Orange County scores and player stats for Wednesday, Feb. 21

• February 22, 2024

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Wednesday, Feb. 21

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WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

NONLEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 3, Notre Dame/SO 0

Mater Dei 5, Corona del Sol (AZ) 0

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

NONLEAGUE

La Serna def. Kennedy, 25-21, 25-22, 31-29

Santa Margarita def. Irvine, 25-20, 29-27, 25-20

El Dorado def. Valencia, 3-0

Savanna def. Loara, 25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22

Santa Ana def. Ocean View, 3-0

Rancho Alamitos def. Oxford Academy, 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18

Santa Ana Valley def. Garden Grove, 24-26, 25-16, 25-21, 25-19

San Clemente def. Carlsbad, 25-15, 25-16, 25-16

Tesoro def. Woodbridge, 3-0

GIRLS LACROSSE

NONLEAGUE

JSerra 18, Beckman 5

Goals: (Beck) Dimos 3

Other scores

Orange Lutheran 21, Millikan 2

Yorba Linda 14, University 12

BOYS LACROSSE

NONLEAGUE

Edison 8, San Juan Hills 5

Orange Lutheran 19, Esperanza 3

Aliso Niguel 6, Huntington Beach 5

Segerstrom 17, Laguna Hills 2

Murrieta Mesa 10, Portola 3

BOYS TENNIS

NONLEAGUE

JSerra 14, Foothill 4

Beckman 6, JSerra 2

Beckman 4, Claremont 4 (Beckman wins on games, 42-40)

GIRLS SWIMMING

NONLEAGUE

Edison 101, Irvine 69

El Dorado 89, Fullerton 79

BOYS SWIMMING

NONLEAGUE

Irvine 92, Edison 78

El Dorado 111, Fullerton 55

​ Orange County Register 

White House weighing executive actions on the border — with immigration powers used by Trump

• February 22, 2024

By SEUNG MIN KIM and COLLEEN LONG

WASHINGTON — The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

The administration, stymied by Republican lawmakers who rejected a negotiated border bill earlier this month, has been exploring options that President Joe Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval, multiple officials and others familiar with the talks said. But the plans are nowhere near finalized and it’s unclear how the administration would draft any such executive actions in a way that would survive the inevitable legal challenges. The officials and those familiar with the talks spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to comment on private ongoing White House discussions.

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The exploration of such avenues by Biden’s team underscores the pressure the president faces this election year on immigration and the border, which have been among his biggest political liabilities since he took office. For now, the White House has been hammering congressional Republicans for refusing to act on border legislation that the GOP demanded, but the administration is also aware of the political perils that high numbers of migrants could pose for the president and is scrambling to figure out how Biden could ease the problem on his own.

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández stressed that “no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.”

“The administration spent months negotiating in good faith to deliver the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in decades because we need Congress to make significant policy reforms and to provide additional funding to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system,” he said. “Congressional Republicans chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security, rejected what border agents have said they need, and then gave themselves a two-week vacation.”

Arrests for illegal crossings on the U.S. border with Mexico fell by half in January from record highs in December to the third lowest month of Biden’s presidency. But officials fear those figures could eventually rise again, particularly as the November presidential election nears.

The immigration authority the administration has been looking into is outlined in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives a president broad leeway to block entry of certain immigrants into the United States if it would be “detrimental” to the national interest of the United States.

Trump, who is the likely GOP candidate to face off against Biden this fall, repeatedly leaned on the 212(f) power while in office, including his controversial ban to bar travelers from Muslim-majority nations. Biden rescinded that ban on his first day in office through executive order.

But now, how Biden would deploy that power to deal with his own immigration challenges is currently being considered, and it could be used in a variety of ways, according to the people familiar with the discussions. For example, the ban could kick in when border crossings hit a certain number. That echoes a provision in the Senate border deal, which would have activated expulsions of migrants if the number of illegal border crossings reached above 5,000 daily for a five-day average.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has also called on Biden to use the 212(f) authority. Yet the comprehensive immigration overhaul Biden also introduced on his first day in office — which the White House continues to tout — includes provisions that would effectively scale back a president’s powers to bar immigrants under that authority.

