Random Lengths News 12-10-15 Issue

Owners of Port Medical Indicted for Defrauding ILWU Benefits Plan p. 4 Mega Shipping Merger Portends Major Changes in Goods Movement Industry p. 4 p

Raising Extinction Issues Wake-Up Call on Human Impacts p. 11 Calling Out Yelp Reviewers p. 15

Painter and woodworking artist, Monte Thrasher is a member of the North San Pedro arts colony known as “The Pound.” Photo by Terelle Jerricks

By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor and Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

December 10 - 23, 2015

[See Slumlord, page 2]

The Local Publication You Actually Read

B

efore affordable housing was a visible public policy concern, before the housing market crashed in 2007 and before the creation of the San Pedro Arts District, local artists and property owners were discussing how to support and sustain the budding arts scene that was emerging in the community.

Several condominium developments marketed as artist lofts were built, but a coherent policy for sustaining the arts community with cheap live-work space was never created.

A couple of months ago, local artist Monte Thrasher told Random Lengths News about the living conditions in the arts colony known as The Pound, a place marketed to artists as live-work spaces at dirt cheap rents.

The most recent post ad reads: “The Pound is an artist only community in San Pedro. We have a room and studio space available for $350. We have two kitchens and two baths which are shared by all. Washer, dryer and utilities included. San Pedro has a exciting artist community and a monthly art walk downtown. A farmers market every Friday and we have a park and nature walk right out our front door. We have 12 artists working in a wide variety of disciplines. Painters, filmmakers, writers and crafters all enjoying a

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Community Announcements:

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 30 Years

Harbor Area Spay/Neuter Clinics

The Peter Zippi Fund for Animals is sponsoring another cat-only mobile spay/neuter clinic for Harbor Area residents in the 90731 and 90744 zip codes.

The service includes vet exam, surgery, and pain injection and rabies.

Time: Dec. 11 Cost: $10 Details: (310)379-1264; www.lucypetfoundation. org Venue: Los Angeles Harbor College, 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington

LBPD Kicks Off Annual Holiday Toy Drive

The Long Beach Police Department, in partnership with the Long Beach Police Foundation, are accepting donations of new unwrapped toys for the annual ‘Toy Patrol’ holiday toy drive.

Police employees with firsthand knowledge of a family in need submit the family’s information for consideration. No outside referrals are accepted.

They are especially in need of toys for boys and girls ages 12 and older. Monetary donations and/or gift cards are also being accepted through the Long Beach Police Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Mail donations to LBPF, P.O. Box 15418, Long Beach, CA 90815, and mark your donation “Toy Patrol” on the memo line. For more information or to request a collection box, please call (562) 570-7212.

Collection boxes are available at the below police facilities, as well as all Long Beach libraries, all Farmers & Merchants bank branches in Long Beach, and in a variety of businesses throughout the city.

Police Facilities: Police Headquarters, 400 W. Broadway East Division, 4800 Los Coyotes Diagonal North Division, 4891 Atlantic Ave. West Division, 1835 Santa Fe Ave.

POLA Harbor Commission Meeting

December 10 - 23, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

The Los Angeles Waterfront Access and Redevelopment Coalition will have speakers at the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners meeting to speak on the Port of Los Angeles’ intention to sign a 50 or 66 year ground lease with a developer before any public presentation is made.

In the interest of transparency and full disclosure, including the developer’s specific plans for Ports O’Call’s redevelopment, the group is requesting that the public have the opportunity to weigh in on those plans before any lease is signed.

This past summer the Ports O’ Call developer, LA Waterfront Alliance, announced it has downsized its initial development plans for Ports O’ Call from 345,000 to 150,000 square feet based on what the coalition believes to be a flawed feasibility study commissioned by the port.

Time: 8:30 a.m. Dec. 17 Venue: 425 S. Palos Verdes Street, San Pedro

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Los Angeles Harbor and South Bay Cities Mark End of Paris Summit

On Dec. 12, South Bay 350 Climate Action Group in conjunction with Occupy Palos Verdes, San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners United, Inc., the San Pedro & Peninsula Homeowners Coalition, the Holy Trinity Peace & Justice Committee, and Environmental Priorities Network are hosting three Climate Red Line events, each designed to send the unified message of no compromise in transitioning away from climate changing fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas to 100 percent nonpolluting renewable energy sources by the year 2030.

The first Climate Red Line event will take place in Palos Verdes from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the ARCO Station, 27301 Hawthorne Blvd., Rolling Hills Estates.

The second Climate Red Line event will take place at Sur La Brea Park, 23610 Cabrillo Ave., Torrance from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

The third and final event will take place from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Rancho LPG Facility, 2110 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro.

[See Announcements, page 3]

[Slumlord, from page 1]

Artful Living at Slumlord Prices creative lifestyle together. First and last to move in and SEND PICS OF YOUR WORK with your reply. Sorry musicians really not set up for soundproofing. Available now.”

But soundproofing seems to be the least of the building’s issues.

Thrasher accuses the building’s management of abusing tenants’ rights through practices such as illegal evictions, fire and zoning code violations.

“The landlord has apparently abandoned the place,” Thrasher said. “There is no maintenance at all and the place is just falling apart.”

The property is zoned for industrial use only.

In fact, a 1956 certificate of occupancy provided to Random Lengths News shows the building was once approved for the storage of flammable liquids and hazardous materials.

“Which hazardous waste?” asked Thrasher, rhetorically. “I don’t know. But we certainly weren’t warned about that.”

While there have been some complaints about the property in the past, the complaints have been closed or are under investigation.

California requires that real estate transactions

The Pac Arts senior living apartments were marketed as live-work spaces for artists when the concept of the building was presented for public comment. Community members voiced opposition to the project, noting that there was no legal way to insure that units only went to artists and were resistant to more low income housing in San Pedro. File photo.

of any kind be in writing. However, The Pound’s manager, Joel Stearns, admitted, tenant agreements at the complex are handled with an exchange of money and a handshake..

“The studios are rented…as art studios,” Stearns said, declining to admit that people live in those studios.

Artists are generally drawn to raw spaces— spaces in which amenities aren’t absolutely perfect and can be modified or converted to fit their needs.

More importantly, these are spaces that artists could modify themselves. A sculptor would have different needs than a graphic designer, who in turn would have different needs than another kind of artist. Thrasher contends that the tenants

were not allowed fix and improve the spaces.

Thrasher admittedly has had tenant-landlord issues at other places he’s resided, where he was able extend his tenancy without paying rent, as he now is doing.

Building manager Joel Stearns believes Thrasher is trying to extort money from the building owner.

“He has no job,” Stearns, 68, said. “He can’t hold a job. He’s medicated. He’s clinically depressed…from what he’s told me and other people….He’s been trouble from about six months after he moved here.”

There are a lot of rules and regulations governing art colonies, noted Walter Beaumont, [See Slumlord, page 3]

[Slumlord, from page 3]

Slumlord

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area

[Announcements, from page 2]

AltaSea’s $100,000 Fundraising Challenge

On Jan. 3, The StubHub Center is hosting a Veterans Job Fair in collaboration with the Marine Corp Semper Fidelis at 11 a.m. the Veterans Job Fair is free and open to the public and includes both full- and part-time positions. Candidates are asked to bring at least 10 copies of resumés for employers who will be in attendance. All candidates will have the opportunity to be hired on the spot.

Venue: StubHub Center, 18400 Avalon Blvd., Carson

December 10 - 23, 2015

Veterans Job Fair at StubHub Center

“We don’t want him to sell off all of his stuff before we can get it,” Thrasher said. “If we place a lien on it, our hope is to compel the guy, get maybe a court settlement or an agreement with the court that will allow this place to survive, allow us to bring it up to code and turn it into a real, long-term artist establishment.”

But the reality may be quite different, Stearns said.

“The landlord, if he has to deal with this, he’ll just kick everybody out and rent it to businesses,” Stearns said. “The artist community has done this over and over and over again. They move into areas that no one else wants to live. They build the area up and all of a sudden it becomes more popular, other business want to move in. I mean, look at downtown San Pedro. The artists move in and then the city goes and says, ‘OK, it’s legal to live there’ or ‘it’s not.’ And, if the city comes in, they don’t ask people to bring it up to code, they just kick you out. I’ve seen it happen.”

On Dec. 1, AltaSea launched $25,000 fundraising challenge to benefit youth marine education programs of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI), Friends of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, PortTech LA and AltaSea. In a single week, nearly $50,000 was raised.

In response to the community reaction to the challenge, AltaSea doubled its match challenge to $50,000 to raise a total of $100,000. To get there, AltaSea challenged friends and supporters through the end of the year and pledged to match the amount raised dollar for dollar up to $25,000.

Details: https://www.crowdrise.com/ SupportYouthOceanEducation

Monte Thrasher with one of his paintings at The Pound. Photo by Terelle Jerricks

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former Community Redevelopment Agency representative for the San Pedro Arts, Culture and Entertainment District. He cited the new development that just opened on Pacific Avenue and 4th Street in San Pedro, and two others in Long Beach and Burbank.

“Government is really not good at building art colonies,” Beaumont said. “Enlightened private development is significantly better.”

Beaumont cited Robin Hinchliffe’s artist lofts on 7th and 5th streets as an example.

Robin and Doug Hinchliffe were among the early core anchors of the San Pedro arts district, developing spaces for the purpose of curating cutting-edge art shows while providing livework spaces for artists.

Artists working in large media formats, such as painters and sculptors, need at least 1,500 square feet to work and store projects. For years, the Hinchliffes provided a kind of rent control for good tenants, keeping their rental rates competitive, if not cheaper than elsewhere in Los Angeles County for similarly sized spaces.

