So today’s the day of the big ceremony with elements of the single-party state known as the People’s Republic of China announcing some kind of trade deal with the City and County of San Francisco.
So let’s check the international news. Seems as if the Chinese Navy recently went down to the Philippines to establish a new “city” called Sansha. I think it was yesterday.
Check it:
“Beijing’s planned deployment of a military garrison to Sansha brought a swift response from President Aquino. He said, “If someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree? Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?” Protesters hold banners while chanting slogans during an anti-China protest along a street in Hanoi, July 22, 2012. Vietnam has also criticized the establishment of Sansha, calling it “serious violation” of Hanoi’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly chains, which it claims as part of Danang city and Khanh Hoa province respectively.”
Historically, other countries have had imperial ambitions in this part of the world, of course. But these days it’s all China all the time.
Is that a good thing?
Now let’s hear from Chinese Consulate advisor / Mayor Ed Lee advisor Rose Pak – perhaps she could shed some light:
“When asked what message she would like to convey to the Chinese government, Pak said, “On what moral ground do we have as United States citizens lecturing what China should do when our own President would drum up falsehoods and bomb Iraq back to the stone-age, killing several hundred thousand innocent Iraqis.”
“Look at all the problems in the world, (they) are all created by Western countries with their phony-baloney moral standards,” Pak added.”
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…
Nine years and something months later, the SFPD makes an arrest:
“SFPD ARREST SUSPECT IN 10 YEAR OLD BRUTAL COLD CASE SEXUAL ASSAULT 11-103Posted Date: 9/27/2011
The San Francisco Police Department’s Sex Crimes Detail Cold Case Unit made an arrest in a 10 year old sexual assault case. The incident occurred on November 6, 2001 in San Francisco, CA and the suspect was arrested on September 26, 2011 in San Jose, CA. The victim in this incident was offered a ride from the Mission District to her home. The three suspects then drove with the victim to Golden Gate Park and parked their car in an isolated dark area of the park were they sexually assaulted and robbed her. The victim was then ordered out of the suspect vehicle and had to flag down a passing motorist for assistance.
Due to the diligent work of the Sex Crimes Unit and Violence Reduction Team, in addition to the advent in today’s technology, the San Francisco Police Department was able to identify the suspect as Vinh Q. Chung, Vietnamese, Male, 10/26/1981. Chung was taken into custody at his home by members of the San Francisco Police Department’s Violent Reduction Team. He is currently being held at the County Jail in lieu of 5 million dollars bail.”
I think this link has the new stuff in it, since there are references in there to Apple’s astonishing (to the writer, anyway) lack of counterfeit-preparedness back in 2008, and that’s been in the news the past couple of days.
I don’t know how exciting this will be for you but remember when that Olympic torch came to town back in 2008? This bit and others similar touch on that:
“China is \”gravely concerned\” about security for the April 9 San Francisco Torch Relay participants and their charter plane, said MFA Director General Zheng Zeguang, during a March 26 meeting with the Charge. China expects \”anti-China forces\” to step up their efforts to sabotage the event and asked for USG help in ensuring a \”smooth\” relay.”
And oh yeah, Vietnam was pissed about this kind-of-whacko lady who tried to set part of our downtown Marriott on fire leading to a back and forth that reads just the way you’d expect it to. (The Vietnamese really, really wanted the terrorism charges to stick. They didn’t. But she got a five-year sentence for arson so that’s not too bad.
Anyway, I’m done, my five minutes worth of kicking around the browser are over. The problem is that you can’t search the text.
But you, you’re so clever, I’m sure you can look into this and figure out all sorts of interesting stuff what occurred in the 415…
From @FredSharples comes this news: Panic Co-Founder Cabel M. Sasser had his Apple iPhone 4 ripped out of his hands while waiting for a table at a San Francisco restaurant two weeks ago.
“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.”
