Trump's deft touch

Voter suppression: 1988 and 2018

The pious Mr. Fuentes

Without evidence, Trump and Sessions warn of voter fraud in Tuesday’s elections (Washington Post)

President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday issued strong warnings about the threat of voter fraud in Tuesday’s elections, echoing the president’s baseless claims that massive voter fraud marred his 2016 election and prompting accusations that his administration is trying to intimidate voters.
. . .
In remarks to reporters on his way to a campaign rally in Cleveland, Trump also falsely claimed that voter fraud is commonplace.
. . .
Voting rights advocates denounced Trump’s remarks as a blatant attempt to intimidate voters on the eve of Election Day — and part of a pattern among Republicans, they said, to curtail voting access with strict rules that disproportionately affect voters of color who tend to vote Democratic.

     Perhaps some DtB readers will recall that the KING—and modern-day original practitioner—of outrageous voter intimidation tactics was none other than Tom Fuentes, who joined the SOCCCD Board of Trustees in July of 2000:

That notorious episode: Tom's "goons" (DtB, 1/16/10)

     SOCCCD Trustee Tom Fuentes may be pious as hell, but he ain't decent.
     Perhaps the most notorious episode of Fuentean ungentlemanliness (aka abject loutitude) occurred twenty-one [now 30] years ago.

     In an open letter to Tom, in 2005, Gustavo Arellano describes the incident:

...[Y]ou approved the use of poll guards to stand outside polling places in Latino neighborhoods when they cast ballots for the 72nd Assembly District race. The Republican Party candidate, Curt Pringle, won the election. But the subsequent furor led to your resignation as communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Orange, an exodus of Latino voters from the GOP (the first of many, it would turn out) and various settlements of lawsuits regarding the matter totaling more than $480,000. (See An open letter to the former GOP chairman, current college trustee, forever self-destroyer, OC Weekly.)

     It happened during the election of 1988....

Fuentes and Bush, pals

SEE ALSO Hastert and Fuentes and bears, oh my!

IVC in the News

Anti-semitism in action in Irvine. Clip from security camera at Beth Jacob Synogogue. 

IVC in the news:

from Newsweek:

‘KILL ALL JEWS’ TRENDS ON TWITTER AFTER SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED

The Brooklyn synagogue was vandalized a day after a similar incident took place in California.

The Beth Jacob Synagogue in Irvine, California, was defaced with anti-Semitic slurs on Wednesday, ABC News reported.

"This morning's news of anti-Semitic vandalism against one of Irvine’s synagogues, along with reports of a recent incident at Irvine Valley College, are both enraging and unacceptable," Irvine Mayor Don Wagner said of the incident. "They will not go unchallenged by the good people of Irvine. An attack on anyone in Irvine of any faith is an attack on us all."...

The murders and vandalism come amid rising anti-Semitism under President Donald Trump, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In 2017, anti-Semitic incidents increased 57 percent, according to the organization. The 1,986 anti-Semitic events recorded last year represented the second-highest number in the ADL's almost four decades of tracking.

from CNN
A California synagogue was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti four days after Pittsburgh

Mayor Don Wagner said the vandalism and a similar anti-Semitic incident at Irvine Valley College are "enraging and unacceptable."
In early October, police found swastikas scrawled in the restrooms of the college, according to a local councilwoman.

from the LA Times:
Officials offer reward for tips leading to suspect in vandalism of Irvine synagogue

Glenn Roquemore, president of Irvine Valley College, promised to stay vocal against hate and violence across the country, adding that school officials recently discovered swastikas defacing restrooms on campus.

The OC Register also covered this but Rebel Girl can't get behind their paywall and refuses to renew her subscription until they stop giving white supremacists and their ilk a platform in their comments section.

Meanwhile in Florida in case anyone (anyone?) is interested in how misogynistic threats against women are manifested and carried out:

Gunman In Yoga Studio Attack Had A Criminal History, Posted Racist And Sexist Videos

The AP also reported that Beierle was banned from FSU's campus in 2014.... And one woman, Courtnee Connon, who told the Tallahassee Democrat that Beierle grabbed her buttocks in her dining hall at FSU in 2012, said she spoke with police but ultimately decided not to pursue charges against Beierle. Connon, who was 18 at the time of the incident, told the Democrat she was scared by the idea of going to court and unsure criminal charges would deter Beierle from assaulting women in the future.