TransVagrant at Warschaw Gallery curator Ron Linden identifies Marylyn and Chuck Klaus, who donated the building housing the Marylyn and Chuck Klaus Center for the Arts, and Linda Jackson, who owns wine lounge, Jackson’s Place, as enlightened property owners. Jackson also owns several of the adjoining spaces next to the lounge.

Another important point about the Hinchliffe’s properties is that they are up to code and legal.

It’s not clear the same can be said of The Pound.

Stearns said that though The Pound is owned by Emmett Clark, the person leasing the property as an artist community is a Florida man, Mike Turner, with whom Stearn said he only communicates through social media.

It is unclear if there is plan to salvage the situation at The Pound.

Thrasher said that he believes he still has a shot at making The Pound an artists’ haven by applying to the courts and placing a lien on the property. He believes that suing the landlord would give him a vested interest in his financial state.

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Owners of Port Medical Indicted for Defrauding Benefits Plan

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor Two members of ILWU, Local 13, were arrested on federal fraud charges Dec. 7. The arrests followed a Nov. 18 indictment alleging they caused two Port Medical clinics to bill the union’s health care plan for chiropractic services that either were not provided or were not medically necessary.

Sergio Amador, 49, of Downey, and David Gomez, 52, of San Pedro, were arrested without incident by federal authorities.

For the past three years, local health care providers, independent contractors such as chiropractors, massage therapists and

acupuncturists, saw their reimbursement rates slow to a trickle.

This was due primarily to changes to the ILWU-PMA Benefits plan in 2009 in which a third-party administrator was assigned to monitor all claims on the ILWU-PMA benefits plan.

With the indictments and arrest of Armador and Gomez, there’s now an explanation for why the third-party administrators were flagging these claims.

The ILWU-PMA benefits plan covers 100 percent of all chiropractic charges with no outof-pocket costs to the benefits plan member. The

benefits plan includes up to 40 visits related to any particular diagnosis and up to 18 related symptoms in the absence of a diagnosis.

As a result, a code of conduct was developed to address specific areas of concern. The chiropractic portion of the benefits plan prohibits offering any incentive, including rebates, free or discounted treatments or gifts of any type to plan members for recruiting them as patients.

The benefits plan also requires that all treatments be medically necessary and only address the specific condition that was diagnosed and documented in the patient’s history.

Armador and Gomez were charged with breaking just about all of these rules and pocketing the money.

Investigators painstaking connected how Amador and Gomez set up and controlled Port

Medical, information that was largely hidden by a corporate veil.

According to the grand jury indictment, Amador and Gomez incorporated Port Medical and opened bank accounts for three related companies, including: DCS, Chosen and Ramport to receive funds from Port Medical. Those monies were then used to pay themselves and pay incentives to and on behalf of plan members.

In return, those members would receive medical and chiropractic services at Port Medical and encourage other plan members to do the same.

The indictment alleges that the longshore workers gave benefit plan members incentives.

These included sports teams sponsorships, cash payments, free massages and facials, and other gifts and services in return for those benefit plan members receiving medical and chiropractic services from Port Medical.

The pair pleaded not guilty to the charges and was freed on bond. They were ordered to stand trial, Feb. 2, 2016.

The Port Medical office building on Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro sits opposite the waterfront. File photo.

Will Two Shipping Giants Merge?

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By Richard Knee, Maritime Reporter A possible merger of two cargo-shipping titans has maritime unions fearing job losses while exporters and importers worry about service quality levels.

Although ownership consolidation has been a trend in the shipping industry for decades, vessels in most of the world’s trade lanes are still sailing with less-than-full loads. Nonetheless, the concentration of industry control into fewer and fewer hands would seem to increase the ease and likelihood of market manipulation.

In play this time is Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., a Singapore-based conglomerate whose vessels carry containerized dry bulk and liquid bulk goods. Neptune Orient Lines’ discussions with Denmark’s Maersk Line and France’s CMA CGM have generated speculation that either could result in an acquisition. All three carriers call at the Port of Los Angeles. Neptune Orient Lines’container ships operate under the APL brand; initials which used to stand for American President Lines, an Oakland-based company acquired by Neptune Orient Lines in 1997.

In 1995, Maersk had begun a vessel and equipment sharing agreement with another U.S.owned shipping line, Sea-Land Service Inc, and completed an outright purchase from CSX Corp in 1999. This past year, Maersk resurrected the SeaLand name in the intra-Americas shipping lanes.

CMA CGM also used to be two carriers— Belgium-based Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement and the French carrier Compagnie Générale Maritime.

The acquisitions of Sea-Land and APL included U.S-flagged and -crewed ships, which Maersk and Neptune Orient Lines/APL continue to operate under the 19-year-old Maritime

Security Program that enables them to haul U.S. government-impelled shipments. At least one union, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots, based near Baltimore, fears that some of the nine vessels that Neptune Orient Lines/APL has enrolled in the program would be removed by Maersk or CMA CGM. Representatives from all three companies were silent on the question, as they were on whether they could guarantee that a merger would not result in a deterioration of service.

MM&P president Don Marcus said Maersk operates 24 of the 60 MSP-enrolled ships.

U.S.-flagged vessels carried about 90 percent of the government-impelled cargo during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, from which “APL made a fistful of dollars,” he said. “It’s unknown if CMA CGM would have a commitment to the MSP and it’s unknown if Maersk would keep the nine APL ships in the MSP.” The MM&P “very well might” launch or join an effort to persuade regulators to prevent Maersk or CMA CGM from swallowing Neptune Orient Lines, he said. The MM&P is part of a maritime labor alliance with the National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, the longshore and “a few other” unions, he said. Neither of the longshore unions could be reached for comment.

An inter-union spat is also part of the equation.

Marcus said APL recently informed the MM&P that it would replace one MSP-enrolled ship with one whose officers and crew had different representation.

If exporter-importer organizations are worried about the impact of a possible merger, they’re not anxious to go public with their concerns. Several [See Merger, page 7]

Carson Faces Two Recalls

When you need help, think local. Support the Independents.

By Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter

Voters in Carson will go to the polls Feb. 23 to decide whether or not to recall Jim Dear as the city’s clerk, and if Dear is recalled, who would replace him.

A separate effort to recall Mayor Albert Robles is underway concurrently, and its proponents have until April 18 to collect 8,059 valid signatures.

Sue Herbers, who worked as Torrance’s city clerk between 1994 and 2014, has been hired by the city council to oversee the Dear recall attempt. Until her contract ends in March, she is also overseeing the attempt against Robles.

A “Notice of Intention for Recall of City Clerk” and a memo about the qualifications to run for city clerk are available at ci.carson. ca.us. Herbers said she intends to post more information, including a list of frequently asked questions.

Donesia Gause, the former city clerk (and current council member), appears as the only potential candidate to replace Dear, should his recall be successful. At press time she was the only person who had even taken out nominating papers. Dear defeated her for clerk this past March.

In Random Lengths News

and of “withholding the city seal” from documents related to NFL stadium negotiations.

Dear’s rebuttal states in part, “My civil rights track record is excellent, supporting seniors, disabled youth and all of Carson…I handled elections/petitions in a timely manner…My salary and employee pension are set by the city…I don’t give “endorsements” as Chief Elections Official.”

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In the attempt to recall Robles, the Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition addresses the mayor directly.

“You have violated the public’s trust and have an unlawful residence in another city and do not live in Carson. You have committed sexual assault, battery [and] sexual harassment of women, including city employees. You are illegally holding two incompatible offices and have committed violations of the open meeting law and you are promoting a racial war against the citizenry.”

Three of the persons who signed the petition against Robles include Joseph Pinon, Janice Schaefer and Alene Harris. They are Carson residents with a history of publicly supporting Dear.

Robles’ rebuttal stated that the “purported recall reasons are completely fabricated” and lists some prominent politicians as supporters, including four Carson City Council members, Assemblyman Mike Gipson and state Sen. Isadore Hall.

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According to the Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition, the official grounds for recalling Dear are as follows: betrayal of public trust, neglect and clear incompetence, conduct unbecoming of an elected official, and cronyism.

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Supporters of Carson City Clerk Jim Dear are mobilizing signature gatherers to recall Carson Mayor Albert Robles in 2016. File photo.

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Dianne Thomas, Brian Raber and Pat Hellerud, Carson residents with histories of strained relationships with Dear, are among the signatories to the Notice of Interest.

The Notice of Intention also contends “Dear intentionally prevented senior citizens and minorities from voting at their normal polling places…called the former Elections Officer the ‘N’ word…not a Certified Municipal Clerk… publicly admitted he ran for city clerk just to spike his public pension … embarrassed the city with uncontrolled incoherent outbursts.”

It further contends that during a special election this past June, Dear was “intentionally delaying the final vote count,” that he “unethically endorsed a candidate”

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COP 21 Paris:

Beyond the Climate Summit

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

During the 20 years since the first United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as Conference of Parties or COP, emissions have risen more than 60 percent.

But such dismal failure doesn’t appear to be motivating attendees at the ongoing COP21 meeting in Paris to reach effective agreement on standards that would prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. In response to the lack of ambition, UN SecretaryGen. Ban Ki Moon has expressed support for

an even lower target—a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius—being pushed by countries most at risk in the global south. Meanwhile, voluntary national pledges, widely touted in advance, would allow for up to 5 C. “It would be sad, and I dare say, even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good,” said Pope Francis before COP21 began on Nov. 30.

