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Pic by Nick, Voice of OC
“The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc… when I’m talking about immigration…I’m talking about that and more in the form of immigration, the wall, undocumented immigrants being — having to be brought out of the country. And we will do that. It has never been a worse situation than we have right now.”
– President-elect Donald Trump
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”
– Newton’s Third Law of Thermodynamics
I hadn’t been to a Santa Ana City Council meeting in quite some time, but last night the wife said “We have to go to this one.” And boy, am I glad I didn’t miss it! As it turned out, it was the last meeting of the 2015-16 Council, before Roman Reyna and Angelia Amezcua are replaced by Police Association stooges José Solorio and Juan Villegas, and perhaps by no coincidence several hot-button issues were up for a vote.
Michele Martinez and Mayor Pulido were both absent, Pulido with no excuse. A lot of shit was talked on the dais about Pulido, and how he always avoids meetings with controversial topics, and how he breaks laws with no regrets or compunctions, pays the fines, and gloats “I still got what I wanted.” Pulido’s absence was unanimously voted “UNEXCUSED” LOL!
Also a lot of shit was talked about the Police Association’s nearly successful coup of the Council – they now claim the allegiance of crooked Pulido, carpetbagging Solorio, and newcomer Villegas. So last night Sarmiento presided, over a pretty unified contingent of Reyna, Amezcua, Benavides and Tinajero. I still think Tinajero is the best.
Not having been down to Santa Ana in a minute, I was amazed and delighted to see dozens and dozens of young, articulate, Latino (and some non-Latino) activists, 90% of whom I’d never seen before, unanimously speaking out for both Sanctuary City status and terminating the city’s contract with ICE. The Council was unanimously on the same page, but constrained to move a little slower than the people would have liked.
A resolution naming Santa Ana a Sanctuary City was passed; the crowd wanted something stronger, an ORDINANCE, and they want it completed BEFORE Trump takes the Presidency Jan 20. An ordinance may not be legally possible by then, but this Council majority is hellbent on making it happen.
Add a red pin in the lower left
On ICE, a halfway measure was passed – the Santa Ana jail is going to reduce its capacity of ICE detainees from 200 to 128, in the process costing the city $663, 743 in federal funds annually. Speaker after speaker pointed out the absurd contradiction of a “Sanctuary City” continuing to have a contract with ICE at all. The goal of this majority is to eventually terminate the contract altogether (and Sal says ICE might do it themselves once they see it being cut down) – that is going to cost the city $2 million a year though, and where will it come from?
I stayed around to hear who Santa Ana’s next OC Water District rep would be, hoping it would be someone who would stand against Poseidon, or someone I could talk into standing against Poseidon. I hoped it would be Tinajero, and worst-case scenario would have been Solorio, except I quickly saw that this majority has nothing but contempt for Solorio. Disappointingly they picked Sarmiento, who was on OCWD a couple years ago and always voted in FAVOR of Poseidon. Well, we’ll have to get on his case about that.
I did NOT stay to hear them talk about moving to real district elections. District elections has turned out to be great in Anaheim for getting folks onto Council who could have never won at large. In Anaheim the lawsuit forcing district elections had to be framed in racial terms – for Latinos to get more representation. I was glad to see Santa Ana not having to go through that nonsense, but embracing district elections for the REAL reasons – making councilmembers more representative of their communities, making it six times less expensive to run, and making it so a candidate could actually knock on every door in their district.
I’m liking where Santa Ana is going lately … but will Michele Martinez side with the populist three (Tinajero, Sarmiento, Benavides) or with the Police Association three (Pulido, Solorio, Villegas) when it comes to matters like the Sanctuary City Ordinance, terminating the ICE contract, and moving to district elections? I had her number somewhere, damn it…
Note: I didn’t intend this as a story but just a quick blog comment. I’ll whip it up into better shape this afternoon.
If you don’t want your comments to become stories, make them lousy. That’s what I do!
This was TERRIFIC move but, not in the place of governance
Crime, homelessness, inadequeta healthcare, traffic and corruption plauge Santana. Yet the council chooses this issue to grandstand.
Time for REAL representation.
Your comment seems to contradict its first four words. Both views it expresses are ok on their own, but together they are confusing. Can you explain how they fit together?
I’m guessing there’s a little snark in the first four words, and “move” is meant cynically as a “political move”, but then I probably overthink when I have too much time on my hands.
Well, let’s see what Lydia has to say.
I bet she’s a hit-and-run.
Probably. By the way, did you notice the email address on Al Bondigas? Some disruptive people just refuse to stay banned.