​ Orange County Register 

Arrest made in gruesome killing of downtown LA model

• February 22, 2024

LOS ANGELES — A 41-year-old Minnesota man remained in custody Wednesday in connection with the September killing of a model who was severely beaten, bound, gagged and stuffed inside the refrigerator of her downtown Los Angeles apartment.

Magnus Daniel Humphrey, who is on probation for federal narcotics offenses, was taken into custody at his home in Minnesota on an unrelated federal warrant, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He subsequently waived extradition proceedings and agreed to be brought back to Los Angeles to face charges stemming from the September killing of Maleesa Mooney, 31.

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Mooney, the sister of Guyanese pop singer Jourdin Pauline, was found dead in her apartment on the 200 block of South Figueroa Street around 3:55 p.m. Sept. 12.

According to court records, Humphrey was charged on Dec. 6 with murder and torture. The murder charge includes a special allegation of murder during the commission of torture. It was not immediately clear when Humphrey would be brought to Los Angeles and appear in court.

No details were immediately released on what led investigators to Humphrey.

According to an autopsy report, Mooney’s body showed evidence of blunt force trauma, including abrasions, lacerations and contusions around her head and neck, body and extremities.

According to the Medical Examiner report, Mooney was last seen alive Sept. 6 on surveillance video at her apartment complex. Police went to her apartment Sept. 12 in response to a call from her mother requesting a welfare check.

Responding officers “found Ms. Mooney’s body wedged inside the refrigerator” with blood on the floor outside of it, according to the autopsy report.

The woman’s wrists and ankles were bound, “and these bindings were tied to each other behind her back with miscellaneous electronic cords and clothing items. Additional clothing items were found around her face and neck. An apparent gag, fashioned out of an article of clothing, was stuffed in her mouth,” according to the report.

The Medical Examiner’s report noted that toxicology testing found evidence of recent cocaine use.

The report noted that the blunt force trauma injuries she suffered “are generally not considered acutely life threatening on their own.”

“However, based on the circumstances of how Ms. Mooney was found, these injuries suggest she was likely involved in (a) violent physical altercation prior to her death,” according to the report.

The report notes that suffocation may have played a role in her death, and the role that alcohol or drugs may have played “is uncertain.”

The report concluded by labeling the death a homicide, caused by “homicidal violence.”

Jourdin Pauline posted a tribute to her sibling on Instagram following her death.

“My heart is crushed, I can’t believe you won’t be here with us anymore. You were so loving and so kind to everyone. You made sure if you ate everyone around you was too. You opened your arms to people who didn’t deserve you as a friend. You’re the best thing to happen to almost everyone’s lives you touched!!!”

She added, “The reason I’m me is because of you!!! … My first best friend the one who taught me everything I know!!!!! How is this even possible you won’t be here. … This feels so surreal. I keep waking up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream. We will get justice for you my sister. I promise you won’t be gone in vain!!!”

Mooney’s family indicated in early October that Mooney was two months pregnant when she died. However, the autopsy report made no mention of pregnancy.

The report noted that while Mooney was last seen alive Sept. 6, surveillance video from the apartment building showed an unidentified male using her key fob to use the building’s elevator, then carrying plastic bags to her apartment.

Mooney’s body was found two days after another model, 32-year-old Nichole Coats, was found dead inside a downtown apartment less than three miles away. Police eventually determined the deaths were not related, and the Medical Examiner later ruled Coats’ death an accident due to “cocaine and ethanol toxicity.”

​ Orange County Register 

The U.S. should continue to aid Ukraine, but with robust accountability measures

• February 22, 2024

In his book The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman wrote that “the world is an interconnected economic integration, which supersedes ideological and political differences, and no player would likely dare to jeopardize that arrangement.”

Then along came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is not one of the NATO countries. The U.S. has no obligation to defend them. But for several logical reasons, U.S. taxpayer money is being sent by the billions in hopes it can help save Ukraine from Russian aggression.

The attack of Russia on the sovereign state of Ukraine poses a significant challenge to the international community’s dedication to upholding the global order.

Much of the world looks up to the U.S. as a beacon of freedom, and President Joe Biden’s response to Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine, a sovereign state, has shown strong leadership. He has helped enable Ukraine to defend itself.

