California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

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SirPablo: May 1, 2004; Pillbug

I'm late on this, but here is an article about food deserts right in the goddamn San Joaquin Valley.

[url] http://m.hanfordsentinel.com/news/l...bile_touch=true[/url]

# ? May 25, 2015 06:33

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# ? May 16, 2024 19:39

jeeves: May 27, 2001; Deranged Psychopathic
Butler Extraordinaire

Fun fact: Emeryville Ikea is built on a burial ground too.

# ? May 25, 2015 18:12

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

jeeves posted:

Fun fact: Emeryville Ikea is built on a burial ground too.

poo poo, haunted ektorps!

# ? May 25, 2015 20:48

Rah!: Feb 21, 2006

jeeves posted:

Fun fact: Emeryville Ikea is built on a burial ground too.

So that's why my bookshelf is huanted. Thanks Ikea :argh:

# ? May 25, 2015 21:08

cheese: Jan 7, 2004; Shop around for doctors! Always fucking shop for doctors. Doctors are stupid assholes. And they get by because people are cowed by their mystical bullshit quality of being able to maintain a 3.0 GPA at some Guatemalan medical college for 3 semesters. Find one that makes sense.

SirPablo posted:

I'm late on this, but here is an article about food deserts right in the goddamn San Joaquin Valley.

[url] http://m.hanfordsentinel.com/news/l...bile_touch=true[/url]

Its a town of 1200 people in the middle of nowhere with no real reason to exist. What do you want?

# ? May 26, 2015 00:11

Kenning: Jan 11, 2009; I really want to post goatse. Instead I only have these🍄.

The West Valley is loving hellscape unfit for human habitation.

# ? May 26, 2015 10:25

Shbobdb: Dec 16, 2010; by Reene

Ducking Libby flooding downtown Oakland with helicopters. Who the gently caress voted for this woman?

# ? May 26, 2015 17:35

Papercut: Aug 24, 2005

Shbobdb posted:

Ducking Libby flooding downtown Oakland with helicopters. Who the gently caress voted for this woman?

All of the people who remember her predecessor?

# ? May 26, 2015 17:40

Trabisnikof: Dec 24, 2005

Shbobdb posted:

Ducking Libby flooding downtown Oakland with helicopters. Who the gently caress voted for this woman?

At least she's putting in place rules for Stingray use?

# ? May 26, 2015 17:43

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Hey you! Yeah, you there in California US House District 17! Are you distraught about the results of the 2014 elections on your stock portfolio and workforce costs? Ro Khanna wants you to know that he hasn't yet given up on all you tech billionaires who are still Fired Up And Ready For Ro!

Ro is due to make an announcement (presumably announcing his 2016 candidacy) on May 30 at the Santa Clara Civic Center.

# ? May 27, 2015 04:13

Jerry Manderbilt: May 31, 2012; No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

ComradeCosmobot posted:

Hey you! Yeah, you there in California District 17! Are you distraught about the results of 2014 elections on your stock portfolio and workforce costs? Ro Khanna wants you to know that he hasn't yet given up on all you tech billionaires who are still Fired Up And Ready For Ro!

Ro is due to make an announcement (presumably announcing his 2016 candidacy) on May 30 at the Santa Clara Civic Center.

Oh god, not this rear end in a top hat again.

# ? May 27, 2015 04:14

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

ComradeCosmobot posted:

Hey you! Yeah, you there in California US House District 17! Are you distraught about the results of the 2014 elections on your stock portfolio and workforce costs? Ro Khanna wants you to know that he hasn't yet given up on all you tech billionaires who are still Fired Up And Ready For Ro!

Ro is due to make an announcement (presumably announcing his 2016 candidacy) on May 30 at the Santa Clara Civic Center.

The ride never ends.

# ? May 27, 2015 05:57

FilthyImp: Sep 30, 2002; Anime Deviant

Sydin posted:

The ride never ends.

I'm Hoping he's dumb enough to keep whittling Down his fortunes on a fool's errand.

