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Top row: Newman blimp, Newman & wife, Clem Dominguez & Jim Knapp, Gina Clayton-Tarvin, sole Bernie shirt for sale at DNC convention; 2nd row: Dr. Moreno & Mayor Tait, Brandman pleads innocent, Diana Carey,Vern holding anti-Trump sign, Hillary logo; 3rd row: KKK confrontation with flag, Trump pinata head, Brett Murdock, Trump “carnival barker” sign, Amin David; 4th row: Carpetbagger Kang sign, Trump escalates downward, Steve Lodge chokes, anti-police violence rally
ANNUALS
These were our most viewed stories in 2016 that were first published in 2016.
This was not supposed to be our endorsement piece for the November — look a few slots below for that — but things got out of hand. Greg was not able to finish that endorsements on time due to “life happening,” and so people started looking for the next best thing: his article on who had filed back in August, which also contained some information about who we like. It got over 3500 hits, mostly in the six weeks before the election. Even after we published the actual endorsement list, even after we referred people there to the correct post, we still could not turn this damned thing off. (We blame the Russians for this.)
2. Here’s What I Saw at the Bruising 2016 Democratic National Convention [NOW WITH VIDEO]
“Friend of the blog” Carol Levers had not written for us before, but she came back from her experience as a Sanders Delegate to the Democratic National Convention with quite a story to tell. Over 3,000 of you read it.
3. Disneyland Observes a Night of Silence in Memory of Joel Acevedo
The title Vern used is ironic — Disneyland didn’t do this intentionally — but it did have a “silent night” due to a protest over the killing of Joel Acevedo.
4. Chris Epting saves Huntington Beach from Cop-Killers! ***SNARK***
The first of many stories on this list where Vern takes on goings-on in Surf City and its most obnoxious former journalist. (last few words V)
5. Finally Final(ish)! OJ Blog’s Comprehensive 2016 General Election Endorsements!
By Greg with help from others. This was what y’all were supposed to read! By the time it finally came out, about a couple thousand of you did.
6. APD summons the community to tell us NOTHING about their killing of Adalid Flores
Vern stays strong on the “questionable deaths in Anaheim” beat.
Greg’s story got a lot of interest, but while Rios shuttered his online campaign he still won.
8. Jeff Lalloway unloved in Irvine and beyond
Our “Tyler in Irvine” ripped his homeboy a new orifice before the OCGOP delegate elections — once you’re established as a writer here you get some leeway over your topics — but Lalloway also still won. (V – the REAL reason this story got so many hits was the amazing comments section, where Jeff jumped in to defend himself and his multiple Irvine Republican enemies jumped in to trash him, and the rest of us, Democrats and others from across the county, were able to just kick back and watch, laugh, eat popcorn, puff on a bong, all of that good stuff.)
9. Garbaginati on two recent unsettling HB photos
Vern moved inland this year, but he didn’t lose his focus on Surf City and the stinking up of a poor elementary school.
10. Chris Epting Slides a Flaming Bag of Dog Excrement into Vern’s Concert
Vern’s title was a metaphor — and this was the “tamed-down” version. (Original and better version – Chris Epting Sends Suicide Bomber into Vern Concert.) Still, reading it gives a good sense of the dynamics of HB local politics this year.
11. Where Do We Stand Now That Most All of the Primary Signups are Done?
This is the sort of story that Greg would like to be able to read, which unfortunately means his writing it. (Check out the part about SD-29 — OJB was an “early adopter”!)
12. Farce or Menace? HB’s Chris Epting hooks up with HB’s Dave Garofalo!
Another of Vern’s Epting-related HB reports. Like him or hate him, people sure did read ’em!
13. Everybody against the citrus-faced guy!
The Winships RICARDO weighed in with our second-ranked story about the national election.
14. Westminster’s Diana Carey puts out an emergency call to her city’s people
By Vern. OJB’s greatest regret, among political outcomes that we conceivably could have helped accomplish, is Diana Carey’s loss. Westminster now hops on to the greased skid that Costa Mesa just departed, downhill to insanity.