But Congress is divided on whether to continue U.S. financial support or impose a price tag on it. The Senate voted 70 to 29 to approve the emergency national security funding package, which includes $60 billion in war aid for Ukraine alongside funding for Israel, Taiwan, and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Eighteen Republicans backed the legislation after former president Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, criticized the bill on social media by saying that the foreign aid should take the form of a loan.

Although I am not a fan of Donald Trump, I must agree with his stance. This approach makes sense for several reasons. My birthplace, Afghanistan, serves as a case in point.

During the past 20 years, the U.S. poured billions of dollars into Afghanistan to support the pro-American government of Ashraf Ghani, and it all turned out to be wasted when we ultimately witnessed the catastrophic collapse of the Afghan government in August of 2021.

A significant factor was the lack of oversight and accountability in Afghanistan and America, which resulted in waste, corruption and inadequate maintenance of the equipment and armor received from the U.S. I know this because I was there, working as an interpreter for the NATO/International Security Assistance Force, both during and after the war.

We saw a lack of supervision that enabled U.S. taxpayers’ money to end up in the accounts of corrupt Afghan military and civilian officials. I recall that in several meetings between American and Afghan army officials, Afghan commanders complained about soldiers and subordinates ignoring or even talking back to them, invoking the notion that they are paid by the Americans rather than the Afghan government. Why should the Afghan rank and file be obeying their Afghan commanders? This mentality cascaded into a lack of progress on the battlefield and low morale.

The notion that the U.S. should provide military equipment, air shelter during combat, and pay for various expenses was eroding the Afghans’ own self-reliance, and they had come to depend on Americans.

The Ukraine army could not escape the same scenario; it’s what I call free-for-all fatigue or the curse of dependence. Some Ukraine officials already stand accused of funneling financial aid into their private accounts, and Several top Ukrainian officials were fired amid a ballooning corruption scandal in the biggest upheaval in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government since Russia’s invasion began 11 months ago.

I am not arguing that the U.S. should not help, but rather that they should help with accountability. It should be reciprocal.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said, “I mean, why shouldn’t Ukraine, which is mineral rich with the things that we need as a free country, or for that matter, frozen Russian assets that we have, why wouldn’t we make those things available to the American taxpayer to replenish the generosity/” 

Another option, as Max Boot writes in the Washington Post, is first to send Ukraine the estimated $300 billion in frozen Russian assets held in the West, primarily in a Belgian clearinghouse. The European Union and the Group of Seven recently agreed to send Ukraine the profits from Russian holdings, which could amount to $4 billion this year. But it would be far more effective to send the entire amount to make clear to Putin that aggression does not pay — literally.

Trump is right to say that the Europeans should also help themselves, and his call is getting momentum. We should help Ukraine because it wants to be free and join the Western world. They don’t want to live in constant fear of being overtaken by Russia.

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Unless Congress passes the Defense Department’s supplemental funding request, Ukraine will not be able to defend itself against Russian aggression, a senior defense official told the news media this week.

If we send military aid, we’ll spend some billions of dollars now to invest in peace and security for the future. There are those who argue that U.S. aid to Ukraine serves only to prolong a deadly conflict that has already cost both sides hundreds of thousands of casualties. But let’s keep in mind that appeasement is not the right policy. As Winston Churchill famously said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Helping Ukraine is a win-win situation. It’s an investment in the future of freedom that will assure U.S. allies that the U.S. is not just a fair-weather friend. Helping Ukraine is a clear message to Putin that the U.S. stands with its allies and will stand up to Putin’s aggression

But the Ukrainians who have bravely endured Putin’s ruthless invasion of their country should not expect all aid to be given for free. As author Sebastian Douglas famously said, “Nothing in this world is free; not even freedom itself.”

Wahab Raofi is an independent writer who focuses on global affairs. He is a graduate of Kabul Law School and worked at various levels for the Ministry of Justice in his native Afghanistan. He immigrated to the United States, has a home in California, and worked with the NATO/International Security Assistance Force as an interpreter in Afghanistan. 

​ Orange County Register 

Amber Alert canceled after 2-year-old girl taken by mother in Garden Grove is found safe

• February 22, 2024

An Amber Alert issued Wednesday for a 2-year-old girl reportedly abducted by her mother in Garden Grove has been canceled after the toddler was found safe, authorities said.

