[Guest post by DRJ]

There have been a series of small and medium earthquakes near Borrego Springs, California, in the last 3-4 hours. Did you feel them?

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

As Patterico posted Monday, CNN’s Senior Editor for Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr mourned the death of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in a tweet:

“Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

Today she left CNN:

“From Parisa Khosravi – SVP CNN International Newsgathering

I had a conversation with Octavia this morning and I want to share with you that we have decided that she will be leaving the company. As you know, her tweet over the weekend created a wide reaction. As she has stated in her blog on CNN.com, she fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever. However, at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.

As a colleague and friend we’re going to miss seeing Octavia everyday. She has been an extremely dedicated and committed part of our team. We thank Octavia for all of her hard work and we certainly wish her all the best.

Parisa.”

It’s been my experience that when people are let go, “we wish you the best” isn’t the message they remember.

– DRJ

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

There’s been much discussion here in Los Angeles about the appropriateness of a publicly owned venue like the Coliseum hosting what in essence is an extravaganza of illegal drug use. My thoughts on the matter are posted today over at Pajamas Media. A sample:

On June 25 and 26, something called the Electric Daisy Carnival was once again held in and around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the site of two Olympic Games but lately reduced to hosting less noble entertainment. Billed as an “electronic dance festival,” the EDC is in reality an enormous outdoor orgy of drug use set to the incessant beat of music which, if it were employed in the service of discomfiting captured al-Qaeda terrorists, would bring threats of sanctions from the United Nations. And it all took place in a publicly owned facility and under the watchful but largely impotent eye of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Read the whole thing.

–Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by DRJ]

The Obama Administration’s DOJ has sent a letter to BP demanding that it provide advance notice of any significant sale of assets or cash transfers. BP indicated it would respond in due course.

Perhaps BP is wondering what legal authority the Administration has to make such a demand. Me, too.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Even though they live in Mexico, the new Mayor of Juarez and his wife have claimed a homestead exemption on their El Paso, Texas, residence for 13 years:

“Since 1997, the Juárez mayor-elect and his wife have received tax relief on a home in El Paso because they declared it their primary residence. But they said Tuesday they have always lived in Juárez.

Héctor Murguía won Sunday’s mayoral race for the second time in Juárez.

Murguía said he and his wife both live in Juárez and have “vacation homes” in El Paso, Ruidoso and Mexico City. The current mayor, José Reyes Ferriz, has denied accusations that he lives in El Paso to shield his family from the drug cartel violence.

Murguía’s wife, Patricia Murguía, applied for a homestead exemption soon after they bought the home in 1996. Patricia Murguía, a housewife, is a U.S. and Mexican citizen.

The Texas homestead exemption provides tax relief and protects property from creditors’ claims. Property owners can have only their main residence homesteaded.”

The dividing line between Juarez and El Paso is becoming increasingly blurred, but this El Paso homeless man knows the difference:

H/T A Friend.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Naked Emperor News looks at one of the New Black Panthers involved in the Philadelphia voter intimidation case — King Samir Shabazz:

“You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers. You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies.”

– DRJ

Normally I would give you the quotes and ask you where they came from. Obama administration press release? Head of the Black Panther Party? But I don’t have time for such tomfoolery, so I’ll jump straight into the appallingly slanted story:

A former Justice Department lawyer hired during the Bush administration alleged on Tuesday that the department scaled down a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party last year because his former colleagues do not want to protect white people’s civil rights.

. . . .

The testimony by Mr. Adams brought new attention to a case that has been used as political ammunition against the Obama administration by some conservative media outlets seeking to flip the script on portrayals of the Bush administration as having “politicized” the Justice Department.

I could stop right there, but there’s more:

In January 2009, less than two weeks before the Bush administration left office, the civil rights division invoked a rarely used section of the Voting Rights Act to file a civil lawsuit alleging voter intimidation by both men, the party chairman and the party.

“Rarely used.” Just before Bush left office. Suspicious!

Never mind how blatant the intimidation was. Let’s focus on how often the law is used.

In April 2009, the division seemed to win the case by default because the New Black Panthers failed to show up in court.

Seemed to win?

The case became a cause célèbre in the conservative media world, and the Civil Rights Commission opened an investigation. The eight-member panel, which has the power to issue subpoenas and issue reports, is controlled by a six-member conservative bloc appointed during the Bush administration.

So you can discount them safely.

The Obama administration took office amid widespread allegations that the Bush administration had politicized the civil rights division.

Everyone was saying it at the water cooler!

(There are some allegations that the Obama administration has politicized the division, too. Whether they are “widespread” is, I suppose, in the eye of the beholder.)

The New York Times: the Louis Vuitton of news! Accept no substitutes!

Who woulda thunk it?

“Last year, after Bristol and I broke up, I was unhappy and a little angry. Unfortunately, against my better judgment, I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true,” he tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I have already privately apologized to Todd and Sarah. Since my statements were public, I owe it to the Palins to publicly apologize.”

. . . .

“So to the Palin family in general and to Sarah Palin in particular, please accept my regrets and forgive my youthful indiscretion,” Johnston says in the statement. “I hope one day to restore your trust.”

Yeah, good luck with that.

[Guest post by DRJ]

A 3-judge Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel has ruled the Obama Administration can’t unilaterally close the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository site:

“Three administrative judges within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled last week that President Barack Obama and Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu don’t have the authority to close the controversial site unilaterally. That can only be accomplished, the judges said, by an act of Congress .

“Unless Congress directs otherwise, DOE may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process by withdrawing the (Yucca repository) application. DOE’s motion must therefore be denied,” the judges wrote, adding that the DOE had weakened its arguments by “conceding that the application is not flawed nor the (Yucca) site unsafe.”

“Given the stated purposes of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the detailed structure of that legislation, it would be illogical to allow DOE to withdraw the application without any examination of the merits,” the judges found.
***
The administrative judges’ ruling already is scheduled for reconsideration. On Wednesday, the day after the ruling was announced, the NRC quickly set a schedule to hear an appeal, calling for follow-up briefs to be filed by July 16 .

“The department remains confident that we have the legal authority to withdraw the application for the Yucca mountain repository,” said DOE spokeswoman Jenni Lee . “We believe the administrative board’s decision is wrong and anticipate that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will reverse that decision.”

I doubt this will help Senator Harry Reid’s re-election chances unless the appeal lasts past November.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating hoax emails sent to area media that claimed Senators Diane Feinstein and Patrick Leahy had died:

“Several news outlets received a hoax e-mail news release, announcing the death of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday. Leahy, 70, who participated in July 4 events, is alive and well, according to spokesman David Carle.

“It was spoofed to look as if it had come from the office,” Carle said.

A copy of the e-mail, posted on the Web site of Washington’s WTOP radio, said Leahy had died of liver cancer.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who serves on the Judiciary and Appropriations committees with Leahy, was subjected to a hoax of the same kind on Monday, according to ABC News. Similarly, she was said to have died of cancer at her home.

The nearly identical hoax news releases have “also been used against others,” Carle said in a brief phone call. He did not offer specifics about other such incidents.

U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider told POLITICO that the police are looking into the hoaxes but declined to say how many there were or to provide any other details.”

I guess some people crave attention but I’m not sure if this is a crime. If it isn’t, it soon will be.

– DRJ