San Clemente street artist Bandit makes mark in war-torn Ukraine

• October 18, 2023

Art is a powerful weapon, a way to arm people with hope and inspire the future generation.

That was street artist Bandit’s mission heading to war-torn areas of Ukraine during a recent 16-day trip, during which the San Clemente native painted 11 murals on bullet-riddled and bombed buildings and structures throughout the region.

“It is to remind people, to show the people of the Ukraine some of us are still paying attention and you have our sympathy for what you are going through,” said the artist who does not reveal his name due to the secrecy of his work.

Bandit traveled with San Clemente photographer Tristan George to document the journey in film and video, with plans to release a documentary to show the devastating impacts of war, he said.

He said he had the idea to travel to the Ukraine shortly after the war started in early 2022, after seeing the cities being destroyed and countless lives lost.

He met a couple from Ukraine who came to San Clemente shortly after the start of the war, he said, and they connected him with another couple in Ukraine – the husband was high ranked in the ministry of defense for the Ukrainian military, he said.

That relationship allowed the artist and filmmaker to get through military checkpoints and into hard-to-access places when they arrived; many of the locations are still under strict curfew with air sirens blaring through the night.

“We worked with the government, in a sense,” Bandit said. “They were super open to it, they were very receptive.”

As they moved through the country, Bandit left behind his messages of hope through art.

One scene showed an Ukrainian soldier using the hammer from the Soviet Union emblem to hang the Ukrainian flag, illustrating the country’s independence, he said. Another painting depicted a tug-of-war scene with a Russian and Ukrainian soldier on a large slab of concrete. On an abandoned Russian tank, he created a large handprint in the country’s iconic yellow and blue colors.

He left behind a bright yellow sunflower on a crumbling building; the silhouette of a couple dancing on a wall in the city of Kharkiv, something the town is known for; and a young child sitting atop a mountain of bullet holes dotting a building clutching a kite in the country’s colors.

“They understood what we were trying to do, as far as making something bullet-riddled, burned and destroyed into something with hope, peace and color,” Bandit said.

Painting in such a volatile area was no easy task.

“It’s nerve wracking. You’re entering areas in current crisis and war,” he said. “We couldn’t walk everywhere we wanted because there’s mines.”

Bandit’s work can be found throughout his hometown of San Clemente, both in public spaces and inside businesses, but in recent years he has turned his attention to bigger cities and causes he has felt needed attention. His artwork often puts a spotlight on serious issues such as school shootings, the drug epidemic and human trafficking.

On Avenida Del Mar, a painting he did of a young girl holding a tattered Ukrainian flag, a dove flying above as a symbol of peace, generated a buzz around town shortly after the war started. The piece was later torn down as construction started on a new restaurant.

George, who grew up in Irvine, said he wanted to be part of the project after being inspired by the many immigrants in his hometown, many parents of friends, who told stories of oppression and even jail time for speaking out in their native countries.

The photographer said because of curfews, many of the paintings had to be done in daylight. People would pass by at the start of a project and wonder what they were up to with skepticism, George said, but would return with appreciation as the art pieces evolved.

“I understand you are doing this for us, for the children. They are growing up in a such a hard time, it’s valuable to have them play at a playground and have this positive message,” he recalled one person saying.

“Being able to look at a building that has a lot of painful memories and blood on it and creating new memories – that was an inspiring thing,” he said.

One of the most memorable encounters was with a man who told of how he and other civilians held off a Russian convoy outside of a building where Bandit illustrated children painting heartbeat monitor lines in yellow and blue. The man watched 50 of his friends die during that standoff, George said.

Related Articles

“He was just very happy that we were doing something to brighten an area that held a lot of pain in his heart,” George said. “I was able to interview him in front of the building, a local priest translating for both of us.”

Another memorable interview was with a woman who had traveled to see a painting Bandit did on a glass-tile wall dotted with bullet holes. It is the scene of a soldier and a woman sitting on the hands of a broken clock, separated as they reached for one another.

