Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Jerry Brown in Paris, Sunday, presenting a united front in the fight against climate change. Chris Megerian, LA Times:
“It’s hard to imagine two more different people serving back-to-back in the same political office, but on Sunday they sat for a joint interview to put a bipartisan spin on fighting climate change, a key issue for both of them.
“’It’s important for people to know that Republicans can work with Democrats and vice versa,’ Brown said.
“Schwarzenegger added, ‘That is a very important message for the international community, that they should not look at [climate change] in a political way.’”
For once, however, Schwarzenegger is the supporting cast, not the star of the show. In Paris, Jerry Brown played top banana. David Siders, Sacramento Bee:
“All year, Brown hounded jurisdictions from around the world to sign on to a pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050…
“On Sunday, at the Paris residence of Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to France, Brown signed up eight more jurisdictions to his agreement, including the cities of Oakland and Seattle and jurisdictions in Australia, Spain and Brazil.
“The occasion brought the total number of signatories to 80. According to Brown’s office, they represent more than 614 million people and a combined gross domestic product equivalent to nearly a quarter of the world economy.”
Back home, acting Governor and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom was whacking the NRA and the politicians that support them, serving up red meat for his supporters, including the California Nurses Association. Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times:
“Newsom's political image has been built on taking early and controversial positions, as he did with his support for same-sex marriage at a time most Democratic elected officials ran from it, and then seeing events confirm his view. “When it came to marriage equality, confirmation came in the Supreme Court's validation of the right 11 years after Newsom pushed it as mayor of San Francisco.
“When it comes to guns, Wednesday's bloodshed potentially positioned Newsom ahead of the pack again. And again it was on an issue that will put Newsom in the ring with moneyed opponents — in this case the National Rifle Assn. On Friday, in an early demonstration, he sent out a fundraising pitch blistering Congress for spurning new gun measures in deference to the NRA.”
Newsom has proposed a ballot initiative to tighten gun laws in the state, already among the strongest in the nation. Still, as Friday’s massacre in San Bernardino proved, they weren’t enough to prevent another tragedy. Juliet Williams and Don Thompson, Associated Press:
“Authorities say they believe attackers Syed Rizwan Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik had legally obtained two handguns and that two rifles were also legally purchased in California. Federal officials say the attackers had large-capacity magazines that violate California law in their SUV.
“Since the attack Wednesday at a social service center in Southern California, the state's strict laws and the apparent legal purchase of the weapons have set off a debate over the effectiveness of gun measures and whether getting tougher would help prevent more violence.
"’Strong gun laws do prevent gun deaths. Not every law can prevent every gun death,’ said Allison Anderman, a staff attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco. ‘They work most of the time.’"
Attorney General Kamala Harris, the frontrunner in the race to succeed retiring Senator Barbara Boxer, has come under scrutiny again for extravagant campaign spending, a charge that, along with excessive staff turnover, has dogged the candidate for months. Alex Roarty, National Journal:
“One stay. One hotel. $1,886.
“That’s how much Kamala Harris’s campaign spent this March to put up the California Senate candidate at Washington’s luxurious St. Regis hotel.
A review of the Harris campaign’s Federal Election Commission reports reveals it was far from a one-time splurge: In June, the campaign spent $1,500 to house Harris for a night at Houston’s posh Houstonian Hotel. In July, it was another night at the St. Regis, this time for $1,600. In Chicago, it was the Waldorf Astoria. In Boston, the Four Seasons. And on four occasions this year, Harris’ campaign paid for rooms at the pricey W Hotel in Los Angeles….
“’There are Hampton Inns in every city,’ said one national Democratic strategist with knowledge of the campaign. ‘There are Holiday Inns in every city. You don’t have to stay in the Four Seasons, or Hotel Fusion, or the Waldorf. It’s unnecessary.’”
Seventy-four years ago today, Japanese pilots bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing over 2,400 servicemen in what was at the time the deadliest-ever attack on American territory.
Three quarters of a century later, former American and Japanese combat airmen came together to pour whiskey from a battered military canteen into Pearl Harbor to commemorate the attack.
“As the sun rose over the USS Arizona Memorial, the two former enemy pilots joined the "Blackened Canteen" service on the eve of the 74th anniversary of the Dec. 7 attack, which took 2,403 lives and drew the United States into World War Two.
“Standing side by side after meeting for the first time ever, retired Air Force Colonel [Jack] DeTour and former Imperial Japanese Navy Zero Pilot [Shiro] Wakita together gripped the war-torn U.S. military-issue metal canteen and poured whiskey into the watery grave of the U.S. Navy ship sunk by Japanese bombers.
“Now a symbol of friendship, the scorched war relic was recovered in 1945 in Shizuoka, Japan after two B-29 U.S. bombers collided overhead. The 23 Americans killed were buried alongside Japanese citizens who died in the bombing raid. Found among the wreckage was the blackened canteen, filled with whiskey, and it was kept in Japan to remember loved ones lost.”
