Weekend Open Thread: 14 CDP Speeches and an Auto-Backpat

By
Greg Diamond
– June 8, 2019Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice

.

.

.

You should spend some time on this link: 14 speeches by Democratic Presidential candidates from last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention.  Unless you’re a Chump in the Dump for Trump, it’s worth watching something from the person who is likely to be his main competition* in 2020.

*Unless it’s Romney, or Bill Weld, or a third party — or Joe Biden, who chickened out of attending a convention with lots of people who were very well aware of his record.

But helping you inform yourself about Democrats isn’t the main topic of this post, despite it being by far the most important.  Nor is it other aspects of the last week in Democratic politics, such as Lenore and Chumley filing a petition to remove me from the CDP, my filing a petition to remove them from the CDP for their attacks on endorsed candidate Brett Murdock, or my filing a “CDP Convention Code of Conduct” complaint against Florice Hoffman — which, and I am not joking here, was reportedly lost in the CDP Executive Director’s spam folder to prevent them from acting upon it in a timely way — or anything else involving a supporter of the Democratic Party getting a majority in local elections.

No, instead it was Farrah Khan showing an adoring audience how not to do PR about oneself.  I’m taking this verbatim (minus time stamps, non-printable characters, and photos and links to sites of commenters, which I’ve replaced with a colon after their names) from her official City Council Facebook page, snagged as of about 11:45 Saturday evening.  Here we go!

Image swiped from this very worthwhile apparently European page: https://www.greenflag.com/advice/safety/push-car-safely

Farrah N. Khan, Irvine City Councilmember

Just now I was driving on Culver heading home and noticed a car with the emergency blinkers on at the stoplight on Culver/Alton. I changed lanes, looked across and saw a woman and her son in the car. I stopped to ask her what was wrong, she replied she didn’t know – her car was not moving.

I pulled over in the bike lane after the intersection, crossed the road back to where the lady was, told her to put the car in neutral and that I would push her car to the bike lane on Alton so she could get out of traffic.

Her son, who couldn’t be more than 8 jumped out of the car to help me. We pushed the car and she safely parked on Alton in the bike lane. I asked her if she had AAA, she did, and told her to call them. I asked if she needed me to stay with her, she stated her husband was at home nearby and she would call him.

She thanked me, we hugged and I crossed the street to get back to my car.

THIS TOOK LESS THAN 15 MINUTES OF MY TIME!

With all the traffic on Culver and Alton, no one had 10-15 minutes to spare to help someone out?

My ask: WE make our community what it is, but it takes a bit of time and effort. Don’t let the opportunity to help someone pass you by.

Have a great weekend!

30 Comments
Comments

  • Sharon Quirk-Silva: Generous Farrah!

  • Shahla Rah: So proud of you! ❤️💕
  • Wahy Krj: You are a great example to our community!
  • Jodi Bernal: Thank you for your consideration and helping….That’s Why I voted for you. If I had been there I would have done the same. 30 yrs ago I helped a man with the same problem on Harvard and Irvine Center Dr. The base use to be there. I don’t know if I embarrassed him or helped him more. I was the only one to assist.

  • Lala Sab: Thank for inspiring us all with your simple act of kindness. Let’s all get out there and care for each other!

  • Nella Said: You make me so proud as our councilwoman
  • Linda Sapiro Moon: Thanks for your kindness. I recall over 30 years ago Huntington Beach Councilmember and Mayor Bob Mandic used to drive around in his tow truck rescuing stranded drivers. He stopped for me more than once.

  • Rob Young: One time when I lived in the suburbs of Boston I was driving after it had snowed all night, was still snowing, and the roads were coated. Suddenly my car slid into a snowbank and was too stuck to back out. I put it in neutral and walked into the front into the front to push. Suddenly there were 3 other guys with me – all from separate cars. They’d seen someone needed help and jumped in. 5 minutes later I thanked them and we all went our separate ways. The way it all happened with no discussion helps my faith in humanity. Thank you, Farrah, for being that kind of person.