But that’s exactly what all signs indicate, which is why climate activists only see it as one stage in a much larger struggle—though some say

SWAT Raids RPV Home, Arrests Nine

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Rancho Palos Verdes residents of the 2000 block of Van Karajan Drive found their neighborhood surrounded by SWAT officers on Dec. 7.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives detained several people in connection to a homicide. The body of 39-year-old Anthony Depiazza was found in Riverside County on Nov. 24. Those taken into custody after an hourslong standoff included a 55-year-old man suspected in the killing, Authorities say Depiazza has apparently lived at the Rancho Palos Verdes home with at least nine other people. Anyone with information about his death is urged to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

Catherine L. Unger Chair, Board of Directors Planned Parenthood Los Angeles

When there’s nowhere else to turn, Planned Parenthood is here. When everyone else has closed their doors, ours are open.

My name is Cathy Unger. I’m the Chair of the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) and I’m determined to keep our doors open to all who need us.

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December 10 - 23, 2015

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PPLA performed over 162,000 STD tests last year. We’re committed to providing critical reproductive health care to all who need it. On a typical day, over 1,000 women, men, and teens call PPLA to book an appointment or ask for information. Please send your gift today to ensure no one in need is ever turned away.

Stand with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles today by making a generous contribution of $40, $60, $80 or even $100—whatever you can afford.

Send your donation payable to Planned Parenthood LA to 400 W. 30th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007.

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Forbidden by the Hollande government, French citizens and other protesters defy the ban by holding a silent protest of shoes at the Place de la République in Paris on the eve of COP 21. Photo by Tetet Nera-Lauron.

an inadequate deal should be rejected outright.

“Governments come to the table at summits like this with what they consider to be politically possible,” author and activist Naomi Klein recently said on the radio program Democracy Now! “Social movements exist to change what is politically possible….We move the bar so the next time they come to the table, what is politically possible is aligned with what is physically necessary. Because right now, what is considered politically possible is deeply out of alignment with what is physically necessary.”

Indeed, the drift of policy has been in the wrong direction. The current round of negotiations originally intended to produce a binding agreement that would force climate polluters to make deep cuts in greenhouse emissions, and would obligate rich countries to provide resources for poor ones to deal with the damage already caused. The guiding operative principle, “common but differentiated responsibility,” meant that those who have put the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere should carry the main burdens of reductions and payments to mitigate damages.

But at the end of COP20 in Lima l, a bilateral deal between China and the United States undermined that principle with additional obfuscatory language: “and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances.” The language was then injected into the COP20 call for action. The voluntary emission pledges offered in advance of Paris fall far short of what’s needed. Climate activists around the world have been pushing for much stronger action.

Instead, on the day before the conference began the French government rescinded the permission it had granted for a protest rally that was expected to draw 200,000 people--and placed 24 climate activists under house arrest for the duration of COP21. The cancellation was announced in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov.13, but after the conference began, the demonstration ban was extended past the end of the conference—a full month after the attacks.

Activists responded to the suppression on Nov. 29 by installing thousands of pairs of shoes—symbolic of their desire to march—in front of the Place de la République, which is just a few blocks away from the Bataclan theater, a primary target of the terrorist attacks. Among the shoes was a pair donated by Pope Francis and other religious leaders as well.

As demonstrations went on worldwide— 2,200 events in 150 countries, coordinated in part by 350.org—tens of thousands of people formed a human chain, stretching for blocks through downtown Paris. Afterward, thousands of people defied the protest ban and began marching through the streets, where they were met by hundreds of riot police, using tear gas, sound bombs and pepper spray. More than 200 protesters were arrested.

Earlier, on Black Friday, Nov. 27, the British-based Brandalism project hijacked 600 outdoor advertising spaces, filling them with socalled “subvertisements” by 80 artists from 19 countries.

“We’re sorry we got caught,” blares a busstop display ad, mocking Volkswagen’s lead role in falsifying diesel emissions on some of its cars.

“Now that we’ve been caught, we’re trying to make you think we care about the environment….

But we’re not the only ones.”

“Tackling climate change?” the Air France subvertisement asks itself. “Of course not, we’re an airline.”

Bill Posters from Brandalism explained the campaign in a press release. “Following the tragic events on 13th November in Paris, the government has chosen to ban the big civil society mobilisations—but big business events can continue,” he said. “The multinationals responsible for climate change can keep greenwashing their destructive business models, but the communities directly impacted by them are silenced. It’s now more important than ever to call out their lies and speak truth to power.”

Added Joe Elan, also of Brandalism: “By sponsoring the climate talks, major polluters such [See Beyond, page 17]

Holiday Afloat Lights Up the Main Channel Aside from the Los Angeles Harbor Area residents, there were a ton of winner at the 53rd Annual Holiday Afloat Parade Dec. 5. The Children’s Choice award went to Skipper Bruce Honer’s boat, Hydrotherapy; the Grand Marshal award went to Skipper Denys Lanfranco’s boat, Wanna Tango; Skipper Gary Schafer’s Bad Boyz II got the Judge’s Choice award; and Skipper Franz Kerekes’ Whitecap go the Most Original award.

The floating parade floats were judged in several categories including: Skipper

Boat

Place Libby Di Bernardo Avanti 1st place Holiday Spirit Ken Wolf Oceana 2nd place Steve & Kenny Dair Panache 3rd place Michael Mercer Knotty 1 1st place Best Theme Richard Lindemann Delta Moon 2nd place Christopher Schafer 5150 3rd place Tammy Oats

All Nuts 1st placeTraditional Stephanus Vermeulen Flying Dutchman 2nd place Ron Dare

Dola Ann 3rd place Stuart Takehara The Peanut Gallery 1st place Humor Michael Fedele Lady Liberty 2nd place

Photos by Jessie Drezner

[Merger, from page 4]

Shipping Merger

were asked for comment, but the only response came from the Washington, D.C.-based National Industrial Transportation League, which lobbies on behalf of U.S. producers and retailers who rely on all transportation modes to move their goods.

“There are no plans at the moment to organize a campaign against this or any other merger or acquisition but we will be looking at measures of market share, market concentration, and so on with an eye on any potential negative impacts on competition,” said Bruce Carlton, the league’s president.

Maersk’s announcement of a 20-percent cut in staff just a few days before the reports of a possible merger surfaced has become more fuel for speculation. Some observers wonder whether Maersk could fire employees, acquire another carrier and keep the quality of customer service—especially on the communications side—from plummeting.

“We understand why Maersk feels compelled to make these cuts and sympathize with affected employees,” Carlton said. “Shippers (i.e. exporters and importers) will, however, be focused on the implications for service, on-time performance and other key metrics.”

Representatives for the shipping lines sent terse emails that essentially amounted to “no comment.”

Neptune Orient Lines spokeswoman Pamela Pung said that company “at the moment” had nothing to add to an announcement to the investment community confirming that merger

talks were in progress.

A CMA CGM spokesperson identified as “the press department” said the company “confirms that preliminary discussions are being held concerning a potential combination with Neptune Orient Lines Limited. Given the early state of those discussions, there is no certainty that a transaction will actually occur.”

Maersk’s “preferred route for growth is organic, but we will, as always, study (merger and acquisition) opportunities. We have no comments re NOL,” spokesman Michael Christian Storgaard said.

Richard Knee, a freelance journalist in San Francisco, writes extensively about the freight sector.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

December 10 - 23, 2015

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The Real Threat to America Trump: When fascism comes to America

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

December 10 - 23, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Donald Trump’s meteoric rise in the polls for the Republican nomination for the presidency is no wonder.

His rhetoric in recent months—whether it was his connecting Mexican immigrants to crime or his comments on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying he is not a hero “because he was captured” and “I like people who weren’t captured”—has been tapping our nation’s darkest, deepest and most xenophobic veins.

Trump’s message and his refusal to apologize when he’s called out on his racism goes along with the narrative that supposes the United States is weak, and if elected president, he’d “make America great again.” In this context filled with fear and anxiety following unimaginable acts of terror, his blustery, bullying rhetoric is excused. And, the corporate media is to blame for it.

Trump is a ratings magnet. The corporate media fawns over him because every time they give him airtime their ratings rise.

It took Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslims traveling to the United States (even if they are already U.S. citizens) in the wake of the San Bernardino mass shooting for the so-called “liberal media” to call him a fascist.

What took them so long?

The Philadelphia Daily News recently ran a cover picture of Trump with his arm raised in a gesture similar to a Nazi salute with the intentional inference made clear with the bold headline: The New Furor.

Even his own party and Republican political strategists are finally calling this what it is. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, no liberal by any stretch, said, “The notion of banning all members of one religion from the country is not what this party stands for…. More importantly, it’s not what this country stands for.”

What took him so long?

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently rebuked Trump on CNN’s New Day saying, “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell!”

The South Carolina senator went on to call Trump a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. “He doesn’t represent my party,” Graham said. “He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.... He’s the ISIL man of the year.”

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Clearly, The Donald doesn’t represent the banner the Grand Old Party is flying, yet he is making them all look worse because of it.

However, he does represent a growing sentiment in this country that is driven by fear and anxiety of the “other”—whomever the other may be this month.

It is a sentiment that echoes in nearly every part of this nation that demonizes the weakest or the most vulnerable. It is also one that has historic precedent in this nation. We can only wonder who the next target will be?

In the end, Trump jeopardizes the core values of the American creed of freedom, liberty and justice codified in our Constitution with his call to ban all Muslim travel to the United States.

He is not just playing a reality TV personality running for president. He and those who support him are a real threat to the very foundation of our republic and democracy.