The woman told George she had stayed to care for the elderly and animals left in a shelter, even as power in her besieged town was cut off. Her husband was called to serve in the army a month before she found out she was pregnant.

“She had no ability to contact him. (The baby) was born just a few months ago, she hasn’t heard from her husband since the start of the war. There’s no documentation, there was no word if he’s alive,” George said. “She’s still waiting for him to one day return. It brought a lot of magnitude to the piece that Bandit painted on the building, seeing art tell a true story, in a way.”

A woman named Julia traveled from afar to see a piece set on bullet-dotted glass of a soldier and a woman sitting on the hands of a broken clock, separated as they reached for one another. Julia hasn’t heard from her love, giving birth to their child in the time he has been gone. (Photo courtesy of Tristan George)

George said a big takeaway from the trip was the willingness of people to share their experience, despite how difficult it was to talk about.

“We want art to be able to tell not just one story, but countless stories and give the human perspective, outside of politics and opinions – just show that this is real life, this is what people are experiencing,” he said. “Despite whatever side you decide to take, this is reality and art has a way to transverse language.”

Seeing the struggles the Ukrainians are facing was surreal, Bandit said. “It was eye-opening, as far as going to a country like that and being from our little town in San Clemente.”

Bandit said he hopes the artwork will tell the Ukrainian people that while others can never understand what they are going through, they have not been forgotten.

“The artwork is a gift to show you that and to hopefully brighten your day and give you something to look forward to,” Bandit said is his message to the Ukrainian people. “And give you extra juice to keep fighting.”

​ Orange County Register 

Universal Horror Unleashed will take up permanent residence in Las Vegas

• October 18, 2023

Universal Destinations & Experiences, a division of Comcast NBCUniversal and creator of the theme parks’ annual Halloween Horror Nights, announced that its first-ever permanent horror experience will be known as Universal Horror Unleashed.

The permanent attraction will be located at AREA15 in Las Vegas and will create unique, immersive and very horror-centric experiences that will also include themed eateries and bar areas. It’s slated to include similar thrills to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, but it will be continuously updated and feature one-of-a-kind merchandise.

“Universal Horror Unleashed is another way we are using our unique style of horror storytelling to engage fans of this genre,” said Page Thompson, president, New Ventures, Universal Destinations & Experiences. “We look forward to bringing frightful fun to Las Vegas year-round.”

The ambitious effort was first announced back in January. It includes a 20-acre expansion of AREA 15, an immersive entertainment district in Las Vegas. Universal Studios is the birthplace of films featuring iconic characters like Frankenstein, The Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein and many more. It has also collaborated with filmmakers like Jason Blum, Jordan Peele and James Wan to bring more modern horror films to life during Halloween Horror Nights, which began 32 years ago at the Orlando theme park.

Though no opening dates have been announced, additional details will be shared as the permanent attraction continues to develop.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Big changes underway as San Onofre nuclear plant comes down

• October 18, 2023

Inside those iconic twin domes, workers are chopping up the reactor vessels — those thick steel containers that once held nuclear fuel as the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station split atoms to boil water, spin steam generators and create electricity.

Outside, major changes are underway.

Southern California Edison’s Doug Bauder, a San Clemente resident who has overseen the teardown of the plant since 2018, will retire at the end of October, and Fred Bailly will take the helm. Bailly was vice president of decommissioning for Westinghouse, overseeing its worldwide commercial decommissioning business. He’ll bring an international perspective to the major issue remaining at San Onofre: the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel until the federal government pulls itself together and finds the waste a permanent home.

A changing-of-the-guard is underway at San Onofre’s volunteer Community Engagement Panel — meant to give locals a voice in the teardown and answer their questions — as well. CEP Chair David Victor, professor at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and long the public face of the CEP, has left the panel. He’s replaced by Daniel Stetson, a longtime member who heads The Nicholas Endowment, created by Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas III and his wife to support the advancement of science, education and the arts.

