Saturday, October 4, 2025
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Thursday Morning Shooting Leave One Dead, One Wounded in San Pedro

SAN PEDRO- A man was killed and one other person was injured after they were shot in San Pedro on August 4.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting on the 300 block of West 1st St at around 2:49 a.m.. According to LAPD Media Relations Officer Rosario Cervantes, there were two victims. One was deceased at the scene, while the other survived and in stable condition. The first victim was found at the original shooting scene, where paramedics declared him dead on arrival.

The second victim fled the scene and crashed his bullet-riddled car into multiple parked cars on 1st St just west of Pacific Avenue before abandoning it, where a passing LA Port Police patrol car came across the wreck. He was found by officers on Pacific Avenue and Santa Cruz Street, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to the hospital in stable condition.

The shooter has not been apprehended, Cervantes said. No suspect description was made available. A cause for the shooting is currently unknown.

Barragán Talks Investment Bill at YWCA

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On Aug. 4, Rep. Nannette Diaz Barragán visited the Young Women’s Christian Association of the Harbor Area to discuss a bill that will provide about $2 million to the organization.

Barragán voted on House Resolution 4502 on July 29. The resolution is a package of seven government funding bills that would appropriate investments into health, housing, education, veterans and infrastructure. The legislation would also invest $6.5 million in local community projects in the 44th District, such as the YWCA, at the request of Barragán. The overall budget for the district lies at around $32 million with $7.5 million for the community and $25 million for transportation.

“These are all important projects that will meet varied needs of my constituents,” said Barragán about the investment package. “They will improve access to healthcare for underserved communities, advance early childhood education, fund services for homeless and housing insecure people, create green spaces in public housing, and more.”

To choose these projects, in March of 2021 Barragán’s office put out a call for proposals for local community organizations that were in need of funding. The YWCA was one of the organizations chosen out of the estimated one hundred applications.

This funding would allow the YWCA to expand their services by increasing their capacity for childcare, developing workforce development programs and providing health services.

Moreover, it would aid a planned project to demolish a segment of the building and construct a new permanent supportive housing site for houseless women and children in the Los Angeles Harbor area of San Pedro, providing them with direct access to the services provided. This project is estimated to cost $15 to $16 million in total. There are also plans to purchase an empty lot across the street that will further expand services provided, which brings the cost up to about $27 million.

While visiting the YWCA, Barragán engaged in a conversation with three women who utilize some of YWCA’s services. The women discussed their journey to receiving services from the YWCA, mentioning that they were initially not aware of the varied services the YWCA provided. After they shared her stories with her, Barragán pointedly remarked that they are “examples of those who can make use of the new housing facilities.”

The organization receives funding from local denizens, local clubs, and fundraisers. One such fundraiser is a “royal afternoon tea,” which was provided for the congresswoman and those in attendance.

Barragán also discussed the increasing cost of housing.

“Housing policies are ridiculous,” Barragán said. “[There is] a housing problem in the whole United States, but it is worse here in California.”

Leaders from the YWCA also discussed the importance of a “permanent solution” that the organization strives for, in contrast to a temporary solution that provides services for a limited time frame, which only adds more stress for those on the receiving end.

For the additional costs of the YWCA’s intended developments, it is proposed that the organization will be supported through tax credits, along with county and state funding. In regards to county and state funding, Executive Administrator Sonia Bailey shared that Supervisor Janice Hahn has been supportive of the organization, and the YWCA has already reached out to Sen. Diane Feinstein and Sen. Alex Padilla for assistance.

“[We already] approved a digital workplace [to do things] such as teaching how to make a Zoom call or Google skills,” Bailey said.

For now, Barragán stated that its simply a “waiting game” for future developments on the package. The bill has passed through the House of Representatives and was received in the Senate on Aug 3. It must be voted on by the Oct 1 deadline for the fiscal year.

It also remains uncertain how much support will be received from Republican colleagues in the Senate, leaving the floor open for possible reconciliation if the bill is sent back from the Senate.

“Some people see it as wasted money…[but] it’s helping a great cause [and that those in Washington] have never understood what it is like to lose a job.” she said.

 

Smart Policing vs. Dumb Ordinances

Buscaino wins the anti-camping ordinance, but it’s still not a solution

By a 13-2 vote on July 28, the Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance that promises to prevent sidewalk camping in many areas. Councilman Mike Bonin and Councilwoman Nithya Raman were the only two who voted against the measure. Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the ordinance the next day.

I do not know a single Los Angeles Police Department officer, nor anyone else in law enforcement, with the exception of 15th Council District representative Buscaino (a LAPD reserve officer), who relishes the job of policing the homeless. In fact, if you speak with any of the LAPD leadership, they, without exception, understand that they could provide more resources to other crimes if they weren’t playing social worker to the city’s growing unsheltered population. They all understand that we cannot “arrest our way out of the homeless crisis.”

However, the press release from Buscaino’s office reads:

This week Council returned from summer recess where they continued to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. ‘This week’s action to limit camping in sensitive areas was a good step in the right direction, but I still don’t think this ordinance is enough. We must still pass a law that says you cannot camp on the sidewalk if you have been offered housing,’ said Councilmember Buscaino.

