Vivian Malauulu Beats Incumbent Irma Archuleta in Race for LBCC District Board Election

This is good news for my faculty union, which has been campaigning hard to elect a pro-faculty majority to the college's elected board of trustees. With Malauulu's election, the college will now have two strongly pro-faculty members of the board

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach election: Doug Otto, Vivian Malauulu win LBCC races."

Cal State Faculty Agree to Tentative Contract

Perhaps the threat of the strike brought about some concessions from the CSU negotiators.

I hope so, because my union's in contract negotiations with my college, and it's time to bring the heat on the administration.

At LAT, "Cal State faculty union postpones planned strike after tentative salary agreement is reached."

Jackie Johnson's Above-Average Temperature Forecast

Very summery weather today, heh.

Plus, at the beginning of the video is Island Grissom, one of the THUMS Islands, in Long Beach, which is a man-made oil-production facility. One of my best friends had connections and landed a roughneck job there in the early-1980s, and it was union-pay with astronomical hourly wages. People couldn't believe it when my buddy quit the job after a year or so, because he would have been set for life. Interesting.

Woman in High-Speed Chase on 710 Freeway Was Banned from Having Animals (VIDEO)

What a story.

Here's the news from a couple of days ago, at LAT, "6 dogs loose on freeway after police pursuit captured."

And here's the update from this morning, "Woman with dogs that ran on freeway after pursuit was banned from having animals, prosecutors say":

[Tiffini Kuuipo ] Tobe had parked her Mercedes-Benz on the shoulder of the 91 Freeway near Buena Park and had fallen asleep when California Highway Patrol officers spotted her car about 8:15 p.m. Monday and attempted to wake her, prosecutors said.

The CHP officers issued orders asking her to get out of the car but she refused. She drove off, leading authorities on a chase that turned onto the 710 Freeway and reached speeds of up to 90 mph, prosecutors said.

At the end of the chase, Tobe opened a car door and six pit bulls hopped out, wagging their tails as they approached a throng of CHP officers.

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A warrant had been issued Friday for Tobe’s arrest after she failed to appear for a court hearing in an animal abuse case, prosecutors said.

In June she was charged with a misdemeanor count of keeping an animal without proper care after a person saw one of her pit bulls with an exposed bone. The dog had chewed off his own leg, prosecutors said.

Investigators later realized the dog’s foot had been missing for several months and because he had several untreatable lesions, veterinarians were forced to euthanize the dog...

Last Boeing C-17 Leaves Long Beach Assembly Plant (VIDEO)

End of an era.

At Boeing, on Twitter, "Last #Boeing C-17 Globemaster III departs Long Beach Airport TODAY noon Pacific."

Also, "I was here for the first 24 years and I am here for the last. Goodbye C-17. Thanks for the memories."

YouTube video here, "C-17 Beoing Last departure from Long Beach Airport."

Plus, reports at KTLA News 5 Los Angeles, "Last Boeing C-17 flight leaves Long Beach, ending era of California aircraft manufacturing," and LAT, "Last Boeing C-17 takes flight as California aerospace era ends."

Cal State Long Beach Vigil for Nohemi Gonzalez (VIDEO)

Via Ruptly:



Earlier, "Cal State Long Beach Student Nohemi Gonzalez Killed in #ParisAttacks (VIDEO)."

Cal State Long Beach Student Nohemi Gonzalez Killed in #ParisAttacks (VIDEO)

There's no escaping global jihad.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "CSULB student from El Monte killed in Paris attacks."

Long Beach Man Visits Lifeguards Who Saved His Life (VIDEO)

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "A Long Beach man delivered a personal 'thank you' to lifeguards who recently saved his life as he was jogging on the beach."

Suspect Takes Down Long Beach Couple's Front-Porch American Flag and Burns It Right There on the Street (VIDEO)

An America-hating leftist, obviously.

It's who they are. It's what they do.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach police seek man who burned American flag":

Long Beach police and fire investigators are looking for a man caught on tape burning an American flag.

The flag was hanging from the home of John and Salvacion Tyson in the 6200 block of Pageantry Street when a man removed it around 12:47 a.m. July 25, according to a press release from the Long Beach Police Department.

Surveillance video shows the man walking up the victims’ front porch area 20 minutes earlier, then hanging around for a bit. He finally takes the 5-feet-by-9-feet nylon flag down from its base, walks it around a car to the street, ignites it with an open flame and then walks away.

The flames can be seen in the upper righthand corner of the video.

Investigators believe the person responsible is local, said Long Beach Fire Arson Investigator Dennis Zigrang. He asked anyone with information — including the person responsible — to come forward.

“If the individual who actually did this sees this, he can call me and make arrangements to come in and see me,” Zigrang said.

More.

How to Get Food, Water, and Charge Cell Phone During Long Beach Power Outage

Following-up from earlier, "Downtown Long Beach Faces Third Day Without Electrical Power."

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach power outage: How to get food, water and charge cell phone":

Long Beach city emergency crews are providing resources to residents, visitors and business owners during the power outage in downtown Long Beach.

