The Anatomy of Public Corruption

Showing posts with label Bay Area News Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bay Area News Group. Show all posts

East Bay politician - kill the elderly, weak and homeless

East Bay politician under fire for saying let coronavirus kill the elderly, weak and homeless

Ken Turnage’s social media post promoting survival of the fittest riles many


Kenny Turnage, of Antioch, is photographed at his home in Antioch, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
PUBLISHED:  | UPDATED: 

The chairman of Antioch’s planning commission is catching a lot of scorn for suggesting in a Facebook post that society should adopt a herd mentality by letting the coronavirus take nature’s course and kill the weak, elderly, homeless and others.

In a long post April 23 on Facebook, commission Chairman Ken Turnage II compared the spread of COVID-19 to a forest fire that burns off all the “old trees, fallen brush and scrub-shrub sucklings” that drain resources. The nation and planet “would strengthen when this is all settled,” he surmised.

“We would have significant loss of life, we would lose many elderly, that would reduce burdens in our defunct Social Security System, health care cost (once the wave subsided), make jobs available for others and it would also free up housing in which we are in dire need of,” Turnage wrote. “We would lose a large portion of the people with immune and other health complications. I know it would be loved ones as well. But that would once again reduce our impact on medical, jobs, and housing.”

The comments offended many people, including City Councilwoman Monica Wilson, who along with several residents called for Turnage’s resignation during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. They also drew some support.

“Except we are not trees, and dead human beings do not fertilize the living,” one person commented on Turnage’s Facebook post. “This is very callous and sad. Even still, I hope you and yours survive this, just as I hope we all do.”

“This was a favored position of the Nazis,” another wrote. “Getting rid of the ‘useless eaters’ they called it. Before the Nazis went after the Jews and Gypsies and the Polish they decided it would be a good idea to get rid of the useless eaters: the old, demented, disabled, mentally ill, physically ill and institutionalized.”

Others stuck up for Turnage: “See Ken when you go against the progressive talking points they cone after you,” one wrote. “Next they will try to shut your business down if you do not tow the line of the progressives. They make lying hit pieces on you. This is your communist progressives and they need to be stopped.”

Councilwoman Wilson said Turnage’s comments “undermine the great work our city is doing to protect our citizens,” noting that lifting shelter-in-place orders just for the benefit of the economy is “contrary to our shared values.”

“My ancestors already died for the sake of our economy in a time called slavery,” said Wilson, who is black. “He is entitled to his opinion as I am to mine. However, as a member of the Planning Commission, his words are merely not consistent with what we are doing and how we are caring for our citizens.”

Wilson added that Turnage’s words do not reflect the values of the City Council or city administration, which will continue working with Contra Costa County public health officials to do what’s best to keep residents safe.

“Personally, I find his words disgusting, inappropriate, and extremely reckless. We do not have any place in public discourse for that,” Wilson said. She also chastised her council colleagues for not having responded earlier to his post.

“We value everyone’s life with dignity and respect no matter who they are in Antioch,” she said. “It took me a few days to really sit back and figure out what I want to say because I am so disgusted by this. Either he resigns or we as a council need to deal with that and take him off that commission.”

Reached after the meeting, Turnage, 47, said he has no intention of stepping down. The Antioch native is a general contractor who owns K2GC Inc. and ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2016, finishing fourth. He was Antioch’s 2015 “Citizen of the Year with Most Impact.”

He said his post was “not malicious, or racist” and had “nothing to do with money or business.” Rather, he was simply stating what he believed was happening to the Earth through the global pandemic.

Councilman Lamar Thorpe meanwhile said he shared Wilson’s concerns and called Turnage’s comments “inexcusable.”

Mayor Sean Wright, who appointed Turnage in 2017, called the commissioner’s comments “abhorrent,” though he noted everyone has a right to speak his mind.

“We do and need to hold ourselves to high standards as councilmen and commissioners who represent the city, so there is a discussion to be had as far as that goes,” he added.

Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts agreed that city leaders need to “act with professionalism.”

“It’s absurd to think that one person’s life is more valuable than another’s,” she said. “I am sure this staff and this City Council is doing everything it can do to save as many lives as it possibly can.”

Turnage later said his comments were misunderstood.

“I believe in ecological balance,” he said. “Our species is out of symbiosis with the rest of the planet. We have a disease  … a virus, that if it ran its course, it would bring us back into a closer balance. I didn’t say people should go out and get infected.

“It’s our world’s way of balancing itself. It’s like a volcano going off,” he added. “It brings the temperature of the Earth down.”

Turnage also said that while he does value life, he does not do so over the greater good of the planet, country and species. He noted that if unchecked, the virus would run rampant through the homeless community.

“I’m not saying let’s kill the homeless, but because of what this virus is attacking, these are the sectors that it would affect the most. … I’m sorry but that would be one of the side effects,” he said. “Yes, that’s a harsh way of looking at it — I know people aren’t going to like this — but this is just reality.”

Although he disagrees with the need for sheltering in place, Turnage said he is honoring the order and does not encourage people to disobey the rules.

“People need to protect themselves,” he said. “… (But) it is my belief that when something is out of balance, there will be something that brings the balance back (possibly a virus) or the scales may tip and then there is no return.”

Reached Wednesday, Wilson said she stands by her call for Turnage to resign or for the council to consider ousting him.

“I am looking out for the best interests of everyone in my community,” she said. “Who is he to decide who lives or dies? “All of us are vulnerable at this time. We all need to look out for each other.

“You have a right to post, but sometimes there are consequences to what you post.”

Check back for updates.