Scott Paul Beierle

On Saturday, Buzzfeed News reported that Beierle had uploaded a series of racist and misogynist videos to YouTube in 2014, and that he had also posted songs on SoundCloud in the past few months. According to Buzzfeed News, a song posted shortly before Friday's shooting included the lyrics: "To hell with the boss that won't get off my back /To hell with the girl I can't get in the sack." Additionally, one of Beierle's YouTube videos reportedly expressed sympathy with Elliot Rodger, who went on a misogynist killing rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., in 2014.

All of Beierle's original videos were removed from YouTube after Buzzfeed News published its story, but a video posted to YouTube on Saturday appears to be a duplicate of one of Beierle's original video rants. In it, a man whose likeness matches the photo of Beierle released by the Tallahassee Police Department uses a racial slur to describe black people and goes on to list the reasons he despises them. It includes a section in which he called black women "ugly and disgusting."

The AP also reported that "a man who looks like Beierle" appeared in a series of videos posted to YouTube in 2014, and that in the videos he called women who date black men "whores," spoke of an "invasion" from Central America and ranted about women....
Miller could not confirm misogyny as a motive in this attack. But Beierle's online emphasis on romantic rejection — and his reference to Elliot Rodger — does call to mind the group of men on the Internet who term themselves "incels," which is short for "involuntarily celibate."

...In April, a man linked to the incel community plowed his van into a Toronto sidewalk and killed 10 people. In the aftermath of that attack, NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro spoke with Arshy Mann, a Toronto-based reporter who covers incels and defines them as an "online subculture of young men who feel very frustrated with their sexual and romantic lives."

Be safe out there.

Meanwhile, across town...

Today at the orthodox synagogue on Michelson, just off Culver. 

From Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine:

Dear Friends,

I’m very sorry to report that last night Beth Jacob was a target of a cowardly act by an individual who spray-painted an anti-Semitic message on the front wall of our synagogue facing Michelson Drive. The hateful graffiti was discovered by our staff this morning, at which point Irvine Police Department was notified and a full investigation is underway.

Here is what we know so far based on our camera footage. At about 1:18 AM, an individual wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a surgical facemask jumped our fence at the pedestrian entrance on Michelson Drive. The suspect proceeded towards the wall where the Beth Jacob of Irvine sign is facing the street and began to spray-paint his hateful message. After he was done, the suspect left the premises on a bicycle he apparently stolen from our premises.

The Irvine Police Department and our own security have done a full sweep of the entire facility and nothing was found other than the graffiti.

We are continuing to do everything we can to make our campus more secure, and we will continue to promote the message that we are stronger than hate.

Sincerely,

Allen Berezovsky, Rabbi Ciner, Beth Jacob Board of Directors and Our Security Team

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"How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?"

Just askin'.

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Roquemore: a failure to lead

     6:15 - Well, the country is roiling in heavy seas right now, and most of us are anxiously on the lookout for more rogue waves. But I'm here, after a long absence, at the October meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees. It's a spittoon in that vast sea. But it's our spittoon. And it's roiling too.

Pres. Roquemore

     The faculty union's expected to show tonight all pissed off about the lowball tactics of the district negotiating team re the contract. So, there's that.
     But there's plenty more to be pissed off about. We at Irvine Valley College are sick to death of our incompetent and corrupt president. His latest atrocity? Well, he seems unconcerned about threats to his faculty and even about swastikas scrawled on campus bathroom doors. He doesn't communicate about that stuff. Doesn't feel the need too.
     And those faculty? They were investigated. Unbelievable.
     I could go on.
     The trustees are starting to show up. I've seen two of 'em so far. Prendergast, Jemal, Lang. --More in a moment.

     6:21 - The union crowd is lining up in the back of the hall. Some of the usual suspects—staff—are stalking the room and warming seats. There are some unfamiliar faces, too. Newly hired administrators?