A hotline has been established for residents affect by the outage to call: 562-570-5905.

Information is also available at the city’s website, longbeach.gov/.

The American Red Cross, Community Emergency Response Team volunteers, and the Search and Rescue Team of the Long Beach Fire Department are visiting senior housing facilities and performing wellness checks at homes. As crews work to fix the situation, some traffic lights remain out of use.

The city, with help from nonprofits and area businesses, set up a shelter for those affected at Cesar Chavez Park beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, with showers, beds and free food. The park is located at 401 Golden Ave., near the 710 Freeway.

Until power is restored, Southern California Edison staff will be passing out water, ice and flashlights at 730 Pacific Ave.

A charging station for mobile devices is available at 3rd Street and The Promenade.

Tips for staying safe and healthy during the outage include...

Keep reading.

Downtown Long Beach Faces Third Day Without Electrical Power

Local news reports a couple of nights ago showed manhole covers erupting with fire in downtown Long Beach. Electrical transformers were exploding. Authorities were warning residents to be extremely careful.

It turns out that power has yet to be restored to sections of downtown.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "A third day in Long Beach without power for thousands":

LONG BEACH — Residents near downtown Long Beach face a third day without power after attempts by Southern California Edison to restore its underground power system failed early today.

A City of Long Beach statement said network re-tests Thursday night and early today were unsuccessful, and gave no time for a likely restoration.

More than 3,200 customers were without power at 2:30 a.m. today, according to Edison outage map. Intermittent power outages could be expected throughout today, according to the statement.

The outage will also impact freeway traffic, with northbound lanes of the 710 Freeway closed at the 3rd Street onramp, and southbound off ramps closed at Broadway and 6th Street.

The re-tests were to begin between 10 p.m. and midnight Thursday, Edison said. Broadcast reports showed footage of smoke and steam rising through manhole vents at about 2 a.m.

At the last update, at 2:23 a.m., 3,221 customers remained without power, Edison said.

The fires in three underground power vaults were reported about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday and initially cut power to around 4,800 customers, Edison said...

Updates here.

Activists Petition to Rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Long Beach, California

From Tim Grobaty, at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Robert E. Lee and the ‘PC Nazis’ Square Off":

Our series of columns regarding the idea of a name change for Robert E. Lee Elementary School has resulted in a lot of anger and otherwise vitriolic disagreement, because that’s how life goes these days. “PC Nazi” is among the more cordial things we’ve been called since we sprang this on the readership last month.

Of the 500 or so comments we’ve received, the largest category is, “What about all those other guys?”

Jerry, or jjm2154 as he’s called on Yahoo!, is a typical responder in this camp. “Twelve presidents were slave owners, eight while in office,” he notes. “There are five schools in the LBUSD name dafter people who were slave owners. Do we change them also?”

“Political correctness and history revisionism gone berserk,” proclaims another commenter. “There really was a Civil War and you cannot name-change it away. What’s next, changing the name of Knott Avenue because Walter Knott was a Republican?” Well, yes, that does seem to follow.

Another, tpobob@aol.com, wonders, “Where will it stop? Luther Burbank and David Starr Jordan were proponents of eugenics. Should they go too?”

We don’t know, we’re just a lowly PC Nazi, not the PC Heinrich Himmler.

And we truly don’t know. Maybe. Maybe change them slowly; one a year until everything’s cleared up.

At that rate, it’ll be after many of us are dead before the worst are weeded out and replaced by newer heroes. Surely people have made some significant accomplishments in the last 150 years....

But the matter at hand is Robert E. Lee, and a decision by the Long Beach Board of Education could come as early as the July 20 meeting. Meanwhile, apart from our gentle nudging, Earl Ofari Hutchinson and his Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable has entered the fray, delivering a petition of 57 signatures to the Board of Education on Monday, and Tuesday, the group announced that Al Sharpton has announced his support for the name change, which will no doubt enrage, in a deeply satisfying way, the anti-name change camp. Hutchinson has warned the board that “civil rights leaders will call for a march in Long Beach... if local officials refuse to take action.”

I think it's all out of control, but I'm not going to defend the Confederacy. Folks know my reasoning, and it's America's majority opinion by a wide margin. See, "Majority of Americans See Confederate Flag as Symbol of Southern Pride."

Confederate Flag Supporters Rally at South Carolina Statehouse

This is after the far-left ghoul climbed up the flagpole.

Seen just now on Twitter:

Hours after woman arrested removing #ConfederateFlag, flag supporters rally at S.C. Statehouse http://t.co/Xogda18MTh pic.twitter.com/9f7kYPwAW1

— Tx_Laney (@Babbsgirl2) June 27, 2015

Bree Newsome, #BlackLivesMatter Extremist, Tears Down Confederate at South Carolina Statehouse (VIDEO)

Wow.

This is just extreme. No, it's beyond extreme. It's frankly insane.

The woman, Bree Newsome, is on Twitter here. She's a radical leftist and #BlackLivesMatter activist.

At Memeorandum, "Woman removes Confederate flag in front of SC statehouse."