15. Josh Newman Forces Ling-Ling Chang to Pull Down Defamatory and Dishonest Cable Ads in Disgrace
By Greg. OJB’s greatest satisfaction, among political outcomes that we conceivably could have helped accomplish, is a tie between Newman’s victory and the results of the Anaheim City Council races. We’re not sure what to do about having a State Senator this decent and good, but we’ll figure something out.
16. A Day at the Races: Daily Updates to Candidate Filings
Part of what seemed even to Greg like an interminable series — but we have it on good authority that various candidates do watch our updates as they decide about where and whether to run, so we’ll try to keep doing them.
17. College Republicans’ Bernie Stunt Falls Flat
Vern calls out the cretins at UCI. Some of the cretins, anyway.
Fullerton’s Tony Bushala showed up to let everyone know that he was going to smack around Sukhee Kang as long as he was in the SD-29. People from out of the district didn’t get this, but those of us up here did: if Kang had won the primary, Bushala was going to rip him apart and Ling-Ling would have won. (He is no fan of Ling-Ling Chang, but this was the Great Park story coming to his own backyard — and how could he have been able to resist it?) This was a significant shot across the bow.
19. The Rodgers Park Victory: A Portrait of Huntington Beach in early 2016
This piece by Vern will be of some historical interest someday.
20. Your June 2016 Primary Voters’ Guide
By Greg. More people should vote in primaries. And yes, we should get these guides out earlier.
PERENNIALS
Every year, some stories retain readership despite having been written earlier. The two top stories on this list were our two top stories of the entire year. The second one, had it been written a few months later, would have topped our “annuals” list.
1. Appeal filed for Jesús Aguirre, the Buena Park teenager serving life in Pelican Bay
Vern’s controversial piece is still probably the top source of news for this story about what he describes as a grave injustice. And people are still very interested in the case. Just thought you should know. (V: Jesus’ dad is pretty sure that Proposition 57, which he fought hard for, will let his son out a lot earlier.)
2. Brett Murdock to Challenge Ed Royce for Congress: Democrats Get the Guy They Wanted
By Greg. Brett Murdock finished about where Jay Chen did in his own 2012 against Royce, but he did it with far less money behind him. Like Chen, he kept Royce from being as active outside of the district as he might have liked, which is its own kind of victory. The continued pre-election interest in this post was unexpected and unrelenting. What Murdock — who had the second-best use of campaign signs this year (after Newman’s) — got for his trouble is this: a much higher profile, a clear reputation that includes being unbought — and a very good poll of how well voters in the largely overlapping 4th Supervisorial District liked him. If he runs for that seat in 2018, he’ll unburden himself of Yorba Linda and add almost all of the largely Democratic in Anaheim flatlands. No other potential candidate — including the disgraced Jordan Brandman — starts with the same advantage. Now, will he run? That is an unwritten story for another day.
3. TRUMP-alicious: The OJ Oracle reveals the Political Horoscope of The Donald!
The managers of this blog are not believers in astrology — but we have to admit that what is written here, which was published on AUGUST 18 2015 and not substantially revised thereafter — is uncanny. TOJO should be made Trump’s Court Astrologer. Start a writing campaign for this or something.
4. Huntington Beach’s Mobile Home Uprising – which side are YOU on?
Vern’s 2014 story still gets a lot of readers because it still matters a lot to a lot of people.
5. “Homeless – The Motel Kids of Orange County”
Inge Scott, now of somewhere in eastern Northern California, wrote some of the most powerful and popular stories ever on this blog. This one got the most readers this past year. (She also did the first serious general interest article on TPP — which, as you may have heard, eventually became a thing.) Here are links to Inge’s OJB writings on TPP, starting on June 19, 2012!
6. J*hn and K*n’s Special El*ction V*ter G*ide (KF*)
We wish that people would stop clicking on this. It’s from April 2009, for God’s sake!
7. Doomsday Businesses “Laughing All the Way to the Bank”
Inge’s second-ranked blockbuster evergreen — and still timely
8. YOU could own one of criminal Harkey power-couple’s Exotic Cars!
Vern’s droll report was from December 2015, an honorary 2016 story, but we’re still putting it into this list.
