John Russo On Oakland Gang Injunction and Gangs in Oakland

This video blogger talked with Oakland City Attorney John Russo about his response to a video featuring Michael Siegel of the Oakland civil rights law firm Siegel and Lee, and the focus of a blog entry of last week. One that got under the skin of Russo and his assistant Alex Katz.

Within two days, John and Alex called to ask for this blogger to come and conduct a video interview to get their side of the Oakland Gang Injunction issue. The result is the 20 minute video.

In 2010 Oakland became the third city in the San Francisco Bay Area to implement injunctions against a specific set of street gangs, the North Oakland Crime Organization and another called The , which, according to Russo, is a terribly violent gang.

What Is A Gang Injunction?

To start, we got out of the way just what a gang injunction is. "A gang injunction is a civil court order that the city pursues against a uh, known criminal enterprise," Russo said. "It's defined, the term "gang" is used - a street gang is the state law. It's a law that was passed in the 1980s by the California Legislature." Russo - who's level of understanding of the details of the history of the gang injunction "tool" shows how involved he's been in the issue - explains that the law was upheld as constitutional by the California Supreme Court in 1997. "It is a civil order in the manner of a restraining order," he says, "It allows a city attorney or a district attorney to bring an injunction against a group of individuals who have conspired to commit crimes or otherwise terrorize innocent people in a community." (Photo by CBS Channel 5, San Francisco.)

Russo says Oakland has had two such injunctions, one approved by the Alameda Superior Court in June after being created in February and is called The North Side Oakland Injunction.

The second injunction request filed in October impacts Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood and involves a gang called The Nortenos.

Oakland's Better Injunction

Russo asserts that Oakland's injunctions are formed with a concern for due process and civil rights, a bit of a slap at the injunctions of other cities. "The others are constitutional. A city can go to a court and say 'We're going to prove this gang exists,' and leave it to the police to determine on the street, who's part of the gang. By contrast, Oakland uses the court system and what Russo says is "clear and convincing evidence" to say that a person's part of a gang. That, at least is supposed to, eliminate the possibility of racial profiling or at least reduce the chance of such habits working in this case.

In Oakland's system, the objective is to prove that the individual is part of the criminal organization. John says that in many cases the persons of interest self identify via Facebook, YouTube, and other ways.

Are Federal Dollars The Objective?

Michael Siegel contends that the gang injunction is a way to sweep more people of color up into the police prison system and gain Federal dollars in the process. Russo says that the idea that's true springs from Siegel's head. Russo says they don't get Federal or State dollars from using the gang injunctions. Russo blasts both Michael and his dad Dan Siegel for deliberately mis-reporting what the law says.

An Open Door To The Riders Case?

Russo says that the gang injunction is not an open door for another "Riders" case. In that unfortunate year 2000 episode in Oakland's history, four officers - Frank Vazquez, Clarence Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matt Hornung - were accused of beating gang and crime suspects in West Oakland, and planting evidence on them.

Called "The Riders," their actions were revealed by a whistle-blower Oakland Police Officer, Keith Batt,  (who is that no more) and resulted in a $10.5 million payout by the City of Oakland to West Oaklanders who were terrorized by the cops, and a Federal consent decree governing the Police Department that was to remain to 2010.

Again, Russo says that because Oakland's Gang Injunction System calls for in-court identification of suspects using judge, jury, and law, it takes the issue of determining who's part of a gang our of the hands of the Oakland Police on the street.

Injunctions Working?

Russo says the Oakland injunction's will be successful because they're focused on the individual. But the basic point is it's too early to tell if the injunctions are totally successul or not. It's in the process of being applied and is new. Russo says "It's not a be all end all. It's a tool." He says it comes up via the Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils which are neighborhood watch groups like the one for Lake Merritt's Adams Point we call 14x. That group uses a Yahoo Group to share crime information with the Oakland Police representative for that area.

Gang Injunctions Racist?

On the idea that the Oakland Gang Injunction is racist, focusing on black and brown in poor Oakland neighborhoods, Russo gets pissed. "It's racist," he charges," to allow innocent people to be terrorized," by criminals in the areas that happen to be black and brown, and do nothing about it for fear of being called racist for taking action.

But Russo saves his greatest venom for the Siegels Dan and Michael and their law firm Siegel and Lee, who he says are going to Oakland Schools with bullhorns and openly lying to teenagers about the Oakland Gang Injunction saying that it's directed at them. "There's no one under 18 on the injunction list, and there never will be anyone under 18 on the injunction list," Russo blasts.