This narrative of his was broadcast citywide a few weeks ago when he showed up at the Venice Boardwalk to announce his candidacy to become the next mayor of Los Angeles while pointing out the “encampment issue” in Councilman Mike Bonin’s district. This campaign stunt was only made more poignant when the encampment along Beacon Street in Buscaino’s own district, which has languished for years, was suddenly mostly cleaned up. As if by magic the very day that he kicks off his campaign the streets surrounding the U.S. Post Office in San Pedro were clear and Joe is being interviewed by Fox News walking down the sidewalk complaining about the rest of the city.

The problem with “outlawing” encampments is this — on any given night in LA County, there are some 66,436 homeless people on our street. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Authority the shelter capacity on any given night was 24,616 beds. There still aren’t even half enough beds for all these people, even if they wanted them. The other underlying problem is that in the gold rush to build more housing the city has started a gentrification push for upscale units renting for more than $2,000 each in the more affordable areas of the city without the mandated 15% low income units.

In the era of escalating real estate prices, which LA County Assessor Jeffery Prang noted in his recent report, property prices on average have risen over 21% in the year of the pandemic. Now along comes Joe with his anti-camping ordinance that will force the unhoused to accept shelter that does not exist or to be cited with a ticket for which they probably can’t pay. The consequence is that the next time they are stopped for “illegal” camping, they will be hit with an outstanding bench warrant, then taken to jail. This is not what we want our police force to do.

Well, I suppose Joe deserves a pat on the back or “atta boy” Joe for getting our unsheltered neighbors into a bed for a few days. It will just come at the cost of their possessions, including at times their ID’s, social security cards and other critical documents. This, while being released into the general population to start all over again.

This rather Sisyphean exercise which these desperately poor souls will be forced into by our dear councilman prefaces now they will be given multiple opportunities to accept shelter and assistance before this ordinance is enforced on them. Many would not call this compassionate. Instead, it sounds a lot like what is coming out of the Los Angeles GOP in their campaign to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall.

Just the other day, the LA Republican Party released a statement that read in part:

California has a worsening homeless crisis with no end in sight. California’s elected officials continue to put band-aids on the problem, while incentivizing homeless people from other states to come here and take advantage of the sunny weather and government handouts, with no accountability for the health crisis homeless encampments have created. Moreover, our citizens do not feel safe being out in their own neighborhoods, or at local stores because of fear of attack by some of these unstable homeless people. As of 2021, about 568,000 people in the United States are experiencing homelessness, with 151,000 in California, 66,436 in Los Angeles County, and 41,290 in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Authority homelessness count. Los Angeles has the most unsheltered homeless people out of any major US city. We are looking more like a third world country rather than a community of which we can be proud.

So as you can see, they, like Buscaino, has a handle (and some misconceptions) on who the homeless actually are (70% of all our unsheltered neighbors come from the areas in which they are now homeless). And the LA GOP, like our councilman, doesn’t really offer up any solutions. Not more public housing, not a substantial increase in low income housing, not an end to evictions, but yes, this is beginning to look like a third world country. But this is more because of four decades of neo-conservative austerity spending, tax breaks for the wealthy and a failure to invest in domestic job growth than the failure of local and state governments to invest in affordable housing. We’ve exported our middle class jobs and now we are paying for it, thank you, President Ronald Reagan.

Air Pollution Monitoring Shutdown Called “Obscene”

The secretive, unilateral decision to shut down the Source Dominated Station on Terminal Island was called “embarrassing” and “obscene” by activists in an online meeting with Port of LA Director of Environmental Management Chris Cannon on August 2.

The situation was discovered by Andrea Hricko, a retired USC professor of environmental health, whose subsequent public records act requests have yielded no evidence of any scientifically-based decision-making, but only budgetary concerns, apparently driven under instructions from Deputy Executive Director Michael Dibernardo.

Shutting down the station saved $77,600 according to the records, which Joe Lyou, President of the Coalition for Clean Air, called “less than a rounding error” in POLA’s annual budget. Indeed, the decision was made almost simultaneously with an April 21 staff request for an additional $6,706,441 “to cover anticipated budgetary shortfalls within the Salaries and Benefits category” along with other expenses—a figure 86 times as large as the “savings” from shutting down the monitoring site..

After 80 minutes of beating around the bush, the truth came out, as a result of relentless questioning by Hricko. “Shut down one at least one of the monitors to save money. That’s what Mike [Dibernardo] told you?” she ultimately asked. “Yes,” Cannon admitted. “Thank you for being honest,” Hricko replied.

In the end, Cannon agreed that the station monitoring should be resumed, at least temporarily, while the situation was reviewed, with a public workshop in the next two weeks, and he promised to propose this to the Board on August 6. But it wasn’t clear why Board permission was needed, since staff shut it down without asking anyone in the first place.

More troubling are three other points. First, Hricko noted, “In 2006 there were months and months and months of meetings with PCAC, ARB, AQMD and the public about where to site the monitors and the source dominated monitor was sited for very specific reasons,” which have never been publicly questioned since. “So where does Mike get the unilateral authority at the port to ask you to shut down one or more of the monitors?” she asked.

