The photographer “Discarted” has gone done it again and threatened national security by violating the laws of the MTA and taking photos of the Los Angeles subway system that he could very likely end up selling to Al Qaeda. Seems perfectly reasonable that he be detained by LA Sheriffs, right?
Except that there is no rule prohibiting public photography in Los Angeles subway systems. And any detainment would require a reasonable suspicion of the subject having committed a crime… which may have occurred, but the only unusual activity the Sheriff ever cites is Discarted’s act of taking photos.
After handcuffing Discarted, the sheriff doing most of the talking, Officer Richard Gylfie, is heard threating threatening to put him the FBI’s “hit list” and will be flagged and detained before boarding planes, trains, or other forms of transportation where an ID is checked. And why? Apparently for not shivering in fear to Gylfie’s demands to tell him why he’s taking photos… or maybe I’m missing something.
As if it needs repeating, photography is allowed in public spaces, including the subway system. Its a shame that the same people who we pay to enforce our laws are blatantly ignorant of this, and instead abuse the power that we bestow upon them to harass and intimidate.
As the holiday season approaches and your calendar begins to overflow with festive party invites, we at Metblogs urge you to act responsibly, especially when it comes to alcohol consumption.
Our motto is: If you’re going to be making a merry mess of yourself all over town, please do us all a favor and go home with a stranger.
OK, maybe that’s not an official Metblogs motto, but it should be. The thing is, there are many alternatives to drinking and driving. You can take the Metro, call a taxi, hire a limo, appoint a designated driver, call a sober friend, call Alcoholics Anonymous. Still, with all of these options, so many of us will choose to get behind the wheel of our own car and drive home after a night of boozing. I am not proud to admit how many times I have done this in the past.
According to Y Drive, “The main reason people drink and drive is that they don’t want to leave their cars behind.”
Y Drive's Magic Folding Scooter
That’s why Y Drive came up with an innovative and affordable service that eliminates this factor altogether. When you call Y Drive, a professional driver will come to you on a folding scooter. For a flat fee of $38, the (more…)
The facts:
Earlier this week at the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Glyndon Avenue in Venice, at 12:20am there was a car accident involving an LAPD cruiser with 2 officers and another vehicle driven by a woman. All three people were sent to the hospital, the woman subsequently died from her injuries. The LAPD has confirmed that the officers were not on a service call at the time of the accident.
The questions:
According to this article the LAPD is investigating the accident to determine what happened. According to the comments on that article by people claiming to be eye witnesses and residents who live on or near that intersection, the question isn’t what happened, but why. These comments piece together a story and timeline that suggests the LAPD cruiser was traveling between 50-70mph down Venice Blvd without lights or sirens on and hit a BMW driven by a woman squarely on the drivers side. Within moments 10 or more police cruisers arrived and began to close off the block as a crime scene but it was close to 15 minutes before an ambulance or emergency workers arrived. There is a lot of speculation and anger in the comments especially aimed at the LAPD reports and media who seem to be only covering one side of the story, and messing up details left and right. It’s worth reading.
It’s also worth noting that while witnesses of the above accident are reporting that other officers were on the scene within minutes, other Venice residents are complaining of response times of up to an hour when they are calling in with problems that don’t involve other LAPD officers. (thanks Xeni)
There is also a Facebook Group created by friends of Devin, the woman who died, collecting thoughts and memories about her.
TMZ, I love you. I never thought I’d say that. But that was my reaction after being pointed by the Los Angeles Times Local section online to these photos at TMZ.com purportedly catching First Lady Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger in the act. No, not an adulterous sex romp, but rather, two cell phone-in-hand chatting sessions while driving, at least one of which reportedly takes place in Los Angeles. Yeah, it was her husband Arnold who signed the law that Maria clearly appears to be breaking.
I can’t wait for Maria’s top five excuses:
5. I was stopped at a red light.
4. I was stopped in traffic.
3. The pics are Photoshop phonies.
2. It wasn’t me, it was Mariel Hemingway (top photo).
1. It wasn’t me, it was Amy Irving (bottom photo).
This once, I hope a TMZ celebrity story makes front page news and stays there. Maybe it will save some lives.
It was a year ago tomorrow that I learned his name: John McGraham. A homeless man who was a fixture in the neighborhood radiating out from 3rd Street and Berendo where he could often be found, McGraham, 55, was attacked and murdered there October 9th, 2008, reportedly doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire with a flare.