The CEP’s next meeting is a virtual affair, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 26. Bauder and Bailly will both be there, and there will be updates on spent fuel transportation plans and the dismantlement process itself (which we’ll preview in just a moment, thank you Nuclear Regulatory Commission). The CEP meeting will be on Microsoft Teams, and details on how to join are at https://bit.ly/3tzW3K3.

Fred Bailly will be taking the helm from Bauder at the end of October. He has 25 years of nuclear experience, most recently as Westinghouse Electric Company’s vice president for decommissioning. He also worked for Orano USA. (Photo courtesy Southern California Edison)

Public comment sessions have been known to devolve into personal attacks and misinformation, but a worker used one to reveal a serious issue with a stuck canister that Edison hadn’t publicly reported. Meetings have calmed down now that all the spent fuel is entombed in dry storage, but controversy remains about how long the waste will remain on the bluff, the coming dismantlement of spent fuel pools and the eventual release of the filtered water that once cooled the super-hot fuel rods into the ocean.

Greater radiation

A lot has happened since the reactors were powered down in 2012 after a radioactive leak in its new steam generators that were supposed to give it decades more life.

Dry storage of used fuel rods at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on Thursday, December 16, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Forty of the plant’s 62 buildings are gone.

Some 285 million pounds of low-level waste and debris have been transported off-site.

Some 70 canisters filled with spent fuel rods are encased in the “concrete monolith” dry storage system, awaiting that new federal home. Two more canisters are slated to join them, filled with radioactive material from the reactors’ guts.

The NRC’s most recent inspection report details how that’s going.

“The contractor was actively segmenting the reactor vessel internals in both containments (domes),” the NRC said. “The vessel internals were being segmented, in part, to separate the different classes of wastes for disposal. In Unit 2, the contractor was actively cutting the lower core shroud core plate and lower core support columns….In Unit 3, the contractor was cutting the lower support cylinder, part of the lower support assembly.”

That work, however, was behind schedule, because the components located in the lower levels were more radioactive than originally anticipated, the NRC said. That means the lower components must be cut into smaller pieces for packaging and disposal.

Workers remove a turbine rotor from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Workers were preparing to remove the reactor coolant pump motors, pressurizers, steam system piping and steam generator insulation, the NRC report said. They’re also constructing temporary ventilation systems, removing trash and debris, and preparing to drain and decontaminate spent fuel pools.

Future work will include construction of a material handling facility — to provide a controlled environment for future loading of radioactive waste into shipping containers — and cleanup of an oily waste sump.

“The inspectors concluded that the contractors were conducting the work in accordance with approved site procedures,” the NRC said.

Edison spokeswoman Liese Mosher likened decommissioning to the intricacies of conducting an orchestra. “We’re making progress,” she said.

SOURCE: Southern California Edison

‘SOS’

Deep distrust remains among some of Edison’s most ardent critics, and the documentary “SOS – THE SAN ONOFRE SYNDROME: Nuclear Power’s Legacy” gives it full voice.

Reaching back into San Onofre’s troubled past — a workplace environment that had some workers reluctant to report safety concerns to their bosses in 2010, the $671 million steam generator debacle that led to the plant’s shutdown in 2013, the “near miss” that left a 50-ton canister filled with nuclear waste resting on a metal guide ring near the top of the 18-foot-deep vault for nearly an hour in 2018 — it follows a squad of activists who paint terrifying portraits of what might happen as nuclear waste remains on the bluff over the blue Pacific.

The specters of Fukushima and Chernobyl are raised on a backdrop of tense music, but the comparison is off. Both nuclear plants were actively splitting atoms when their tragedies occurred; San Onofre hasn’t split atoms for more than a decade.