Though, he should really invest in Time Travel tech so he can go back and Ro-minate Pete Wilson before his pet prop salted the Republican Party of Hispanics for like 50 years...

# ? May 27, 2015 06:18

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

FilthyImp posted:

I'm Hoping he's dumb enough to keep whittling Down his fortunes on a fool's errand.

Though, he should really invest in Time Travel tech so he can go back and Ro-minate Pete Wilson before his pet prop salted the Republican Party of Hispanics for like 50 years...

Ro Khanna is a Democrat who gets Republican votes in the general because of Top Two.

# ? May 27, 2015 07:16

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

So the state has put out it's latest regulations on porn shoots. Who knew the Department of Occupational Safety and Health was so kinky?

# ? May 28, 2015 22:55

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

ComradeCosmobot posted:

So the state has put out it's latest regulations on porn shoots. Who knew the Department of Occupational Safety and Health was so kinky?

[Insert "the goggles do nothing!" joke here.]

# ? May 28, 2015 23:41

Okuteru: Nov 10, 2007; Choose this life you're on your own

It's like we want to give the porn industry to Nevada.

# ? May 29, 2015 00:13

Shbobdb: Dec 16, 2010; by Reene

It's almost like established media is having a hard time adjusting to the internet. Who knew?

# ? May 29, 2015 01:11

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

OSHA = established media? And porn existed before the internet. I agree with the statement, but I don't think it's related to this.

# ? May 29, 2015 01:14

SirPablo: May 1, 2004; Pillbug

Kenning posted:

The West Valley is loving hellscape unfit for human habitation.

That may be, but it is dishonest for their position to be dismissed out of hand.

# ? May 29, 2015 07:20

e_angst: Sep 20, 2001; by exmarx

On the porn subject, here's noted Californian porn performer/sex worker rights' advocate Siouxsie Q writing about the hypocrisy and double-standards that are happening when it comes to adult performance and work in the tech sector.

http://ratter.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-sex-workers-in-si-1703932356

quote:

One sunny afternoon in 2012, when I could still afford to live in San Francisco, my work phone rang. I picked up and answered in the sultry voice I use when I speak to my clients. I�m a sex worker. These days, I mostly do porn and escorting, but back then I was hitting the erotic massage hustle pretty hard. To my surprise, there was a female voice on the other end of the line.

My clients are 99.9% men; the only time I get to see women on the job is when they come as part of a couple, or they are part of a video crew. But this woman wasn�t calling to make an appointment or to book me for a porn shoot. She was a reporter from CNN Money, and she�d been calling sex workers she�d found on MyRedbook.com (an erotic services advertising site that has since been seized and shut down by the FBI) hoping that one of them would be willing to talk to her about sex work in the Silicon Valley.

I panicked. The thought of a news outlet finding my ad and calling me made my stomach drop into my shoes. For a moment, I wondered if I was about to be arrested as part of an elaborate reality TV prostitution sting a la A&E�s 8 Minutes. I almost hung up on her.

But I let her talk, and eventually, I agreed to meet with her. I knew it was risky to out myself as a sex worker on national television, but I was tempted by the opportunity I�d have to speak about issues of sex worker rights on such a large platform. I�d just started a podcast, The WhoreCast, about those very issues, and I hoped the exposure would be worth the risk. Before I knew it, a CNN camera crew was in my house and I was shakily holding a stack of index cards with my meticulously written sound bites about sex worker rights.

Since then, I�ve done many interviews with reporters from outlets like USA Today, Wired, Univision, and National Geographic who are fascinated with the connection between the tech and sex industries in Silicon Valley. These stories focus on an imagined uptick in the amount of tech workers who are seeing prostitutes, insisting, based on anecdotal evidence, that Silicon Valley�s sex trade is booming. Headlines such as: �Inside the Lives of Silicon Valley Sex Worker Millionaires,� and �Tech Savvy Sex Workers Cashing In on the West Coast�s Wealthiest Geeks,� give a hyperbolic impression of the realities of sex work in the Bay Area, where the oldest profession remains criminalized and therefore risky for both parties.