The California Highway Patrol issued the Amber Alert at around 2:11 p.m. after the girl was abducted at 11:16 a.m. during a visit with her mother that was supervised by a social worker. Garden Grove police later said the girl is a ward of the state.

Garden Grove PD said that a man walked up and pepper sprayed the social worker before he and the girl’s mother took off with the child. Another man was waiting in a nearby vehicle and drove both suspects and the toddler away.

Police announced around 4 p.m. that the toddler had been found safe with her mother and the man who pepper sprayed the social worker at a bus station in Palm Springs.

The toddler’s mother, 21-year-old Ileane Shelton, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. The man who pepper sprayed the social worker was arrested as well, but his connection to the toddler and her mother is unclear. The third suspect was outstanding.

City News Service contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

McDonald’s announces anime dining experience in West Hollywood

• February 22, 2024

McDonald’s is bringing WcDonald’s to its own planet.

The fast food giant has announced an ambitious anime promotion built around a fictional, intergalactic fast food chain that turns the “M” McDonald’s into a “W.”

WcDonald’s, according to the website Fandom, dates from 1983 in the manga and anime franchise “Cat’s Eye” and has appeared in many forms of entertainment, including video games, webtoons and light novels.

McDonald’s partners in the project include illustrator Acky Bright and Studio Pierrot.

The promotion will kick off Monday, Feb. 26, according to a news release. It will include digital manga, anime shorts, a special dining experience in West Hollywood and, yes, hot sauce packets.

Manga chapters and anime shorts will drop Mondays, Feb. 26 through March 18. They can be accessed by QR codes on WcDonald’s packaging, which will include 10-piece WcNuggets, usually known as Chicken McNuggets. They will pair with a Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce for a limited time.

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The dining experience will take place March 9-10 at 8505 Santa Monica Blvd., across the street from the historical hot dog stand Tail o’ the Pup. The pop-up space will be transformed by 360 projection mapping and immersive tabletop projections, the news release said.

Diners will be able to make reservations beginning Wednesday, Feb. 28 at OpenTable, the news release said. Search on “WcDonald’s Immersive Dining Experience.”

A lot to absorb? McDonald’s has a website called wcdonalds.com to draw you in.

​ Orange County Register 

Frumpy Mom: Marla goes to Maui

• February 21, 2024

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, you should be reading this just as I am returning from a brief vacation to Maui. Which, in case you’ve forgotten, is in Hawaii, our 50th state.

The reason I’m taking the family to Maui is because I got super cheap airfares, which, as some of you know, is essentially the reason I go anywhere.

“A cheap airfare to Afghanistan? Where do I sign up? I’m bringing my burka so that pesky Taliban won’t be a problem.”

Okay, that’s a lie, even I have some standards, low though they might be. But when I saw $123 roundtrip nonstop fares to Maui, I had to snatch them immediately. Some of you are wondering why I’d want to go to Maui after they just had those devastating fires. But, see, here’s the thing: It’s a well-known fact that whenever there’s lots of press about a natural disaster – or really a disaster of any kind, including a visit from the Kardashians – people immediately cancel their reservations and change their plans.

They do this regardless of whether their vacations would actually be affected by the disaster. In fact, for decades I’ve made a habit of immediately buying plane tickets to any place suffering a disaster for six months hence, while the prices are low, knowing that things will almost certainly be better by then, and the locals will be happy to welcome my tourism dollars.

In the case of Maui, while the terrible fire there was devastating and essentially turned the charming town of Lahaina into a pile of cinders, the rest of the island was untouched. So the most famous attractions, such as the Road to Hana, the Haleakala volcano and such were still there and waiting to be explored.

That’s when Hawaiian Airlines offered this $123 airfare, to get people back to the island. And I was happy to be one of them. Because, you see, I’ve never been to Hawaii.

This always makes people laugh, because they know I’m a nonstop addicted maniacal travel junkie. So how could I have missed Hawaii for all these years?

Simple, really. When I was a teenager, our family was sent to a U.S. Air Force base in Puerto Rico where my father was stationed for three years. In case your geography is sketchy, Puerto Rico is an American territory in the Caribbean. Our mission on the base there was to keep a fleet of B-52 bombers warmed up and ready, just in case they had to fly over in a hurry and bomb Cuba. Even our high school football team was called the Bombers.