The issue here is the waste. San Onofre’s isn’t cooling in fuel pools that require power and water to keep things under control, but rather in dry storage, in the “concrete monolith,” where it waits in steel canisters inside steel silos inside rebar-reinforced concrete 3 to 4 feet thick all around for a permanent burial place.

Everyone wants the waste removed from San Onofre — an earthquake zone within 50 miles of some 8 million people — as quickly as possible. That, however, is something that Congress must make happen. The feds promised to accept commercial nuclear waste for permanent disposal by 1998; they have accepted exactly none.

Mosher said that Edison has addressed the issues raised in the film and is focused on ensuring the safe storage of the fuel and working for a long-term federal solution.

We caught up with Victor, former chair of the CEP, in Dubai, where he was working on energy transformation and the global economy with the World Economic Forum. As head of the CEP, the was often the target of suspicion and frustration.

“People are upset with the company and the larger situation, and the place they get to vent that concern is at the Community Engagement Panel,” said Victor, who mostly kept his cool. “It’s a volunteer job that comes with a lot of visibility, and when people are upset, it often gets focused on you. But you can help steer the process. I’d say we mostly did that.”

From left to right, Jeff Carey (SCE), Dan Stetson, Gene Stone, David Victor, Darin McClure and Ron Pontes (SCE).(Courtesy of Southern California Edison)

An academic, Victor said he learned more about politics through the CEP than anything he has done. He saw, at a granular level, people’s distrust of institutions and how it impacts those institutions. He also gained an enormous amount of respect for local politicians.

“From them, especially early on, I learned how to take incoming fire, how to sit people down and have a conversation and listen,” Victor said. “I am really in awe of them. Washington might not be functioning, but we’re doing well on the local front.”

Victor will continue to engage on the policy side, organizing communities around the country to push for a long-term federal solution to the waste storage problem.

Stetson, the new chair, is glad for that. He spent decades at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point and was hopeful when a call from Edison’s president came in nearly a decade ago — to donate more money for the Ocean Institute’s adopt-a-class program, he thought.

Instead, he was offered a spot on the CEP. His wife said he was crazy, but he accepted. When he was offered the chair, she said he was crazy again, but he accepted. “I have a problem saying no,” he said.

The tenor has calmed down at the CEP meetings now that spent fuel is in dry storage and the risk profile has greatly diminished. But there are still important topics to cover — including next week, when officials from the U.S. Department of Energy update folks on rail cars that will be used (someday) to transport waste to an interim or final resting place.

Stetson hopes to have more in-person meetings, so folks can have more detailed discussions before and after official proceedings.

“One thing I’ve really tried to do is to introduce elected officials to the situation, make them aware of the need to move forward with legislation and get this problem solved,” Stetson said.

Good luck to us all.

​ Orange County Register 

Frumpy Mom: It’s almost Halloween. Gulp.

• October 18, 2023

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s nearly time for Halloween. I can tell by the purple-and-orange lights appearing around my neighborhood along with the occasional random bloody ghost hanging from a tree.

In the past, this was my most dreaded holiday, because the kids would bring home all this chocolate from trick-or-treating that they promptly forget about, allowing me to steal and eat it all while they were at school.

When my daughter was young, she didn’t like Reese’s peanut butter cups. So I didn’t even have to steal those – she’d just hand it over when she walked in the door. Good girl.

The problem, of course, is that afterward your jeans don’t fit. Of course, my jeans haven’t fit properly since 1992, but it’s a metaphor. Roll with it.

I do miss the exciting build-up to Halloween, which is something we Americans have over those snooty Europeans, who never put on a Cowardly Lion costume in their lives.

For years, we had a family tradition that involved going to the ginormous Halloween Club outlet off the 5 Freeway in La Mirada in late September before it became a writhing madhouse.

Typically, we’d go to church on Sunday – the only day that didn’t have baseballsoccerfootballsoftball games or practices – then get in the car. The advantage of driving all the way there is that not only do they have costumes for every occasion, including the besting of your mother-in-law and the triumph of your favorite political party,  but they actually let you try them on, as long as you’re accompanied by an eagle-eyed staff person ensuring you don’t ruin anything.

