Homeless Woman Set on fire at Van Nuys Bus Stop

She's in critical condition.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Police identify suspect in attack on homeless woman in Van Nuys," and "Suspect in homeless woman's burning is mentally ill, police say."

The mental illness thing's a ruse. This is an unspeakable crime. When chased by witnesses the suspect pulled a knife.

Deportee Returns to the United States After More Than Year in Mexico

I have nothing to add on this one. The Times just makes heroic the illegals flooding over our borders.

See, "A risky return to the U.S.":

Luis Luna returned to his hometown of South Gate in May. His arms and legs were scraped raw from cactus needles and his eyes kept blinking, still starved of moisture from his eight-day journey through the Arizona desert the week before.

His friend, Julio Cortez, said it was hard to believe that this gaunt young man with patches of missing hair was the same person he knew at Southeast Middle School.

"I was in shock to see him back and see all he had gone through," Cortez said. "It made me sad and angry."

Cortez, a 22-year-old Cal State Long Beach student, took Luis to buy some clothes. Another former classmate gave Luis a cellphone. Luis slept on couches and in spare bedrooms and spent his days passing out resumes filled with the jobs of his teen years: flipping burgers, waiting tables at I-Hop. He fudged the dates to account for the 15 months he spent in Mexico after he was deported for being in the country illegally.

Luis had been pulled over three years ago for a broken headlight in Pasco, Wash., where he and his mother lived. He was cited for driving without a license, jailed and ordered out of the country in February 2011.

He had a wife back in Washington, but she had left him, in part because of the long separation. Luis decided to build a new life in Southern California, where he had grown up and where he still had friends

Weeks after arriving, he was still jobless and borrowing money to eat when he decided his future might lie in his past. He started retracing the route he took as a boy selling chocolates at warehouses and factories. The assembly line workers, truck drivers and managers knew him as Anthony, the name his mother told him to use to hide his identity.

They could vouch for his strong work ethic — that he'd been working for a living since he was 5 years old.

He eventually found the barrilero job, and a place to live. A swap meet vendor who picked through the bins of cast-offs looking for vintage garments told Luis he had extra space at his house.

Luis goes home to a converted two-car garage with no address in a middle-class neighborhood with trim lawns and streets lined with late-model cars. Much of his clothing is stuffed in a battered dark green suitcase that sits at the foot of his bed. The only other furniture is a mini refrigerator and two lawn chairs.

In some ways, he's a typical youngster with edgy tastes. He has a sleeve tattoo, wears skinny jeans and earrings, and is part of a deejay crew that plays at house parties. He cheers his beloved Los Angeles Lakers and hangs out in hookah bars, and is constantly texting flirty messages.

But his future is dimmer than most. Many of his friends are planning for life after college. Some are applying for work permits and temporary reprieves from deportation, taking advantage of an Obama administration program, announced in June, to help young people who were brought into the country as children.

Continue reading.

The Obama administration's "program."

Yeah, illegal immigrant voter registration program. Again, another massive fraud on our supposed system of rule of law. The Democrats certainly don't care.

That's all.

'Where Is the Harmony? Sweet Harmony...'

And so I'm listening to Elvis Costello at the clip and about halfway through I realized that's the Peterson sisters and Susanna Hoffs (the Bangles) up there on the stage dancing. Love the song. Hate Costello's politics, but what can you do?

Fabian Thylmann and His Revolutionary Porn Business Model

Well, there's obviously no slack in demand.

At Der Spiegel, "Harnessing the Internet: The German Porn King's Revolutionary Model":

When German national Fabian Thylmann was arrested, he became known as the king of the porn industry. His sex company operates like a modern corporation, silently and digitally. He has become a major presence on the Internet, much like Amazon and Wikipedia.

Interesting.

The guy's happily married as well.

Some of those photos at the story are NSFW.