“I don’t know that there is an authority question,” Cannon replied. “I think it’s just a matter of you [making] a decision.” Which is exactly the problem Hricko was pointing to.

Second, the shut-down was justified because of supposed “redundancy,” based on verbal communication from Joel Torcolini of Leidos, which runs the monitoring program for the Port. Hricko looked at the most recent period with overlapping data, and found little support for that. “ There are like 11 days of elevations of black carbon at the Source Dominated Site and I think none in San Pedro or in Wilmington,” she said. “They don’t compare at all.”

Torcolini was present in the meeting, and explained his reasoning in terms long-term trends, which showed the highest levels of elemental carbon at the Source Dominated Site from 2005 though 2015, but the two “community stations actually show higher concentrations than the Source Dominated Station over the past five years,” he said as he displayed the data in a chart.

But Lyou questioned the basic logic of Torcolini’s line of thought. “When you’re doing this type of analyses is to be careful about extrapolating your findings in the future. What you’re doing by shutting off that monitor is saying the way that we see it right now is way it’s always going to be,” he said. But since the past shows over time, it’s more likely the future will have them as well, he argued. “So, I’m really curious to see what the next 10 years of data look like, but if you’re not going to collect that we’re not going to know,” he concluded.

A third problem is ambiguous: either the port is still not coming clean, or they’re not thinking very clearly. Canon repeatedly said that the shut-down decision was temporary. “A decision was made, temporarily, to shut it down, see if you miss it,” he said at one point. But the budget reflected a permanent shut-down, there was no written record of anything being temporary, and there is no conceivable way that the lack of data in the future could provide more information to “see if you miss it.” So it’s a nonsensical argument with no evidence to support it.

These are at least three main problems that port staff must deal with in the coming weeks. But there are sure to be others as well.

Evicted: Mobile home park residents are left wondering if they will be next

Some attend protests, hoping that someone will listen; others stay home, scared that the local politicians will retaliate for speaking up against them; a few have given up in the fight.

Less than two months have passed since a judge ordered the indefinite closure of Park Granada Trailer Lodge Mobile, or Park Granada located at the corner of Main and Carson Street.

A three-minute drive and you will find yourself across Carson Civic Center and Park Avalon, a mobile home park in danger of closure. In the opposite direction in Alondra Blvd., rests Rancho Dominguez Mobile Estates, slated to shut down in two-and-a-half years.

In recent years the City of Carson has become a new hit for big shot developers. A newer Los Angeles County city off the 405 Freeway, the City Planning Commission has hoped to shift Carson from a manufacturing city with industrial and factory structures to a modern hip location to gather. But mobile home parks are seeing the consequences.

During a time where the coronavirus pandemic has claimed 24,685 lives in Los Angeles County, landlords continue to evict tenants and homeowners in land leases. Despite a federal ban to stop the displacements, Carson mobile home parks are in jeopardy. With three parks set to close and others on the verge, residents are experiencing emotional turmoil.

And residents of other mobile home parks are left wondering when they will be next.

Leonor Gonzalez shows the construction taking place in the Park Avalon. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda.

Leonor Gonzalez, 48, has lived in Park Avalon for 13 years. When she is not handling resident concerns as their HOA secretary or organizing the next rally, she is receiving countless treatments for chronic pain.

Gonzalez cannot afford to move if the park closure plan finalizes. She has been on medical leave for six years. Her husband is the sole provider, and with one daughter in college and another starting this coming fall, money is scarce.

She said the hardest thing would be having to start all over again.

“This is my home. I was hoping to be there when I retire and now for someone to just come along and say, ‘this is what I am going to give you,’ it’s not fair to me. It’s not fair to my family,” she said.

Leanor Gonzalez takes a quick scan around her home of 14 years that she is in danger of losing. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Despite the uncertainty and stress, Gonzalez shows no signs of slowing down. After all, she is a cancer survivor. Giving up is not an option.

While some park residents have time to brainstorm a plan before moving, the residents living at Park Granada, the 26 unit mobile home park, did not have such luxury.

Peter Starflinger, owner of Park Granada, has filed bankruptcy several times. Residents say they were not surprised by his plans. But what happened next caused a panic.

The judge gave them until July 28 to leave their homes. No warning, just a two month notice.

Sergio Noyoa takes a short break before heading back inside to grab more items. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Sergio Noyoa, 65, cleans what is left of his mother-in-law’s home. These days, she spends her time in a hospital bed due to health issues. The plan is for her to move in with him and his wife after she gets better.

Sergio Noyoa and friend Enrique Garcia struggle to lift what is left of his mother-in-law’s belongings at her home in Park Granada in Carson. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Since the notice of eviction, Noyoa and his friend Enrique Garcia have spent weekend mornings moving heavy boxes, furniture and lumber. What Noyoa does not keep is driven the following day to Rosarito, a small Mexican beach town along the border to give to locals.

Noyoa says he blames the City of Carson for what is happening.

“The city says it is helping, but it’s just a fantasy, a fairytale,” he said in Spanish. “I pity all those politicians that side with injustice.”