A Better Way

To this blogger, the real problem is that Oakland lacks a systems approach to deal with this problem. A crime is more than a police issue, it's an economic development and housing issue too. We should know if the people involved had jobs and if not, why not. Then work to get them employed. Instead, all we do is lock people up. It's massively stupid and only temporarily effective at best. The Oakland Gang Injunction is but one tool, the problem is the City of Oakland doesn't know how to use the other tools at its disposal, like Redevelopment, together with it. And by Redevelopment, I do not mean population removal, but population resource improvement.

Stay tuned.

Florida School Board Shooting: Clay Duke Opens Fire During Meeting

On Tuesday December 14th Clay Duke, entered a Bay District school board meeting and took members of the school board hostage, at gunpoint. Before brandishing his gun, 56 year old Clay Duke, wrote the letter "V" with a circle around it in red, on the wall. The same symbol used in the graphic novel and movie, V for Vendetta. He blamed the school board members for the loss of his wife's job and then pulled out a gun and ordered the women to leave the room.

Board member Ginger Littleton, who had left the room when instructed, returned and attempted to sneak up behind Clay Duke and knock the gun from his hand with her purse.  Clay Duke hit her with his pistol and then let her leave the room again. Nadine Yanis, a reporter for a local news station in Panama City said that, "If he wanted to kill her at that moment he could have, and he didn't."

Clay Duke then went on a rant for several minutes, complaining about the loss of his wife's job and a sales tax increase, as Superintendent Bill Husfelt attempted to calm him down. "I'm going to die tonight," said Clay Duke several times throughout his rant and repeated it once more just before firing his gun at the Superintendent. Clay Duke fired several more shots at the members of the board, saying "I'm gonna kill..... don't you understand." Fortunately, all of Clay Duke's shots missed and after firing four rounds he was shot in the leg by Mike Jones, a district security officer and former police detective. Clay Duke then turned his gun on himself.



None of the members of the school board were injured during the shooting.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my comic strip and other writings at www.theforceofnature.net

Bellagio Robbery: Armed Gunmen Robs Las Vegas Casino

An armed man entered the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas today and walked off with 1.5 million dollars worth of chips.  Despite Las Vegas casino's being renowned for their security, the robbery that took place on Tuesday, December 14th, was relatively simple.  The armed gunman rode up on his motorcycle and parked it at the entrance to the casino.  He then walked into the casino, approached a craps table and revealed his gun demanding the chips.  He then walked out of the casino and rode of on his motorcycle.  The gunmen kept his helmet on the entire time and so can't be identified.



The robbery may not be the gunman's first, a similar robbery occurred on December 9th at the Suncoast casino. In that incident the gunman only got away with 20,000 dollars.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my comic strip at www.theforceofnature.net

Aumsville, Oregon: Unlikely Tornado

Aumsville, Oregon, was the victim of an unlikely tornado today.  The tornado touched down at around noon on Tuesday, December 14th, leaving part of the town demolished.  Jim Kusz, the public information office for the North Lincoln Fire and Rescue reported that, "Nobody was injured.  Nobody was staying in the second floor rooms."  Citizens are being advised to avoid the areas where damage has occurred due to dangers from fallen power lines and crumbling buildings.  The Red Cross has responded and will most likely establish a shelter for displaced citizens of the town.  A suitable location must be found first though, fortunately only a region of the town was damaged by the twister.

John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my daily comic at www.theforceofnature.net

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson Split

Stop the presses: some extremely important information needs to be reported (sorry for still being in a cynical blogger mood, college student + finals = lots of sarcasm and bias). There has been another celebrity break-up. This one is a little bit more important than Zac and Vanessa, because both of these celebrities are hot commodities, and they were married.

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson are said to have split up. The two were married late 2008, and apparently someone told People Magazine that the two have been separated for six months. Awesome, they are both back on the market.

The two were always quiet about their married life, maybe that was for the better. It's always sad when the loud boisterous couples who show off their love and talk about each other 24/7 end up splitting - because then they are constantly reminded of all those sweetsy cutesy things that end up being reposted and shown on television. So, it's probably good to keep a low profile.

Another news source talking about this is The Sydney Morning Herald - in Australia. (Oh, it is morning over there!) Australia news sources are already reporting about this! C'mon America - get with it. When the two news sources reporting this include People Magazine and an Australian publication there is a problem. What could be more important for CNN to report about than this ending relationship?! Okay, the sarcasm ends here - in fear that someone might actual believe these statements.

Back to work for the college student - last touches on an feature article.

Mayor Timothy Davlin Found Dead

The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, Timothy Davlin, was found dead in his home.