     6:23 - A week or two ago, a student was seen scrawling a swastika on a bathroom stall door (or somesuch) here at the college. There'd been a few other Neanderthalic spasms on campus recently: students with knives, haters of various kinds. At the Senate meeting, senators got steamed: how come we're not informed of this kinda thing? How come the President of this Goddam College in the Orange Groves doesn't SAY something?
     WTF! we said (or some said). Other colleges (and High Schools, etc.) know what to do, but, no, not the clueless Trump-voting , anti-intellectualist Roquemore.
     Here on the pages of DtB we started carping about all this last week. Then Pittsburgh happened.
     Gotta go.

     6:28 - Looks like all of the trustees are in the room—though two of 'em aren't in their seats. Things will start jumping' in just two minutes.
     Whitt finally sits down. Prendergast is talking with somebody in front of me.  —I see our new Chancellor. Haven't met her yet....
     Looks like the union crowd are mostly a no-show. Maybe they got what they wanted?

     6:30 - Jemal opens the meeting. Prendergast: "no report" - actions in closed session.
     Wright does prayer: "our father who art in heaven, ... Amen"
     Jay leads the pledge. It's all very lurid.

     One request for public comment: Kathy Schmeidler.
     Schmeidler: (wearing an FA shirt). The board, she says, seems to be pursuing a philosophy that was appropriate twenty years ago, but it hasn't been modulated appropriately in intervening years. Taxpayers expect something different now. Sometimes you adjust beautifully (!), but some of the time, you don't, board. (Use of district resources.)
     Two items. At one point the district negotiating team pushed idea that the district should own anything produced by faculty on district time. Absurd. The other issue: our foundation. The board can make it easy or hard to support the good work at the colleges. I do hope the board will take that into account and support foundation efforts—doing things outside the normal budget and support student learning and activities—things that are impossible to do without the foundation. Thank you.
     Jemal: any other requests? Nope.

Board reports:

     Trustee Dave Lang: he blabs about football games. Teacher of year awards at Disneyland Motel. THEN: Personally dealing with attack on synagogue in Pitsburgh. President's remarks disgraceful and embarrassing. We don't need more armed guards.
     Trustee Barbara Jay: Doug Barr's history of Saddleback College. Appreciate that. Trustees self-evaluation, blah blah blah. OC Business council conference, blah blah
     Trustee Tim Jemal: attended groundbreaking, Health and Wellness center, IVC. Attended the Economic forecast. Joining Lang: condolences re Pittsburgh Tree of Life center...
     I recently heard about the swastika business at IVC. Deeply concerning. Symbol of fascism, racism, etc. The 1st Amendment allows citizens to freely express themselves. That doesn't preclude our board rejecting bigotry and violence. I am greatly concerned about this resurgence of white supremacy and Neo-nazis. Appreciate Irvine Police chief Hamel and city councilwoman Melissa Fox response. (And where was the IVC response? It came belatedly.) Both condemn the acts of vandalism, etc. at IVC. But we should lead too. It is the responsibility of our leadership to lead too. (Yeah, he's spanking Roquemore.)
     Trustee Marcia Milchiger: excellent remarks, she says. I won't repeat what you've said; I agree with those remarks. She then blathers about the district retreat. OC Legislative Task force meeting. What should they concentrate on this year? Blah blah blah. Something about Halloween. She had fliers. Something about a voting booth (at Saddleback?)
     TJ Prendergast: thankful to be able to see professor of year thing. Blah.
     Trustee James Wright: appreciate comments about Pittsburgh massacre. Then talks about homecoming dance. Went to forums. IVC Health Center project groundbreaking at IVC.
     Trustee Terri Whitt: would like to say—shares the same sentiments as Lang. Attended board retreat. No-one likes to go to those. It was excellent, wonderful. Something about football. Foundation meeting. Thanks Doug Barr for his work on history of district/college. Invites others to join the "5 k run." It's for us to get together. It's for our vets. Put your effort into it.
     Student trustee Hoang - yammers about retreat, etc. Notes her forums. Blah blah blah. Females at IVC empowerment, etc. Feminist club; safe space. (Cute kid.) Pursuing "rights for students."
     Chancellor's report (Burke): blah
     Presidents' reports
     Roquemore: yes, I fully agree about the swastikas. "There's no room for this kind of activity...." "We are dedicated to stop this kind of activity, where it is coming from." (What an asshole.) Goes on about Coach Pestolisi. "He's always been a superstar on campus." Sand volleyball. Congrats to him.
     Saddleback college: we had a power outage at start of Presidential forums. We had the shake-out. Quite a week. (I think he's just an interim guy.) (Yeah, "Interim Pres Buysse")
     Student government reports.
     Some kid starts talking about Halloween and voting. A costume party and "other festivities." Arranging for buses to bus kids to vote. (No one will show up.) Nice effort though. A survey for food and housing and security at Saddleback. Sounds pretty good.
     Nobody representing IVC (students).