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Pleasant Hill: Multiple fires gut DVC police building


Cnetscandal.blogspot.com



By ROMAN GOKHMAN | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 23, 2008 at 8:54 pm | UPDATED: August 15, 2016 at 6:22 pm
PLEASANT HILL — An arson likely destroyed the police services building at Diablo Valley College early Monday, investigators said.
“We had two (fires) on the outside and one on the inside in the lobby,” said Contra Costa County Fire Marshal Richard Carpenter. “Probably, the whole building will have to be replaced.”
The fire was reported at 2:25 a.m. in the 1,700-square-foot building located in the southeast corner of the campus by Parking Lot 2. The school runs along Golf Club Road.
The Contra Costa Fire Protection District responded with four engines, one truck and about 20 firefighters.
Carpenter said the fire destroyed the lobby and the rest of the building sustained heavy heat and smoke damage.
DVC spokeswoman Chrisanne Knox said police services, an actual law enforcement department that patrols several campuses within the Contra Costa Community College District, is based at Diablo Valley.
The department has about 20 sworn officers — five to six of whom work at DVC — four higher-ranking officers including a chief, about four dispatchers, two parking officers and 10 to 15 student aides.
On an interim basis, the police department will operate out of a conference room in the business and foreign language department.
“It was designed as an emergency command center and has all the (required communications equipment),” Knox said.
The college is looking at several other locations for a longer-term temporary home for the department.
She said the cost of the damages to the building has not been determined and it is not clear if it will be knocked down or restored.
“There was very little that was salvageable,” she said.
The criminal investigation is being led by the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, Knox said, with Pleasant Hill police and the school district police department assisting.
Carpenter said fire investigators are still trying to determine what kind of fuel was used by the arsonist.
Reach Roman Gokhman at 925-945-4780, or at rgokhman@bayareanewsgroup.com.















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Rep. Ellen Tauscher

Tauscher choice for key Obama post
By Mike Taugher
Contra Costa Times

POSTED:   03/17/2009 08:20:04 PM PDT | UPDATED:   7 YEARS AGO

Note: Contra Costa Times reporter Michael Taugher left BANG to Dept. of Fish and Game as PIO, he drowns and this same club lead to State Senator Don Perata daughter in-law drowned months apart and near President Obama there is the death of Ashley Turton but near Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton is Ambassador Stevens death in Benghazi.


Rep. Ellen Tauscher, of Alamo, is the Obama administration's pick for a key State Department post for arms control issues.
Tauscher is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable members of Congress on the nation's nuclear arsenal and a moderate who walks a fine line to balance support for nuclear weapons research at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, which is in her district, and the demands of peace activists.
"There is some skepticism among the nuclear control and disarmament community," said Christopher Paine, nuclear program director for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.
Paine nonetheless called the pick a good one.
"Certainly, she has the potential to do a terrific job," Paine said.
Tauscher has not been vetted for the job, a process that can take weeks or months. The position also requires Senate confirmation. If Tauscher is appointed, a special election would be held to replace her for the rest of her two-year term ending January 2011.
The choice of Tauscher was first reported by The Associated Press. Congressional sources confirmed the AP's story for MediaNews.
If confirmed as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Tauscher would serve as a senior adviser on arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament issues to the president and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Tauscher supported in last year's Democratic presidential primaries.
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Experts said that among the tasks Tauscher would take on would be working with Russia to reduce nuclear stockpiles in the two countries, dealing with countries who might be seeking nuclear power and trying to limit small arms markets around the world.
The highest profile arms control challenges — Iran and North Korea, for example — would more likely be dealt with within the White House between President Barack Obama and the National Security Council, said Steven Weber, director of UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies.
"There's some other issues we don't want to forget about," Weber said.
Developing a coherent approach to nations that are seeking nuclear power — and that therefore could eventually develop nuclear weapons — could be a key task facing the next undersecretary, Weber said.
"It's wrong to say you can wall off military uses for nuclear power," he said. "It's going to be managing the process inside the government and coming up with a coherent position for the government."
Tauscher, 57, was first elected to Congress in 1996 after an upset of two-term Republican incumbent Bill Baker. Tauscher, a wealthy former investment banker, spent $1.7 million of her own money on the election.
The chairman of a coalition of centrist congressional Democrats, Tauscher has remained moderate on political issues, occasionally angering more liberal members of her party.
Tauscher chairs the strategic forces subcommittee, which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons.
"She knows the U.S. nuclear arsenal better than probably any other member of Congress at this point," said Stephen Young, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "She doesn't have as much background on arms control as other candidates, but I expect her to be a quick study."
Some activists remain unsatisfied with Tauscher's stances on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to bankruptcy reform and have called in recent years for someone to challenge her in a Democratic primary election.
She was challenged in last year's general election by Republican Nicholas Gerber of Moraga, who got 31.1 percent of the vote.
The 10th District includes much of eastern and central Contra Costa County as well as Livermore in Alameda County; Dixon, Fairfield, Suisun City and Elmira in Solano County; and Isleton and Walnut Grove in Sacramento County. The most recent voter-registration reports show the district is about 47 percent Democrat, 29 percent Republican and 20 percent decline-to-state.
Staff writer Josh Richman contributed to this story.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher








  • Residence: Alamo
  • Education: B.A., Seton Hall University, 1973
  • Background: Wall Street investment banker, 1974-1988; founder and CEO of Child Care Registry, 1992-1996
  • First Elected: 1996, beating two-term incumbent Bill Baker
  • Leadership positions: Chairwoman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee of House Armed Services Committee; chairwoman, New Democrat Coalition, a group of centrist congressional Democrats.
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