NPR reports that the details of his death are still being investigated and that Police Chief Robert Williams says that the situation is very dynamic and still evolving.

However, Fox News has decided to already report and say that Davlin committed suicide. Way to show respect for the dead. The lack of respect also is shown to the family, because other news sources have not released such information, but Fox News is willing to put in a headline that this was a suicide. It is reported that according to the State-Journal Register that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but all the details are not currently released to the public. Fox also makes sure that everyone reading the article knows that this man, Davlin, was a Democrat.

There are a lot more controversial things that can be said about Davlin including that he missed his court appearance and the charges that he faced - but instead this will just inform that he has been found dead in his home and hopefully it can all be figured out.

Richard Holbrooke Has Died At 69: Torn Aorta

Richard Holbrooke, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a key player in President Obama's Afghanistan war strategy and relationships there, has died at 69 years of age.

Holbrooke's passing came after surgery.

Politico had reported that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Holbrooke was in "stable but still in very critical condition." He had just sustained 20 hours of surgery for a torn Aorta. The most common cause of a torn Aorta is High Blood Pressure.

Holbrooke has served three presidents, and been involved in American Foreign policy at some level, almost since he left college at Brown University in 1962 (photo by Brown University). He is survived by his wife, Kati Marton.

U-Cubed to Unemployed: Pour it On...NOW

In an urgent email sent out to all Leaders and Activists today, U-Cubed advised all unemployed Americans to “Pour it On!”

The email in it’s entirety reads:

Dear UCubed Leaders and Activists:

Pour it on. Email Congress. Send Letters to the Editor … every day, twice a day, even hourly. Congress is giving $540 billion – over half a trillion dollars – in tax breaks to corporations and wealthy Americans. And yet, this tax deal contains not a dime for the 99ers, not a penny for direct job creation.

Clog their inboxes. You can find the UCubed Legislative Action links here, here, and here.

Congress plans to adjourn this Friday, December 17th. So pour it on! NOW!

The email was sent “In Unity -- Strength”, by Rick Sloan [Acting Executive Director of U-Cubed Union of Unemployed]

If you have not yet joined U-Cubed, http://www.unionofunemployed.com/ it is free and there is great strength in numbers of Americans working toward the same goals - Jobs for Americans and until those jobs are available - UI benefits for ALL Unemployed (not just the more recent members of the jobless community in this country). When you get there, send me Paladinette a Friend Request.

Every unemployed American, their friends and family need to PLEASE contact your congressional House member immediately and often. Do NOT stop contacting them until they hear you loud and clear.

My advice is NOT to waste your time contacting your senators, as they have already demonstrated by the HR 4853 test vote today on the Senate floor that they are not acting in the best interests of American Jobless workers.

Unemployed Non-99ers need to WAKE UP:

The unemployed in this country are being sold a bill of goods by the President, the media, phony pollsters and most members of Congress.



FACT: The 13 month extension in this compromise does NOT guarantee your benefits continue for the entire 13 months.

FACT: If you have exhausted all available Tiers of benefits already, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU AT ALL.

FACT: If you are on Tier 2 now (or soon will be) and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU AT ALL and after 14 weeks of Tier 2 you will have no more UI at all.

FACT: If you are collecting in Tier 1 and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU COLLECT past the additional 14 weeks of Tier 2.

FACT: If you are collecting now on your original 26 weeks of State benefits and your state does not meet the state UI % threshold for Tiers 3 and or 4, HR 4853 WILL NOT HELP YOU COLLECT past the additional 20 weeks in Tier 1 + 14 weeks of Tier 2 That = 36 weeks or a about 8 months NOT 13 Months.

If you think that 8 months is enough time to land a job in this terrible economy, just consider that millions of Americans have been unsuccessful in landing any job for well over 2.5 years of desperate searching. Including 9 months now without any UI benefits - of course I am referring to the 99ers.

A majority of House Democrats will likely oppose the Senate compromise on a tax bill expected to go to the House later this week, but Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Today he thinks it will ultimately pass.

Nancy Pelosi may hold the key to the only chance left for the 99ers to get some help out of this $900 billion giveaway, as she has indicated a refusal to bring the bill in it’s current form to the House floor without significant changes.

The Congressional Black Caucus is already on record as to being opposed to HR 4853 unless a Tier 5 amendment to aid the 99ers is added first.

Please splash the link to this article all over the net. Republish and reprint net wide with my blessing. Post on Twitter and Digg, Facebook, Myspace and whatever social media pages you have access to and where unemployed Americans can read.