No requests for reports
No discussion items tonight.
Nothing pulled from consent calendar! Passes unanimously.
Jemal: "I guess we're doing something right."

GENERAL ACTION ITEMS:

6.1 - Board Policy subcommittee (three board members). Lang: all board policies or only those concerning the board? Wants to be careful about not micromanaging. Prendergast: we don't feel enough involved in policies. Lang: seeking clarity. Jemal: explanatory comment by Chancellor. Especially those policies that directly involve us (board members). It'll go through the usual channels, discussed openly. Prendergast: want to be more active, but no micromanaging. Want a little bit more involvement in the process. Jemal: yes, we can participate. Lang: sounds to me like this thing "is not fully cooked yet." "My opinion." We haven't fully thought this out. Prendergast agrees. So let's wait until next month. Alludes to "reorg in December." The motion to table. Whitt: I don't have a problem with this. Prendergast and Jemal disagree about meaning of this item. Lang: needs to be more restrictive role. Jemal: "I think it's clear and long overdue." Milchiker: lets table it "just to be collegial." Jemal: we shouldn't be involved in the AR, just the policy. We wrote very prescriptive policies in the past, Want to get away from that,. TABLED - unanimously.
6.2 - Board of Trustee goals. Chancellor Burke: drafted at the retreat. Took them then to district wide planning committee. Blah blah blah. Goal 2 a little too ambitious? (7-8% more reasonable.)
     Prendergast: some of these goals came from the state. The state number was much lower. Blah blah blah.

     Milchiker: usually we have wishy-washy goals. These are "so measurable." "We're already up there [our colleges' rates]; I don't mind increasing the percentage."
     Wright: what are our transfer rates right now? For all colleges? "I don't have that at hand."
     Milchiker: IVC is #1 in CAl.
     Lang: I think this requires a little bit more work on our part (the goals). This needs a little bit more work. Let's bring it back. Couple of comments: a typo. Would change such-and-such.... blah blah blah.
     Prendergast: we worked these out at retreat.
     Jemal: asks the Chancellor to weigh in. Do we need to work further on this? Chance: no. "I don't believe so." Let's move this forward.
     Prendergast: No heads will roll if we don't meat these goals. Just goals.
     Jemal: Chancellor has pointed out that our goals have been 'less than measurable" in recent years. Tying her goals to our goals.
     Lang: I like that they're measurable. Are they achievable? Maybe not realistic. Some of these could be worded better.
     They commence wordsmithing, such as they do. Sheesh. Lang says he doesn't want to spend the night wordsmithing this thing.
     This board reminds me of a set of lead balls connected with twine, flying in several directions through empty space.
     I dunno what they did in the end. I lost interest. I guess they approved the goals.
6.3 - IVC Barranca entrance. — they vote.
6.4 - More about the entrance/easement.
6.5 - IVC awarded $2 million.
6.6 - ... Not very interesting.
. . .
6.9 - Study Abroad, Oxford, AOK
. . .
6.12 - $783 k for temporary fencing at ATEP!
. . .
6.15 - BOARD POLICY REVISION.
. . .
6.19 - One-time stipends for faculty, conversion to Canvas. Jemal: how much longer will we be paying out these stipends. Answer: another two years. Jemal: this will be coming back every meeting? Yes, We've only paid out 1.4 million as yet. Apparently, IVC converted before there was any stipend. IVC faculty can ask for it now. Jemal seemed pissed about it. —Only Lang votes no.
. . .
6.22 - Public hearing, district initial proposal (contract) CSEA.
    Public can comment. OPEN. Public comments? No desire for public comments. Closed.
6.23 - student discipline at IVC. Prendergast: disciplinary hearing, expulsion of student. (Don't know if this is the kid with the knife.) Unanimous.
6.24 - Student petition from Saddleback Student. Denied for reinstatement pursuing degree program. Approved unanimously,
6.25 - Police Officers Association tentative agreement. Approval unanimous.

