lethal weapon been available, officers may have used it to subdue suspects instead of using their handguns.
We also note that when other departments have deployed Conducted Energy Devices or CEDs, commonly known by the brand name TASER, injuries to both suspects and officers have declined.
We recognize that some groups have criticized the deployment of CEDs, raising issues of safety, overuse, and misuse. As such we recommend that the NYPD undertake a pilot program for the deployment of CEDs.
Such a program should allow patrol officers in selected precincts to be trained and equipped with CEDs that can incapacitate suspects from a distance. We believe there is evidence that if NYPD officers had access to this device, some number of officer-involved shootings could be avoided, and injuries to both suspects and police officers will decline. A carefully designed pilot program conducted over six to 12 months in a few select precincts would give the department enough information to determine whether the devices would alter the way the NYPD officers apply force and whether the weapons could be used properly.”
“The Inner Sunset will have a Town Hall Meeting with Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Ross Mirkarimi, and SFPD Chief Gascon at 7pm in the County Fair building in Golden Gate Park, located just past the park entrance at 9th and Lincoln.”
