Free Republic

More than a dozen suspected members of a ruthless Norteño street gang allegedly responsible for four murders, several attempted murders and assaults in San Jose are behind bars, the result of a 1 1/2-year police investigation. A five-week grand jury proceeding culminated Tuesday with indictments being issued against 13 suspected members of El Hoyo Palmas, described by police as a multi-generation gang that has operated in San Jose for about 30 years.

Sandoval, who represents the city's Excelsior district as the supervisor for District 11, will challenge Judge Thomas Mellon, who has served on the bench since 1994. Mellon, 65, was appointed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican. Sandoval, a supervisor since 2000, was a deputy public defender in San Francisco and previously worked for former Mayor Art Agnos.

Arms-deal submarines lie idle By Henri du Plessis Budget problems are causing a severe shortage of skilled staff that is crippling the operation of South Africa's new R1,5-billion submarines, bought in the scandal ridden arms deal. The staffing shortage at the dock, described as "critical" by a top defence expert, has prompted the DA to call for the cancellation of the delivery of the third and final submarine from Germany, scheduled for May next year, in order to reduce operational costs. At present the navy has had to allow for the staff shortages in its overall operational plan. Respected defence...

Arabic-speaking passengers sue AmericanThe Associated Press DETROIT --Six men of Iraqi descent who were flying home after a stint training Marines sued American Airlines on Thursday, saying employees publicly humiliated them after a passenger expressed concerns about them to security guards. The men, who sued in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleging racial discrimination, say airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks. The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were returning to the Detroit area after training Marines at Camp Pendleton in California when another passenger...

WASHINGTON — Airport security officers around the nation have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September. The unclassified alert was distributed on July 20... The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances," including block cheese, the bulletin said. "The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern." Security officers were urged to keep an eye out for "ordinary items that...

South African Navy Commissions Charlotte Maxeke (Source: ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; issued March 14, 2007) EMDEN/HAMBURG/KIEL, Germany --- On March 14, 2007, the South African Navy commissioned the submarine “Charlotte Maxeke” at Emden-based Nordseewerke GmbH (NSWE), a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG (TKMS). This submarine is an ultra-modern submarine of the German 209/1400mod Class. During commissioning ceremony the boat which was christened as S102 on May 4, 2005, got the new name “Charlotte Maxeke.” The boat is the second of a total of three submarines which the South African government ordered from the German Submarine Consortium in 2000. The consortium...

Elie Weisel SAN FRANCISCO - In a bizarre attack, a well-known author and Holocaust scholar was dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator by an apparent Holocaust denier who reportedly had been trailing him for weeks. Police escorted Elie Wiesel to San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 1 after a man accosted Wiesel in the elevator at the Argent Hotel, at 50 Third St., after Wiesel participated in a panel discussion at a peace conference and before Wiesel was scheduled to catch a flight back to New York. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author of more than 40...

Chron items: Urination and Defecation OK in S.F. and the CHP Camaro story by CW Editor July 2, 2002 Urinating and defecating on the streets of San Francisco Boy, talk about a city being caught up in liberal paralysis. CW has staunchly maintained that it is impossible for liberals to govern effectively. Governing requires decision-making, and the libs just can't do that for fear of hurting the feelings of some minority group If you have been looking for proof, what more does it take than the current indecision on a law banning urinating and defecating in public in S.F. The...

Claim: San Fran killer called himself 'terrorist' 14 injured, 1 dead, in hit-and-run rampage by man recently returned from Afghanistan Posted: August 30, 2006 2:22 p.m. Eastern By Art Moore© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com   Omeed Aziz Popal in wedding photo believed to be two weeks old (San Francisco Chronicle) A woman claims she heard the man who drove into 14 people, killing one, in a violent hit-and-run rampage in San Francisco yesterday refer to himself as a terrorist. KTVU-TV San Francisco reporter Rob Roth told WND the witness at the scene of Omeed Aziz Popal's arrest heard the 29-year-old man say, to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2006 – San Diego will honor its military heritage with a Freedom Walk planned to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “The walk begins and ends at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center,” said Beth Steinke, president of Operation Homefront-San Diego, the nonprofit group organizing the walk. “It’s a leisurely two-mile stroll through the park.” The walk, presented by DefenseWeb, a software company, will begin with opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. in Balboa Park, she said. A color guard and a chaplain are scheduled to participate in the opening ceremonies. “We’re hoping...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's activation of the California National Guard to bolster airline security began seamlessly at some airports on Friday, appeared haphazard at others and was rejected at Oakland International - one of three airports the governor said was most important to protect. With 640 activated troops, the Guard's first airport deployment since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was to begin costing about $128,000 a day in anti-terror funding. The scattershot nature of the deployment was evident throughout the state, with troops helping ease long lines at security checkpoints in Southern California but being relegated to distant fields in San...