This was an hours-long, fun-but-grueling ordeal, to be perfectly honest, because the rugrats demanded to try on at least 10 costumes before they picked one – and of course they always wanted the most expensive one on the shelf.

Looking at the price tag would always temporarily spike my blood pressure when I contemplated that they would wear it for one night and then forget about it forever.

But I comforted myself by considering that I only had a few years to enjoy this ritual, and then they’d no longer want to see me, particularly on Halloween.

This actually has come to pass, now that they somehow aged into their 20s while I was looking the other way.

My days of dressing them up like bumblebees and ladybugs and ninjas are over forever, I’m sad to say.

But I do have the consolation of my new grandson Floyd, who will eventually need a costume when he can do something besides drool and spit up.

Hopefully, his mother will allow Grandma Nana to buy it for him. I’ve discovered that offering to pay for things is an excellent way to bond with my daughter and her child.

These days, the decision of how much candy to buy for trick-or-treaters is a truly vexing one, because it seems like so many kids now go to parties or “trunk and treats” or anything other than ringing my doorbell and demanding for me to fill their bowls.

I live in one of those neighborhoods where some people even give out entire full-sized candy bars, so we used to get lots of kids, which seems to annoy some people for reasons I don’t understand. Personally, I liked it, although if there were any chocolate bars at my house, sorry, kids, I would have already eaten them or hidden them in spinach boxes in the freezer.

I only buy Halloween candy that I don’t like, to increase the chances that it might actually make it intact until Oct. 31.

This year, I don’t have to worry about handing out candy, because I’ll be in Oaxaca (pronounced wa-ha-ca) Mexico, enjoying the Day of the Dead.

This holiday originated with the ancient Mexicans before the Spanish conquerors, celebrating the belief that your dead loved ones come back to earth one day a year to visit you. So it’s a happy time, not a ghoulish one, even though everyone’s seen the decorative skeletons and sugar skulls.

People build altars, called ofrendas, decorated with marigolds and sugar cane and stock them with things that the loved ones liked, to tempt them to come back. So you’ll see a lot of tequila, favorite foods, unfiltered Camel cigarettes and the like on display.

There’s also a special “bread of the dead” baked only at this time, which has tiny skulls baked into it.

I’ve been thinking about what people should put on my ofrenda, after I shrug off this mortal coil. Definitely chocolate. (See above). A fine sipping tequila would also be welcome, along with some gourmet cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery. I would say my favorite book – but how to decide which one? Whenever anyone asks me that question, it crashes my brain just like a computer, because how could I possibly pick?

What would be on your ofrenda? Meanwhile, I’ll probably be telling you more about my trip, but until then, buy those big bags of chocolate bars. And then send me your address.

Related links

Fisher: Halloween scares can’t compare to frights of daily life
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: The problem with having kids is that they grow up
Frumpy Mom: Oh, no. I have another boy to raise.
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: It’s almost Thanksgiving. But we’ll be in Baja
Frumpy Mom: Ho, ho, ho, it’s almost the holidays

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Local OC leaders respond to Israeli-Hamas war

• October 18, 2023

At Tuesday’s OC Board of Supervisors meeting, dozens of speakers raised concerns over a joint statement released by three of the county leaders condemning the recent Hamas attack on Israel, with some saying the message could “place targets on the backs” of those in local Arab, Muslim and Palestinian communities.

“Every year, the county remembers the Holocaust and the Board of Supervisors reaffirms our commitment to ‘Never Again,’” Third District Supervisor Don Wagner, First District Supervisor Andrew Do and Fifth District Katrina Foley said in their joint statement released last week. “For that to mean anything more than words, we must act in the moment to stand for civilization and against antisemitic terrorism. That moment is now.”