9. If you were Mayor, what would you do to improve your city?
Putting aside that John & Ken story, this is the top-ranked piece from the Pedroza days still got almost 1,000 clicks.
10. Doolittle’s Raid. The untold story
And this, by Larry Gilbert from 2010, is the second-ranked one from the ancient regime.
Special Cultivars
We have a few “honorable mentions” that we’d like to remember from this year, mostly about politics in a year filled with consequential political news. Some of them helped change history. The first five are from Vern, though they have been hand-selected by Greg.
1. “Consider that a Divorce.” OVSD gives Rainbow the Boot; more school districts to follow?
Vern on a pivotal moment in the HB “Oak View Elementary” controversy.
2. The KKK’s bogus journey to Anaheim
Vern reports on what will long be a day to remember.
3. BREAKING: Anaheim’s “People’s Map” Wins! More Details to come…
Vern posts the outcome of the struggle “when the Kleptos caved,” but what makes this piece most valuable (as this site’s managers are well aware) is the quality of the discussion in comments.
4. Josh Newman, the People’s Candidate for NW OC Senate
Vern’s interview the the man who would be State Senator
5. Jordan Brandman’s Bald-faced Districting Lies
Vern’s definitive report of Brandman’s mendacity over his role in the districting process
6. Kris Murray Prepares Pre-Primary Council Resolution Condemning Trump by Name; ILLEGAL, Must Resign
Cynthia Ward gets the drop on Kris Murray’s — who may regret this venture of hers by now — illegal proposed pre-primary attack on Donald Trump.
7. “Democratic” Pringle Puppet attacks progressive, working-class candidate. Will Vandermeir speak up?
Ricardo Toro throws down a gauntlet at the DPOC Chair after Chumley attacks Donna Acevedo-Nelson.
8. Steve “Chavez” Lodge is a Very Bad Man (Part One) — “Let’s Go to the Video Replay”
Cynthia’s piece got a little over 65o views — but may have had a huge effect on Anaheim’s future. The video of Lodge sucker punching a guy in a hotel lobby (about the details of which he later lied under oath) preceded by not all that long the Atlas Group and others dropping their endorsements of Lodge, in some cases switching to Barnes. Disney backed the wrong horse in District 1 — and so lost control of the City.
9. Pringle’s Trough: the OC uber-Lobbyist’s (partial) Client List, as assembled by Sean Paden
Occasional contributor Sean Paden offers up something less than a boycott list, but something that is still jarring.
10. SD-29: Did Sukhee Kang’s Phantom Poll Even ASK About His Rival Josh Newman?
We can probably safely say that the answer to Greg’s question in the title is “no.” A nice example of why the Kang campaign was largely viewed as skeevy.
Greg reminds voters of Ling Ling’s lies — occasioned by a persuasive mailer that cited lots of OJB writing.
12. Amin David, the Scaffold of His Community, Has Died After a Life of Great Success and Service
We could go on, but we’ll leave it here with Greg’s tribute to Amin David — who, in the year he died, was still arguably the most significant individual in Orange County politics. The changes, as opposed to the continuity, in Orange County largely can be traced to actions that Amin took to awaken Latino voters in his city. That gets you the election of Jose Moreno and arguably, given the cooperation with Tom Tait, of Denise Barnes. Those votes carried Sharon Quirk-Silva back into office and led Josh Newman to break new ground to the north. If Amin David was a “scaffold,” a metaphor largely saluted in the wake of this tribute, he left behind him a strong structure. Not a completed one, of course — in politics, there is no such thing as “completed.” But still: strong.
The barfing stick figure is a sure-fire winner. Or loser, depending on whether or not you are the target.
Bushala spent about 5 grand and beat Sukhee like a rented mule. The FPCC complaint was dropped.
Lil’ Clumski is still spining yarns at bootcamp about why Newman can’t beat Ling Ling Chang. And chin-up number one is now in sight. Allegedly.
This year’s “Roland Chi” homage came too late in the game to qualify. (At least so far as I could tell.)
Was that $5,000 entirely for signs, or was there a website involved?