A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Monday threw out the city's voter-approved ban on handguns, ruling that state law trumps local jurisdictions in gun control matters. Proposition H, approved last November with 58 percent of the vote, banned the possession, manufacture, distribution, sale and transfer of firearms and ammunition within San Francisco. (Exceptions were made for specific professional purposes, such as police or security work.) The National Rifle Association sued the city, arguing that state law preempts local gun control ordinances. The judge agreed. Both the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation called the decision a victory...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (May 19, 2006) -- Marine Band San Diego sent a delegate of five Marines to the locally harbored USS Midway on Saturday where they provided patriotic music for the Girl Scout Operation Thin Mint 2006 Sendoff Celebration. Girl Scouts by the hundreds, troop leaders and parents gathered on the large carrier’s deck and surrounded the center stage waving miniature American flags while the brass quintet played patriotic music. The girls met on the ship as a formal way to send massive quantities of cookies sold throughout the year to the troops deployed overseas. Bill...

EMC Corp. said Friday it plans to eliminate 1,000 positions but added that it will see a net gain in total employment by year's end as the company moves to emphasize data services and software amid pressure to cut costs in the data storage hardware business. EMC, whose shares fell about 2 percent Friday, announced the cuts affecting about 4 percent of its work force as it raised its fourth-quarter revenue estimate. The company also said a total $269 million in charges from the job moves and other expenses will reduce its quarterly and full-year 2005 earnings, to be announced...

ABOARD USS SAN JANCINTO (NNS) -- USS San Jacinto (CG 56) Sailors improved the navigational safety of the Northern Persian Gulf when they mounted two seven-inch, solar-powered strobe lights on a sunken oil tanker and its marker buoy Nov. 20. The tanker, believed to have sunk during the early 1990s in the first Gulf War, created a significant navigation hazard for small boats and coalition vessels conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the North Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi Al Basra oil terminal (ABOT). Chief Damage Controlman Frank Ferrantelli, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., and Hull Repair Technician 1st...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Voters approved ballot measures to ban handguns in San Francisco and urge the city's public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters. The gun ban prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, and makes it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses. Only two other major U.S. cities _ Washington and Chicago _ have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.

SAN DIEGO - A terminal at San Diego International Airport was evacuated Tuesday after luggage screeners mistook a child's toy and a cookie for bomb-making components, officials said. A screening machine at the Commuter Terminal detected what appeared to be bomb-making material in a carryon bag around 7:45 a.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin. A bomb squad was called to the terminal, which serves regional flights, and investigators determined the bag did not contain any "IED," or improvised explosive devices, Peppin said. "Essentially what they did find was a child's toy and some organic material in a bag...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Baggage screeners found bomb components in a carry-on piece of luggage at San Diego International Airport on Tuesday and cleared the area to investigate, Department of Homeland Security spokesmen said. A department spokesman said the screeners found "all components of an IED" (improvised explosive device) in a piece of luggage at around 7:45 a.m. (10:45 a.m. EDT) They then evacuated the commuter terminal of the airport and bomb specialists began to investigate, the spokesman said.

Global revenue for standalone storage systems grew 8.6 percent year over year to reach $3.8 billion in the second quarter, according to market researcher IDC. This growth, an improvement over the first quarter, was mainly due to double-digit growth in network attached storage, or NAS, systems, IDC said Friday. This segment grew 16.1 percent to $2.5 billion. EMC, with $807 million in revenue, retained its position as the top standalone storage systems company. EMC also grew its market share to 21.2 percent from 21 percent a year ago. But the credit for the strongest growth in the quarter went to...

Commission makes San Antonio's sweet deal even sweeter By T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO — Things looked sweet for San Antonio under the Pentagon's proposed base-closure plan. This week's voting made it even sweeter. While the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted Thursday to end the military's presence at Brooks City-Base, it overrode the Defense Department's recommendations by keeping one of Brooks' key medical research missions and some 300 jobs in San Antonio. That vote came a day after the commission opted to keep the 800-job Cryptologic Systems Group, which services communications equipment for federal intelligence agencies,...