The End of the Dive Bar on Skid Row

At the Los Angeles Times, "The last call for a skid row era at King Eddy Saloon":

Wire-thin and slumped like a question mark, James Maley nurses a watered-down whiskey at the battered bar inside the King Eddy Saloon. Around him a boisterous crowd presses in. Maley taps a cracked fingernail nervously on his glass and stares warily at the newcomers.

They've come to see novelist John Fante's son, Dan Fante, read at the bar that inspired his father's 1939 classic "Ask the Dust." They're also here to experience skid row's last dive bar before it shuts down for renovations on Sunday.

"If this happened every day, I would never show up," says Maley, who lives in transitional housing a few blocks away.

Other time-worn regulars, many with leathery skin, bad teeth and watchful eyes, nod in agreement. The bar provides home and family for those who have neither. They come for community and to spend what little money they have on plastic pitchers of beer and $2.50 gin and tonics.

When the Fante reading ends, the interlopers quickly disperse.

"There go the slummers," says John Tottenham, a poet who has been coming to the King Eddy since the 1980s.

Chances are the crowds will be back when the bar reopens under new management. The owners plan to use old photos to restore the bar's Midcentury look. They hope to renovate the abandoned speak-easy in the basement and open the bar's windows that are covered by stucco, letting natural light into the place for the first time in decades.

They haven't finalized their plans, but one thing is for sure. Drinks won't come cheap at the new King Eddy.

The bar is located on the corner of 5th and Los Angeles streets in the King Edward Hotel, which was built in 1906 and was a tony destination for visitors to what was once a thriving commercial district. The hotel now provides low-income housing for many of King Eddy's regulars.

The pre-Prohibition era King Eddy is painted black. With neon beer signs providing most of its light, the room is dim and gloomy. Its black-and-white checkered floor is grimy. Plastic beer flags hang from the ceiling and the place smells of stale smoke and disinfectant.

The bar itself, shaped in a square, commands the center of the room, with cracked vinyl banquettes lining the perimeter. A glassed-in smoking space is set off to the side. Behind the bar is a tiny fluorescent-lighted kitchen where prepackaged burgers, pizza and sandwiches are heated in a microwave. A beer and burrito would set a person back only $4.

Next week, Maley and the other dislodged drinkers will have to find another bar, but they face a new downtown landscape of high-end mixology bars, restaurants and Brazilian waxing salons...

Well, it's probably for the better, right? Skid row's the roughest of rough-and-tumble hardscrabble habitats, so cleaning up the place is good policy. But if you're down and out downtown, this kind of gentrification can force a relocation to even more dangerous haunts. It's hard out there on the streets. Hopefully folks can hang on to a little stability and continuity.

Continue reading at the link.

Angry Atheism Drove Nativity Scenes From Santa Monica

An awesome commentary, from Rabbi Michael Gotlieb, at the Los Angeles Times, "Santa Monica Ban on Religious Displays Leaves Us All Poorer":

Today's atheism is different from the atheism of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Nietzsche, Russell and Voltaire did not gloat over the presumed death or nonexistence of God. There was no triumphalism in their assertions. While not enamored of organized religion, they did not view it as a singular force for evil.

Things have changed. Outspoken, angry 21st century atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens have sought to eradicate God and organized religion from the planet; faith-based religion in any form is unacceptable to them. When studying these modern-day thinkers, the late Herbert Marcuse's lament proves fitting and prescient: "We, no matter the side, become fanatical in our own anti-fanaticism."

Today's atheists hold that religion educates children and adults to hate in the name of their pious doctrines. Religion, they tell us, encourages followers to engage in God-directed slaughter and conquest of innocents. Its mission is to convert skeptics — or worse, subdue nonbelievers — until the whole world buckles.

The truth is, they're partly right. There have always been people who commit evil in the name of God and religion. They do indeed give religion and God a horrible name. Such behavior is perverse, inexcusable and, of course, sinful.

