American Civil Liberties Union

Gustavo's Latest "Orange County Line" for KCRW: On Anaheim's Proposed District Voting for City Council Races!

The last year or so has been muy tough on my beloved city of Anaheim, and not just because of trigger-happy cops and a nation discovering its stratified reality. There's also the matter of an ACLU lawsuit alleging the violation of voting rights against Latinos, a lawsuit I cannot stand by. Not only ... More >>

ACLU: Anaheim Needs Civilian Review Board of Police Conduct

Noting 37 Anaheim officer-involved shootings in the past decade, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California is urging the Anaheim City Council to establish a civilian review board to improve public confidence that cheating cops enjoy less of a chance that their conduct will be covered up by sympathe ... More >>

Cristina Talley, Anaheim's Former City Attorney, Not the Crusader Yaktivists Make Her Out to Be

The 'Rally for Talley' held outside the steps of Anaheim City Hall last week was the latest public display of support for former city attorney Cristina Talley. Since then, there's been a raging debate on the blogopshere as to the circumstances surrounding her sudden, forced resignation during the Ja ... More >>

[UPDATED with 300 Groups Demand Closure:] Theo Lacy Facility Outed as Among the Worst Immigration Detention Centers in the U.S.

See the Update No. 2 at the end of this post on 300 groups calling on the president to close troubled immigrant holding facilities, including Theo Lacy's.See Update No. 1 on the ACLU of Southern California citing the Detention Watch Network report in calling for the closure of Orange County's immigr ... More >>

OC Weekly 2012 Election Guide: Anaheim!

One in an occasional series on the county's craziest political races...and while we don't endorse candidates, we can sure as hell tell you who's more pendejo than others!There is no municipal election that will grab more attention this year than Anaheim. This is the city, after all, that burned th ... More >>

Long Beach City Attorney Threatens LB Post Over Negative MedPot Coverage

On June 19, Long Beach police officers raided the THC Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, for suspicion of operating in violation of the city's hotly-contested pot ordinance. During the raid, a camera captured one officer stepping on the neck of an employee who was lying face down on the gro ... More >>

While Anaheim Burns, City Council Fiddles to Tune of "In God We Trust"

Local governance in Anaheim will enter the era of the Almighty a week from today when its next city council meeting convenes with the words "In God We Trust" debuting in black lettering above the official city seal. Folks got a sneak peak at the public display of piety on Wednesday during a special ... More >>

Newport Harbor High School Students Outed for Being Real Cut-Ups with Cut-Up Cats

I remember the first time my young self encountered a flip cat in the wash near my desert home. I took a stick to flip over the dead feline baked hard by the hot sun, saw the fat maggots still gorging themselves after having eaten half of "Whiskers" and ran like hell in fear.More hardening with age ... More >>

ACLU to Sue Anaheim to Create Ward Elections to Ensure Mexi Councilmembers--Why Don't They Sue the Democratic Party of OC?

Back in March, I broke the news that a coalition of groups was going to sue the Anaheim City Council into asking them to carve up voting for councilmembers by wards in the city, or get taken to court over it. At the time, some of OC's liberal class got pissed at me for revealing what they were caref ... More >>

[UPDATED with God's Motive:] 3.9 Earthquake Shakes OC

UPDATE, APRIL 20, 11:20 A.M.: In addition to shaky stories, we should share with one another the reason God punished us with this earthquake--because as Pat Robertson will tell you, there can be no other reason for seismic activity than a vengeful deity. Gay marriage? The ACLU caravan coming to Sant ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH CITY'S NEAR CLUELESS REACTION] Long Beach Pot Ordinance Ruled Illegal: Cannabis Activists Winning?

​UPDATE, OCT. 7, 12 P.M.: Long Beach city officials are scratching their heads about how to respond to an appeal court decision that appears to overturn the city's medical marijuana ordinance. According to an article by Greggory Moore posted yesterday evening on Long Beach Post, the city attorney ... More >>

William Denis Fitzgerald, Gadfly Suing Board of Supervisors for Limiting Speech, and His Weekly Past

​The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California has filed a federal lawsuit in Santa Ana against the Orange County Board of Supervisors on behalf of an Anaheim gadfly who periodically turns up in OC Weekly.Based on the struggles of William Denis Fitzgerald to speak at public me ... More >>

Supreme Court Rules for Reverend Fred Phelps' 'God Hates Fags' Picketing Outside Military Funerals

​The Reverend Fred Phelps' God-Hates-Faggetry that plays out outside military funerals, political conventions and Rent productions at Corona del Mar High School won U.S. Supreme Court protection this morning.Justices voted 8-1 to uphold an appeals-court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: D.A. Arrests Cripple White Supremacist GangComment by OCFAN92648: Congratulations to all those involved in operation stormfront to identify and prosecute these racist gang members. We all should feel safer knowing that those that promote violence are off our streets. I would like to see ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: Boy, 16, Stabbed in Anaheim Comment by ANAHEIMGUY: "A description of the attackers was not immediately available."6'2'', blond, speaking Swedish, carrying Calculus textbooks.Comment by UGLYINLA: Hey Loretta, would it be possible to get your people under control?