The back of a dump truck delivering 20 tons of dirt to businesses on Sixth Street in San Francisco tipped and crashed into an adult video arcade this morning, narrowly missing three patrons. "It was close," said a video clerk at the Liberty Bookstore, who identified himself as Jersey Dog. "One guy was near the inside of the wall, but no one was hurt." The incident happened at 9:10 a.m. when Sukhdev Singh of Economy Trucking was dumping dirt to be used to fill in several businesses' sub-basements on the 100 block of Sixth Street, said Sheri Costa, a spokeswoman...

Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas Cheat unlocks preexisting code in controversy-rocked Grand Theft Auto game, undermining Rockstar Games' claims of hacker mischief. This week saw a Grand Theft Auto game once again at the center of a nationwide controversy. The point of contention this time was the so-called "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which had everyone from anti-game crusader Jack Thompson to US Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) percolating with outrage and/or calls for federal game regulation. The Hot Coffee mod first surfaced last month, when the PC version of San Andreas was released. The...

I thought you would be interested in the following message. =============================================== Dear Friend: Protecting our oceans makes good economic and environmentalsense.  Our oceans not only provide food and recreation butalso help to regulate our water quality and climate.  Someareas of our ocean are particularly vital, supporting anabundance of fish and marine mammals.  One of these areas isfound just off the coast of Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, and SanFrancisco counties. I recently joined Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey at a pressconference to highlight our legislation to provide greaterprotection to a larger portion of California’s coast.  Her billin the House, and mine in the Senate,...

Senator Hillary Clinton has stepped into the controversy over sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The senator wants the US Federal Trade Commission to find out who put the explicit material in the game… The downloadable mod was put together by Dutch GTA fan Patrick Wildenborg and is said to unlock mini-games in the recently-released PC version of San Andreas that lets players make game characters have sex…. The PlayStation 2 version of San Andreas was the best-selling game of 2004 in the US.

Airport planners have come up with an idea for developing a second runway at Lindbergh Field without Marine Corps property, but some say the notion is so outlandish it actually helps make the case for building a new regional airport elsewhere. A committee of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority yesterday recommended that the full board of directors authorize additional study of the concept for a new, 10,000-foot runway through the Midway District. Committee members aren't yet treating the concept as a serious alternative to proposed airport sites in Boulevard and Imperial County, and openly fretted over misunderstandings...

Get "snippy" with an airlines' ticket agent and you may never see your luggage again. That's the experience of Dr. Esha Khoshnu, a New Jersey psychiatrist traveling to San Diego to attend a conference. While changing planes in Phoenix, Khoshnu got testy at a Mesa Airlines ticket counter, reports KGTV news, saying, "If I had a bomb, you wouldn't find it." The Transportation Security Administration described Khoshnu as acting "mouthy and snippy," according to KGTV. The bomb comment touched off a security scare and FBI officials were dispatched to question Khoshnu, who was subsequently detained long enough to miss her...

Last Updated: 02-17-05 at 2:28PM A woman was detained in Arizona -- and her suitcase blown up at Lindbergh Field -- after she made a testy comment about a bomb while boarding an American West flight Thursday. East Coast psychiatrist Esha Khoshnu, 46, apparently became frustrated with security screeners and allegedly said, "If i had a bomb you wouldn't find it," according to a local TV station. The woman made the remark while waiting to board a San Diego-bound flight in Phoenix, said Mike Aguilar, Federal Security Director at the San Diego airport. Airport personnel responded by detaining her for...

A burst of anger spurs airport bomb scare By Mark Arner UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 18, 2005 A woman trying to catch a flight to San Diego caused an emergency search of the plane when it landed at Lindbergh Field yesterday by berating security officers and saying they were incapable of finding any weapons, authorities said. The comment kept the 46-year-old New Jersey psychiatrist from boarding the flight in Phoenix. The plane, however, took off with her luggage, prompting an emergency search of it once the plane landed here. When the woman boarded another flight to Lindbergh Field later in...

Plane Evacuated Because Of Possible Bomb Threat Last Updated: 02-17-05 at 7:40AM A plane at Lindbergh Field was evacuated Thursday morning because of a possible bomb threat, according to KFMB News. The possible threat is on an American West Express plane. A bomb squad and arson strike team has been called in to investigate the possible threat. The passengers on board were loaded onto shuttle buses that were brought to the tarmac, and they will be transported to a different location, according to KFMB News reports. For the latest details on this developing story, watch LOCAL 8 News.