Old family portrait and other items are scattered across an almost empty room. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Some Park Granada residents are refusing to vacate their homes. But others like Tina Delgadillo are ready to move on with their lives.

Tina Delgadillo reads off a document on the closure of Park Granada. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Delgadillo has lived in her quaint mobile home for 15 years. In those 15 years, she married, battled cancer and started a small candle business. She has lived comfortably, without the fear of figuring out how she will have to pay rent. But that comfort was taken.

She is moving to a smaller place not far from Park Granada. But her new rent is a 517% increase from what she is paying at the park. Delgadillo has gone from being a homeowner to a renter.

Heidi Marston, executive director of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA claims that Los Angeles County is 500,000 short of needed affordable housing.

Carson mobile homes range from $300 to $500 in monthly land lease. The minimum rent in surrounding areas is approximately $1,400. For Delgadillo and other residents this just isn’t affordable.

Park Granada residents say they have experienced harassment from owner Peter Starflinger. Many residents have gotten in verbal altercations with Starflinger.

Sergio Noyoa and Enrique Garcia
Sergio Noyoa and Enrique Garcia prepare for another round of packaging and carrying heavy lumber and boxes. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

Noyoa said Starflinger forced him to remove a ramp he built for his handicapped family member.

Delgadillo says Starflinger targeting the most vulnerable, including the elderly and disabled, has been a common thing for years.

One Park Granada resident said she was terrified of speaking up because she was afraid that the City of Carson and Starflinger would come after her with vengeance.

Tina Delgadillo cleans out the remaining clothes from her closet. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

“He has a way to get even,” Delgadillo said. “He has the money to back it up.”

This is a recurring theme within many seniors and non-English speaking residents, including in Park Avalon.

“A lot of the Hispanic residents are scared,” said Leonor Gonzalez. “They don’t know how to defend themselves.”

Maria Orozco
Maria Orozco and other residents of Rancho Dominguez Mobile Estates protesting in front of Carson Civic Center on July 15, 2021. Photo by Fabiola Esqueda

For Maria Orozco, uncertainty is not a huge worry anymore. Her home in Rancho Dominguez Mobile Estates will be closing in two-and-a-half years, and after an exhausting fight, residents won a better deal than what the owner initially had hoped to get. Yet, residents like Orozco had long-term plans of retirement and stability.

Residents living at the 81 unit park expressed that submitting a closure application during a pandemic was inhuman. Many residents said they experienced depression and intense anxiety.

Orozco plans to move to Lancaster with her daughter. She was diagnosed with throat cancer and wants to focus on her health. Something she has not been able to do with the pressure of potentially losing her home.

Back in Park Avalon, Gonzalez is back to rallying the 133 unit park. Her neighbors respect and admire her.

“We have to join with other parks because whatever happens with these parks are going to affect all the other parks,” said Gonzalez.

Trump’s Insurrection

“Hang Mike Pence!”

That was the signature, self-defeating cry of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Why the cry? Because Pence would not assume dictatorial power and refuse to count electoral votes that Joe Biden won in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia, which would allow the House of Representatives to declare Donald Trump president on a one-state-one-vote basis. It was self-defeating because if Pence were hung, no one else would do it in his place. Why signature? Because it embodied the violence, illogic, incoherence and profound disconnect from reality that defined that attack.

Yet it would be a profound mistake to characterize the insurrection — and Trump’s efforts that motivated it — as a failure. It may well have been a success, after all: with an effective date of January 2024.

While there’s much we still don’t know, five things are clear: 1) Trump attempted to stay in power, regardless of what the voters wanted. 2) Republican politicians were divided on whether to support him and how far to go. 3) Republican politicians publicly diminished their support immediately after the insurrection — as did Republican voters. 4) But support for Trump and even the insurrection itself has been resolidified since. 5) A profound threat to our democracy remains.

Points 2, 3 and 4 are straightforward, confirmed by congressional votes, public statements and polling data. For example, Republican leaders vocally supported a bipartisan commission to investigate insurrection right after it happened, but they’ve since blocked it and are now attacking Democrats for investigating anyway — and for including two non-Trump Republicans in the investigation committee. As for GOP voters, a CBS/YouGov poll found that 39% of Republicans strongly disapprove of the insurrection, down from 51% in January. More ominously 55% would describe it as “defending freedom” and 51% as “patriotism,” compared to just 31% and 29% respectively in January. Meanwhile, a Daily Kos/Civiqs poll found that 80% of Republicans believe the election was stolen from Trump — despite the lack of any supporting evidence.

However, the first and last points are more complicated and require further clarification.

Trump’s Attempt To Cling To Power — By Hook Or By Crook

Trump was impeached for his earliest known attempt to cling to power, when he tried to coerce the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to announce an investigation of Hunter Biden, as a way to damage Joe Biden’s reputation and make his own corruption seem less exceptional. Even though there’s an actual federal law against that, using federal power to interfere with an election, only one Republican senator — Mitt Romney — voted to impeach.