But today's atheists are as extreme in their convictions as the fire-and-brimstone believer. The resolute follower knows beyond any doubt that God exists, whereas the atheist knows beyond any doubt that God is a figment of the imagination. I'm reminded of the aphorism: To the believer there are no questions; to the atheist, there are no answers.

As a Jew and a rabbi, my speaking out in support of Christians who wish to display a Nativity scene on public land can potentially carry more weight than a priest or minister speaking out. The reason is simple: It's not my religious narrative. More important, faithful Christians do not threaten me. If anything, I'm inspired by them. By definition, different people from different faiths view God and religion differently.

In the meantime, Santa Monica, where I live and serve a congregation, is less festive, bright and accepting this Christmas season. And given my city's current municipal policy — one that forbids the use of public.

So true. One more example of progressives making everybody less well off.

But read the whole thing.

Cal State Fullerton Locked Down While Police Search for Armed Men

When I got home yesterday afternoon, a little after 4:00pm, the high-speed chase was on TV.

See the Los Angeles Times, "Fullerton campus on lockdown after robbery, high-speed chase."

Also, "Cal State Fullerton lockdown: search focuses on Mihaylo Hall."

It's Hard Out There for Off-Season Sports Fans

From Bill Dwyre, at the Los Angeles Times, "Baseball off-season can be tough on fans who see favorite players jump ship":

The most intriguing game that baseball plays is not hitting and pitching. It is musical chairs.

This is the sport's funny season. But unlike golf, where the funny season was simply a time for Freddie Couples to make more money for Christmas shopping, baseball's is real and serious.

So serious, as a matter of fact, that we actually might feel sorry for baseball writers.

They spend seven months a year, on expense account, watching a warm-weather game from the best seats in the house, with hot dogs nearby. Then, when the season ends and it's time to rest and re-introduce themselves to family, the real work begins. The stadiums are replaced by cellphones embedded in ears and daily dealings with lawyers, agents, rationalizing general managers and Scott Boras.

Great newspapers should pay them reasonable salaries for the season and a hefty supplement for the funny season. A Boras Bonus.

The pawn in all this is the fan. He is wired to be loyal to his local heroes. He is encouraged to purchase the jersey of his favorite player ($79.95 at the stadium store) and be sure to get his tickets early. This will be the year, he is told. The team is there for his viewing pleasure. Of course, next year, the team will be there again for his viewing pleasure. It will just be a vastly different team.

To be clear, this isn't an attempt to identify good guys or bad guys. This isn't a anti-greedy-player or anti-greedy-owner rant. In the airheaded, overused term of the day, baseball's situation is what it is.

The news comes daily. Fingers point in all directions.

Michael Young is now a Philadelphia Phillie? He had Texas Ranger carved into his heart. The pride of Bishop Amat High spent 12 years as Mr. Ranger RBI. If you were an Angels fan and saw him at the plate with another Ranger on base, you just jotted down a run in your scorecard.

Kevin Youkilis is now a New York Yankee? Has he really joined the evil empire, as did Johnny Damon a few years ago, leaving Boston Red Sox fans speechless and suicidal. Sure, Youkilis made a brief stop with the Chicago White Sox, but he was Boston through and through. Expect jersey burnings around Fenway.

We just got used to Mike Napoli as a Ranger, after a nice run of being the power behind the plate for the Angels. But nope. Throw away that jersey. Napoli is now a Red Sox.

Ah, and so is Shane Victorino. It never seemed quite right to see him in a Dodgers uniform. He was a Phillie, a tough-guy-in-a-tough-city player. Now he is a Bostonian.

Albert Pujols, the best of the best, after all those years in Cardinals red, the modern-day Stan Musial, both in performance and local image, in an Angels' uniform? Good for Southern California, but weird nevertheless.

Yeah, and Pujols had a rough start last season. It takes a while getting used to new lineups.

More at the link.

Ka Pasasouk, Suspect in Northridge Murders, Got Probation Instead of Prison During Recent Criminal Court Hearing

Lovely.