Reminder: very few people here get banned. Almost no one gets banned for their viewpoint alone. I can think of only five people offhand who are banned — and their shared characteristic is not their political views, but that they have tried to make the blog unusable for the rest of us, usually while trying to come back repeatedly under new identities.
If you were banned, you worked hard to achieve it. Congratulations. Now stay banned.
Hey, he was banned till the election, as I remember. He asked me if he could come back as Al Bondigas.
If he were trying to be sneaky he wouldn’t be using his real e-mail address.
If he starts calling you an asshole again, or repeats the same disproven rightwing myth too many times, we’ll ban him again, k
Why dont you just make Mike Tardiff post under his real name. Mike Tardiff.
Yeah I shoulda made that a condition. But I liked the Al name. Anyway we all know who he is.
OK, I’ll restore him and his comments.
…
Done. Sorry that I wasn’t in the loop, Señor Small Balls.
I dont know why you let that white trash post here at all. Let alone under psudonyms. If he wants to be a trailer trash pos let his identity be known.
Paul, you just re-elected Trump. Stop it before he gets a third term.
trump is my fault? wow I had no idea I was so powerful lol
Oh well, I guess that using a light touch didn’t work.
Derogating people based on class is what is your fault, at least here. You have put me in a position where, when Tardif complains about being called “white trash” and “trailer trash” – as he will probably do primarily on other websites with that petulant whining of his — I will have an unaccustomed problem: this time, he’ll be right. And this is just the sort of thing that alienated Rust Belt voters, too — hence my allusion to Trump.
So just don’t do it here.
Point taken, although Paul is just as white as, and makes probably less money than, Tardif. “White trash” is a FRAME OF MIND.
Vern is right Trash is as Trash does. Its got nothing to do with his income. Take for example the Irvine Troll who’s only friend is Tardiff.
OK, if you’re intent on hanging yourself, let’s go:
If “white trash” is indeed “a frame of mind,” does that mean that it’s OK to use in this blog (as was the case here) as an epithet? Lots of pejorative terms for demographic groups — women, gays, Blacks, Latinos, Jews, Muslims — have been appropriated to the point where one could argue that they have become “a frame of mind.”
Samuel L. Jackson described himself in an interview years ago as exemplifying a term that I won’t print here — although by your logic, there’s no reason I shouldn’t — but if I referred to him by that term here, people would be justifiably outraged. If Tardif came here and said that he identified as “white trash” and wanted to be referred to as such, that might be different — but that wasn’t the “FRAME OF MIND” Paul had in using it here.
By the way, Paul: my daughters have white friends from schools who live in trailers. If you want to come by, meet them, and call them “trailer trash” to their faces, just let me know and I’ll set up a time for you to meet with them and their families.
Ok I apologize for the trailer addendum and just stick with the original frame of mind aspect I was referring to. At any rate, if all he wants to do is spew trash from his mind into the pixels, I think we should follow the medias lead who refer to the alt right as what they are. White Supremists. So in that vein, Mike Tardiff should be made to only post under his real name so we can shed light on who and what he is. Trash.
Re. “Sanctuary cites” The Trump dilemma. He must follow the Constitution, or the courts will enjoin him as they have his predecessor. He cannot use a stick to bend the governments of sanctuary cities to his will, but he can use a carrot. He can ask Congress for legislative grants of funds to cities conditioned upon their compliance with certain federal immigration laws.
Judge Napollitano –
What is wrong with deporting convicted criminals who are here illegally and are likely to commit further crimes against our community?
To quote statesman Gavin Newsom – “Like it or not, it is going to happen. This is the future and it is now”.
Not sure how these works apply to this issue, but I suspect it somehow does.
Fix the FUCKING streetlights.
Lame show!
The spring uprising in Santa Ana ended in only two years and has nothing to show.
Now that they lost power(as I predicted), they’ll be termed out in two years, and one will lose to Miguel’s last term; they are desperate.
They had two years to end the ICE contract and now they want to politicize it.
They should humanize it instead. They imsinuate that if they close it, the detainees will be released. Nope!
They just be moved, farther from families, to other facilities where the enviromemt might be harsher, away from families. That’s the reality that I’ll predict right now, especially inder a Trump Administration. That’s Stupid!
So if I write to you at luis@yahoo.com, are you going to answer? Or can we just agree that you’re posting these pot shots anonymously?
Moreover, now without the ice contract government programs, community programs might have to be cut to fill the loss. That’s dim thinking and will be highlighted to the masses who don’t get caught up in this politicized issue.