So, when I moved back to California, I figured I’d done tropical islands and I was ready for other adventures, such as being humiliated by rude Parisians for the crime of getting lost in Paris and going commando in Thailand after I forgot to pack my underwear.

However, my kids had other ideas. When they went back to school after any break, the teacher would invariably ask the students what they did on their vacation.

One by one, each student would stand up and say, “We went to Maui.” “My parents took us to Maui.” “We went snorkeling on Maui.”

And my kids would slink down in their seats and mutter “Egypt. We went to Egypt,” hoping no one could hear their uncool response.

In fact, the only place they ever wanted to go was Maui. So now we’re going, since at one time we reached the rare nexus of cheap airfares,  everyone able to get off work at the same time (which never happens) and the entire clan getting along with no one threatening to stay home because they’re mad at someone else.

Now what I didn’t expect after I bought those miraculously cheap airfares is that finding a place to stay was going to cost more than my entire college education. Seriously. Not making that up.

Holy moly, that island is expensive. I’ve already told everyone not to expect to eat for four days because I can’t afford the food. We can all stand to lose a few pounds, so we’ll just treat it like a fat farm.

I did splurge on a whale watch, because it turns out we’ll be there when humpback whales come down from the Arctic Circle to breed and give birth, right off the coast of Maui. I guess even whales find it romantic there.

I’ve been to Baja countless times to see gray whales there, but this will be my first view of a humpback nursery and I’m excited about it.

I rented a condo right across from the beach and am bringing a book to read. Yes, we’re bringing my grandson, Floyd, who’s now 10 months old and a great traveler, obviously thanks to my tutelage. He doesn’t even cry on the plane, because he knows we’re going somewhere exciting. The kid has already been to more places than I had been in my first 10 years of life.

I told my daughter, Floyd’s mom, to watch the movie “Auntie Mame” to get an idea of what kind of grandmother I intend to be. Hopefully, by the time you read this, he will have seen his first whale.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Related links

Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: I got spit on by a whale in Baja
The space shuttle is quieter than my kids
Marla Jo Fisher: Costco, the land of the giant carts
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: I lived through a Zumba class. Yes, I really did.
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: We made it through the wedding. And no one died.

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​ Orange County Register 

Orange County should defund supervisors’ slush funds

• February 21, 2024

First District Supervisor Andrew Do’s directing of millions of dollars in county funds to a nonprofit without disclosing its ties to his daughter has roiled Orange County. Prominent voices within Little Saigon have called for him to resign, as has this Editorial Board. In November, we called it “the final straw after a series of troubling financial-related incidents.” We stand by that assessment.

Nevertheless, the Do scandal isn’t solely about Andrew Do’s ethics. It’s also not mainly about the need for additional conflict-of-interest disclosures. We agree with Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Katrina Foley’s efforts to tighten up those oversight policies (which failed on a deadlocked board vote), but the scandal has simpler roots.

Orange County provides each supervisor with a discretionary budget – a cynic might call it a slush fund – to spend on district-specific projects. Unlike in some neighboring counties, supervisors don’t subject their specific earmarks to a board vote. (The full board approves only general spending categories and county staff vets contract details.)

As the Orange County Register reported, supervisors typically had $200,000 each to spend. Even that struck us an unusually large petty-cash drawer. Nevertheless, that number ballooned to $13 million after the federal government showered “free money” on county governments. That’s simply an asinine amount of largely unsupervised spending – and provides an open invitation for dodgy funding deals.

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Despite her support for more oversight, Foley defended the discretionary program. “We’re just giving the taxpayers back their money,” she said. Bless her heart. Actually, government only gives taxpayers back their money when it provides a refund or lowers taxes – not when supervisors ladle millions on hand-selected agencies and nonprofits.

We see the value in dedicating some portion of OC’s $9.3-million budget toward district projects, but if projects are worthy (as many of them are), there’s no problem holding hearings and a full vote. Public scrutiny provides a check on projects with potential conflicts of interest – and projects that serve a political rather than community purpose.

At least the Do scandal has raised the obvious point: It’s time to defund supervisors’ slush funds.

​ Orange County Register