What a wasted morning, spent searching the past few months of the OC GOP’s twitter feed for anything resembling Chemical Lewinsky’s description of a “recent missive” that “referred to an older post on the OJ Blog about how the de-chartered Anaheim Democrats club and their rebellion against the DPOC is a signal somehow that Democrats ought to consider becoming Republicans.”
I know, what an incomprehensible sentence, but I already had a great response piece planned, until I realized that the Republicans never tweeted anything like that (unless they took it down which I doubt.) The only time they mentioned the Club this year was when we had Chris Kluwe over in February, and GOP Willy tried to gin up outrage over Chris’ (correct) assertion that Calvary Chapel is a major force driving HB’s crypto-Nazi MAGA movement.
Nothing about the Club’s conflicts with the DPOC. No Republicans care about that. That’s what I get for wasting my time reading the Liberal OC. But HERE is a ray of sunshine, from one Carrick Ryan, a blogger, and former Federal Agent working in Counter Terrorism, with a Masters in Politics and International Relations:
These men just played Trump…
They found a way to try and drive a wedge between him and Putin.
Saturday, the leaders of France, Germany, Poland, and the UK gathered in a room with Zelensky. They then made an unscheduled phone call to Trump.
In that call, they disclosed a plan to give Putin an ultimatum: agree to a 30-day ceasefire and begin negotiations for peace, or they would supply Ukraine with overwhelming military support and coordinate additional sanctions that could suffocate a Russian economy finally beginning to show the mortal wounds of economic isolation.
In this call, they convinced Trump that this threat alone would force Putin to the negotiating table.
And they convinced Trump that if this worked… he would get the plaudits.
The truth is, they know Putin doesn’t want peace. As I’ve explained countless times, anyone who actually understands Putin and his geopolitical priorities knows he doesn’t want a democratic Ukraine to survive.
Trump, evidently, has failed to grasp this. He still sees everything as a real estate deal and fails to appreciate the deeper ideological aspirations at play.
He is also notoriously easy to persuade, especially by someone like France’s Macron. British PM Starmer, meanwhile, is Trump’s new best friend after he went along with his charade of a bilateral trade agreement. They’ve been buttering him up for this whole time.
Macron, Starmer, Merz, Tusk, and Zelensky appealed to Trump’s vanity and his ignorance… and it looks like it worked.
They managed to get his verbal approval for the ultimatum during the call. And before anyone had the chance to explain the implications to Trump… they announced it. One by one, they gave speeches to the media where they made it absolutely clear that Trump was in on the deal. The USA was party to the ultimatum.
Putin then had to either accept an immediate ceasefire by Monday… or defy Trump.
As expected, before the deadline even came close, Putin rejected the offer outright. Because he does not want peace.
Trump has now effectively sanctioned the European plan for complete and unrestricted support of the Ukrainian military and agreed to cooperate on additional economic sanctions on Russia.
Just like that, the USA appears to be back on Ukraine’s side, and it’s all thanks to an unscheduled phone call.
I don’t know whose plan it was, but it was brilliant.
– Carrick Ryan, 5-11-25.
Brilliant, yes, BUT… you just know we’re not hearing the whole story. For that we’ll have to hear from the bold iconoclastic truth-teller who let us know that America’s biggest school shootings were really hoaxes, that the government controls the weather – as a weapon, that chemicals in the water are turning frogs gay, that Robert Mueller is a demon and a pedophile, that Hillary runs a child sex ring out of a DC pizza parlor – the vitamin salesman who LOST EVERYTHING so that you and I could know the truth, ALEX JONES!
And it turns out, per Alex, that these wily statesmen who managed to bamboozle our own President into doing the right thing, these clever Machiavellian new leaders of the Free World, were high the whole time, high on Colombian Marching Powder. I don’t know what to say. We do not approve. But please bear in mind all the music and art we cherish now that was created under the influence of different narcotics, and try to JUDGE BY THE RESULTS.
If this could be what leads to a just peace in Ukraine, then chop me out a line!
23 million views for this video. The "bag" in question is actually a folded napkin. Some days I find it surprising that humanity hasn't made itself extinct with its stupidity yet. https://t.co/eKtWOTQiWN
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) May 12, 2025
And in LATE breaking news, today, a “forensic photo analysis” has been done of that napkin (by Twitter’s “MM”), and damned if the psychoactive ingredient turns out to be less cocaine than MAGA TEARS!