Trump’s most sweeping and prolonged effort to cling to power came in the form of his repeated, years-long attacks on voting rights — promoting the myth of voter fraud, making wild claims, adding new self-serving twists, and trying to block vote-by-mail efforts undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the period from election night, Nov. 3, through the insurrection on Jan. 6 was the most intensive and complex – is still largely hidden, as indicated by recently revealed fragments of information. For example, during this time period it was known that Trump replaced top officials at the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice — highly unusual moves that strongly suggested he was trying to use those departments to maintain his hold on power. But now we know more.

Perhaps most chillingly, the book, I Alone Can Fix It, by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker recounts that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told aides he feared Trump would call on the government to stage a coup after his election defeat.

“He saw parallels between Trump’s rhetoric about election fraud and Adolf Hitler’s insistence to his followers at the Nuremberg rallies that he was both a victim and their savior,” they write. “This is a Reichstag moment,” he told his aides. “The gospel of the Führer.”

What’s more, Milley and other Joint Chiefs generals also discussed resigning if they were ordered to participate in a coup, as the book also reports. “They may try, but they’re not going to fucking succeed,” Milley said, according to the book. “You can’t do this without the military. You can’t do this without the CIA and the FBI. We’re the guys with the guns.”

But there are other ways. On July 30, a new telling detail came to light about Trump’s attempt to enlist the Department of Justice on his behalf, by declaring — without evidence — that the election was corrupt. On Dec. 27, 2020 Trump made this request in a phone call to Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, pushing voter fraud claims that the department had already disproved. Donoghue responded that they had no power to change the election outcome, but that wasn’t Trump’s aim, according to his notes. “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me” and to congressional allies, Mr. Donoghue wrote.

This was the same playbook Trump had tried with Ukraine: Coerce others into announcing something was rotten — as he had nothing to do with it — and then he and his minions would bamboozle the world into falling in line. It was just a shade more subtle than his follow-up attempt to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State.

“I just want you to find 11,780 votes,” as he said in a Jan. 2 call. So his pattern of coercive criminal conduct is quite clear.

A Flat-Out Coup

In fact, it was a flat-out coup attempt, according to former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal.

“This was an attempted coup, an attempt to steal an election, and weaponizing the justice department in the process,” Katyal said on MSNBC that afternoon. “That’s both illegal and pretty much the most un-American thing you can come up with in your wild imagination.”

Former Republican Rep. David Jolly went into more detail.

“This further establishes the sequence of the plans leading up to Jan. 6,” Jolly said. “The three sequential elements of Donald Trump’s culpability for the insurrection was first laying the predicate — the big lie. Second, issuing the invitation, telling people to come to Washington on Jan. 6, a date that no one would have otherwise known to come, and then giving the charge when he gave that speech on that day.

“What we learn from the notes was just preceding the events of Jan. 6 he wanted his Department of Justice to announce that the election indeed was corrupt. Now, the question is was Donald Trump acting alone in organizing the events that ultimately were going to lead to Jan. 6, and we know that cannot be the case. Ultimately there was a political network.”

In short, there was a conspiracy to overthrow the election, which means a conspiracy to overthrow the government.

On the morning of Jan. 6, Mike Pence was Trump’s last best hope. Trump had been convinced that Pence, presiding over Congress in the counting of the electoral votes, had the unilateral power to reject the electoral votes of all the states Trump claimed to have won. He had one crackpot lawyer making the argument to him — in addition to Rudy Giuliani, of course. But Pence, while loyal to a fault, was not delusional.

In a three-page statement issued before proceedings began on Jan. 6, Pence went through some of the relevant history before concluding, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” Only the people’s representatives in Congress could do that, as specified in the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

Trump, of course, cared nothing for history.

“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election,” he lied to his supporters at the pre-insurrection rally. “All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people.”

This was Trump’s ultimate plan. But Pence wouldn’t go along.

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country,” Trump tweeted.

So the only thing left was violent intimidation. It might be a long shot, but Trump had nothing to lose — as shown by his subsequent acquittal in the Senate for second impeachment. He simply watched things unfold as his minions rampaged through Congress.

The details remain to be found, but the broad sweep is clear, as described by Officer Harry Dunn in the first House hearing on the insurrection.

“There was an attack carried out on Jan. 6 and a hit-man sent them,’ Dunn said. “I want you to get to the bottom of that.”

The Ongoing Insurrection

That would be enough, if the insurrection were over. But it’s not. The armed expression on a single day may be behind us, but the broader effort to derail American democracy has only gotten stronger in months since then. The guardrails of democracy that held this last time have already been severely eroded in the past six months — 30 voter suppression laws have been passed in 18 states as of July 22, non-partisan election administration has been eroded in multiple ways, with Republican legislatures taking power away from local election officials, and Republican leaders have not only done everything possible to prevent a 9/11-style investigation into Trump’s insurrection, they’ve begun spreading a counter-narrative, trying to blame Nancy Pelosi for the violence that day, while recasting the insurrectionists as patriots and martyrs.