     

    • Robin Gurien: Rob Young that happened to me often in Iowa. I was dug out of snowbanks, had someone help me carry my infant sons across a parking lot, etc. Of all the lessons I learned living there, the lesson of every day kindness has been the most important.
     

     

  • Soheil Naimi: God bless
     
  • Dale Cheema: You are so right ! Kindness costs nothing.
  • Shaista Khan: Wonderful Farrah 🙏
     
  • Barbara Taborek: You are wonderful in words and deeds- thanks!
  • Lien Tran: You are amazing Farrah! 👏👏👏

  • Leo Z. Kahn: I was driving on Culver Blvd heading towards the I5 and noticed a white sedan stalled on the right lane right before reaching Alton pkwy. Is this the same car that was stalled at the crossroads?

     

  • Vicki Tamoush: “Don’t let the opportunity to help someone pass you by.” Those words will stay with me, dear Farrah!
  • Charanjot N Pastagia: You are truly inspirational! More power to you

  • Avinder Chawla: 👍👍Very kind act!

     

     

  • Robin Gurien: Farrah, thank you for modeling the actions we should all embrace!

     

  • Fauzia Ayub: Bravo 👏
  • Pat McCurdy: 🙋👍👏❣️
  • Nasreen Dossal Ali: Bravo!👏💕👏
     
  • Nikoo Khosravi Ouskouian: God bless you Farrah N Khan!❤️
  • Teyebeh M. Bashir: That’s why I adore you Farrah N Khan.
  • Avinder Chawla: 👍👍Very kind act!

  • Mike Carroll – Irvine City Councilmember: Farrah N. Khan, Irvine City Councilmember, thank you for making this community a true community. ~ Mike

     

  • Laura Kim Lodin: Good for you!!!!
     
  • Susan Coffee Lew:  Farrah N Khan now THAT’s service from our public servants!!

All right, I admit — I too have gotten out of my car in busy traffic at times to help push a stalled vehicle, help stranded passengers call for help, once let a poor family use my AAA card to get some emergency service, etc.  But here are some things I have never done:

  1. Patted myself on the back for doing so on Facebook.
  2. Done so on a public officeholder’s page where I could give my constituents the opportunity to compliment me publicly for my act and tell me how great I am generally.
  3. Asked why nobody else who had passed by (apparently including one commenter) was as noble and helpful as I was.
  4. Implied (even if it was true) that a driver was too dumb to know to call AAA or to put her car in neutral.

I’ll tell you something else I’ve never done: I’ve never allowed an 8-year-old boy to help me push a car in traffic.  If I couldn’t do it myself, I’ve stepped into traffic waving my hands to ask other drivers to pull over and help out in such a situation, but never — if there was any danger at all, as there usually is when pushing a car on a busy street — an 8-year-old boy.

(I will pat myself on the back for one thing: I once tried to help out a former friend by realizing that she was on a path to appointing a Republican to their city’s vacant, majority-deciding seat rather than holding an election, and that her doing so was not only unjustified by law but would alienate and make a mockery of countless people who had worked for years to give Irvine a Democratic City Council majority — but that former friend just laughed, denied she was heading in that direction, sped off in that exact direction, and did exactly as I had predicted she would, after ensuring that the appointee (supposedly) filed to change their party affiliation to NPP just before being appointed.  My gesture went unappreciated.)

Anyway — this is Farrah’s public official Facebook page, so anyone else can write in and let Gemerous Farrah know how much they appreciate her being so generous with her time and open City Council seats.  I presume that she doesn’t edit out critical comments — but get a screenshot just in case!

By the way, one of my daughters once stopped and waited to testify to a traffic cop about what she had seen in a fender bender near Fullerton College, about which one of the drivers was lying.  I couldn’t be more proud of her for that — it took guts and was greatly appreciated by the wronged driver.  See — isn’t it nicer when someone else tells the story of your doing the right thing?

This is your Weekend Open Thread.  Talk about that, or whatever else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of decency and decorum.


About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)