I biked by there this morning to find the above poster McGraham’s family mounted to the long-empty dentistry office outside of which he had lived and so brutally died.
Such unfathomable violence galvanized the community and after more than three months of intense investigations detectives from LAPD Robbery/Homicide Division arrested 30-year-old Benjamin Matthew Martin in Ranch Mirage, Riverside County on January 22. Though unemployed at the time of his arrest, Martin had reportedly worked as a barber in and around the area where McGraham was killed.
LAPD Chief Bill Bratton’s dissatisfactions with the way things run in Los Angeles, compared to Boston and New York where he was also police chief prior to his tenure here, have been known. And in some respects, there is no love lost for him over his departure at the end of this month. (Yes, his last day on the job in LA is Halloween.)
Yesterday he laid out east vs. west complaints at Los Angeles Magazine’s regular Breakfast Conversation confab at the Foundry restaurant on Melrose.
East Coast, it’s much more in your face, bloody the nose and then go and have a drink. Here it’s basically, don’t have it out and hold a grudge and try to undermine each other at every turn. I don’t know whether that’s the ethos of the movie industry that’s now basically going into the rest of the society out here.
My style is basically, fight it out, get it done and move on… Life is too short, get it over with, instead of this lingering payback.
This city is almost a city that doesn’t work in so many respects and it’s frustrating. The New York minute – the reason that phrase is so appropriate for New York, things get done.
Yup. You heard it right. The LA City Council… in a rash, pretty much draconian proposal, wants to outlaw access to medical marijuana unless you are part of a collective and work there, i.e. grow your own. In effect, this would close down all the dispensaries operating now.
If you are a seriously ill patient, or someone who doesn’t have the time to grow your own…. forget about getting easy access to your medicine. This new ordinance would also outlaw edibles and concentrates, items that every single cancer patient I know uses. It would prohibit the sale of medical marijuana and any edibles.
If you care about this at all…. please write your city council person today and request that they reject this new ordinance. It is titled, “Third Revised Draft Ordinance Establishing Regulations Regarding Medical Marijuana Collectives”. Go to:here (http://lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm)and scroll to “my neighborhood” to find your council person. Eric Garcetti is President of the City Council… write him and let him know your views… and Eric, I hope you are reading this. We need input and a fair draft of this ordinance by patients, citizens, dispensary owners…. not just the City Attorney and the police department. This proposal violates all the rights patients have worked so hard to achieve.
Yesterday I posted asking for calls to object to Dianne Feinstein’s latest hamfisted, wrongthink “Won’t Somebody think of the CHILDREN” legislation that set manditory 10-year minimum sentences for people making edibles for medical marijuana patients..
Thanks to all of you that called! We were very successful in getting ourselves heard.
Through our calls we were able to get a postponement on the resolution vote. This is a very good sign that it may either be thrown out entirely or rewritten to exclude patients and their providers from legal ramifications resulting from the production or use of medicinal cannabis edibles.
Another Feinstein Folly: the “Save Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act of 2009.”
Would you take a moment and call your LA City Council member today, Thursday August 6th? You can use this quick helpful script for this fifteen-second phone call, beyond the jump.
Park[ing] Day LA is a guerrilla protest that’s creative, fun, and socially relevant — in other words, tailor-made for Metblogs. And it’s coming around again, for the third year, this September 18. So what is Park[ing] Day LA? As its organizers explain here, people all around Los Angeles will turn metered parking spaces into miniature parks, by feeding the meters and, instead of parking their cars in the spaces, well, take a look at the website and you’ll get the idea.
I like the cause, as encapsulated in the slogan “Parks Not Parking.” However, the practical side of me has a few questions about this: (more…)
I Will, I Will Mock You Verdell Wilson OK, igetrad. You win. No contest. igetrad red line a few years back. saw a dude with his shirt pulled up under his chin furiously picking away at scabs... girlvaughn Flossing. seriously. So disgusting. Also – agree with nail clippers. The sound of it makes me gag.
TMZ, I love you. I never thought I’d say that. But that was my reaction after being pointed by the 
Yup. You heard it right. The LA City Council… in a rash, pretty much draconian proposal, wants to outlaw access to medical marijuana unless you are part of a collective and work there, i.e. grow your own. In effect, this would close down all the dispensaries operating now.
Park[ing] Day LA