The supervisors said they “condemn Hamas, Islamic terrorism and stand with our ally Israel” and “call on all Muslim leaders in Orange County to join us in this condemnation.”

“This is not a time for moral relativism or wishy-washy statements about understanding both sides. One side is responsible for this tragedy. Instead, it is now time for all civilized people to join with other decent people around the world to unequivocally condemn this barbarism.”

Their release received criticism, with some calling it “deeply problematic” and “one-sided.”

“Your rhetoric actively stokes the flame of Islamophobic and anti-Arab sentiment as the Arab community grieves with our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” one speaker said during the public comment period. “Palestinian life is again treated as expendable and devoid of value. I ask that you retract your statement and apologize to the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community.”

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American Islamic Relations, often referred to as CAIR-LA, demanded accountability from the board members.

While “the one-sided statement” offers support for Israelis, it “blatantly makes no mention of the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israel in their most recent assault and bombardment of Gaza,” CAIR officials said in a statement that asked the board members to meet with local Palestinian human rights advocates. “Instead of using their platform as an opportunity to recognize and support all the communities impacted by the recent events — including Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, and American Muslims — the supervisors chose to engage in old Islamophobic tropes that conflate violence with a religion practiced by 2 billion people around the world.”

Foley apologized Tuesday for any pain she “may have unintentionally caused,” adding that she continues to prioritize building coalitions and fighting hate and violence.

“But I want the community to be clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization. I do not believe that the community that spoke here is part of a terrorist organization. I will continue to stand vehemently opposed to terrorism,” Foley said. “However, as I said, Hamas is not representative of Palestinians of any of our community here today. The targeted attacks on our Muslim Arab Americans and our Palestinian neighbors are unacceptable. And this type of hate and violence has no place in Orange County.”

Supervisors Doug Chaffee, representing OC’s fourth district, and Vicente Sarmiento, of the second district, had released a separate statement condemning all acts of violence on civilians.

“The recent events that have been unfolding in Israel and the Gaza Strip are a heartbreaking continuation to this long-standing conflict. We hope to see a resolution where both Israel and Palestine can live peacefully,” their joint statement said. “Additionally, we want to ensure that locally, both communities’ First Amendment rights are protected and their ability to advocate for their beliefs are safeguarded.”

During his invocation at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Sarmiento shared his desire for peace, hope and a resolution to the long-standing dispute between Jewish and Palestinian people.

“The essential takeaway was that people of good conscience cannot equivocate in condemning Hamas for the terrorist acts directed against Israeli civilians,” Sarmiento said. “And although the loss of life has been staggering, and the images shocking, and our outrage triggered, we cannot also condone the harsh and inhumane retaliation being inflicted upon the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

More Orange County leaders have released statements in recent days as the war between Israel and Hamas continues and a rise in hate crimes is reported in the country.

Fullerton councilmembers Shana Charles and Ahmad Zahra released a joint statement on Tuesday, Oct. 17, expressing sorrow for the violence happening abroad.

“We have watched in horror the atrocities committed against innocent civilians in Israel and the ensuing and ongoing violence against innocent Palestinians in Gaza. We have also seen an alarming rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in our communities and around the world,” they said.

“As both Jewish and Arab-Muslim local leaders, we stand united in our resolve against all forms of terror, violence and hate,” they said. “And while we may not have impact on events in the Middle East, we can and will continue working together, as colleagues and friends, towards peace and prosperity in our local community.”

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Huntington Beach to use community review board to vet children’s books for sexual content

• October 18, 2023

Huntington Beach will soon have an appointed community review board that could reject new children’s books that are deemed inappropriate, a move critics are calling a book-banning system.

The City Council majority decided to create a 21-member community review board that has oversight of children’s books in city libraries. Its powers include rejecting, by a majority vote, new children’s books the library staff wish to obtain that “do not meet the city’s community standards of acceptance” and reviewing books already in circulation if they should be moved from the children’s section.

Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark is behind the push. The three other conservative councilmembers joined her to pass the contested proposal Tuesday night in a 4-3 vote.

Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark listens to public comments during a city council meeting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Each councilmember will get three appointments to the board.

Scores of vocal residents denounced Van Der Mark’s resolution, calling it a book ban.

“If you don’t procure something, what are you doing? You’re banning it,” said Jeff Lebow during public comment.

The Council Chambers at City Hall were filled with people and many had to sit in an overflow room. The public comment period went over five hours, with residents bringing signs that called the proposal government overreach.

The resolution mandates that no city library allow children direct access to books or other materials that contain “any content of sexual nature.” It will require a parent or guardian’s consent to access those materials, whether they are intended for children or adults. Books with sexual content will be moved out of the children’s section.

Mayor Tony Strickland argued against the other councilmbers and residents who see the resolution as a ban. “We are not removing any books or restricting any books. It’s been said before; It’s not a ban.”

The councilmembers who voted for it continually said during the meeting that they don’t see the move as a book ban. Councilmember Natalie Moser, who voted against the proposal, expressed numerous concerns with it, including that the city was putting itself in legal risk.

“Those seeking to impede access to collections and dictate how library workers do their jobs are doing so to silence and obscure the voices and perspectives of those whose opinions they feel do not have a right to full and active participation in American society,” Moser said. “While the protection of our community’s children is paramount, this resolution is not the way to achieve it.”

Related links

Here are 5 books people have asked the Huntington Beach Public Library to remove
Huntington Beach wants options for making it harder for children to access sexually explicit books
Huntington Beach councilmember wants law to screen out ‘pornographic children’s books’ from city libraries

The First Amendment Coalition, the ACLU of Southern California and the Freedom to Read Foundation said in a letter to the City Council that creating a review board violates the First Amendment. The groups said the resolution, taken literally, would prohibit children from accessing literary classics such as “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

“While no one can be forced to read a library book to which they object, no one has the right to subject, through force of government, the entire community to their narrow and arbitrary view of what books are acceptable for minors of any age to read,” the groups said.

The groups also warned in their joint letter that the proposal would negatively affect LGTBQ youth and overall called it unconstitutional.

The nonprofit Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library released a statement ahead of the meeting that they oppose book bans in the city’s library system, saying individuals have the right to determine what’s appropriate for them and their families to read, not a government-appointed committee.

Earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, city staffers had presented possible policy updates for the library to make, separate from Van Der Mark’s resolution. Those changes include a new library card that would require parental permission for checking out adult books and updating processes for book recommendations for children and families.

Van Der Mark asked Community and Library Services Director Ashley Wysocki, who gave the staff presentation, if any books were going to be banned from the library. Wysocki said: “I think there are a lot of perceived ways books can be banned, and so until I better understand what the direction from council is, I don’t know that I can answer that.”

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Pennsylvania regulators follow California’s lead, with the same abysmal results

• October 18, 2023

Pennsylvania’s Peter Brothers Trucking delivers goods all across America. Owner Brian Wanner says Pennsylvania bureaucrats now are driving him out of his home state.

“We have no say,” complains Wanner in my new video. “We can’t do anything about it.”

“No say” because Pennsylvania’s new rules don’t come from Pennsylvania. They come from California.

“I don’t want to be anything like California!” complains Wanner.

Too bad for him and other Pennsylvania truck owners, because Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board decided their state will automatically copy California regulations.

California’s rules will raise the price of a new truck by about one-third. Trucks that once cost $190,000 will now cost about $260,000.

California regulators said this new air-pollution regulation is needed because the trucks Wanner drives “contribute greatly to … serious health and welfare problems.”

That’s ridiculous, says Wanner. “We have come so far in the last 40 years. In 1980, one truck produced as much (pollution) as 60 trucks today.”

“So to reduce pollution, we want people to buy new trucks,” I point out.