You will find a complete list of all Congressional members, by state - their phone /fax numbers, party affiliation and district number at: http://joblessunite.yolasite.com/legislators-list.php

Now let’s get moving people!

[Please use the donation button below to help Paladinette to KEEP FIGHTING for the 99ers! Thank you.]

Sal Alosi: Jets Coach Trips Dolphin Player

Sal Alosi, the strength and conditioning coach for the Jets, tripped a Nolan Carroll during a game on 12/12/10. While this type of behavior should definitely be punished, I still think it's freaking hilarious.

I'm sure we can all relate to having a mischievous thoughts pop into our head from time to time. Most of the time we don't act on them, and some of the time, we act on them without thinking. Was Sal Alosi acting like a dick? Yeah, probably, but don't we all secretly wish that we could do those mischievous deeds that pop into our head from time to time?

Unfortunately, whatever satisfaction Alosi may have gotten for his devious behavior didn't last long. Right after he tripped Nolan Carroll, Coach Sparano was getting an earful about how someone had stuck there foot out from the sideline. "I talked to the referee. I didn't see it at that particular time. I told him at that point that it was on tape and the people upstairs are telling me that's what they see."

Sal Alosi made a public statement about his actions saying that "I made a mistake that showed a total lapse in judgment," he went on to say that he made apologies to Carroll, Coach Sparano, and members of the Jets organization Coach Ryan, General Manager Mike Tannenbaum, and Owner Woody Johnson. Apologizing to the owner must have been the most difficult, as I imagine that it's hard to keep a straight face while apologizing to someone named Woody Johnson.

Nolan Carroll made this statement about the incident. "We got a W. That's not my problem," Carroll said. "That's the Jets' problem. We just move on. I felt contact, but I've got to watch film. I can't comment on it right now." You know he's pissed, but beating a team after one of their coaches trips you has got to add a little something extra to a win and take a bit of an edge of the sting to your pride.

No comments have been made as to what actions will be taken against Sal Alosi, but it's possible that he could be facing disciplinary action from the Jets organization and the NFL. In regards to whatever consequences result from his indiscretion Sal Alosi had this to say "I accept full responsibility for my actions as well as any punishment that follows." I can't imagine that he'll keep his job after this, but I suppose if you're going to ruin your career you might as well do it in a way that gives you a story to tell. Years from now Alosi will be able to tell his grandkids how he got fired from his job with an NFL team for tripping a player during a game.




John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my daily comic

John Boehner Cries - So What?

Honestly, what is the big deal ABC News? The headline reads "John Boehner Cries. Again. A lot." This is one of the top posts on Google News, really?

In theory with the list of what makes a story newsworthy this would qualify, but really - big deal. He cried. Maybe if the article was more about our incoming Speaker of the House not being afraid to show emotion - then maybe the article would seem more necessary.

But really? An article created just for the sole purpose of him crying. And now, a blog post has been created to criticize the choices made by other news outlets to make Boehner crying into a story worthy of being on the top of Google News.

Well enough time wasted on that. Back to studying for finals and working on articles.




It's far more important WHAT he was talking about and what made him cry etc. rather than the fact he was crying. Sure, include that tidbit within the article - comment about it and then post the video, but to base an article around the fact that a grown man cried; it's just sensationalism that would be expected of Fox News. Looks like everyone is jealous that Fox gets all the views so news sources are trying to copy Fox.


--Cynical College Student

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens Split

Yes ladies, it seems that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens have broken up - for real. Well - according to TMZ it's for real, but lately the credibility of TMZ when it comes to celebrities is sky rocketing.

Babble.com

How sad, the two had been going strong and going on for a very long time - she made them sound so perfect in her interview with Glamour (when subscribing to a magazine reading it cover to cover is a habit).

So a bunch of teenage girls are probably more excited for this than anyone. Zac Efron on the market - wonder when all the juicy gossip will start to spill about this split. It was almost in the stars that the two would be forever in love, or something like that. Disney would have profited from that in some how, manufacturing true love for once.

Now, time to go back to working on finals and big deal feature article. The life of a college student is always interesting, but always able to make time to blog about a celebrity break-up.

Minnesota Vikings: Stadium Roof Collapse

The roof to the Minnesota Vikings' Metrodome collapsed early Sunday morning due to heavy snow fall. The cave in caused the Vikings to cancel their game schedule for that day. The NFL moved the game to the Lion's home field for a 7:20pm kick off. Tickets will be refunded to fans who couldn't make it to Detroit. Here is some video of the cave in.




John Bobst aka The Force of Nature

Check out my website for my daily comic.