But above all of that, two things stand out. First, the power of Trump loyalists has only increased, as illustrated by the ouster of Lyn Cheney from her GOP House leadership position. Trump is a narcissist, who requires much more than ordinary loyalty — one must accept and act on his inflated, self-declared omniscience, or else be cast aside. No one could deter him from trying to overthrow the election, regardless of the facts, for a reason spelled out clearly by Ian Hughes in his book, Disordered Minds— How Dangerous Personalities Are Destroying Democracy:

Generally, narcissists do not hold onto any particular belief or consistent position, except one – the belief that they are superior to others. They can therefore constantly shift their stated position and adhere to this altered position as doggedly as before. This combination of rigid certainty (they are superior and therefore must be right) and blatant inconsistency (shifting their position moment to moment) makes it extremely difficult for others to counteract their arguments.

Trump hasn’t changed because he can’t. And what he requires of loyalists is an equally detached relationship to the truth. Pence would not go that far, but Trump has no need of figures like him now. And thus they’re losing power as Trump loyalists advance.

The second thing that stands out is the broader sweep of popular animus — from railing against COVID-19 public health measures to outbursts against “critical race theory” by people who have no idea what it is, with Trump’s grievance about the so-called “stolen election” right in the center of it. Remember that 80% of Republicans now buy into that lie more than did shortly after the insurrection. At that time, an AEI poll found that 39% of Republicans said that taking “violent actions” is an appropriate remedy when elected leaders refuse to protect the country — compared to just 17% of

Democrats. One reason was spelled out in a follow-up op-ed:
In our poll, support for political violence is much higher among those who believe white people experience discrimination comparable to Black people and other minority groups. Moreover, people may be more prone to engaging in extra-constitutional actions if they believe democratic processes are corrupt or stacked against them and that their political opponents present an existential threat.

The illusion that the insurrection is behind us could be even more dangerous than the illusion that the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us as well.

In short, all the core themes of Trump’s political rantings key into increased support for political violence. And that’s very dangerous, as Ian Hughes explained when interviewed for Salon.

“Toxic leaders are never able to rise to power alone,” he said. “But toxic leaders enabled by an authoritarian party and supported by a critical mass of followers who see democracy as expendable are often impossible to stop.”

 

San Pedro Pet Clinic Under Heavy Criticism

Customers are accusing the Peninsula Pet Clinic in San Pedro of overcharging, and treating customers and animals poorly. The clinic is owned by Dr. Anyes Van Volkenburgh, who in December 2020, led a protest against lockdown orders in San Pedro.

Although San Pedro resident Mitzi Morin has never patronized Pet Peninsula Clinic, she was compelled to get involved with the clinic after seeing a July 21 posting on Facebook by Lana Haley, who couldn’t pay $243 to the clinic to reclaim a cat. Haley said she had already paid $500, but the staff demanded an additional $243. Morin volunteered to pay it and bring the cat to the owner.

When Morin entered the clinic, she said that both Van Volkenburgh and her receptionist started yelling at her.

“They were both screaming, honest-to-God, like The Exorcist,” Morin said. “I’m a 45-year retired psychiatric nurse. I’ve seen it all, inpatient, outpatient. I was rattled.”

Morin said that Van Volkenburgh told her the clinic could not accept her payment because she did not own the cat. But the cat’s owner could not bring in the payment because Van Volkenburgh had already banned her from the premises. Meanwhile, every time Morin spoke, Van Volkenburgh screamed that she was adding an additional $100 to the bill, until the total came to $643.

At this point, both Morin and Van Volkenburgh called the Los Angeles Police Department. It took the police 30 minutes to convince Van Volkenburgh to return the bill to the original $243. But Van Volkenburgh demanded cash. Fortunately, Morin had that much on her. She paid Van Volkenburgh, who gave her the cat. Morin said she felt physically sickened and did not get an itemized bill for what the clinic did to the cat, or a diagnostic impression.

The next day, Morin called Peninsula Pet Clinic and requested Van Volkenburgh’s license number. The staff refused. Eventually, Morin got the number from the Veterinary Medical Board; she said she spread it over Facebook.

Efforts were made to contact Van Volkenburgh, but as of the time of production, neither she nor any representative of the clinic responded to requests for an interview. However, Van Volkenburgh did post a message in response to negative Yelp reviews on the clinic’s website, but the date she posted it is unclear:

We make the world a better place by being here every day and helping animals. That’s our duty and our purpose. We are very skilled and very good at what we do.

What do you hope to accomplish by writing nasty Yelp reviews? What is your purpose?

Yes, there is definitely a pandemic going on out there. A pandemic of STUPID. And no mask is going to fix it.

No, I do not wear a mask to see my patients. I believe in freedom. The USA is all about Freedom.

She went on to write that the clinic has seen an increase in business since the pandemic began. She wrote that the clinic serves more than 1,000 animals each month, and has 300 new clients each month.

She went on to explain her reasoning for her high prices.

“Instead of yelping about me, why don’t you look at your own integrity and ethics and consider whether you deserve to own a pet,” Van Volkenburgh wrote. “Because you probably don’t.”

“Would you want cheap care for your mother?” she asked, rhetorically. “A discount doctor for your child? I hope not. Then why would you want that for your pet?”

The clinic has a two-star rating on Yelp. Not all of the reviews are negative, such as Patti S., from San Francisco, California. She said that she does not understand the negative reviews, and that she took her pet to the clinic on June 26, 2021, when other veterinarians were not available.