“But if you put these costs on us that we cannot afford, we’re going to just run the older trucks!” responds Wanner.

“The regulators don’t think about that?” I ask.

“They do not!” Wanner replies. “They do not see the consequences of what they’re doing.”

Now truckers like Wanner will just buy trucks in neighboring states.

“We can go to Ohio and get cheaper trucks,” he says.

So there won’t be any pollution reduction. The new rule will just hurt Pennsylvanians who sell trucks.

Who are these regulators? Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Air Board is mostly made up of people from unrelated departments, like the Fish and Boat Commission, the Game Commission, the Historical & Museum Commission. I doubt that many know much about air pollution.

“The whole idea of having a regulatory board like this is, ‘Oh, these people are experts,’” says attorney Caleb Kruckenberg of the Pacific Legal Foundation, “‘They know what they’re talking about. They’re smarter than the lawmakers.’ But if you look at the board, that’s not true. These are just random bureaucrats who work in the government, and they say, ‘I don’t know. Let’s follow California.’”

Kruckenberg is suing Pennsylvania on behalf of truckers like Wanner, arguing that what Pennsylvania does violates the Constitution.

“Nobody in Pennsylvania has ever voted for the standards that now control Pennsylvania.”

I push back. “So what? California seems to have a lot of money. I could see a state saying, ‘Yeah, let their regulators figure out how we reduce pollution, and we’ll save money doing what they do.’”

“If people want something,” Kruckenberg replies, “their legislature is supposed to pass it.”

Related Articles

California’s rules will soon get still more expensive because Gov. Gavin Newsom has decreed that soon, all new vehicles must be electric.

“But electricity comes from fossil fuels!” Kruckenberg points out. In Pennsylvania, some comes from coal, and most comes from natural gas.

So to power all-electric trucks, Pennsylvania will burn more fossil fuels.

Still another problem: electric trucks are heavier.

“That’s harder on the roads,” says Wanner. Also, “electric trucks have a very low mileage radius, so you can’t work all day. It’s nothing that you can take across the United States.”

Pennsylvania’s regulators don’t seem to care. They just want to do what California does.

“Why would we allow our state to give away their lawmaking procedures to California?” asks Wanner. “That’s not the American way. If we want to follow California, we can move there! I don’t want to be anything like California.”

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei defensive lineman Kaho Tuihalamaka, an Arizona commit, transferred to Leuzinger

• October 18, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Mater Dei’s defensive line didn’t feature one of its projected standouts Friday as it faced bruising St. John Bosco running back Cameron Jones.

The Monarchs again played without nose tackle Kaho Tuihalamaka, a Hot 150 selection who was expected to be one of their most physical returning starters at 6-foot-4 and about 330 pounds.

Tuihalamaka, a senior committed to Arizona, confirmed Tuesday that he transferred to Leuzinger in Lawndale.

The CIF-SS website shows that he made a valid change of residence and was cleared to play for Leuzinger on Sept. 9, the same day the Monarchs played host to Kahuku of Hawaii.

Tuihalamaka, part of the Mater Dei program since his freshman year, has recorded stats in two games for Leuzinger (5-3), according to MaxPreps.

Jones, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound UCLA commit, rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown, and caught a 17-yard score, in the Braves’ 28-0 victory in the Trinity League showdown. It was the first loss for the Monarchs (7-1), ranked No. 1 in the nation at time.

Mater Dei’s defensive front started senior Zeus Venegas (6-4, 265), junior Semi Taulanga (6-0, 313) and sophomore Tomu Topui (6-3, 315) with junior defensive end Nasir Wyatt near the line of scrimmage.

Recent Oregon commit Aydin Breland (6-5, 295) and senior Kainoa Davis (6-3 285) were part of the Monarchs’ rotation at defensive line.

Taulanga and Davis combined for Mater Dei’s lone sack.

The Monarchs’ defense had been stout before facing the Braves, allowing only 29 points in seven games.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register