I was reviewing Vern’s 2012 “The Contortions of Jordan Brandman.” Solid gold.
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/10/the-contortions-of-jordan-brandman/
Great comments section too, now that I look at it four years later.
Birth of the Kleptoblog, tense discussions of Jordan’s constantly-denied gaiety, and much more!
Yeah. Truth is though that not one person who has ever met him didnt know right away that he was totally gay. Hes never been able to hide it.
I’ve known a few people with similar mannerisms that turned out not to be gay. But if you think that your gaydar is infallible, mazel tov.
My gaydar wasn’t that good, but I knew it from other gay people who knew it for a fact.
That sounds like an interesting story. Who and how?
Interesting and telling that the school district elections drew the most views. Sad that your endorsements meant less than nothing in those cases, especially in Santa Ana, where Greg’s anti union stance continues to insure that his self marginalizing political position in Orange County is as solid as the rock of Gibraltar. Teachers, parents, students and staff members can fondly recall Pedroza and see his reflection in the new OJ.
Greg has an anti-union stance? I didn’t know that. You do, Greg?
Greg and I oppose some shitty projects that are backed by some unions. I don’t believe that makes either of us anti-union, and by no stretch does it make us anti Teachers’ Union.
hey aren’t you the same anonymous guy that says I hate Democrats?
No, Urizen, that post wasn’t #1 because it was about School Board and Special Districts, It was #1 because people thought that it had our general endorsements for the November election.
I think that Orange County has had some of the best Labor leaders that I’ve ever seen — people in the spirit of Tefere Gebre who can trace their political philosophy right back to Samuel Gompers and John L. Lewis and Cesar Chavez. I think that our education unions are quite good, as is UFCW, and that our public employee unions generally are as well, although they are not reliable allies for progressives because they will cut a deal if they can to help their workers (as Nick Beradino of OCEA did in Anaheim in 2012 — and for OCEA it was probably the right move.) Unite HERE may have to do that sometimes as well — they might not have stuck with opposing the hotel subsidies if they’d gotten the concessions they like — but at least there they are literally standing up for workers who might otherwise fall into poverty.
And we also have some of the most pathetic labor leaders I’ve known, in the tradition of the 1970s-era Teamsters who lip-locked themselves to Richard Nixon, celebrated the Vietnam War, and told the left to piss off. Then we have firefighter unions — which I generally like — except when they are mostly focused on getting huge pensions for their highest-placed officials, which is much of the time. And we have police unions who focus too much on protecting bad-acting cops as opposed to protecting cops who whistleblow and are busted for it by their superiors. (I like the latter kind of police union leaders.) And I’m for prison guards unions when they focus on worker protection — but when they just want to fill up the jails to create more JAWWWBS, which again is much of the time, then yes they are the enemy.
Most of the union leaders I see here are somewhere between these extremes. They are essentially like lawyers arguing for their clients. They will ask for as much benefit as possible without regard to whether their cause is just and to what effect it has upon others. And that’s fine — politics like law is, to an extent, and adversary system, and its not a bad thing for workers in a given industry to argue that every resident in a city should be taxed an extra $100 in order to create another ten good-wage jobs, even if that may be bonkers from any objective perspective.
It’s the job of others of us, to whom they try to appeal, to be fair judges. And, as one trying to be a fair judge, when I see socially destructive utter bullshit like the Poseidon ripoff or maintaining San Onofre or expanding the Convention Center without a popular vote or establishing “upper class bypass” toll lanes on the 405, I’m going to say “look, I know that you guys really want more jobs, but in this case the social cost has to outweigh the parochial benefit.” And I do. And if Urizen doesn’t like it … he can go and love himself.
I’ve heard IBEW’s Doug Mangione give the same damned “I’m an FDR Democrat, so I think we need public investment to create jobs” (like he did with the WPA and TVA and such), and I see the logic and appeal of it — and I also see that in our time and place it is simply going to mean stealing money from have-nots to benefit haves. And THAT MAKES UNIONS UNPOPULAR WITH THE PUBLIC. Now, it’s his JOB to make that pitch, and I don’t resent him his paycheck — but the cost is borne largely by OTHER unions and progressive causes. I think that having a sense of proportion and fairness, defending what isn’t a ripoff and opposing what is, is actually BEING VERY SUPPORTIVE of the union movement. When they are seen as ripping off the public, they are hurt in the long run.