Our wonderfully humane criminal justice system put this dude up for probation despite a string of previous convictions and court hearings.

At the Los Angeles Times, "D.A.'s office admits letting slaying suspect avoid prison":

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office admitted Monday that its prosecutors erred in allowing a suspect — now accused in the killing of four people in Northridge — to receive drug treatment instead of prison time during a September court hearing.

The suspect, Ka Pasasouk, was in Van Nuys Superior Court after being arrested on suspicion of drug possession. He was on probation at the time, and the L.A. County Probation Department had urged that he be sent back to state prison for "long-term detention" because of his lengthy criminal record.

But prosecutors told the judge that Pasasouk was eligible for a drug diversion program under Proposition 36. The judge ordered him to drug treatment rather than prison.

Two months later, authorities alleged, Pasasouk killed four people outside a home in Northridge.

The district attorney's office said it completed an investigation Monday into how that hearing was handled.

"The review shows that the office inadvertently erred in indicating the defendant was eligible for a Proposition 36 drug program," said district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons in a statement. "Training issues raised during the review will be addressed by the District Attorney's office countywide."

Gibbons would not comment further or say whether any prosecutors were being disciplined.

Pasasouk is accused of fatally shooting four people Dec. 1 outside a home in the 17400 block of Devonshire Street.

Officials identified the dead as Amanda Ghossein, 24, of Monterey Park; Jennifer Kim, 26, of Montebello; Robert Calabia, 34, of Los Angeles; and Teofilo Navales, 49, of Castaic.

Detectives have not revealed any information about a possible motive. But law enforcement sources told The Times that the killings appeared to have stemmed from a dispute over personal property, including a computer.

Proposition 36 was a voter-approved ballot measure meant to send some nonviolent drug offenders into drug rehab rather than prison.

Progressive crime policy getting people killed. Who would have thunk it?

Continue reading.

Black Thug Caught on Camera Stealing Donation Jar Meant for 2-Year-Old Girl Battling Cancer (VIDEO)

Remember, let's be clear about this: It's not just a thug or a thief. It's a black thug. A black thief.

At KABC 7 Los Angeles, "Donation jar stolen from girl battling cancer."

Hugh Hefner Engaged to 26-Year-Old Playboy Centerfold Crystal Harris

Man, how old is this guy, 80?

No, he's 80-freakin'-6!

At DListed, "Hugh Hefner Is Going to Marry His Runaway Bride":

You know it's real love when your groom looks like a drunk trout making out with bait on a hook (or an old Popeye smoking an imaginary pipe) when he kisses you.

Sad excuse for a gold digger, 26-year-old Crystal Harris, was supposed to marry 324-year-old Hugh Hefner two summers ago, but she dumped him just days before the wedding. For the next year, Crystal spent her days gargling on the douche dick of Dr. Phil's son and when she wasn't doing that, she was talking shit about how Hef grossed her out. But because nothing will make a gold digger realize she's made a huge mistake like an eviction notice on her condo door or the repo man taking her Mercedes, Crystal ran back into Hef's wrinkly arms this past May. And now, the wedding is back on.

More at the link, and at TMZ, "Hugh Hefner & Crystal Harris — We're Getting Married!" (via WeSmirch).

More at New York Daily News, "Hugh Hefner, Crystal Harris engaged again: Playboy honcho, 86, set to wed 26-year-old ex on New Year's Eve."

Photo: Crystal Harris on Twitter. And more of the hottie at Centerfold.

Andrea Alarcon to Take Leave of Absence

At LAT, "Mayor's top appointee on Board of Public Works will take leave."

She's also "seeking help." See: "Public works commissioner says she’s seeking 'professional help'."

Democrats need professional help, so there you go. And this lady's actions are criminal. She should being doing time for her kind of progressive child abandonment and endangerment.

PREVIOUSLY: "Andrea Alarcon, President of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, Under Investigation for Child Endangerment."