REPORTS:
BLAH BLAH BLAH (Went through these quickly; no actions)

Reports from administrative and governance groups:

SC Academic Senate - Saddened by recent events, etc.
Faculty Association (union): Kurt Meyer: "we're the faculty" shirt worn. It takes a village to teach a student, etc. We're most central and most vital to our educational mission, etc.  We comprise 1000 part-time faculty. Very encouraged: negotiating teams have come to agreement on salary tonight. 
But let's be better. Let's move to 75% full-time faculty.
Jemal: "very nice statement."
IVC Ac Senate: busy this semester. Congrats to negotiating teams. We're trying to get to the bottom of "defaced fliers" and swastikas.
Etc.
The new Human Sources person sounds sharp.
Somebody said something about a bake sale. That's it for me.

13 days and counting...

Our diverse campus at the student walkout for gun control last March. 

13 days after the first swastika appeared at the little college in the orange groves, denizens of Irvine Valley College received an unusual email this morning from the Irvine City Police department:

Sunday October 8, 2018
11:50 AM

Dear IVC Community,

The Irvine Police Department has been made aware of recent incidents of graffiti vandalism on campus, as well as the defacing of college club fliers. IPD is working closely with the Irvine Valley College Police Department to thoroughly investigate these incidents. The Irvine Police Department has long supported IVC campus police in the goal of providing a safe campus for students, staff and visitors. As partners in law enforcement, IPD provides additional resources in support of campus police whenever we are called upon, including these recent incidents.

The Irvine Police Department stands with President Roquemore, the Irvine Valley College Administration, Chief Meyer and IVC campus police in condemning any acts of vandalism or defacement on campus, especially those that may appear to be directed at specific groups. We recognize that Irvine Valley College is committed to providing an academic and work environment that respects the dignity of all individuals in the spirit of a diverse, vibrant and all-inclusive campus community.

I am committed to continuing IPD’s close collaboration with IVC campus police to maintain the highest levels of safety on campus. Remember that we rely on you, the members of the IVC community, to be our eyes and ears on campus. If you see something suspicious, please immediately report it to campus police at 949-451-5234. You can also call the Irvine Police Department at 949-724-7000. In an emergency, always dial 9-1-1.

The Irvine Police Department and IVC campus police will provide updates on these incidents in the event of any new developments that we are able to share. If you have further concerns about this case and wish to communicate with IPD directly, please contact Operations Commander Noelle Smiley at 949-724-7025 or nsmiley@cityofirvine.org.

Please rest assured that while these recent incidents are disturbing, we are not aware of any imminent danger to the IVC community or the City as a result of this activity.

Yours in partnership,
Chief Mike Hamel
Irvine Police Department

IVC commencement 2015.

This email appears to have been prompted by the efforts of concerned Irvine city councilperson Melissa Fox. From blog:

Irvine Police Respond Quickly to Anti-Semitic Graffiti and Other Hate Vandalism at Irvine Valley College

Members of the Rise Above Movement (RAM) in action. RAM trains in the Agua Chinon Wash, about two miles from our campus and at municipal parks in San Clemente.

While it's good to hear from the Irvine PD and city councilperson Fox, Rebel Girl wonders where our own college leaders are on this. Chief Hamel says that he stands with President Roquemore but the college has not heard from the college president. At last Monday's Student Equity meeting (10/22/18), the college PIO assured attendees that she was "working on something" in response to these events.

But how long does it take to denounce in no uncertain terms the appearance of swastikas at a public education institution?

Too long apparently.

Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Meanwhile Rebel Girl has filed reports with the Orange County Human Relations Council, the Southern Poverty Law Center and The Anti-Defamation League.

What's he waiting for?

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