Furthermore, his rhetoric is fanning the flames of ISIS and other terrorist groups, who would like nothing more than to cast the current conflict as a defense against a new Christian Crusade with ISIS as the righteous defenders of Mohammed.

They are not. Nor are all of the millions of Muslims worldwide supporting this errant group of terrorists.

Casting all Muslims as potential terrorists would be like calling all Christians members of the Ku Klux Klan or the Westboro Baptist Church.

Clearly, Trump’s egotistical rantings show that he has lost his mind, lost his conscience (if he ever had one) and he will soon lose the respect of everyone in the Republican party with any brains. What seems to be gaining momentum is the growing uncivil discourse that is on the brink of hysterical irrationality.

America has been here before. There is a quote (most often misattributed to the American author Sinclair Lewis, 1885-1951) that states: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

Trump has already wrapped himself in the flag. Now he’s playing with religion. What else can you call it?

Disclaimer­—Nothing in this editorial or the pages of this newspaper should be taken as the official position of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood council to which I was elected President in 2014, nor does it reflect the opinions of any of its board members.

The opinions expressed here are solely mine.

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg Vol. XXXVI : No. 26 Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com

Why Has Nefarious Corporate Behavior Become So Commonplace?

By Jim Hightower, Political Commentator and Columnist As a raker of muck, it’s my job to root out the nefarious doings and innate immorality of the corporate creature.

But I’m in danger these days of being rendered obsolete by what’s become the “ordinariousness” of corporate nefariousness. The wrongdoings of major corporations and entire industries are now so commonplace that one hardly has to root them out—their uglies are constantly oozing to the surface on their own from today’s fetid corporate swamp.

A profiteering imperative has taken hold of the executive suites. Not content with merely making a profit, CEOs are out to make a killing— no matter what it costs the rest of us. This has turned them into rank thieves—richly rewarded for routinely exploiting America’s workforce, plundering the environment, and corrupting our governments. Top executives have also seen that they’ll pay no personal price for rapacious behavior, since the corrupted political and judicial systems show no serious interest in prosecuting (much less punishing) perpetrators who get caught.

In recent months, two huge examples of this rampant crime spree have erupted: (1) After Big Pharma bought out several reasonably-priced

Columnists/Reporters Lyn Jensen Carson Reporter B. Noel Barr Music Dude Lori Lynn Hirsch-Stokoe Food Writer Gina Ruccione Restaurant

Reviewer Andrea Serna Arts Writer Melina Paris Culture Writer Calendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com Photographers Terelle Jerricks, Phillip Cooke, Tommy Kishimoto, Slobodan Dimitrov, Jessie Drezner Contributors Richard Knee, Jim Hightower

Cartoonists Ann Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker Design/ Production Suzanne Matsumiya, Ashley Wright Advertising Representatives David Johnson rlnsales@randomlengthsnews.com Ashley Wright reads@randomlengthsnews.com Editorial Intern Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug Display advertising (310) 519-1442 Classifieds (310) 519-1016 www.randomlengthsnews.com

medicines from independent drug makers, the avaricious giants immediately gouged unsuspecting patients by quadrupling their prices; and (2) Volkswagen joined the Automobile Hall of Shame by secretly rigging computers on its highly-advertised “green” vehicles to hide the fact that they actually spew horrendous amounts of pollution into Earth’s atmosphere.

An ethos of “anything goes,” now rules the top-floor suites of most major corporations.

The use of blatant lies, PR cover-ups, and zero top-level accountability is now central to the corporate business model. They don’t care if they get caught—profit has taken ethics prisoner, and corporate elites now call the devil “partner.”

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.

Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @ randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email adv@randomelengthsnews.com or reads@ randomlengthsnews.com.

Extra copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $36 per year for 27 issues.

Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We welcome articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2015 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

RANDOMLetters Editor’s note: Random Lengths News received a slew of letters to the editor from San Pedro High School students on stories ranging from RLn’s coverage over the community debate on homelessness, the potential dangers of Rancho LPG in the wake of the Tianjin explosion in China.

The students did an admirable job following their teacher’s instruction to read and critique stories in RLn that piqued their interest. The end result was more than 10,000 words from high school students engaging the most topical issues being discussed today.

Riot or Rebellion?

Fifty Years!

In the article Watts:Riot or Rebellion? Danny Simon wrote such an amazing, descriptive article that filled my heart with many emotions that made me question the Watts Rebellion. The main issue of Simon’s article is how the Watts Rebellion impacted society and how it is very important for America to address the various issues, so that no more rebellions will ever happen again.

I agree with Simon’s claim that America has to address the various issues, so that the rebellion won’t happen. The Watts Rebellion started Aug. 11 and ended Aug. 17, 1965, killing 34 innocent people. Just knowing that many people died because of a rebellion makes you think twice about addressing these issues.

The rebellion started because of harassment from the police of the young black community. This was an irrepressible outcome of all the things that have been going on. In Danny Simon’s article, he does not give the reader any information on what the African-Americans did to receive that treatment. He only talked about all the bad things the police did to the AfricanAmerican such as police brutality, ghettoization, white ignorance, economic exploitation and general disregard. But with that little evidence, we only know the things that the police did to the AfricanAmericans. We do not know what the African-Americans did to deserve this treatment. If they did do something, they cannot make a pretext about what is going on.

As an African-American I hear everyday on the news about African-Americans starting rebellions/riots because of how police do many things to them and they get shot and killed.

If this crucial treatment is not brought up to the government, the rebellions will be perpetual. So, let’s make this rebellion an issue to report straight to the government, because without reporting this, we will all be experiencing many more rebellions.

Brittany Appiah San Pedro

Connecting Rancho LPG and the Tianjin, China Explosion

As a student at San Pedro High School I would like to comment on whether to support the Iran nuclear deal or not.

My parents often watch the news. Lately what has been in the news is all about whether the nuclear deal should be official.

The subject seems to just be irrepressible so in response to Marcy Winograd’s article on the deal this is why not to support the deal. Winograd says that under this agreement “Iran will be subjected to the most rigorous United Nations inspections.” This statement has a tone that suggests it is horrible to do something like that when in

reality if those rigorous inspections weren’t as rigorous, then who says that Iran wouldn’t hide weapons.

She also states that “UN inspectors will only give 24-hours’ notice before showing up at a suspicious site.” How can she say this is bad would you rather give them more time? What about a month? That is why it is good we only need 24 hours.

This deal that Marcy Winograd is trying to get Congress to sign is crucial, but is just making it easier for Iran to hide nuclear weapons. She states that “Iran has not attacked another country in over 200 years.” As that may be somewhat true Iran as a whole hasn’t done that but Iranians have [See Letters, page 10]

Open Letter to the LAUSD Re: Education for Special Needs Students

I am writing to you today due to the special ed kids in my community and in the communities around the area I live by, like San Pedro.

I am hoping that you can be able to build another special ed school in San Pedro. There is one special ed school here in our community which is, Willemberg Special Education Program. However, not a lot of kids are able to get into that school because the school changed to a Career Transition Center and only high school students are able to go.

Many kids are not able to get into it; therefore, they have to go into regular schools. In regular schools, special ed kids are not treated the same as in an all special ed schools. They are known as being different. Sometimes regular kids might even call them mean words such as, dumb, retarded, etc. Special ed kids should not be bullied and should be treated just the same way as everyone else is treated. They are also human beings and have feelings too, just like everybody in the whole world does. At an all special ed school, they are all treated the same, everyone is kind to them, and they work better. They are able to do what all people do which is, study, work, and learn things altogether.

This topic is important to me because my brother is special ed and when he went to a regular school he would get bullied. He would come back home with

December 10 - 23, 2015

I am a San Pedro resident and student at San Pedro High School (Olguin campus).

It has come to my attention that near the Port of LA, next to the 110 Freeway there is something called Rancho LPG. It is a very dangerous and highly explosive liquefied petroleum facility. The problem is that they are too close to homes, schools, and just everyday places

Iran Nuclear Deal or Not

It’s been more than 50 years and yet the idea of it being a Riot or Revolution has not been answered. Even without the answer, there is enough to prove that it was enough to change the nation, and communities. The Watts Riots, this event of chaos began on Aug. 11, 1965, when police brutality and humiliation of the black community broke loose.

The event ended with 34 dead on Aug. 17, 1965. As a resident who lives in the Watts community, I can say that over the years of seeing changes being done, and the way people are now acting, such as there are no longer any shootings or riots, fights, nothing that involves such big drama, and that things have changed for the better. Even though that horrible event occurred and was spoken about perpetually.

It was for a good reason to both gain respect and rebel against the unfairness that was happening towards the black community. The foolish acts and rumors spread by people did not help calm the

Watts: Riot or Rebellion?

bruises, he would act badly, and he would cry begging us to not send him to school. We finally found out what had been going on, so we then sent him back to Willemberg where he should have never left.

Ever since, he always comes home with a smile, acts better, and is very happy there because he is treated just like everybody else.

Therefore, this is why there should be another special ed school here in San Pedro. Kids are able to learn better and also do not have to worry about being treated differently.

Valeria Nunez San Pedro

The Local Publication You Actually Read

In this article, “Watts: Riot or Rebellion?” the author shows how part of the population of Watts has begun to riot and rebel due to neglect. The black community in Los Angeles and across the nation feels that they’re being exploited.

Rebelling against a system that failed to address their concerns; police brutality, ghettoization, white ignorance, economic exploitation and general disregard towards blacks.

Whether this was a riot or rebellion is based on the telling and retelling of the event that are varied and revealing.