Make of that what you will.
It is nearly the IDES OF MAY, and high time for a new OPEN THREAD!
Joe Stapleton has a problem with his origin story.
He claims to be both a lifelong resident of Newport Beach and just a boy from Arizona.
https://www.instagram.com/newportstapleton/reel/DF0zZMgTgL-/?ig_mid=CA21E719-0E49-4D1F-8D11-3B15FB83CCAB&utm_source=igweb
https://eller.arizona.edu/news/2019/02/alum-sets-bar-high-business-life-joe-stapleton-%E2%80%9906-bsba-finance-entrepreneurship
https://stapletonfornewport.com/ (Google “Joe Stapleton Newport beach” ready the byline for this website -)
He wants to keep Newport Newport but he isn’t even from f’in California for f sake. Can you say imposter syndrome.
If you’ll lie about something so inconsequential what will you do for power?
I woke up in Newport Beach on 9/11, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t in Newport beach or California then for that matter.
I was all who the hell is that? But took a moment to look him up.
You are investigating the Newport Mayor, who is running for re-election next year?
And you mentioned that he endorsed Andrea? Probably like most Newport Republicans.
The stupid and vain are always fooled when buttered up. Works every time. The brilliant part is doing it unannounced so the handlers, parasites and other whipworms can’t get there first.
This should be a lesson for the Dems in Congress.
Fuckin whipworms.
Almost as bad a pink toads. Quit touching them. No good will come of it.
I was hoping it was true, that the OC GOP head had tweeted that, since my Club doesn’t get along so swimmingly with the DPOC, we should become Republicans. I was so ready to rip him a new one… but there was no such tweet, apparently. Just a pink toad with no reading comprehension.
Actually, I think that they’re right!
You become Lincoln and I’ll become Earl Warren*.
[Edited to add: *I mean Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, not “Round up the Japanese” Gov. Earl Warren.]
You know back In the day you used to be able to buy cigars and thrifty ice cream at the rite aid at fashion island. They had the cigars in a humi-jar.
And you couldn’t buy Turkish coffee on pch in cdm at a fro-yo store.
Not sure which Newport Joe is keeping Newport.
Dumb dumb Donny is proud of his work with Young Kim putting North Tustin on the postal map.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1126986979241009&id=100057891525683
I stayed up till midnight to watch the 7-0 win for the Irvine Company. The MOU granted the Irvine Co permission to start their newest 3,100 home and human filing cabinet project. Unfortunately, Oak Creek Golf Course is the location for this exciting village.
Over the last 15 years, I have watched the council allow for 32,000 residences to be built, just in the John Wayne Airport Irvine Business Center area alone! These apartments house actual people, not just rats and roaches. Less than three of us have made public comments against the zone changes from business to dense residential status.
Tuesday, 83 souls spoke at the meeting (or on zoom), including you. Thank you, Mr. Neshanian for speaking about this unbridled greed. Some past and present Irvine politicians who don’t even live in that area showed up to get their Irvine Company support on the record.
For the poor citizens who were promised a permanent Golf course, it’s too late. Seven united Irvine Company puppets will push this through well before the next selection.
Evidently the only zone change residents care about is when a Golf course is threatened.
Oh! The humanity. A golf course lost. The most wasteful use of land imaginable.
If a promised zone status (open space/golf course) is changed by the Irvine Company and the City Council, what else are they lying about?
What happens when our food supply is broken? When 336,000 hungry citizens, are told the stores are only open five hours a day and they must stand in line until allowed to enter, how will our culture act? Five years ago, that is exactly what happened. The shelves went empty and people fought over toilet paper. All because the government said we were in a crisis and shut everything down.
Don’t worry your handsome head about anything, Mr. Zenger. The Irvine City Council and Irvine Co have your every need under consideration and are only thinking about your welfare. I am going to sneak over to my local golf course and plant some seeds (or shoot one of those geese) for when the poo-poo hits the fan.
What in the Blue Hell are you talking about? Hungry citizens?
I don’t know what they’re lying about. As an long-time observer of municipal behavior, I’d say probably a lot. Probably a lot.