PALOMINAS - More than $1 million worth of marijuana was seized Wednesday by agents from the U.S. Border Patrol's Naco Station after a vehicle pursuit. At approximately 9:45 p.m., agents observed a pickup truck illegally enter the United States about eight miles west of the Naco Port of Entry, according to a press release from the agency's Tucson Sector. The truck's driver was unaware he had been spotted and drove slowly along local ranch roads until the truck reached Highway 92. When an agent attempted to stop the vehicle on the highway near Miller Canyon Road, the driver performed an...

SAN FRANCISCO — Frustrated by a 28 percent increase in homicides during the past year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has proposed a sweeping measure banning handguns, injecting the city into the national debate over gun control.

SAF Blasts Proposed San Francisco Handgun Ban: 'We Beat That In 1982' 12/16/2004 5:07:00 PM To: State Desk Contact: Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, 425-454-7012 BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Calling it an "ill-considered return visit of anti-gun bigotry," the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today blasted plans to put a handgun ban on the November 2005 ballot in San Francisco, Calif. reminding proponents of the measure that such a ban was declared illegal when first tried in 1982. "This issue was decided by the California courts more than 22 years ago, and the gun ban extremists...

A young San Bernardino couple is going public with questions about supermodel Gisele Bundchen's "no questions asked" $5000.00 reward offer, which remains unpaid more than two weeks after the couple returned Bundchen's dog only to be arrested at gunpoint, handcuffed and held in custody. Although cleared by the police, the couple has no explanation from Bundchen of why they were treated like criminals and denied the reward. Hollywood, CA (PRWEB) December 10, 2004 -- Supermodel Gisele Bundchen’s “no questions asked” $5000.00 reward offer for her lost dog just before Thanksgiving, may have gotten her dog back, but, according to the...

Last Saturday night brought His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, Regent of the Imperial Dynasty and President of the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League, to Cornell. The Prince, a member of the Vietnamese imperial family gave a lecture, entitled "Revival of Vietnamese Culture: The Nguyen Dynasty," before a crowd of about 50 people. Maria Nguyen '05, vice president of the Cornell Vietnamese Association sang the American national anthem and then played the national anthem of South Vietnam. Aided by PowerPoint slides, Prince Buu Chanh then began his lecture speaking from a podium draped with the American flag...

The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam is politically pressuring the government of Vietnam to protect the liberty, religious rights of the Vietnamese people as well as the culture, traditions, languages of the Montagnards and Khmer Krom in Vietnam. (PRWEB) October 23, 2004 -- Today, Vietnam is experiencing a minor period of outward growth. Even the most dedicated Communists are abandoning old communist economic policies, which have proven to be ineffective and sometimes harmful. Capitalism is being introduced, with the Communist Party maintained only as a vehicle to exercise absolute control of the elite Party leaders over the common people. The...

Frédéric Desagneaux, consul general of France for San Francisco, is not happy with the light being shown on his country’s involvement with U.N. corruption in Iraq. Poor thing. Yesterday, the independent committee investigating corruption in the U.N.’s “oil-for-food” program for Iraq made public the names of 3,545 companies that sold goods to Saddam. Also published were the names of 248 companies which received Iraqi oil under the program. Through oil-for-food, Saddam stole “$10.1 billion through oil smuggling and kickbacks from suppliers.” Leave it to the U.N. to pull off one of the biggest scandals in world history. Evidence is emerging...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Oct. 14) -- Tiger Woods and his bride were briefly detained Thursday by U.S. Coast Guard officers on their yacht Privacy, then were turned away from San Juan's port because they had failed to notify authorities of their arrival Since July 1, new security regulations require many boats to submit an arrival notice at least four days before entering a U.S. port, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Eric Willis said. The 28-year-old golfer and Swedish model Elin Nordegren, 24, were married Oct. 5 at a luxury resort in Barbados and later set out on the Privacy, along...

Aurora,IL (PRWEB) September 8, 2004 -- OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS - From the Office of the Leadership of the The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam & Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League: His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, Regent of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty and President of The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League denounces the Communist Government on the return of United States Servicemen MIA or possible POWs’ and Human Rights Record. It has been stated by American Marines and Army Soldiers who are in Vietnam searching for MIA's, that there is corruption within the government of Vietnam. They stated that...