The use of the word “riot” implies a lawless and chaotic disruption bestowed upon the innocent and civilized. Race riots in America were a practice of white terrorists against the black community. For segregationists this was confirmation that the isolation of blacks was necessary and to the public it was a dispute of cultural differences.

The use of the word “rebellion” suggests efforts to strategically attack what they believe are concrete examples of exploitation and violence within a community by individuals in a group—leading black youths to act up in a way that couldn’t be contained.

Mallory Northcutt San Pedro

situations in any way. The event was caused as a pretext to help the black community. Though the event was horrible and very uncalled for, it is now known and will forever be known as something that changed the Watts community.

Heidi Radilla San Pedro

where a lot of people are. This can potentially be very dangerous.

People are predicting if it does blow it can be as devastating as the explosion in Tianjin, China.

Tianjin’s blast was devastating, the cause was hazardous and explosive materials near the tanks.

A very similar explosion can happen here. I live around three to five miles away from these big and possibly very dangerous tanks. However, if an explosion were to happen it can reach my house because of how powerful it will be.

The one in China spread many miles and actually caused multiple explosions. I live in the north part of San Pedro near Palos Verdes but still in San Pedro. But some people live very close to them. There are children, families, and pets. It would be very sad if an explosion happened. Something needs to be done. Some people argue that something needs to be done,.

It’s not like the tanks are for sure going to blow but there is a possibility. Any gas, fire, or explosive materials get near the tanks filled with hazardous liquid and make contact it will explode.

Many people are working around those big tanks every day, and you never know they can accidently do something wrong and it will blow up. This is why there needs to be rules given out and workers to be more cautious, and also for workers to know what they are doing. This way those gas tanks don’t have to be at risk to explode, and everything can be safe.

Arian Mirzaee San Pedro

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RANDOMLetters [Letters, from page 9]

December 10 - 23, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

definitely attacked other people. Iran and Iraq have been fighting ignominiously. Who is to say that Iraq won’t get nuclear weapons from secret soldiers in Iran? What if ISIS found out where nuclear weapons were?

There are many controversies over this deal so this is why I ask Congress to not support the deal because if you do there will be a lot of regulations and hoops to jump through, and by the time you have jumped through all the hoops to shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons in a time of attack it will be too late. Why would you do something just to put everyone at risk? Stop looking for the pretext and decide what is best

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for our country.

Rachel Schauerman San Pedro To read more San Pedro High School students’ letters, go to www.randomlengthsnews.com

Cigar Lounge: The Smell of Manliness

I have never written to a newspaper before, but I feel a need to respond to the letter against the Cigar Lounge.

I am a 33-year-old woman who was born and raised on one of the beautiful island just south of this wonderful country. Although I yearn to see my family and the tranquil scenery back home, I am now an American girl and am very proud of that. I, too, live near the Havana Cigar Lounge on 9th Street and I walk to

Their work cost them their lives In the 1940s and ‘50s, workers came from all over the world to snatch up the good-paying jobs at the Harbor Area’s shipyards, factories and refineries. For many, the jobs afforded a way of life not previously experienced, allowing them to provide homes for their families and education and opportunities for their children.

Unfortunately, the cost for too many workers has been a diagnosis with asbestos cancer or mesothelioma from asbestos inhaled on the job decades earlier. Even more unfortunate is the number of family members who develop the illness from contact with asbestos brought home on the worker’s clothes, boots and skin.

The Law Office of Worthington & Caron, PC is standing by to help persons diagnosed with asbestos cancer. We can help you get quick access to the most effective medical treatments from the world’s top mesothelioma specialists. We can also help identify the companies responsible for your asbestos exposure and get you the compensation you deserve.

Call us toll free at 800-831-9399 or visit our website at www.mesothel.com for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.

Attorneys John Caron & Roger Worthington

Since 1991 we have helped recover over $2.5 billion for our clients

800-831-9399 • www.mesothel.com The Law Offices of Worthington & Caron, P.C. 273 W. 7th St., San Pedro, CA 90731

work daily. My walk is filled with many aromas, some good and some not so good. One in particular that I look forward to is the scent that transports me back to my youth to a time when I was held in my daddy’s arms. It is that manly fragrance of a fine cigar. All the brave men of our country smoke cigars.

Cigars remind me of those beautiful strong men. When I pass by the Havana Lounge I smell manliness and for an experienced single woman it is an evocative and sensual sensation.

I love San Pedro, Clara Sophia Marquez San Pedro

Thoughts of Compassion

We have been living in a society of meanness for decades now where wealth and power have been sucked to the top 1 percent. Some of us in San Pedro have taken our cues from that arrangement as if that were a natural state. It is not. It has led to the tooth-and-claw individualism that divides us all. In this age of climate chaos, resource wars and ethnic cleansing, individualism is precisely what we don’t need. We need solidarity and compassion for those less fortunate.

You may have seen us on Friday evenings standing for peace and justice with our homemade signs at First and Gaffey streets. Since before the disastrous Iraq invasion of 2003, we have encountered many homeless people who are frequently mentally disturbed for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they lash out at others, but they are rarely harmful. These are amongst the most vulnerable in our society and need our collective compassion, not rejection.

Finding a way to offer them shelter seems a fair way to help them begin their path back into our collective fold. Small, well-built shelters placed in neutral areas where thy can receive other services such as mental health, nutrition and sanitation would help enormously. With El Niño on the horizon, without shelter, many of these individuals throughout the city will die from exposure.

It is time that we in San Pedro try a

new (old) way to look at our brothers and sisters in need. With ecological and economic chaos confronting us all, we may be soon looking for that compassion form others.

Rick Matthews San Pedro

San Pedro Has Lost the Indian Room

I wonder what happened to the sign out front.

I’d love to hear stories from older residents. Maybe they remember going on there during World War II. How long did it last? Eighty years.

It was a bar like Toby Keith sing about in I Love This Bar. It was a “come as you are” bar.

People were coming in just to see what it looked like inside and to see how the other half lives. Many films used it as a set because it was real life.

P.S. Here’s a secret: It was owned and run by an old gay couple for many years until their deaths.

Tom Humble Belmont Shore

Email Rumor

Goodwill Industries International, Inc., serving the people of Southern Los Angeles County (SOLAC), is grateful to all who donated gently used items, including clothing and household goods, so that we can provide careers and social services for those who need them in our community. Whether you choose to donate to Goodwill or another worthy cause, however, we strongly you to take a moment to educate yourself about the charities you support.

Goodwill offers this reminder in response to an email spreading false information about charitable organizations that continues to make its way around the web. Among other things, the email claims that a Goodwill CEO and owner makes $2.3 million a year. This is false; the person named has no connection to Goodwill, and Goodwill Industries International’s president and CEO does not earn such a large salary, nor does the president

and CEO of Goodwill SOLAC. It’s important to remind donors that some organizations operating thrift stores or donation bins give as little as 5 percent of their overall revenues to charity. According to CharityWatch, formerly known as the American Institute of Philanthropy, charities should devote 60 percent or greater from their overall revenues to charitable programs. Most highly efficient charities are able to spend 65 percent or more on programs.

Goodwill SOLAC spends 84 cents of every dollar on job-training programs and community-based services for people with disabilities and disadvantages.

These are very healthy numbers in the nonprofit world, and a solid indicator of our commitment to the good stewardship of your donations. Goodwill SOLAC has an 86-year track record of providing services that meet critical human needs in Southern Los Angeles County. Goodwill is a leading social services enterprise and is consistently ranked among top charities that make your donations go further.

Goodwill encourages you to “think before you donate”—the legitimate message that this otherwise spurious email contains and to research and learn more about the charities you support. Be certain the organization you choose uses the revenue for charitable purposes in support of a mission you are passionate about.

For more information about Goodwill SOLAC, please visit www.

ThinkGood.org. Even better, take a tour of our organization to learn how donated goods are used to fund job programs for those with barriers to employment. Tours are available between 10 a.m. and noon every third Thursday of the month. To schedule a tour, please call (562) 4354311, ext. 267.

Janet McCarthy President and CEO Long Beach Send Letters to the Editor to: letters @ randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor must include your name with address and phone number (these will not be published, but are for verification only). Please keep your letters to about 250 words.

Racing Extinction: A Wake-Up Call

By Melina Paris Contributing Writer Leilani Münter, a biology graduate turned professional race car driver and environmental activist, drives the James Bond­-like mobile projection vehicle.

The Tesla Model S is outfitted with a 15,000 lumen robotic video projection system that deploys out of

the back window, a FLIR camera that raises through the hood (a.k.a. “frunk”), a disappearing license plate, and an electroluminescent paint job by Darkside Scientific.

The film weaves together compelling narratives and powerful im-

Melting arctic permafrost releases methane, a potent—and flammable—greenhouse gas featured in the film, Racing Extinction. Photo courtesy of the Oceanic Preservation Society

agery to assert that wildlife trade is second only to the drug market in the world and that carbon emissions are a danger hidden plain sight making the world’s ocean inhospitable to the earth’s marine life.

At one point, the film crew was on an Indonesian island while fishermen were hunting endangered manta rays.

Fishermen have reverted to hunting these creatures because they are running out of sharks to kill to make shark fin soup, a delicacy. As a result, the fishermen end up sacrificing two species and crippling an eco­system— for soup!

“Just about everything endangered in the world is for sale in China,” said Psihoyos in the film.

Still the crew had what appeared to be cameras hanging from their necks, while they were actually filming video within a warehouse of the endless rows of dismembered shark and manta ray fins from hosts that were left for dead.