“I found the staff to be extremely nice, and Dr. V was very impressive too,” Patti said. “I felt they were very compassionate, AND professional.”

Patti said that her pet stayed in the clinic for a few days and fully recovered. She also said her pet seemed to be comfortable with Van Volkenburgh.

“It seems that most people are complaining about rude staff (which I never encountered) and money gouging,” Patti said. “I feel you get what you pay for. I would definitely recommend them.”

However, other patients left far more negative reviews, such as Jen M., from Kernville, California. She said that when she started taking her dog to another vet, it started doing better, and did not have any of the health issues the clinic said it had.

“They bullshit and misdiagnose so they can charge you for unnecessary x-rays scans and ultrasounds,” Jen said. “I have spoken with some of my other friends and they experienced the same thing. It’s an automatic $500 every time I go in.”

Ryan Gierach, retired editor and publisher of WeHo News in West Hollywood, California, is still in a dispute with Peninsula Pet Clinic regarding charges from December 2020. He took his dog to the clinic in November 2020. It was suffering from congestive heart failure.

“[I] was overwhelmed and only interested in getting him right,” Gierach said. “So, I looked past the anti-vaxxing, and the anti-masker attitudes there.”

After the staff treated his dog, Gierach got it back and was given one-month’s prescription for its medication. Gierach said he was told to return in a month for blood work and radiology to ensure the medication was working. When he did, everything was fine, but the staff did not give him any more prescriptions.

“I called back,” Gierach said. “I got guff from the people behind the desk. I was told that it was my responsibility to get those prescriptions over to them.”

Gierach said he told the staff he did not receive any prescriptions from the Peninsula Pet Clinic. When he got no response, he began sending emails demanding that the clinic fill the prescriptions. Gierach said he soon received a cease-and-desist letter from the clinic’s attorney, claiming he was sending too many emails.

“According to the lawyer, I would not be charged, because the services that I required were not provided,” Gierach said. “I was forced to take my dog [elsewhere] and spend over $700 now for the same tests, plus an emergency room visit, in order to get immediate medications.”

In April 2021, three months later, Gierach said the clinic charged him for the prescription anyway.

“That left me, a fully disabled U.S. vet with only my pension to rely on these days, utterly and completely broke in the middle of the month, without any way to buy food,” Gierach said.

As for Morin, she now is part of a private Facebook group with more than 200 members that is trying to get the clinic out of business. They are staging a protest on Aug. 14. In addition, Morin filed an official complaint with the Veterinary Medical Board, which is investigating the clinic.

“I want to get her unlicensed, because I don’t want her to be just kicked out of town and go somewhere else to do her dirty business,” she said.

COVID-19 Cases Among Healthcare Workers Increase; Public Health Confirms COVID-19 Death in a Child

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LOS ANGELES — As high transmission of COVID-19 continues, cases among healthcare workers are now increasing. After months of reporting fewer than 50 new cases among healthcare workers per week, weekly cases increased to 295 cases for the week ending July 17 and 275 cases for the week ending July 24. Since the pandemic began, 42,296 healthcare workers and first responders have tested positive for COVID-19.

As of mid-June, 68% of surveyed healthcare workers in L.A. County hospitals were fully vaccinated and currently, 85% of skilled nursing facility staff are fully vaccinated.

Given these relatively high rates of vaccination, the county has not seen significant increases in deaths among healthcare workers. To date, 276 healthcare workers have tragically passed away from COVID-19, with almost all deaths occurring between July 2020 and February 2021. Since late-May, two healthcare workers passed away from COVID-19.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health Aug. 4 confirmed 16 new deaths and 3,734 new cases of COVID-19. Sadly, Public Health has confirmed one of today’s reported COVID-19 deaths is a young person under the age of 12. The child who passed away was hospitalized with COVID-19 and had underlying conditions.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,311,656 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,720 deaths. Out of the nearly 25,000 total COVID-19 deaths, six children in L.A. County have died of COVID-19 infection: 2 children under 12 years old and 4 children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Of the 16 new deaths reported today, six people that passed away were over the age of 80, three people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, three people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49, one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29, and one youth under the age of 18.

Testing results are available for nearly 7,381,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. Today’s test positivity rate is 6.0%. There are 1,242 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 22% of these people are in the ICU. Daily hospitalizations continue to increase in L.A. County.

Details: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

San Pedro Strong -Local Arts Foundation Release a Love Song Celebrating Port Town

At the height of the pandemic, Grand Vision Foundation released to the public a song and accompanying music video entitled San Pedro Strong, in homage to L.A.’s port town.

Amidst the town’s beauty despite the challenges wrought by the pandemic, the foundation is bringing together 14 vocalists, both amateur and professional, from diverse age groups to perform this song at the First Thursday art walk.

The song premiered at a combined Zoom event with the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and Grand Vision Foundation March 5, 2021 and has received over 2,500 views on YouTube.

“This is a song by San Pedro, for San Pedro,” says Liz Schindler Johnson, Executive Director of Grand Vision Foundation. “When the pandemic struck, Schindler Johnson wanted to do something musical to uplift the community’s spirit. “It is a unique artistic effort that comes from the heart.”