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco voters will have a chance to express their views on the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites) in November with a ballot initiative calling on the federal government to end the conflict. The toughly worded statement, which will appear on the city's November ballot, says the war has cost more than 850 American lives and bled the nation of billions of dollars.

So here is the rundown events. I went to downtown San Francisco yesterday because I got a post that the SF Republicans were going to protest Kerry as he was leaving the Westin St. Francis. I only saw one guy, and when it got close to the time when Kerry was leaving, I was all by my lonesome. I stood accross the street and pulled out my sign and protested him by myself. I had people in cars giving me the thumbs up and people on the street who just happen to be passing by were coming accross to tell...

WASHINGTON (April 3) -- Chants of "Freddy, Freddy" echoed throughout the stadium Saturday whenever a D.C. United player missed a scoring chance early in the second half. Finally, in the 61st minute, the moment arrived. Flashbulbs popped amid the roars as 14-year-old soccer prodigy Freddy Adu entered the game and became the youngest athlete to play in a major American league in more than 100 years. No one in the stadium sat down for the next 10 minutes. Fans waited for magic that never came. Adu had few quality touches and never took a shot in Saturday's 2-1 victory over...

<p>David Knight, son of the state senator who was the author of the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, defied his father's law and wed his partner of 10 years Tuesday in a quiet ceremony attended by just two friends in San Francisco City Hall.</p>

<p>IT'S FUNNY that, in a city that prides itself on its nonconformity, so many people make the exact same argument exactly the same way. To wit, after I write that Mayor Gavin Newsom was wrong to flout state law by authorizing same-sex marriages, a legion of readers write comparing gay and lesbian newlyweds with civil-rights legend Rosa Parks. To say that Newsom should have more respect for the law, they argue, is like saying Rosa Parks should not have engaged in her landmark act of "civil disobedience."</p>

<p>The woman in white go-go boots sported a Boston Red Sox jersey over a lacy white wedding gown and held hands with her lesbian partner to lead 200 cheering people in a march down Market Street Tuesday evening.</p> <p>San Francisco commemorated the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision Tuesday legalizing same-sex marriage with all the diversity of its gay-lesbian community on display -- from drag queens to soccer moms -- and lots of Red Sox caps and Boston cream pie.</p>

Bil Clinton was damn sexy. Oh yes he was. This is a given. He had The Appeal. Magnetic, charming as hell, a man who you knew actually had sex and enjoyed it and possessed a highly active all-American libido and knew what all the body parts did and where they went, Hillary notwithstanding. And yet he was president and that made it all a little weird and unusual and refreshing and then of course it turned ugly, and he was vilified and attacked and sneered at from all corners for overusing this libido, but still, there it is. And women...

<p>SUISUN CITY -- He's a 5th-degree black belt, a registered Republican, a whiz with computers, a gadget geek and a big Tom Clancy fan. He dotes on his nieces and nephews. He admires Colin Powell and Abraham Lincoln. In his holster is a Walther PPK, James Bond's preferred pistol.</p>

Big quake 'certain' in San Francisco by 2032 By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 23 April 2003 San Francisco is almost certain to suffer a severe earthquake in the next 30 years, which could uproot tens of thousands of buildings and kill hundreds of people in California's densely populated Bay Area, a detailed study by the United States Geological Survey predicts. The study, compiled by 100 geologists, disaster management experts, politicians and academics, said there was a 62 per cent chance of a devastating quake with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater on the Richter scale between now and 2032....

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4 — The police chief was on medical disability today, apparently suffering from high blood pressure, and no one knows when he might return to work. The Police Department was being run by a little-known deputy chief, Heather J. Fong, whose rise to the top was so unforeseen that the personnel office scrambled to pull together biographical information on her. Ten members of the department —including the chief, Prentice E. Sanders; the assistant chief; and two deputy chiefs — pleaded not guilty today in Superior Court to criminal charges ranging from conspiring to obstruct justice to felony...

A frightening sequence of events and clues gleaned by U.S. intelligence has some in law enforcement believing that a maritime terrorist attack against San Francisco could be imminent. Local ferry operators became alarmed last week when someone described as Middle Eastern man boarded a ferry to Alcatraz but did not leave the boat when it reached the island. Instead, the man videotaped boat traffic and used a stopwatch to time the route. "He got on the boat to go to the island, but never got off when the other tourists did. Instead, he asked unusual questions about the timing and...