Truth be told, many of my clients do work in the tech industry and, like many small business owners in the region, I�ve adjusted my marketing strategy to attract them � I podcast, use social media, and highlight my Star Trek knowledge in my ads. But if I lived in New York City, I�d probably see more clients who worked in finance and I�d feature the more WASPy parts of my personality in my ads. That�s common sense, not national news.

Sex work is a perfect side dish to an entr�e of cutting edge entrepreneurial spirit that has shaped the region�s economy for years. But while the act of wealthy men hiring sex workers may not be news in and of itself, there are compelling questions to be raised about how the sex and tech industries interact.

For example: Why are many tech platforms so inhospitable to sex workers? Payment processors like Pay Pal and WePay are notorious for shutting down the accounts of sex workers and even seizing their funds. Facebook has booted hundreds of sex workers, including myself, from its platform with the adoption if its �real name policy;� and both the Apple and the Android app stores prohibit adult content of any kind.

Venture capitalists have been willing to go toe-to-toe with lawmakers to obtain legal wiggle room for companies like Uber and AirBnB, that dance the razor�s edge of legality. Lawmakers concerned that peer-to-peer platforms encourage zoning and tax violations are implied to be on the wrong side of history by champions of the new sharing economy. They argue that regulations can and should be made to ensure these services are safe, but to outlaw them would be standing in the way of the region�s economic development.

Tech bloggers have cried out that though these services may be technically illegal at the moment, they perpetuate victimless crimes � peer-to-peer transactions that benefit both the buyer and the seller � and therefore the laws need be changed to catch up with the innovation. The same argument could be made of the consensual adult sex work that Silicon Valley workers are partaking in � though technically illegal, it is a peer-to-peer transaction that often perpetuates a victimless crime. But no headstrong venture capitalist or idealistic design team has stepped up to innovate the oldest profession.

The new sharing economy allows working-class people to rent out their homes, their cars, and their time as a way to supplement their income in an economy with fewer full-time jobs than ever before. Yet sex work, arguably the world�s oldest peer-to-peer transaction, has no slick app to expedite the booking or screening process, and the clunky 1990s advertising platform MyRedbook.com, which once accounted for close to 90% of my new clients, was seized in the name of preventing human trafficking.

The trafficking debate, like the fantasy of the Silicon Valley sex worker millionaire, has captured the attention of legislators, celebrities, and non-profits alike over the past decade. And while the force, fraud, or coercion of someone, particularly a child, into the sex industry is indeed an atrocity, many groups and lawmakers lump all sex work into the category of trafficking, and all sex workers in the category of victim, informing legislation that aims to stamp out the sex industry as a whole, rather than working alongside sex workers to make the industry safer. Anti-trafficking legislation, like S. 178 The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, funnel more money into law enforcement programs that target street based workers and people of color � a strategy that benefits neither trafficking victims, nor consensual sex workers.

No trafficking charges were ever brought against the owners of MyRedbook.com, and now thousands of West Coast sex workers must find new and innovative ways to advertise their services and safely screen clients in an increasingly unwelcoming online world.

Aayush Iyer, a founder and Bay Area project designer who has worked with some of the Bay Area�s most well-known peer to peer platforms, says that for most in Silicon Valley, figuring out a way to make the sex industry safer, �is not a problem that inspires them to build something.� It�s a sentiment that he is anxious to see change.

Start-up culture is no stranger to risk. Companies routinely rise to greatness and then disappear overnight when idealism catches up to practicality, and peer-to-peer transactions of all kinds can be risky business. AirBnB hosts have reported horror stories of theft, vandalism, and illegal drug use from guests; and earlier this year, a San Francisco Uber driver was stabbed in the face by a rider. But even in light of all the legal trouble these startups have run into, neither shows any sign of stopping service any time soon.

Sex work, however, remain criminalized across California and most of the United States, and online safety resources are had to come by. The question about sex and the Silicon Valley that no one wants to ask is: If the industries are so closely linked, why is sex work still illegal in this tech-savvy boom town that shows little regard for regulation when it comes to innovation and capital gain?