When I ran for District Attorney and sought the OC Labor Fed endorsement I made them what I thought was a helpful and truthful pledge: I would make it a priority to enforce the right to collectively bargain, to maintain safe working conditions, and to ensure wage and hour and whistleblower protection and other laws. There’s a huge and nationally influential industry in OC of using shady and bullying tactics to shut down legitimate union organizing — and I wanted to grab it by the throat and wrestle it to the ground until it would FOLLOW THE GODDAMNED LAW. And as DA, I would have done the best I could to make it happen — right up to, as they say, the moment that I was recalled.
THAT’S being support of unions. THAT’S what unions brag about standing for on their web pages and as they represent themselves to the public.
And do you know what those sons of blisters did? They ignored it. ALL they wanted to talk to me about was PROJECTS. Would I support their PROJECTS. I was running for DISTRICT ATTORNEY, remember — not Supervisor or City Council!
I said that I thought that we could find an area of agreement, because I think that we need a massive social investment in infrastructure. Worried about water conservation? We need to proactively repair roads and bridges. We desperately need to reduce the amount of water that leaks from our pipes — much less in domestic use than in commercial use and in water facilities themselves. THAT is giving the public good value.
And do you know what the sons of pustules said?
“Well, that’s good for the unions who work on those sorts of projects, but it doesn’t do much for our unions that, for example, work on finished flooring. They need something like the convention center.”
I think that my answer to that was something like “well, that’s fine, but don’t ask the public to subsidize them just because they want jobs. Give the public what’s good for the public, not what’s just good for you.”
My endorsement was blocked by the frenzied and fire-breathing Building Trades — BECAUSE WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE THEY DON’T REALLY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE IDEALS OF THE UNION MOVEMENT BUT JUST ABOUT MILKING IT — and I believe that it was only a matter of weeks later that they and Henry Vandermeir (you know, the guy who continually whines about backstabbing and infighting) conspired to get me removed as DPOC Vice Chair after I rejected threats conveyed to me to either drop the challenge to the Convention Center or face the music.
So, Urizen, thanks for giving me reason to tell a story that I think I’ve only danced around in the past — and you can stick your head back up your chickenshit ass. And to answer your question, Vern, I think that I’m very pro-union — pro the sorts of unions that do the sorts of things that we as a society celebrate — although I’m anti-self-serving leeches, whatever the color of their collars. Does that make me anti-union? I sure hope not.
Vern- I am anonymous because my employment demands it. I have intimated that you are a self- hating Democrat, tho nothing like that pathetic pissant on the so-called librul OC. I am saddened that your blog, Greg, and the entire Dem establishment in OC continue to fling feces at each other while lightweights like Gusano and Pedroza babble to larger audiences.
Our audience is probably bigger than Pedroza’s, despite his success with jiggering the numbers. (We barely even promote ourselves on Facebook, let alone artificially inflate our views.) Our influence is certainly larger.
As for the Weekly — of course we can’t compete with an ad- and subsidy-gobbling commercial entity. That’s OK; we fill our niche.
Much of the “Dem establishment in OC” thinks that they are at the mercy of those who think like you do — and they are terrified at the ability of some of us to do more than whine. The changes in Anaheim and in SD-29 were ones that we supported (and helped substantially to make happen) over the opposition of “the Dem establishment.” The left in OC has been willing to be good losers for too long — and we’ve been doing something about it. And you call it “flinging feces”? OK — well, if this is being “self-marginalized,” it seems to suit me just fine. There’s a wonderful core of people in DPOC from whom I am not marginalized — and they, frankly, are our best hopes for future success. If that makes you squirm and gnash and whine, that’s just a side benefit.
That was good Greg – a little long for a comment but the perfect length for its own story perhaps? “Why I am Pro-Union, Despite What the Ignorant Haters Say.”
Didn’t know it was going to be that long when I started it.
Maybe I’ll make it into a story next year.