Manta rays have one pup every couple of years, one of the environmentalists on the crew said. The number of fins he saw before him in that warehouse represented an entire generation of manta rays wiped out.

The film also looks at the effects of climate change. There are many backroom conversations [See Extinction, page 14]

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Among the events that comprised the VisionLA ’15 Climate Action Arts Festival, which simultaneously spanned the City of Los Angeles and paralleled the Paris summit on climate, was the Dec. 2 screening of Racing Extinction, at Off the Vine in San Pedro.

The documentary is a collaboration

by Academy Award­-winning documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos and several scientists, environmentalists, artists and engineers. It examines how humans are legally and illegally contributing to the extinction of wild animal life. And its theme fit perfectly with a festival that amounts to a response from local artists to global environmental crises.

The multidisciplinary VisionLA ’15 Climate Action Arts Festival runs concurrently with the Paris climate talks advocating for a strong international climate treaty and sustainable change.

Racing Extinction catches you with its cinematography, which draws from the work of world-renowned photojournalists connected to National Geographic such as Shawn Heinrichs, Paul Hilton and Joel Sartore.

December 10-23, 2015

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December 10-23, 2015

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Alpine Village Hosts

Second Annual Christmas Faire

By Lyn Jensen, Reporter

Cost: Free and free parking Details: (310) 327­4384

www.AlpineVillageCenter.com Venue: Alpine Village 833 Torrance Blvd., Torrance

Enjoy a batch of Gluhwein holiday beer at the Alpine Village Christman Faire,

House Draft Pints........... $4 House Wines.................. $4 Jagerbomb..................... $6 All Signature Cocktails... $6 House Draft Pitchers......$14

Handcrafted Ales & Lagers...

...and an American Grill 331 W. 6th St. San Pedro, CA 90731 (310) 831-5663 Open @11:30 Daily

Fun for the family in the snow Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Warm up with some holiday beer or Gluhwein (German mulled wine) or shop for Germanflavored gifts during the Second Annual Christmas Faire, from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sundays through Dec. 20, at the Alpine Village.

Inspired by the famous Nuremberg Christkindlsmarkt, holiday shopping here offers a distinct German feel. Along with the village’s house­made batch of Gluhwein and holiday beer at the Alpine Restaurant, shoppers may partake of hard­to­find European sweets and a selection of gift possibilities from craft vendors and Alpine Village’s resident shops and market.

Tucked away along the 110 freeway just outside Carson city limits, Alpine Village was established in 1968 as a Bavarian­ flavored destination for shopping, dining and entertainment. Its Alpine Market and Alpine Restaurant have long provided the area with a selection of German and European food.

Alpine Village has for many years hosted an Oktoberfest, touted as the largest and longest-running in the Los Angeles area.

Now management hopes to make its Christmas Faire an equally popular annual event.

About 800 to 1,000 people are expected at

excited to involve the Narbonne High Key Club and other performing groups from local schools and churches,” General Manager Otto Radtke explained.

Christmas Faire is free but it also offers inexpensive children’s activities. For a $5 ticket, children younger than twelve may get a photo with Santa Claus, a “Snow Zone” play area where ten tons of fresh snow are trucked in every day, a holiday craft corner and a train ride around the Village.

Derryberry points out that, even without buying the children’s ticket, anybody may get their picture taken with Santa for $2.

Last minute shopping — Bavarian style

December 10-23, 2015

the Christmas Faire each weekend, according to marketing coordinator Haley Derryberry.

She suggests holiday shoppers may be particularly interested in, “plenty of baked goods made fresh in our bakery, deli meats — our specialty — and many of our craft vendors sell things like jewelry, pottery and ... toys.”

Music is part of the fair, too.

“We’re working to involve as many community groups in our program as we can and we’re

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[Extinction, from page 11]

Wake-up Call and provocative visuals. That’s the point: it’s meant to shake you up.

It was noted later in the film that the western world has already done an incredible job of polluting and wiping out species. And did it with fewer people. Now other countries are doing the same, with significantly increased population and it is pushing animal

whale meat on the menu. He projected images of whales in their environment, living and swimming with their young, alive, on the wall in front of this restaurant.

Ten days later the restaurant closed down.

“We are the last generation to save ourselves,” Psihoyos said. “There is no one else we can count on, only us,” Racing Extinction illuminates the devastation for both wildlife and humans if we don’t drastically change our practices. It also

it examines how humans are legally and illegally contributing to the extinction of wild animal life. shows us how one person can actually make a difference.

At Off the Vine, the film’s impact was almost immediate. “We had a good discussion afterwards,” duSoleil said. “That was the point, in regards to one thing we can each do at a grassroots level to involve others and to have broader influence at the government level.”

Details: www.racingextinction.com

Photojournalists Shawn Heinrichs and Paul Hilton participated in the documentary Racing Extinction. Courtesy photo by Shawn Heinrichs

A humpback whale breaches on the side of the Empire State Building as projected in Racing Extinction.

Photo courtesy of Oceanic Preservation Society

December 10-23, 2015

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

life to the brink of extinction.

Due to pollution from carbon emissions and overfishing, the ocean is becoming acidic — a condition that will make creatures in the ocean simply dissolve. Photojournalists in the film remarked that they are documenting a time and place that in the future, may not be here in the future.

At another point in the film, an artist who specializes in projection filming protested a restaurant in Japan for offering

Divers partake in the exploration of the sea and the human impact on its ecology.

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Photojournalist Joel Sartore holding a small alligator while on assignment for the National Geographic Photo Ark. Photo by Joel Sartore

So, you want to write

a Bad Yelp Review?

By Gina Ruccione Cuisine and Restaurant Writer

Gina Ruccione has traveled all over Europe and Asia and has lived in almost every nook of Los Angeles County. You can visit her website at www.foodfashionfoolishfornication.com.

ENTERTAINMENT Dec. 11 Loren and Mark Influenced by Americana, jazz, country western and classical music, Loren and Mark’s unique style of guitar playing is largely built upon the thumb­picking techniques pioneered by greats Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. Their songs feature Loren’s superb vocals with some beautiful harmonies from Mark.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $20 Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St.

San Pedro Power Strip with the Victory Variety Hour In its 10th year under the creative direction of award-­winning burlesque dancer Penny Starr Jr., Victory Variety Hour is known for its mix of high glamour and a sick sense of humor featuring all manners of genders, races and sizes.

They were winners of Best Troupe at the Hollywood Burlesque Fest, Bronze Medal Winners at the International Burlypicks and Best Troupe at ABurlyQ Burlesque Fest in New Mexico. There is a two drink minimum. Only guests 21 years old or older are admitted.

Time: 9 p.m. (Doors open at 8 p.m) Cost: $15 to 25 Details:http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Havelle’s

201 E. Broadway

Long Beach Dec. 12 Frank Sinatra Centennial Tribute Concert by Frank Unzueta Pianist and composer Frank Unzueta brings back the ol’ blue­-eyed chairman of the board for a post­mortem encore, with help from jazz vocalists Lauren Koval and Jonathan Karrant Time: 8 p.m. Dec. 12 Cost: $25 Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom

1417 W. 8th St.

San Pedro

Masayuki Hirahara and N ­ ori Tani Japan’s musical ambassador to El Salvador, Masayuki Hirahara, and jazz flutist Nori Tani perform together for the first time during an afternoon of classical, jazz and new age music.

Time: 4 p.m.

Cost: $30

Dec. 15 The Dirty Little Secrets The Dirty Little Secrets are an underground comedy and burlesque troupe.

There is a two-drink minimum. Only guests 21 year old or older are admitted.

Time: 8:30 p.m. Dec. 15 Cost: $10 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s

201 E. Broadway

Long Beach Dec. 17 Higher Ground Rap Contest The rap contest is a live original song competition series started in 2010 by Sellassie with Inhouse Talent. The event is a platform for independent artists on the rise and has showcased some of the top upcoming talent you don’t know yet.

Time: 9 p.m. (Doors open at 8 p.m) Cost: $20 Details: (310) 363­-0355;

www.therapcontest.com Venue: Havelle’s

201 E. Broadway

Long Beach Dec. 18 Holiday Funk Jam ZAPP and Phazze One Band are performing live at Alpine Village. This event is also a retirement party for Port of Los Angeles Police Lt. Titus Smith after 30 years of service. There’s special package including dinner and seating arrangements.

Time: 7 p.m.

Cost: $15 to $40 Details: (520) 403­5240 Venue: Alpine Village 833 Torrance Blvd.

Torrance Dec. 19 James Kimo West Kimo’s Holiday Slack Key Show is on the verge of becoming a bona fide tradition Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $20 Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro Dec. 20 A Celtic Christmas Eric Rigler (uilleann pipes & whistles) and Dirk Freymuth (guitar) team up once again to create a night of acoustic Celtic music. Drawing from the Christmas repertoire, as well as ancient and soulful Irish melodies, barn­burning jigs and reels Time: 5 p.m.

Cost: $25

December 10-23, 2015

Dec. 13

1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Tribute to AC/DC Bonfire, is going to be performing at Harvelle’s. There is a two drink minimum.

Only guest 21 year old or older are admitted.

Time: 9 p.m. (Doors open at 8 p.m) Cost: $12 Details:http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Havelle’s

201 E. Broadway

Long Beach

Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

I am a cuisine and restaurant writer. That is my job and I take it seriously. But with the endless holiday parties and pop­u p dinners awaiting, I thought I would give my waistline a break and do a little bit of light reading.

So, I did the unthinkable. I started scrolling through Yelp reviews to see what others think of some of my favorite restaurants around town.