Unfortunately, most of the media outlets I�ve been interviewed by didn�t ask these questions. They are more concerned about where my clients work, what fetishes they have, and if we talk about Game of Thrones during our sessions. It�s much easier to trivialize the relationship between the sex and tech industries as trite �Beauty and the Geek� fantasy than it is to ask the hard questions about criminalization and inequity.

Since CNN invaded my living room two years ago, I�ve been evicted from my San Francisco apartment for renting out one of the rooms on AirBnB, and my fianc�e has started driving Uber to help fund our growing production company. I continue to see clients, though it is more difficult since MyRedbook.com was seized by the FBI and a comparable advertising platform has yet to replace it.

The sharing economy is at my doorstep, but while the sex industry carries the stigma of criminalization, entrepreneurs like myself will remain encumbered from fully participating in the boom town economy of the Bay Area � despite what you might read in the papers.

# ? May 29, 2015 14:39

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Forceholy posted:

It's like we want to give the porn industry to Nevada.

Nevada will get both a giga factory and jizz factory at California's expense

# ? May 30, 2015 02:06

tsa: Feb 3, 2014

e_angst posted:

On the porn subject, here's noted Californian porn performer/sex worker rights' advocate Siouxsie Q writing about the hypocrisy and double-standards that are happening when it comes to adult performance and work in the tech sector.

http://ratter.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-sex-workers-in-si-1703932356

Uhh it's not hypocrisy to act in accordance with the loving laws. Oh no Paypal doesn't facilitate the transfer of illegal funds and acts in accordance with federal laws applicable to being a money transmitter. The author needs to learn the difference between grey area things like renting out your home and driving a car vs. breaking laws that would have the feds and DOJ knocking down your doors in 24 hours. Besides that airbnb and Uber are facing legal problems literally all over the world, they are hardly being ignored and are already out of operation in some states. The whole thing is uninformed nonsense.

# ? May 30, 2015 17:17

computer parts: Nov 18, 2010; PLEASE CLAP

tsa posted:

Uhh it's not hypocrisy to act in accordance with the loving laws. Oh no Paypal doesn't facilitate the transfer of illegal funds and acts in accordance with federal laws applicable to being a money transmitter. The author needs to learn the difference between grey area things like renting out your home and driving a car vs. breaking laws that would have the feds and DOJ knocking down your doors in 24 hours. Besides that airbnb and Uber are facing legal problems literally all over the world, they are hardly being ignored and are already out of operation in some states. The whole thing is uninformed nonsense.

There's no reason you couldn't have a legalized prostitution market in the same way you have a legalized marijuana market.

# ? May 30, 2015 18:00

Skinnymansbeerbelly: Apr 1, 2010

computer parts posted:

There's no reason you couldn't have a legalized prostitution market in the same way you have a legalized marijuana market.

The weed stores can't get bank accounts either.

# ? May 30, 2015 18:08

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

Medical prostitution

# ? May 30, 2015 18:33

TildeATH: Oct 21, 2010; by Lowtax

Leperflesh posted:

Medical prostitution

for governor

# ? May 30, 2015 18:56

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Medical prostitution

insurance will only cover your prescription for a blonde not a brunette.

# ? May 30, 2015 22:45

FCKGW: May 21, 2006

Cross posting from the USPol thread

Lid posted:

Essentially for 25+ years the Orange County police and attorneys have been acting unconstitutionally in prosecutions on purpose using CI's to interrogate suspects, or outright lie on the stand, inexchange for reduced sentences and money. This came to light after an open and shut murder trial (the case being the infamous beauty parlous massacre where a guy killed 7 people) never got off the ground because the public defender managed to uncover a huge conspiracy regarding the use of CI's between the Sherrif's department and the DA. It has hit the point where every member of the DA office, all 250 attorneys, are now barred from acting on the death penalty case because they are all systemically compromised and several have committed perjury.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...t_attorney.html

# ? Jun 2, 2015 15:23

Kenning: Jan 11, 2009; I really want to post goatse. Instead I only have these🍄.