“We removed the flag today because we can’t wait any longer. It’s time for a new chapter where we are sincere about dismantling white supremacy and building toward true racial justice and equality.”

And at the Charleston Post & Courier, "Woman removes Confederate flag in front of South Carolina statehouse (has video)."

...the flag is intolerable only because it primarily offends black people (who racists already feel are "taking over their country").

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 20, 2015

The refusal to firmly acknowledge and condemn the racism only fans the flames further because it makes it seem like...

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 20, 2015

They're trying to displace the decision from themselves; the flag has gotta come down because "some people" don't like it...

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 20, 2015

White politicians calling for removal of the confederate flag because "to SOME people it's a symbol of racism and hate" is problematic...

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 20, 2015

The flag will come down, neo-confederates will rise up and USA will face a day of reckoning for original sin it still refuses to acknowledge

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 21, 2015

They allow monuments to the confederacy all throughout the southern U.S. but suppress the history of the slave rebellions. Why is that?

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) June 21, 2015

Homosexual Flag Goes Up Over Civic Center, City of Long Beach, California

Following up from yesterday, "Homosexual Flag Goes Up Over County Government Center in Santa Clara, California."

From the Twitter feed of homosexual Mayor of Long Beach, Robert Garcia:

Day of decision rally is tonight at 5:30PM in the plaza at the Long Beach Civic Center. info http://t.co/cQYb9GnZEm pic.twitter.com/r7FRz8dSZi

— LB Mayor's Office (@LBMayorsOffice) June 26, 2015

Long Beach raised a rainbow flag today in front of City Hall. pic.twitter.com/etTBvzHel0

— Lauren Raab (@raablauren) June 26, 2015

Latest Anti-Police Brutality Martyr Was Doing Mushrooms Before Attacking Police and Getting Himself Killed

It's Feras Morad, who leftists claim is a "victim" who needed help.

Actually, he was a drug-addled loser who attacked a cop while tripping on mushrooms, and paid for it with his life.

Feras Morad was hopped up on mushrooms and attacked a policeman? No wonder he's dead. #FerasMorad http://t.co/gVRIWfddMJ

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 7, 2015

Bad things happen when you take "recreational" drugs. This loser proves it.

California Latinos Lag 'Far Behind' in College Achievement

Over half the students at my college are Hispanic, so you can get a sense of the challenges we're dealing with.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Latinos in California lag ‘far behind’ in college enrollment, graduation rates":

While nearly 60 percent of Latinos in the state between the ages of 25 and 64 are foreign born, even those who are native born were much less likely than the state average — 18 percent vs. 31 percent — to have at least a bachelor’s degree, the report found.

In addition, only 29 percent of 12th-grade Latino graduates completed all of their coursework to make them eligible for UC or Cal State entrance, compared with 47 percent of white students and 65 percent of Asian students, according to the report.

The obstacles Latinos face are many. A good number are low-income, they are often the first generation in their family to go to college and many attend low-performing schools that do not adequately prepare them for college, [Michele] Siqueiros [president of the Campaign for College Opportunity] said. They are grappling with these challenges as students today share a greater burden in funding their education than before in light of a decline in state contributions...

More.

Militant Longshoreman's Union Boasts Clout in Era of Globalization

From yesterday's front page, at the Los Angeles Times, "On docks, workers still have power."

And I guess this is a theme at the cheerleading L.A. Times, because the newspaper ran a virtually identical piece a couple of weeks ago, "Small but powerful union is at center of port dispute":

The dispute that has snarled West Coast shipping revolves around a rarity in American business — a small but mighty union.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union represents 20,000 dockworkers, a fraction of the organized ranks of teachers, truck drivers or healthcare workers. But the port workers — who still queue up at hiring halls daily for work and spend years earning full membership — stand guard over a crucial chokepoint in the global economy.

For decades these "lords of the docks" have been paid like blue-collar royalty. Their current contract pays $26 to $41 an hour, with free healthcare for members. Some earn six figures with overtime. Even as a growing chorus of business groups clamor for a resolution to their months-long contract talks with the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents shipping companies, the union sees little need to back down.

"They have unique skills that aren't easily replaced," said Goetz Wolff, who teaches about labor and economics at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. "They're not going to roll over and play dead."

Leftists love militant unions, as they represent the spearhead of the revolutionary struggle against capital. And that's why the Times is pumping up these goons as if they were going out of business tomorrow.

Bomb Scare at Long Beach City College Forces Evacuations, Cancellation of Classes

Well, we had a shootout at the Pacific Coast campus last year, so this is no surprise.

Kinda freaky, though, with all the recent jihad terrorism.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach college evacuated amid bomb probe."

It turns out a car was parked and abandoned on Carson Avenue, the central boulevard that dissects the campus. Building T, where I teach, is just a few feet from the street.

Baby Kidnapped in Long Beach Found Dead San Diego Dumpster

The horror.

At CBS News Los Angeles, "Missing 3-Week-Old Long Beach Baby Found Dead In San Diego Dumpster."

Tabitha Bliss tweeted this story last night.