AC Transit appears to be a managerial mess: it’s Chief Financial Officer, Lewis J. Clinton, is accused of stealing money from one of Oakland’s most prominent churches, and it’s General Manager, David Armijo, abruptly resigned. In the case of the latter, the episode is deja vu for his previous employer.
David Armijo resigned from AC Transit in Oakland on March 25th and before the AC Transit Board could meet to fire him over accusations of brash behavior.
AC Transit should have read the accounts of what led to his being fired by HART, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, where he was CEO, in 2011.
In reports in the Tampa Times and in Creative Loafting Tampa, David Armijo was described by whistleblower David Persaud as “Hostile and defensive with a nasty temper”. On top of that Armijo’s travel and expense record, and hiring practices and use of time were questioned.
The HART Board grilled Armijo in the same way the AC Transit Board was about to before he jumped ship. So it’s apparent that rather than face a déjà moment, Armijo said ‘fuck it’ and left AC Transit.
The question is why did AC Transit ignore this?
Please Sign Petition Against “Sodomite Suppression Act”
There’s this really, totally, completely fucking nutcase Huntington Beach, California lawyer guy named Matthew G. McLaughlin, who has advanced a voter initiative, a something called, and I’m not making this up, The Sodomite Suppression Act.
Now, before I go into what this bit of craziness is, I have to wonder what goes through the mind of a person like Matthew G. McLaughlin to even come up with something like this? What is his problem?
Reports are the initiative was filed on Feb. 24, 2015, and for all of its meanness and nutiness, was properly written and submitted. But that doesn’t mean it’s constitutional, because it’s not.
I’m actually shocked California Attorney General Kamala Harris didn’t give the initiative the good old U.S. Constitution test, because if she or her staff did, they would have noted The Eight Amendment Of The U.S. Constitution, our supreme law of the land, reads “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
The Sodomite Suppression Act calls for
a) The abominable crime against nature known as buggery, called also sodomy, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.
b) Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating-wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.
That is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.
There is a petition by Change.org to disbar the lawyer, but I certainly hope Kamala remembers her U.S. Constitution, or reads this, and removes the damn thing.
Wonkette, which broke the story, says that Matthew G. McLaughlin is a secret agent lawyer that could not be located on Google, but that is not so. It’s just that Wonkette didn’t know that any legally practicing lawyer has his or her name, address and phone number clearly listed online, and that’s true for Matthew Gregory McLaughlin – his California Bar Association Number is #198329 and he’s at 19744 Beach Blvd # 219, Huntington Beach, CA 92648, and his number is (949) 285-7902. Moreover, he went to George Mason University for his law degree.
Sausal Creek Trail Attacker Misdemeanor Pisses OFf Neighborhood
The band of Glenview residents who teamed up to get the man known as the Sausal Creek Trail Attacker arrested after he punched a woman with a kid in the face while she was walking, are shocked to learn he was not charged with a felony.
Officer Ladd, who made the arrest, reported:
The suspect In that case was arrested for the misdemeanor and is in the legal process. If you would like to know more info you may attend the next beat 22 community meeting to discuss further.
I thank you and the community for all the help and concern with this incident.
The next Oakland Beat 22 Community Meeting is set for Thursday. May 21st, 7:00p at the Dimond Branch Library, at 3565 Fruitvale Ave. That’s a ways off.
There you go.
Oakland Getting Rap As New Center For Racial Profiling Practice By Neighbors
Over at Fusion, East Oakland resident Meredith Ahlberg tells the story of how her black Oakland friends were paying a visit for the first time, but because they could not easily locate her home, they were walking around looking – as anyone would do. Read:
As Meredith Ahlberg ushered friends into her home in East Oakland’s Ivy Hill neighborhood for a party on a Saturday in early March, she noticed that her phone was lighting up with notifications. There were new messages from agitated neighbors on the localized social network Nextdoor, warning the neighborhood about “sketchy” men—one in a “white hoodie,” the other “a thin, youngish African American guy wearing a black beanie, white t-shirt with dark opened button down shirt over it, dark pants, tan shoes, gold chain.” These men, the poster wrote, were “lingering” and searching for a nonexistent address.
I’ve seen this happen all too often in Oakland message boards, and not just Nextdoor, and I do wish that the white folks who tend to do this here in Oakland would just knock it off.
In my experience, people who do that don’t have a lot of black friends, and actively avoid establishing real friendships with blacks in Oakland. Please be intelligent in the formation of your friendships – get to know black folks so this kind of crap stops happening.
You can start by saying hello as you walk by, and not holding your head down.
Thanks!
YouTube Is The New TV; Watch Zennie62 On YouTube
Just a note that YouTube is starting to impact the rate of TV viewing – take a look at this blog post. And watch Zennie62 on YouTube!
My Video Response To Visit Oakland
The contest of my video is simple: Visit Oakland, once the Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau, has taken to actions that have more to do with angling for Super Bowl 50 Tickets than any promotion of activities in Oakland. I, this blogger, me, worked to form Oakland’s bid for the 2005 Super Bowl, and tried to explain to the Visit Oakland executive director what Oakland’s bid was about, TWO YEARS AGO. So, after seeing it’s actions to date, and noting it in this space, the Visit Oakland leader wrote a comment in response, and listed what they were doing, nothing that helped Oakland businesses. This is what I posted:
Stay tuned.