Anyone who has ever been within earshot and lucky enough to catch one of my famous Yelp rants knows that I’m not very fond of Yelp reviews. I rarely find them helpful. I might look at the overall rating, but I never read through reviews.

I am gluttonous at times (it comes with the job title) but I’m hardly a glutton for punishment. So, why on Earth would I subject myself to the most brutal form of selfflagellation and read through hours of some of the worst reviews of all time? I really don’t know.

It was shocking to read the asinine comments from some patrons. Sure, some were benign, but many were rather upsetting. Not only were most of the complaints completely unfounded, some were even aggressive.

After enduring what seemed to be an endless barrage of nonsense, my honest conclusion is that we are dealing with a serious ignorance epidemic.

The purpose of this article is to enlighten some of the self­-proclaimed food critics out there who feel compelled to impart their opinions on others. I will gladly read your reviews and then do some critiquing of my own.

So, you want to write a negative restaurant Yelp review? Consider that you eat at a restaurant­­— and I’m not talking about some chain restaurant, but one where the chef is trying to express himself in a creative way—­­ perhaps you should be a bit more openminded. They are called the culinary arts for a reason.

You are not entitled to walk into a steakhouse and complain that there are no vegan

options, just as I wouldn’t walk into a vegan restaurant and go off because I couldn’t order a filet mignon. You are simply not in a position to complain about something like that. Period.

Food cold? Absolutely horrible service?

A cockroach in your salad? OK, fine. Maybe then I give you permission to hammer away.

But just because you don’t like cilantro in a dish doesn’t mean the restaurant is bad. That is the equivalent of walking into a museum, seeing a painting you don’t like and then giving the museum a shit rating. Granted, tastes and preferences vary from person to person, but an eating establishment never warrants a bad review because you seem to think Maldon salt is synonymous with “big ass chunks of salt.”

Karl Marx said, “Ignorance is bliss,” but let me tell you — not when you’re writing a review. At that point you are a nightmare to chefs and just about anyone who has ever worked in the food service industry.

At the very least, a critic comes from a place of knowledge. What allows me to critique food is what I know about food. And I don’t claim to know everything. The day I stop learning is the day that I stop asking questions — and that day will never come.

I don’t critique beer, because I don’t know enough about it. Have I had beer that I didn’t enjoy? Yes, but I didn’t write off the beverage all together. I realized I had ordered incorrectly­­ due to my lack of knowledge.

And I came away knowing I don’t particular like chocolate stout. I won’t order it again, but I certainly won’t gripe about it.

So, if you wish to share your opinion with others please consider your audience and your purpose. Who are you trying to connect with? Is your purpose to inform?

Or, maybe you are trying to entertain? But if you just want to be a dick and stand on a soapbox spewing nothings, you’re not helping anyone. Come from a place of humility and knowledge and you’re likely to be better received — especially from those serving your food.

And, with that, I say, “Happy Holidays”— but more importantly play nice on Yelp.

[See Calendar, page 16]

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[Calendar, continued from page 15]

Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom

1417 W. 8th St. San Pedro

COMMUNITY Dec. 11 Torrance Civic Chorale Holiday Concert Come out to the Torrance Cultural Arts Center for Christmas songs.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $14 Details: www.torancecivicchorale.org Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts Center,

3330 Civic Center Drive

Torrance Dec. 12

December 10-23, 2015

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Dickens Holiday Celebration Meet up with some Dickens characters like Fagin, the jovial Mr. Micawber, the weird Miss Havisham at the Dickens Holiday Celebration. The event includes a holiday lunch along with meeting Mr. Charles Dickens. Note: The event is for children 10 years and older with adult admission.

Time: 11 a.m. Dec. 12 and 13 Cost: $20 Details: (310) 515­-7166;

www.printmuseum.org Venue: The International Printing Museum

315 W. Torrance Blvd.,

Carson

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Guided Nature Walk at West Bluff Reserve Walk along restored habitat on the bluffs surrounding the Trump National Golf Club and possibly catch a glimpse of rare California gnatcatcher songbirds while walking to the beach. This is a moderate walk. Park in public lot on the east side of the clubhouse at bottom of Trump National Drive off of Palos Verdes Drive South.

Free and open to the public.

Time: 2 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 541­7613 ext. 201;

www.pvplc.org Venue: West Bluff Reserve

1 Trump National Drive

Rancho Palos Verdes Family Garden Exploration Your children will enjoy spending time with the Los Angeles City Rangers exploring the native plant demonstration garden and listening to nature-­themed children’s stories for young people of all ages.

Time: 10 to 11 a.m. Dec. 12 and every second Saturday of the month Cost: Free Details: (310) 541­7613,

www.pvplc.org Venue: White Point Nature Preserve,

1600 W. Paseo del Mar,

San Pedro Dec. 13 Old Time Christmas at Rancho Los Cerritos Get into the holiday spirit and enjoy 19th century Christmas traditions at Rancho

Los Cerritos Historic Site. People of all ages can experience and celebrate customs from the California frontier while learning about history in Long Beach’s only national and state historic landmark.

Time: 1 to 7 p..m.

Cost: $5 Details: (562) 206­-2040 Venue: 4000 Virginia Road

Long Beach

Cost: $25 to $45 Details: www.littlefishtheatre.org Venue: Little Fish Theatre

777 S. Centre St., San Pedro Dec. 11

A Christmas Carol In 19th century England, the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future 36th Annual Swedish Xmas Fair show Ebenezer Scrooge the poverty of This fair will feature fine artisans at booths his material wealth and the blessings that presenting the best of Sweden: offering come with generosity. fine art, books, jewelry, toys and Christ- Time: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturdays, mas collectibles. and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 20 Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: $10 to $27 Cost: $10 donation Details: www.lbplayhouse.org Details: www.swea.org/losangeles Venue: Long Beach Playhouse Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 5021 E. Anaheim St.,

3330 Civic Center Drive,

Long Beach

Torrance Dec. 12 Dec. 16 The Nutcracker Birding at White Point Nature Preserve San Pedro City Ballet, home of American Explore the birds now making a home Ballet Theatre superstar Misty Copeland, in the restored habitat at the preserve. presents its 22nd annual production of Binoculars provided.

The Nutcracker, with artistic direction by Time: 8:30 a.m.

Cynthia and David Patrick Bradley.

Cost: Free Time: 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 12, and Details: (310) 541­-7613 ext. 201;

2 p.m. Dec. 13

www.pvplc.org Cost: $18 to $36 Venue: White Point Nature Preserve, Details: (310) 732­1861

1600 W. Paseo del Mar, Venue: Warner Grand Theatre

San Pedro

434 W. 6th St.,

San Pedro Dec. 20 Dec. 17 Alpine Village Christmas Faire Christmas Faire is an indoor­-outdoor Sugar Plum Dreams market with festive events for the whole Students from the Dance Center will family. This time of year at Alpine Village present their annual holiday show, which brings cheer, good food and shopping – is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit. with a distinct German feel. There will be Time: 7 p.m. Dec. 17 a snow machine sending flurries of snow Cost: $20 over the festivities.

Details: (310) 781­7171 Time: 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Venue: James Armstrong Theatre through Dec. 20

3330 Civic Center Drive, Cost: Free

Torrance Details: www.alpinevillagecenter.com Venue: Alpine Village Dec. 19

833 Torrance Blvd.,

Torrance The Nutcracker Relive the classic story of Clara and Fritz Dec. 23 as they dream of a land of magic.

Time: 2 p.m. Dec. 19 and Birding

7 p.m. Dec. 20 Explore the birds now making a home in Cost: $17.50 to $19.50 the restored habitat at the George F Can- Details: (310) 781­7171 yon preserve. The program is free and Venue: James Armstrong Theatre open to the public.

3330 Civic Center Drive, Time: 8:30a.m.

Torrance Cost: Free Details: (310) 541­7613 ext. 201; Somberton Senior Residence Presents:

www.pvplc.org The Nutcracker Venue: 27305 Palos Verdes Drive East, When a young man performing commu Rolling Hills Estates nity service in a rest home decides to put on a production of the world’s most THEATER famous ballet things get a little crazy.

Dec. 11 Time: 8 p.m. through Dec. 19, and Jan. 8 through 16, with 2 p.m. matinees Ethan Claymore Dec. 20, and Jan. 10 and 17 It’s the week before Christmas as strug- Cost: $20 gling egg farmer Ethan meets a woman Details: (562) 433­3363 who could turn around his life and he Venue: The Found Theatre receives a visit from his recently de- 599 Long Beach Blvd., ceased older brother.

Long Beach Time: 8 p.m. Dec. 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19

Dec. 18 Heart of a Dog Renowned mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.

Time: TBD, Dec. 18 Cost: $8.50 to $11 Details: http://arttheatrelongbeach.com Venue: Art Theatre Long Beach

2025 E. 4th St., Long Beach ARTS Dec. 16 WE Show III Experience an ongoing curated exhibition of Long Beach’s finest artists in Long Beach’s creative co­working space.

Time: Through Dec. 16 Cost: Free Details: welabs.us Venue: WE Labs

235 E. Broadway, 8th Floor,

Long Beach Dec. 18 Sam Arno Retrospective: 1995 – 2015 Sam Arno is a former art and creative director for various Los Angeles ad agencies. As a graphic designer, he received numerous awards for packaging, outdoor billboards and magazine advertising. Arno was a founding member of Angels Gate Cultural Center and was an exhibiting curator at the Sixth Street Gallery. He prefers abstract art, but has also created landscape and cosmos paintings.

