Grumpy Editor

L.A. schools go soft on lawbreakers, but not Compton

While the Los Angeles Unified School District, with more than 640,000 students at nearly 1,100 schools and charter schools, was getting wide media attention in softening its policy on students with bad behavior by sending them to principals offices or counseling centers rather than issuing citations or arresting them, a nearby school district was getting tougher, notes Grumpy Editor.

On the same day the new, less punitive Los Angeles policy involving students caught fighting, vandalizing, possessing alcohol or marijuana, or worse, was announced for the nation’s second largest school district, Compton --- a Los Angeles suburb --- revealed the new policy for schools in its unified school district will allow campus police to carry semi-automatic AR-15 rifles in trunks of patrol cars.

As activists, educators and justice officials praised the new L.A. policy for misbehaving students, some Compton residents were unhappy about the new policy for the 27,000 students in their district.

Compton’s policy allowing rifles in patrol cars, as presented to the school board, could be a “more effective means to protect the students, staff, community and police personnel in high risk and/or dangerous situations.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

FEMA.  Those four letters were not heard in broadcast news reports from the 6.0 magnitude California earthquake yesterday centered around Napa.  The shaker, biggest in the region in a quarter of a century, damaged buildings and set some homes on fire.  Yet, no mention of the Federal Emergency Management Agency coming to the rescue with assistance... It wasn’t too far back when widely-appearing photos of wilting corn stalks illustrated “climate change/drought effects.”  Now, U.S. farmers are up to their ears (a bit of humor from Grumpy Editor) in the crop.  As The Wall Street Journal puts it:  “Months of wet weather have fueled expectations for a corn crop so large that mounds of the grain will be a common sight across the Midwest after the harvest, which starts next month.”  Production is expected to exceed 14 billion bushels, topping last year’s historic harvest…The Washington Post’s editorial board says it will no longer use the “Redskins” term in identifying the D.C. football team. Reason?  Some Native Americans consider use of that name offensive…Whoops!  A 28-year-old contestant from Long Island who appeared on VH1’s “Dating Naked” series on July 31, files a $10 million lawsuit against the show’s producers and Viacom, the network’s parent company, claiming she felt “beyond embarrassed” by an uncensored naked crotch shot.  Seems her genitals were not pixilated, as promised…With less advertising sales that supported its $291,000 budget, the student newspaper at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, eliminates Fridays and now publishes Mondays through Thursdays…Post-vacation surprise:  When Gopal Ratnam, national security reporter, returned to the Washington, D.C. Bloomberg News bureau after two weeks reporting in the field, he was immediately laid off, joining others at the D.C. office who bid farewell over the past two weeks… More on Los Angeles Times new publisher Austin Beutner:  LAObserved.com notes, “While being paid $675,000 a year base salary plus an annual bonus with the target of the same amount, Beutner will also start to build up a little ownership stake --- a head start in case he ever wants to buy The Times”…Double whammy:  Along with Florida’s orange growers facing a bacterial disease hitting trees, Americans are snubbing the breakfast beverage for more exotic juices.

Some listeners and Department of Justice (DOJ) staffers tuned to ABC Radio news on Tuesday may have missed a slip of the tongue by President Barack Obama who declared:

“The D-O-Gee works for me."

 

 

FEMA denies aid where 300 homes were destroyed by fire

Getting surprisingly little attention from major media was the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to deny financial assistance to Washington state’s Okanogan County residents where more than 300 homes were lost in wildfires, notes Grumpy Editor. 

The Wall Street Journal, however, reported the rejection, pointing out in addition to the lost homes in the state’s worst fire outbreak on record, “more than 100 outbuildings were destroyed, hundreds of cattle died and thousands of acres of rangeland and farmland were burned.” 

The Republican-dominated county with 41,000 residents is the largest in the state. 

WSJ reporter Jim Carlton said Elizabeth Zimmerman, FEMA deputy associate administrator, denied assistance for “individuals and households” in the county near the Canadian border because “damage assessments determined the impact to residents was ‘not of the severity and magnitude’ to warrant FEMA assistance.” 

Carlton added Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said, “We don’t always ask for help, but when we do we would have expected a little more help from the federal government.”

An appeal is pending on the FEMA decision.

 

DID YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISS THESE?