But zoning codes are changed all the time. Maybe they can zone that golf course to A-1 so the city can feed all those hungry people when the time comes.
Thanks for the handsome comment.
Good eyes: The prophesied Neshanian-Wykoff conjunction is indeed supposed to be a sign on the imminent emergence of Blue Hell.
I’m no fan of the Irvine Company and have fought with them politically and on legal issues. If they somehow fail to follow through with what they’ve promised here, I’ll be among to first to want to go after their scaly hide. But: this is not so much about them: this is about whether Irvine will do its part to increase affordable low-income housing — notably absent from Irvine housing projects in the Great Park — or not.
Pam seems to be under the impression that, as much as practicable, it’s better just not to have low-income people in OC because they might be the first part to get to our toilet paper and other — what did Trump call it, “groceries?” — in an emergency. Well, that is a public policy of a sort. I’ll be sure to let the Secret Association of Poor People’s leaders know that Pam is onto them; I’ll also alert the Avian Association of Geese and Ganders of her credible threat.
Luckily, Pam’s influence here seems to be limited to … [checks notes] … Eric. He says “Affordable housing is as achievable as ending homelessness or preventing climate change. You get the housing you can afford.” This would the Counsel of Despair for someone who had an emotional tie to preserving life on earth, but Eric seems to cling to the rule “If Papa ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” To paraphrase: “We can’t “solve” homelessness — [probably untrue] — so let’s give up.” “We can’t create affordable housing — [almost surely untrue] — so let’s give up.” “We can’t prevent climate change — [the more we try, the more we can accomplish, and the less the devastating effects] — so lets give up and party while the rest of the world burns and drowns.” At the root seems to be “if we can’t constrain or eliminate all of the threats to Armenia — [we cannot and should not,to the exclusion of all other interests, but we can and certainly should take actions useful to Armenian security] — then the world can just go to hell.” All this is unhelpful and I’m tempted to “disemvowel” it for Eric’s own protection (i.e. “fr rcs wn prtctn.)
Don’t mention it Ms. Wykoff.
Affordable housing is as achievable as ending homelessness or preventing climate change. You get the housing you can afford.
I don’t think any of the 3100 homes proposed to be built are required to be affordable.
Irvine co. Is offering units elsewhere and nowhere as many (not even in the 100s) in exchange.
How decides who gets the vouchers??
That would have a critical impact on my opinion on this issue. But given the breakdown of the vote, and your animus towards Treseder, I’m a little skeptical about this.
If I recall correctly. Irvine co is offering 17 units immediately with a total of 245 including the implementation of a voucher program but there is nary a scintilla of data regarding the longevity of the housing program. If the city was truly concerned about affordable housing it would have implemented rent control to fight back against the Irvine company who has little shame in selling the master plan to grow Irvine and then stripping it away to grow it out.
I do favor rent control, but some people whose intelligence I respect don’t, so I can’t automatically say that that’s a step that Irvine should have taken. (And yes, they may oppose it because both TIC and its rival would oppose it. I think that building affordable housing doesn’t really have a ready substitute. Your point about the longevity of the housing program is well taken. Your point about TIC’s manipulating the system into a bait-and-switch is similarly reasonable.
Vern, do we have a trustworthly and reliable Irvine correspondent who could take these concerns directly to the City Council — without insulting them? Again, I’m sidelined for more than another week.
Speaking of insults. My nickname for Mayor Joe keeping Newport Newport is Peckerhead. As in Woody. Still waiting for a picture of him riding the Wedge to prove his Newport roots.
Sorry, but the ability to surf at all, let alone surf the Wedge, does not prove one’s “Newport roots.” I’ll leave this out there, for the sake of posterity, but not the follow-ups. Frankly, saying things this dumb does you no good. (I’m also fixing your most glaring typo.)
Without looking it up, do you even know what the term “Peckerhead” means? (Hint: it’s not “dickhead.”) There was a great exchange on the first years of SNL — a sketch involving Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor — that invoked it.
Yeah well it’s pretty stupid, objectionable and agressive to claim you are a lifelong resident of a city you haven’t even lived in your whole adult life unless he was born again or something. And, he is a Republican. So “peckerhead” fits. But I was using the term derivatively as in Woody Woodpecker’s head er hairline. He is a stupid person with bad hair. KISS!