Andrea Alarcon, President of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, Under Investigation for Child Endangerment

Democrat family values, at the Los Angeles Times, "Top L.A. official's daughter, 11, found unattended at City Hall":

The president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works is under investigation by Los Angeles police after her 11-year-old daughter was found unattended at City Hall last week, sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.

No charges have been filed against Andrea Alarcon, 33, and she was not arrested.

Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, confirmed an investigation regarding Alarcon had been referred to her office but said prosecutors requested more evidence before determining whether to file any charges.

"If police present us new evidence, we of course will review it and make a determination as to how to proceed. However, we cannot comment on the case because we have nothing pending at this time," Gibbons said.

Alarcon, an appointee of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, declined to discuss the investigation, saying she is celebrating the holiday with her family.

"My daughter and I have an extremely close relationship and as a single mother, she often accompanies me to special events for work," Alarcon said. "Out of respect for my daughter's privacy and because she is a minor, I really have nothing further to say about this matter."

Few details about the case were released. Sources told The Times that officers found Andrea Alarcon's daughter at City Hall at around 11:45 p.m. Friday and took her to the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division station. Police tried to locate Alarcon, who turned up at around 2 a.m., said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

Police opened a child endangerment investigation and contacted the county's Department of Children and Family Services, the sources said.

The incident took place the same night that City Hall's rotunda and Spring Street entrance were used for a party thrown by Project Restore, a group devoted to restoring city-owned landmarks...

Still more at the link.

Ms. Alarcon was also arrested on suspicion of DUI last December, and that was with a child in the car.

Coach Lane Kiffin Will Return to USC Football

I watched yesterday's highly-anticipated cross-town matchup, and it was something else.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "UCLA snaps five-game rivalry losing streak with 38-28 win over USC."

But here's Bill Plaschke's column, "Double shock: USC falls, and Pat Haden says Lane Kiffin to return":

Not since Paul Hackett was the coach have I seen a USC team so humbled by the Bruins. Never would I believe a 50-0 score — last season's USC win — could turn around so far, so fast.

The biggest differences between the two seasons have been a quarterback and a coach. Here we all thought Kiffin and Barkley were this town's star duo when, in fact, it has become The Scowling Jim Mora and The Unstoppable Brett Hundley.

Is it any wonder lots of us have been critical of Kiffin? Is there any surprise that, with the Trojans down 24-0 midway through the second quarter, folks were calling for him to be fired at halftime? Heck, after a bad loss in this game last year, the Bruins' Rick Neuheisel was fired two days later. Before Saturday, the three bad USC losses, heaped on top of many distractions, led some university insiders to believe that Kiffin had to win his remaining games to keep his job.

And here's this from yesterday, "Lane Kiffin says he will be back as USC's football coach":

While his team has not performed up to expectations, Kiffin has found controversy off the field. He lied about voting USC No. 1 in a poll early in the season, became embroiled in a tiff about media access and the false accusation of a reporter who wrote about an injury, ruffled feathers by changing the numbers of players during a blowout win over Colorado and most recently denied he had anything to do with a student manager deflating footballs below regulation level during a loss to Oregon.

Oh brother.

Anyway, here's T.J. Simers on the new realities, "No question the Rose Bowl is Jim Mora's house now."

Forward! L.A. City Council Seeks Tax Vote on March 5th Ballot

It's never enough with these tools.

At the Los Angeles Times, "L.A. City Council votes to put sales tax hike on March 5 ballot."

Democrat Civility: Dead Pig in Romney T-Shirt Left at GOP Headquarters in Manhattan Beach (VIDEO)

No note was attached, but a dead pig, wrapped in barbed wire and wearing a Mitt Romney t-shirt, needs no further intimidating warnings.

At KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Dead pig left at Republican HQ in Manhattan Beach":

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- A dead pig clad in a Mitt Romney T-shirt was left at a Republican campaign office in Manhattan Beach.

Manhattan Beach Police had to discard the pig's head and its feet in a trash bin, but not before several passersby saw it.