Time: 6 to 9 p.m. through Dec. 18 Cost: Free Details: (310) 429 0973 Venue: SBC Studio at The Loft

401 S. Mesa St, 3rd Floor

San Pedro Jan. 3, 2016 Creative Images Capture Wonder of the Waterfront Beauty is not often the first word that comes to mind when discussing the industrial views of the Port of Long Beach. However, that’s exactly what photographers have captured in this year’s Port of Long Beach Photogallery. The photographs featured in the Photogallery are the result of a workshop taught by POLB photographers that was followed by a twilight shoot during a special harbor boat tour.

Eighty beginning, amateur and professional photographers participated. Both the workshop and behind-the-­scenes Port tour took place in August. The participants then submitted their best pieces for the juried gallery exhibit.

Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Friday through Jan. 3, 2016 Cost: $6 to $9 Details: www.molaa.org Venue: Museum of Latin American Art

628 Alamitos Ave.,

Long Beach

[Beyond, from page 6]

Beyond Paris Climate Summit as Air France and GDF-Suez-Engie can promote themselves as part of the solution—when actually they are part of the problem,” Along similar lines, two French organizations joined forces to produce a report, “Can Transnational Companies Save The Climate?” It examined the practices of 10 of the 40 corporate sponsors of COP21, exposing a dismal record.

Companies were rated on three criteria. Four companies met the standard for data transparency, while one met the standard for emissions in line with European Union objectives. But the report stated that when the ratings took into account the full impact of all the businesses that constitute each company’s complete value chain, “none of these companies…seem capable of reducing its global carbon footprint in line with EU objectives.”

“

Closely related is a new focus on the connection between carbon emissions and economic inequality, which has been the subject of two recent reports.

A report from Oxfam released on Dec. 2 found that the world’s richest 10 percent produce half the global carbon emissions, while the world’s poorest 50 percent produce just 10 percent of emissions.

“Climate change is inextricably linked to economic inequality: it is a crisis that is driven by the greenhouse gas emissions of the ‘haves’ that hits the ‘have-nots’ the hardest,” Oxfam said on its website.

The results were strikingly similar to those reported one month earlier in paper by Thomas

expanded by around 50% from over $200bn to more than $300bn.”

Similarly, a September 2015 report by the Institute for Policy Studies, “Money to Burn,” gave a detailed analysis of the ways fossil fuel CEOs are rewarded for sticking with the status quo rather than transitioning to clean energy sources. These include common corporate practices, such as stock-based CEO compensation that encourages a focus on driving up share prices in the short term, regardless long-term costs— including those for the environment.

But there are also some industry-specific dysfunctions. For example, IPS noted: “All 13 oil producers on our list of 30 major U.S. fossil-fuel corporations reward executives for expanding carbon reserves. The report also found that all of the top oil producers link annual bonus payments to expansion of carbon reserves.”

Governments come to the table at summits like this with what they consider to be politically possible.

Social movements exist to change what is politically possible…. Because right now, what is considered politically possible is deeply out of alignment with what is physically necessary.”

— Naomi Klein, author Gov. Jerry Brown, second from left, joins U.S. Department of Energy panel with Secretary Ernest Moniz, Saudi Arabia's minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, and Sweden’s minister for Energy Ibrahim Baylan. Photo by Stephane Lemouton, Office of the Governor.

It’s now well understood that most oil reserves will have to be left in the ground. So these CEOs are being rewarded for wasteful, if not destructive behavior.

December 10 - 23, 2015

The coal industry is already collapsing, but IPS noted that the “top 10 publicly held U.S. coal companies have also been increasing their cashbased executive pay as their share prices have been plummeting. When paychecks grow even as businesses sink, executives have little incentive to shift to a new energy future.”

In short, on an ever-growing multitude of fronts the dividing line Pope Francis referred to between particular interests and the common good is growing clearer and clearer. The particular interests still hold the most power, but things are shifting rapidly.

“This event is not the game; it is the scoreboard,” said 350.org founder Bill McKibben, about the Paris climate summit in an interview with Democracy Now! “Before Copenhagen, there was no climate movement, so there was no pressure on anyone there. Barack Obama could come home from Copenhagen with no agreement, Hillary Clinton, no agreement, and pay no price. But that’s no longer true for them or almost anybody else. So, we’ll get something out of here, but it won’t be enough. We’ll probably be on a path that heats up about 3.5 degrees Celsius instead of five degrees.”

In itself, that’s terrible news. It would mean “an uninhabitable world,” McKibben said. But that’s not the end of it, by any means. “What it tells us is what the score is now and how much work more we have to do.”

Piketty and Lucas Chancel of the Paris School of Economics. Their figures showed that the top 10 percent of emitters contributed 45 percent of emissions, while the bottom 50 percent contributed 13 percent of emissions. Divisions between the highest and lowest one percent are even more extreme. The top 1 percent richest Americans, Luxemburgers, Singaporeans, and Saudi Arabians have carbon emission 2,000 times that of the lowest income groups of Honduras, Mozambique, Rwanda and Malawi.

The Piketty-Chancel study suggested three different strategies to increase global climate adaptation funding, using individual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions as the basis for contributions. The first, would tax all emitters above the 50 percent threshold in proportion to how much they exceed the threshold. The second, would use the same formula, but with a top 10 percent threshold. The third strategy would use a top 1 percent threshold. All three strategies represent a significant departure from earlier ideas, which have gotten bogged down in various dead-end disputes.

There’s bound to be opposition to these ideas as well, but they greatly clarify issues of responsibility, making it harder and harder for “particular interests to prevail over the common good,” as Pope Francis put it.

Along those same lines, Oxfam’s report noted that those blocking progress represent a tiny minority: “Between the Copenhagen and Paris climate conferences, the number of billionaires on the Forbes list with interests in fossil fuel activities has risen from 54 in 2010 to 88 in 2015, while the size of their combined personal fortunes has

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The rating system was not an idle exercise.

According to the report, the shortfall in voluntary commitments needed to meet the emission targets means “governments and international institutions are increasingly turning to the private sector, particularly big transnational corporations, in an attempt to find the solutions and investments required to evolve towards low-carbon societies and economies,” the report explained. “As host to the COP21, the French government has chosen to give corporations a special role, making forty of them the official sponsors of the event and giving them a large place in the ‘Solutions Agenda’ (or Lima-Paris Action Agenda) which is to be appended to the international draft agreement.”

The approach has been highly criticized by civil society organizations—with good reason, according to the report’s results.

But activists aren’t limited to criticism regarding the business sector. The past few years have seen the wildfire growth of the carbon divestment movement, which reached an historic milestone on Dec. 2.

“More than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion in assets have made some form of divestment commitment,” 350.org stated in a press release.

Kevin De León, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, was one of the speakers at the press conference that 350.org hosted. De León authored legislation, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, promoting disinvestment by two of the world’s largest pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, which together represent almost $500 billion in assets—and which lost $5 billion this past year in its oil and gas portfolio.

More focused actions of this kind—holding more and more people responsible for the tight connections between carbon and its costs— are part of the cutting edge of climate activism.

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CLASSIFIED ADS WRITERS WANTED Theater Writers Wanted Random Lengths News is seeking freelance writers to cover theater and film.

Candidates must have a strong command of the English language and be knowledgeable about literature and have experience in writing about theater. The successful candidate will be required to arrange his or her own transportation to cover stories.

The successful candidate needs to have a thorough knowledge of what’s happening in the theater and film scene, particularly in the Harbor Area. At least two years experience writing for print or online media required.

In addition, the successful candidate should have: The ability to write with flair Excellent organizational skills Strong initiative Great time management skills Working hours are flexible, but you will be encouraged to attend biweekly editorial meetings. Send your resume and a few samples of your writing to Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks, at editor@ randomlengthsnews.com or drop by the office at 1300 S. Pacific Ave. in San Pedro.

December 10 - 23, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Carson Reporter Wanted Random Lengths News is seeking a freelance reporter to cover issues in the City of Carson.

Candidates must have strong command of the English language, and knowledge

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or interest of community issues and politics in Carson.

The successful candidate will be required to arrange his or her own transportation to cover stories.

Candidates must be able to research, understand and convey the happenings in the city. At least two years experience in print or online media is preferred.

The successful candidate must have strong organizational skills, initiative and time management.

Working hours are flexible. Writers are encouraged to attend biweekly meetings.

Send work samples to Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks at editor@randomlengthsnews.com or drop by the office at 1300 S. Pacific Ave. in San Pedro.

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DBA/legal filings Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015291781 The following person is doing business as: A to Z Anti aging Wellness, 2840 Peck Ave, San Pedro, Ca 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Amanda Vallejo, 2840 Peck Ave, San Pedro, Ca 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 10/21/2015. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Amanda Vallejo, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 11/26/2015, 12/10/2015, 12/24/2015, 01/07/15

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015303140 The following person is doing business as: Rand Architecture, 4010 Palos Verdes Drive North Suite #200 D, Rolling Hills Estates, Ca 90274. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Rand Denina Relatores, 1203 Big Canyon Place, San Pedro, Ca 90732.

This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 01/01/1993. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

S/. Rand Denina Relatores, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 1,

2015. Notice--In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 12/03/2015,

12/10/2015, 12/24/2015, 01/07/15

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015288975 The following person is doing business as: RADD, 22108 S. Vermont, Suite 107, Torrance, Ca 9502. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Rafael Ruvalcaba, 664 1/2 21st Street, San Pedro, Ca 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Rafael Ruvalcaba, owner.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 2015. Notice-In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920.

A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.

The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 12/10/2015, 12/24/2015, 01/07/16, 01/28/2016

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