You’re changing the subject from surfing. And from peckerheads.
Christine Shea chimes in on the oak creek housing exploratory housing agreement with TIC.
https://irvinewatchdog.org/city-hall/opinion-why-irvine-voters-must-decide-oak-creeks-future/
And, TIC owns 75% of the apartments in Irvine. They are realistically the only show in town Greg.
Now bloom’s article @ Irvine watchdog re the oak creek proposal is confusing. He talks about 1000-2000 affordable housing units but diverts to the facts that only 200 or so are on the table. In the end, tic hangs a lot of low fruit none of which is affordable housing. The city is in the orchard business. Lol!
https://irvinecommunitynewsandviews.org
Rafiei update. On May 20, 2025, per Defendant’s motion, the court continued sentencing again to the same day as Ament’s sentencing from July 11, 2025 to August 22, 2025.
That’s … very strange. Each wants to know what the other has done? Each doesn’t want to know? Are they in front of the same judge, with sentencing at the same session? If I were the judge, I’d say “naaah.”
The basis for the continuance set forth on a sloppily drafted pleading was judicial economy in light of Ament’s sentencing already being set that date. Yes, same judge.
The obvious basis is not wanting to be the first to play in a Prisoner’s Dilemma, which leaves the last to play with the advantage of a clarified situation that guarantees a (comparative) win.
OK, if it’s to be more or less a prisoner’s dilemma, make it a real one. Have Sheriff’s bring them into court separately — no contact allowed between them — to be sworn in as witnesses, and then escort them differently to separately rooms, with the instructions that if they have everything left to say to prosecutors, prior to their allocutions in court, now will be their last chance to have them considered prior to sentencing. That creates an actual prisoner’s dilemma where neither party knows whether the other will cooperate in or defect from any possibly mutually beneficial agreement to keep silent.
I wouldn’t even tell them beforehand that this is to be the procedure! That way there’s no outside pressure placed on either by agents of the other party.
If either has anything useful to say, that fact (but not the content of what they said) it can be submitted to their attorneys and the judge. That might lead to a continuance of the hearing. If neither has had anything useful to say, then let them go forward in pristine ignorance and accept their due.
(It might be acceptable to fake them out and let them think that the other may have defected. Game theory is fun!)
Shoe drops on two name Tammy.
https://orangecountyda.org/press/former-irvine-city-councilmember-tammy-kim-charged-with-multiple-felonies-for-lying-about-her-residency-while-serving-on-city-council-running-for-mayor/
The copd endorsed Kim, correct??
Yeah. And then when she dropped out, Betty. Anyone with a D by their name, who has the most funding.
I wonder how Jerbal and Chimp handle this story. They were both apologists for Galloway and Sidhu faking multiple addresses in the SAME election.
HA! You slay me! Looking for self-awareness and consistency in Dan or Matt is like looking for it in Donald Trump.
Dan’s post-indictment
piece isPIECES are already out, but he and Matt have ragged on Tammy about this for months. That’s one thing that made me hold back on my judgment, when I noticed both Dan & Matt, as well as LiveNation and lots of other bad actors in Irvine were against her.Todd is taking these sorts of cases seriously now, obviously. I’m trying to remember though, have there been any residence-faking Republicans he’s gone after? It slips my mind but maybe he has, it’s been a very bipartisan vice in this county.
Speaking of Republicans, twitter-obsessed GOP head Willie O’Neill has put out a meme where OC Democrats have a “jailhouse rock” band consisting of Dave Min, Lee Fink, and Tammy. https://x.com/OCGOP/status/1925898644479193422
I briefly stooped to his boring level and told him, Do, Sidhu and Amy Pham West would make a much better band.
Spitzer knew all about Do’s residency scam. I’m told their kids went to the same school. And it wasn’t in Do’s district.
Some folks in Fullerton are asking how come Spitzer refuses to do anything about the person(s) who suborned Scott Markowitz’s perjury last fall when they created his phony candidacy. Obviously Markowitz told them who set him up.
A Fullerton elected and/or their spouse?
P.S. That O’Neill dude has a very short and very selective memory.
They’ll be like Elmer Fudd breaking the fourth wall while hunting Bugs Bunny: “Shh! I’m hunting wabbits. Be vewy, vewy quiet!”