MaxRedline

Portland: Wasting Taxpayer Money As Usual

The Freedom Foundation, a Washington state-based think tank that seeks to lessen the power of unions in government, filed suit against the city in late 2017. The city failed to fulfill a public records request by the foundation for the names of its unionized employees. The foundation sought the names so it could inform employees about their rights under the law, regarding participation.

When the city first refused to release the names, the foundation appealed to the Multnomah County district attorney, as was its right. The DA sided with the foundation, telling the city it could not legally keep the names of unionized public employees secret.

Faced with this decision, the city doubled down, and sued the Freedom Foundation, who then counter-sued. So five months ago, the city released the records. That should have been the end of it, but this being Portland, of course it wasn't; they pursued their lawsuit against FF - right up until last Tuesday, when a judge dismissed their suit.

They fought the law, and the law won. They can't fill potholes, but they have plenty of cash to spend on frivolous litigation.

 

Bernie's Big Bill

Great Marketing...

Amazon/Whole Foods has opened a new Asian-themed restaurant at one of their locations in Long Beach, California, and it's not going down well due to its name:

Food journalist Allison Robicelli, meanwhile, noted that “Yellow Fever was once known as the American Plague, killing hundreds of thousands of people during the 19th century.”

“It’s still prevalent in South America & Africa,” she continued, “and has killed tens of thousands since 2010.”

More great names for restaurants:

-Ebola Burger
-The Fox & Malaria
-PB & TB
-Cholera Cookies
-Soup, Salad and Smallpox

Be sure to try the Saladmonella Bar.

 

Won't You Let Me Take Me On A Sea Cruise?

The attorney representing a 17-year-old girl, who is facing felony-level vehicular homicide charges, asked the judge in her case if the Georgia teen could keep her passport to go on a cruise only a month after she was behind the wheel in a deadly crash that killed her friend.

The teen’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, told Channel 2 Action News that her client’s request for her passport was not meant to be “insensitive.” “We were just trying to say, ‘Judge, she has already had these tickets for this cruise,’” Patterson said. The cruise is scheduled for next month.

Oddly enough, the prosecutor argued against it, saying that the girl needs to understand the meaning of consequences and observing that her parents have covered for her over and over and over again. The prosecutor stated that the girl has had "enough special treatment". This apparently isn't the snowflake's first rodeo.

Cristina Pavon-Baker, the teen facing multiple charges, is alleged to have been using Snapchat on her smartphone while driving at 106 mph in a 65 mph zone on I-75 when she lost control, flipped the car, and crashed into a tree, killing her "best friend".  The judge was not impressed; setting bond at $31,000 and ordering her to surrender her passport.

She was also ordered not to drive, and to stay off Snapchat.

Helicopter "parents" - they just want to protect their precious snowflakes....

 

Golden State Killer

The suspected "Golden State Killer" who was arrested this week for killing and raping dozens of California residents decades ago, seemed shocked to find police outside his home, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's Department official Paul Belli. DeAngelo told police he had a roast in the oven, and officers said they could take care of it, Belli said. 

Don't know about the roast, but it looks like his goose is cooked.

In 1976 he served as a police officer in the city of Auburn until he was fired in 1979 for allegedly stealing a hammer and a can of dog repellent, The Associated Press reported, citing Auburn Journal articles from the time.

It's a bit odd that reports refer to him as a "former police officer", when he spent most of his working years in a warehouse - for the next 27 years, he worked at a supermarket distribution center until retiring last year. It seems likely that he won't find retirement entirely to his liking. DNA analysis didn't really get underway until 1984; advances in technology are what eventually led to him. When the Golden State Killer embarked upon his decade-long crime spree, he knew not to leave fingerprints. But he didn't know about DNA.

 

Wisdom

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. Then, not only will you have his shoes, but he's a mile away.

 

Take Me To The River

Drop me in the water.

But in Washington state a lake works just fine for dumping unwanted goldfish.