"I thought it was a dead body because of the way he approached it," said Manhattan Beach resident Andy Gaeta. "And then when he lifted the shirt, he saw the head wrapped in barbed wire and it's cut in half, the whole skull was. It looked like something from a butcher's market."

The pig was laid out at the doorstep of the Republican headquarters on Highland Avenue.

Tom Scully saw the display about 6:30 a.m. while he was out walking his dog.

"When I got closer I was like, 'Oh, this is kind of gross. There was like barbed wire on its head. It's nasty," said Scully.

Manhattan Beach Police Animal Control later removed the trash bin containing the pig's remains, taking it as evidence. Police say they're investigating the incident as an "illegal dumping of an animal carcass."

According to a police sergeant, they have no evidence suggesting any other crime was committed at this point...

There's video at the link.

No, not a crime, but pure Democrat villainy and hypocrisy no matter how bloodily you slice it.

The president who implored the nation toward greater civility after the Gabby Giffords shooting now has partisans exacting their "revenge" with macabre gangland-style political thuggery. It's going to be a long four years.

'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'

The Sound L.A. was "Under the Covers" for Halloween, playing cover songs for the entire day. Here's Santana from about 9:00pm last night:

A Treasure of Maps

This is an amazing piece, at LAT, "Treasure-trove of maps headed to L.A. Public Library":

When real estate agent Matthew Greenberg cleaned out the Mount Washington cottage after the occupant died, he couldn't bring himself to throw out a treasure-trove he discovered inside--all kinds of maps.

Instead, he invited the Los Angeles Public Library's map librarian to look at the find.

Stashed everywhere in the 948-square-foot tear-down were maps. Tens of thousands of maps. Fold-out street maps were stuffed in file cabinets, crammed into cardboard boxes, lined up on closet shelves and jammed into old dairy crates.

Wall-size roll-up maps once familiar to schoolchildren were stacked in corners. Old globes were lined in rows atop bookshelves also filled with maps and atlases. A giant plastic topographical map of the United States covered a bathroom wall and bookcases displaying Thomas Bros. map books and other street guides lined a small den.

The library's Glen Creason called the find unbelievable.

"I think there are at least a million maps here," he said. "This dwarfs our collection — and we've been collecting for 100 years."

Creason returned to the home Thursday with 10 library employees and volunteers to box up the maps. The acquisition will give the city library one of the country's top five library map archives, behind the Library of Congress and public libraries in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, he said.

More at the link.

Space Shuttle Endeavor Completes Move to California Science Center

The Los Angeles Times has had pretty amazing coverage of the shuttle Endeavor. I love this picture below, from the front page of today's paper. The caption reads, "TRAYMOND HARRIS, left, and Ryan Hudge play basketball as the shuttle Endeavor passes by in Inglewood on Saturday." And here's the report there, under the photograph, "Shuttle crawls obstacle course."

ABC News 7 had live coverage of the final stage of the move today, and the here's the update at the Times, "Endeavour within sight of Exposition Park."

And from yesterday, "Space shuttle Endeavour rolls on toward its new home."

Space Shuttle Endeavour Moves to Science Center

Amazing pictures at the Los Angeles Times, "Space shuttle Endeavour rolls through the streets of L.A."

And see, "Shuttle arrives at Forum ahead of schedule."

Despite crawling along at a speed of about 2 mph, the space shuttle Endeavour appears to be making good time on its journey home to the California Science Center.

The massive space vehicle pulled up to the Fourm in Inglewood around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, and was greeted by thousands gathered there to see it. It arrived more than an hour ahead of schedule, but Southern California Edison crew members said it will remain at the Fourm until 9:30 a.m. as planned. The crews cleared some transmission lines early and movers decided to proceed.

A celebration at the Forum, which includes music and some public speakers, was set to begin about 9 a.m.

Officials are considering whether they can get the shuttle to the California Science Center before sunset, which occurs at 6:20 p.m. Saturday.