The evils of hiking sales tax:  After Japan raised the national sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent on April 1, corporate investment dropped, households cut spending and gross domestic product fell an estimated 7 percent in the second quarter…Of interest to U.S. households that find raising kids is becoming increasingly costly:  A Reuters/Ipsos poll tallied 51 percent of Americans believe children who crossed the border illegally from Mexico “should be allowed to remain in the country for some length of time”… Good time to ask for a bank loan.  U.S. banks posted $40.24 billion in net income in the second quarter, the industry's second-highest profit total in at least 23 years, according to research firm SNL Financial…A Rasmussen Reports survey found a whopping 83 percent of American adults believe English should be the official language of the United States. (The U.S. government has yet to take that step.) “Most also agree overwhelmingly that it’s important to know the language to get ahead in today's world,” added Rasmussen…An ABC Radio news report on unusually heavy rain on New York’s Long Island worked in mention that the cause was attributed to --- global warming…To illustrate an Associate Press story on increasing numbers of Cubans migrating to Florida, a photo showing a Florida Straits rescue in rough seas by the U.S. Coast Guard was found deep in the files --- from 1994. It ran complete with AP photographer’s credit line…Debuting in the news field, Austin Beutner, 54, former Wall Street investment banker and a former Los Angeles deputy mayor, was named CEO and publisher of the Los Angeles Times…Another case of a burglarized TV van. This time while the news crew from CBS affiliate WUSA was in the Petworth neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. conducting interviews, most of their gear was stolen from the locked van.  Some items were recovered from dumpsters.

Current line tossed to media when details from the Pentagon are unavailable:    “We’re assessing the situation.”

Obama –-- plus Hillary –-- visits arouse Martha’s Vineyard

President Barack Obama, three days into an eyebrow-raising summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, already is gearing up for another fundraiser, this one tonight on the island, an affluent summer colony off Cape Cod, notes Grumpy Editor.

With the president in a rented three-story, seven bedroom, 8,100-square-foot home on the island over the next two weeks are wife Michelle, daughter Malia and dogs Bo and Sunny.  The vacation comes at a time of mounting crisis in Iraq with U.S. air strikes on terrorists, Hamas threatening major escalation in rocket strikes on Israel and widening problems stemming from illegals crossing the southern border. 

Added to all this, a secondary political attraction arrives Wednesday when former First Lady Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive on the island for a book-signing event. 

Meanwhile, some Martha’s Vineyard merchants --- such as ice cream shops and restaurants --- are excited, feeling that the president’s presence on the island will boost business in a season that has been slow. 

They overlook grumbling from others stemming from heightened security activity in the air and on the ground plus road delays and slow traffic as presidential motorcades make their way around the island to a golf course, a restaurant or to other locations such as in the past --- bicycle rides. 

Among major growlers:  private fliers. 

With the president on the island, the Federal Aviation Administration has instituted a 30-nautical mile perimeter temporary flight restriction for Martha’s Vineyard that runs through 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 25, reveals Sara Brown, Vineyard Gazette reporter. 

Obama was off to a golf course within 30 minutes of arrival on Saturday.

 

DID YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISS THESE?

Declaring corporate America has done well under his economic policies, President Barack Obama tells London-based Economist magazine that chief executive officers should stop complaining about regulations and show greater social responsibility…An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds six in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the U.S. economy, more than 70 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and nearly 80 percent are down on the country’s political system…Okay, so it's "torture" for the bad guys:  In changing editorial word usage, The New York Times no longer will describe interrogation methods on terror suspects as “harsh or brutal” and now will term the procedures “torture”…A University of Southern California study finds Hollywood movies are under-representing non-white ethnic groups in the U.S., with Hispanic actors cast in five percent of speaking parts in last year’s 100 top grossing films despite making up more than 16 percent of the population; black actors appeared in 14 percent of roles while 17 percent of movies had no black speaking parts…Unsettling news for J-students:  In another study, the University of Georgia Grady College finds 2013 consumer magazine starting salaries of graduates with bachelor degrees in journalism sank $5,000 a year lower than the prior year…Not much mention in print or broadcast outlets that USASpending.gov, which tracks government spending, can’t locate at least $619 billion from 302 federal programs…More military trimming: Because of “financial restraints,” the U.S. Air Force’s 65^th Aggressor Squadron, based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, will be deactivated on Sept. 26…Hollis R. Towns, executive editor/vice president news at New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press, informs readers the newspaper is “hiring more reporters to help cover the community better” and “establish better relationships with you” while “putting more resources into digital”…Los Angeles radio station KFWB next month switches from its long-time news/talk format to all sports chatter.