She was inspired by an earlier version of this song, written by local singer songwriter Ken Creighton. She invited Creighton to collaborate with Grand Vision to help create a new version.

“The original version of San Pedro Strong was written as a love song to my wife and to our life here,” says Ken Creighton. “The new version is more of a public testament to how we’ve inspired each other to weather this last year.”

Then, with the help of professional vocalist Windy Barnes Farrell on arrangement, and the talented voices of local singers, a new song for San Pedro came to life. “I am proud to be a part of the “San Pedro Strong” project, commented Farrell. “The creative process with the singers and the song itself really show how our community cares for each other and the place where we live.”

Participating singers at First Thursday’s live performance (who also appeared on the music video) include: Windy Barnes Farrell, Chad Bishop, Dustin Case, Ken Creighton, Patti Orbeck, Sue Schmidt, Susan Tucker, and Mae Weston, and two new singers Jamie Mahoney and Lisa Nygren.

Grand Vision Foundation’s “San Pedro Strong” Live Performance
Time: 6:45 p.m. Aug. 5
Cost: Free
Details: 310-833-4813; taran@grandvision.org
Location: Corner plaza at 6th St. and Mesa St., San Pedro

COVID-19 Update from The Department of Public Health

Los Angeles County is experiencing a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. In just the past 4 weeks, cases have increased twenty-fold, from just 124 cases on June 21 to an average of more than 3,000 cases last week.

The test positivity rate has also skyrocketed, from 0.7% a little more than a month ago to 6.2% this week. Sadly, the number of people hospitalized from COVID-19 has also increased, reaching more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 this past weekend. This is a nearly four-fold increase in one month, as there were only 280 people hospitalized with COVID-19 illness on July 2nd.

This increase is due to the more infectious Delta variant and the intermingling of unmasked individuals where vaccination status is unknown. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, you can:

Get vaccinated. It is the best way to protect against COVID-19.

Wear a mask that fits. Your mask is one of the most powerful tools you have to protect yourself and others.

Avoid crowded places. Being in crowds, especially indoors, puts you at a higher risk.

Wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer often – especially after being in public spaces where surfaces are touched by many people. Avoid eating and touching your face with unwashed hands.

Stay home when sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, talk to a doctor and get a test, even if you are fully vaccinated. You should stay home and away from others until you get the result of your COVID-19 test or until your provider tells you that you don’t have COVID-19.

Delta Variant in Los Angeles County

Public Health is tracking the rise of the Delta variant.

Los Angeles County is experiencing a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. In just the past 4 weeks, cases have increased twenty-fold, from just 124 cases on June 21 to an average of more than 3,000 cases last week.

The test positivity rate has also skyrocketed, from 0.7% a little more than a month ago to 6.2% this week. Sadly, the number of people hospitalized from COVID-19 has also increased, reaching more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 this past weekend. This is a nearly four-fold increase in one month, as there were only 280 people hospitalized with COVID-19 illness on July 2nd.

This increase is due to the more infectious Delta variant and the intermingling of unmasked individuals where vaccination status is unknown. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, you can:

Get vaccinated. It is the best way to protect against COVID-19.

Wear a mask that fits. Your mask is one of the most powerful tools you have to protect yourself and others.

Avoid crowded places. Being in crowds, especially indoors, puts you at a higher risk.

Wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer often – especially after being in public spaces where surfaces are touched by many people. Avoid eating and touching your face with unwashed hands.

Stay home when sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, talk to a doctor and get a test, even if you are fully vaccinated. You should stay home and away from others until you get the result of your COVID-19 test or until your provider tells you that you don’t have COVID-19.

Delta Variant in Los Angeles County

Public Health is tracking the rise of the Delta variant. Some early studies of the Delta variant suggest that its faster replication, higher viral load, and greater affinity for lower respiratory tract cells compared with earlier COVID strains make it more efficient at spreading from person to person.

The Delta variant is currently the dominant strain in Los Angeles County, representing 96% of the specimens collected for sequencing between July 18 and 24. This is consistent with the rise of Delta nationwide, as just two weeks ago, the CDC estimated that Delta strains accounted for 83% of COVID-19 cases.

While emerging data shows that fully vaccinated people are well protected from severe infections with Delta variants, people with only one vaccine are not as well-protected, and there is increased evidence that a small number of fully vaccinated individuals can become infected and are able to infect others. More than 90% of those recently hospitalized with COVID were unvaccinated, and 99% of those who have tragically died from COVID since January were unvaccinated.

Details: COVID-19 Variants Frequently Asked Questions

The Delta variant is currently the dominant strain in Los Angeles County, representing 96% of the specimens collected for sequencing between July 18 and 24. This is consistent with the rise of Delta nationwide, as just two weeks ago, the CDC estimated that Delta strains accounted for 83% of COVID-19 cases.

While emerging data shows that fully vaccinated people are well protected from severe infections with Delta variants, people with only one vaccine are not as well-protected, and there is increased evidence that a small number of fully vaccinated individuals can become infected and are able to infect others. More than 90% of those recently hospitalized with COVID were unvaccinated, and 99% of those who have tragically died from COVID since January were unvaccinated.

Details: COVID-19 Variants Frequently Asked Questions