In Medical Lake, wildlife officials are wrestling with a giant-sized goldfish problem at an eastern Washington lake, where the once-small fish have grown to the size of footballs and are choking out native species and stirring up all kinds of problems in the ecosystem.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates it may cost up to $150,000 to eradicate feral goldfish from West Medical Lake, and it's all because you thought you were doing a good thing for the fish, or simply no longer wanted to care for an aquarium.

They're okay when finning around in their little aquaria, which keeps them small. Get them out into open water, though, and it's a whole different story. They'll eat darned near anything, and they just keep growing. They also reproduce quickly. These are big problems. Biologists encourage anglers who catch them to destroy them immediately.

Every little bit helps.

 

Historic

Kim stepped into South Korea, something that no NorK leader has done in nearly 60 years, and he and Moon seemed to hit it off really well.

The village is one of the few places where there are no barbed wire fences or minefields between the two countries, separated by a conflict that ended with a truce, not a treaty, in 1953, meaning they are still technically at war.

"I was excited to meet at this historic place and it is really moving that you came all the way to the demarcation line to greet me in person," Kim said as he grasped Moon's hand across the border.

"It was your big decision to make it here," said Moon, dressed in a dark suit and light blue tie, who invited Kim to step over the line in the pavement, which he did.

Kim said he felt a "swirl of emotion" as he walked the short distance to the border, wondering "why it took so long", he told Moon later, at the beginning of their meeting.

With a joint declaration and a bear hug, Kim and Moon sealed their talks to end the Korean War within the year and commit to complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Mind-blowingly historic. Even the lefties who've been hating on Trump all this time are now entertaining the idea that he may deserve a Nobel Peace prize, for whatever that's worth - after all, Barry got one for nothing. As NBC News put it:

In a landmark meeting Friday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the two agreed there would be "no more war" on the Korean peninsula and also committed to work towards denuclearization.

Trump is a flawed man — self-indulgent, megalomaniacal, a bit paranoid, driven by self-interest and implacably domineering. But these “flaws” also make him a big character, and as he prepares to confront Kim and the other great tyrants of the age, Americans can feel assured that they have chosen the right man for the moment.

Republican voters were offered several “nice” alternatives who were raised to be respectful, yet they chose the guy who’d wipe his mouth off with your tie.

Hillary Clinton’s subsequent loss in the general election to Trump, who attacked her relentlessly and repeatedly suggested she would land in jail, seems to have untethered her a bit from reality. Exposure to Trump has reduced this proud, strong woman to a wounded doe wandering the earth trying to figure out what brand of political tractor trailer hit her as she was crossing the road to the White House.

Kim's had time to watch Trump, and while Kim may be crazy, he's not stupid. He concluded that not only does Trump mean business, he may even be crazier than Kim himself.

So he made a beeline to the negotiating table. He seems to have a strong survival instinct.

 

 

More Delta

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has fined a woman $500 for not declaring she was bringing a free apple into the U.S. that she received on her Delta Air Lines flight from Paris.

She ought to preserve that thing in Lucite as a trophy.

In other news, Delta has apologized to the family of the woman with MS that they tied to a wheelchair with a blanket.

“We are disappointed that our customers didn’t have a satisfying travel experience and will ensure that their return flight exceeds expectations,” the airline said in a statement to The Post on Wednesday.

 

They're Sounding Pretty Mean

For a terrorist "caliphate" that's been losing territory and people like crazy of late, that is.

The vow comes as ISIS is reported to have just three percent of its captured territories remaining in the Middle East.

Those are some certifiable loons.

Speaking of which, why do they do this stuff in Spain?

The Barcelona-born 59-year-old was pronounced dead after a two-hour fight to save her life at a health centre. She was hurt yesterday at an annual festival in Beas de Segura in the southern Spanish province of Jaen in which bulls are let loose in the streets with ropes tied to their horns.

Didn't stop her from being gored to death. Not that I have any sympathy for people who do this "running of the bulls" idiocy and end up removing themselves from the lands of the living.