 

In discussing the thousands of young illegals showing up at the southern border, Vice President Joe Biden declares:  "These are not somebody else's kids. These are our kids." 

 

Media fuzziness prevails with market drop, jobs report

It was a tough two days for stock market investors and those with 401(k) plans as the Dow Jones industrial average ended the week tumbling almost 400 points from Wednesday’s level, notes Grumpy Editor.

With a steep decline of 317 points on Thursday, the White House press corps, busy focusing on other world and national matters, didn’t blink eyes or seek amplification on President Barack Obama’s dual declarations at the beginning (“the economy is getting stronger”) and toward the end (“the economy is better”) of Friday’s press conference. 

In the last 30 minutes of trading after the press session concluded, the DJ industrials fell an additional 40 points to close down 70 points for the day, ending the week at 16493.37 --- wiping out stock market gains for the year.

Meanwhile, media fuzziness showed with the monthly jobs report on Friday.  News reports used such uplifting phrases as “sturdy pace” and “most robust stretch of hiring” as the Labor Department tallied an additional 209,000 jobs in July.

Sounds good.

However, that marked a drop from the previous month’s 298,000 jobs created while 9.7 million Americans remained unemployed as July showed an uptick of 6.2 percent without jobs from the prior month’s 6.1 percent.

An interesting element missed by major media but covered by Ali Meyer, economics reporter at CNSNews.com was that the number of unemployed women 16 years and up rose by 227,000 in July while the unemployment rate for females increased to 6.2 percent from 5.9 percent.

Meyer pointed out there were 4,494,000 women unemployed in July. 

With last week’s sharp drop in the stock market, the Associated Press explained the dumping of stocks was caused partly because “a number of large U.S. companies reported poor quarterly results or forecasts.” 

“Poor” turned brighter several paragraphs later when AP answered the question on if the stock market rally is over:  “Company earnings, one of the most important drivers of stock prices, are still at record levels and are expected to grow by 8.6 percent in the second quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ.”  (The New York-based multinational financial information provider is a division of Standard & Poor's.)  

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

A report from Human Rights Watch and American Civil Liberties Union concluded journalists have to dig harder to obtain sensitive information because they are aware the government can track their exchanges with sources through phone, email and other records, thus leading to fewer “willing talkers” in government…Of special interest to World War II veterans who fought in Europe:  a German general will become U.S. Army chief of staff in Europe, part of the strategy to internationalize the U.S. Army’s overseas operations…Oops, wrong site: On the front page of The Wall Street Journal, a What’s News brief read, “Investigators failed to reach the crash sight of the Malaysia Air jet for a third day…NewsBusters pointed out “on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams left out a key detail from his news brief about his network's upcoming live production of Peter Pan.”  The anchor announced Allison Williams will play the role of Peter Pan but omitted mention that the actress is his daughter…Gray Lady pushes pot:  In calling for legalization of marijuana, a New York Times editorial said the war on pot is worse for America than using pot, adding "the social costs of marijuana laws are vast" and "the result is racist," then urged Congress to repeal the federal ban on pot, noting the weed is "far less dangerous than alcohol”…LAObserved.com noted KABC-TV, Los Angeles, in connection with the major water main break on Sunset Blvd. near UCLA, got pranked on air by a caller who identified himself as a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman.  “He blamed the break on activity in one of the Pauley Pavilion locker rooms --- either a cherry bomb in the toilet or ‘a very large dump.’ While co-anchor Ellen Leyva pressed 'are you 100% sure about this?' a male voice could be heard mumbling 'it's a fake call'"…On the heels of slashing about 1,200 U.S. Army captains from the ranks, the Obama administration continued downsizing the military by informing about 550 U.S. Army majors they must leave the service by next spring…Also shrinking:  Procter & Gamble will jettison more than half its brands within two years, leaving it with about 70 to 80 of its top performers.

A RARITY:  T-storm delays INDOOR baseball game.   Los Angeles Angels-Tampa Bay Rays game was delayed 19 minutes in the third inning yesterday afternoon as a lightning bolt triggered a power outage at the enclosed Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.  Angels went on to win 7-5.