I said it when my friend posted this on Facebook, I'll say it again: gently caress Orange County.

# ? Jun 2, 2015 19:14

Dirk the Average: Feb 7, 2012; "This may have been a mistake."

Kenning posted:

I said it when my friend posted this on Facebook, I'll say it again: gently caress Orange County.

Eh, it's a perfectly nice place to live and work, as long as you have good employment, at least.

# ? Jun 2, 2015 19:18

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

I just got my mandatory reduction notice. It goes by street addresses: odd addresses (and none) may water Monday and Thursday; evens water Tuesday and Friday. I'm going to have to reprogram my sprinkler system to deep-water on Thursday to compensate for the three-day weekend. Before I got the notice I'd set the sprinkler to a three-day rotation so that the day watered rotated, but the spacing was consistent and still less than three times a week.

The mailing also told me that I could find my particular household's water quota using a website that requires my account number. I wish they'd provided a different access mode.

e: For the record, the lawn is already dead, and most of the remaining garden is on drips.

# ? Jun 2, 2015 19:31

withak: Jan 15, 2003; Fun Shoe

Dirk the Average posted:

Eh, it's a perfectly nice place to live and work, as long as you have good employment, at least.

To be fair, most places can be perfectly nice if you are wealthy.

# ? Jun 2, 2015 19:41

fits my needs: Jan 1, 2011; Grimey Drawer

withak posted:

To be fair, most places can be perfectly nice if you are wealthy.

I agree folks just need to show some initiative and gumption like those OC prosecutors did.

# ? Jun 2, 2015 20:45

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I just got my mandatory reduction notice. It goes by street addresses: odd addresses (and none) may water Monday and Thursday; evens water Tuesday and Friday. I'm going to have to reprogram my sprinkler system to deep-water on Thursday to compensate for the three-day weekend. Before I got the notice I'd set the sprinkler to a three-day rotation so that the day watered rotated, but the spacing was consistent and still less than three times a week.

The mailing also told me that I could find my particular household's water quota using a website that requires my account number. I wish they'd provided a different access mode.

e: For the record, the lawn is already dead, and most of the remaining garden is on drips.

In related news, We apparently cracked 13.5% water usage reduction in April. Granted, that's only half of what Brown mandated, but it's encouraging. Too bad it means gently caress all in the grand scheme since that only takes into account residential usage.

# ? Jun 3, 2015 01:13

incoherent: Apr 24, 2004; 01010100011010000111001
00110100101101100011011
000110010101110010

FCKGW posted:

Cross posting from the USPol thread

Dexter theorycrafting: Would dexter go after the DA or the killer if they got off on this travesty?

incoherent fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jun 3, 2015

# ? Jun 3, 2015 01:46

Konstantin: Jun 20, 2005; And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Leperflesh posted:

Medical prostitution

Actually a thing in some European countries, non-violent people in mental institutions and hospitals get visits from prostitutes. After all, they have the same sex drive as everyone else but little opportunity to express it.

# ? Jun 3, 2015 04:59

FilthyImp: Sep 30, 2002; Anime Deviant

incoherent posted:

Dexter theorycrafting: Would dexter go after the DA or the killer if they got off on this travesty?

Murder-Suicide frame job.

# ? Jun 3, 2015 18:15

fits my needs: Jan 1, 2011; Grimey Drawer

Konstantin posted:

Actually a thing in some European countries, non-violent people in mental institutions and hospitals get visits from prostitutes. After all, they have the same sex drive as everyone else but little opportunity to express it.

hosed up only almost total majority white Europeans are allowed to have a decent life.

# ? Jun 3, 2015 21:59

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# ? May 16, 2024 19:39

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

liberal california fails to create new jobs:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Anderson-Forecast-Bay-Area-Jobs-Outlook-Positive-Tech-Workers-Raking-in-High-Salaries-306013641.html

# ? Jun 3, 2015 23:59

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