ACLU Issues Arizona Travel Advisory

​The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, whose coverage area includes Orange County, and the ACLUs of Northern California, San Diego and Imperial Counties and 26 other affiliates, issued an Arizona travel alert today.Arizona's response?"Meh."

Tariq Ramadan's Looming OC Speech Draws Warning From Muslim Group

Wikipedia CommonsTariq Ramadan​What the American Islamic Forum for Democracy derides as the "Tariq Ramadan American Islamist Victory Tour 2010" includes a May stop near Disneyland, where American Muslims are being warned by the self-described liberty lovers to "be on guard" as the Swiss academic ... More >>

Racist OC Register Fustercluck of the Day

​ Headline: Protesters at Cal State Fullerton Seek Gay RightsComment by averagejoe1954: More brainwashing from the LGBT community, like "We were born this way" or "Gay is the new black." If you don't accept our lifestyle as the same as OSA then we will get the ACLU and force you to change your min ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Day Laborers Sue Costa Mesa

Photo by Beth StirnamanAn earlier protest for day laborers.​As I was snapping photos of protesters outside Costa Mesa City Hall this morning, a white guy in his 40s was suddenly in my face asking, "What's all this about?"Informed that day laborers were suing the city, he remarked, "Just round up t ... More >>

[Year In Review] OC Weekly's News Blog, Navel Gazing, Gazes Back at 2009

Polite Dinner Topic is "Racist City Ordinances" in Orange County

Photo by Beth StirnamanWill work for . . . work, in the City of Orange.​When last Clockwork Ernest Hemingwayed on the Potluck for Progressives, this scratch-resistant sidewinder told of how the kibosh had to be put on the Nov. 13 gathering because the scheduled speaker from the regrouping Californ ... More >>

Lawsuit Settlement Breaks Santa Ana's Citizenship-Application Logjam

​UPDATED WITH CORRECTIONS AFTER THE JUMP. . . Citizenship applications that have been backlogged in Santa Ana for years must be processed in the next six months under a settlement announced today. The agreement also covers cases in the Los Angeles and San Bernardino areas. 

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Can the Colectivo Tonantzin and the ACLU Beat Orange's Anti-Day-Laborer Ordinance?

Racist OC Register Fustercluck of the Week: Laguna Edition

Usually this column focuses on folks who hate Mexicans, immigrants, poor people, non-white people and "Third World peasants" who come to this country to build "clown houses"--yes, we're still scratching our heads about what the hell that means, although apparently it has something to do with Mexican ... More >>

DA Serves Permanent Injunction To Those Whose Cases The DA Had Dismissed

The DA's office served a re-packaged permanent gang injunction this morning to dozens of people it has concluded are active gang participants in the Orange Varrio Cypress gang, including 62 individuals whose gang injunction cases the DA had already dismissed last month and who believed they were no ... More >>

Orange's Barrio Cypress Residents Fought the DA's Gang Injunction—and Won (Sort Of)

In an Unprecedented Move, DA Dismisses Bulk of Gang Injunction Cases in Orange

The District Attorney's office stunned ACLU attorneys arguing the cases of five defendants named in the city of Orange's latest gang injunction when it filed yesterday to completely dismiss the lawsuit against their five defendants and 57 others. The cases were set to go to trial July 6 and the ACLU ... More >>

Is the DA's Office Losing the Battle for an Orange Gang Injunction?

Agapito MoralesSantiago Orange Growers Association, North Cypress Street, Orange, ca. 1950Senior Assistant DA John Anderson sat in the juror section of Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino's courtroom this morning with pursed lips. He listened closely to what Makino was going to say -- and how he wo ... More >>

ACLU: Guilty Pleas in Terror Case Pave Way for Appeals

Mission Viejo's Hossein Kalani Afshari and six other Iranian-Americans who pleaded guilty last week to raising funds for a U.S.-designated terrorist group made the plea so they can appeal their case before a higher court, claims the ACLU. Besides 52-year-old Afshari, Roya Rahmani, 48, of Vienna, Va. ... More >>

ACLU Blames Hate Mongers Coming to CdM High on Original 'Rent' Stance

Corona Del Mar High School officials' initial decision to cancel the student production of Rent and their subsequent failure to address a growing atmosphere of intolerance at the school created "a breeding ground for homophobic attitudes" that is bringing the Rev. Fred Phelps' "God Hates Fags" group ... More >>

It's a Quick Read 29

Orange County Register: Anaheim police want to question two men shown in an Angel Stadium surveillance video in the opening day assault death of Brian Powers, 27, of Buena Park. That's right, sports fans, they're even watching you in the cheap seats. . . . A man who was arrested at Disneyland l ... More >>

OC Shows Respectable Level of Support for Prop. 8 Challenge

According to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal and the ACLU, among the Orange County contingent filing "friend of the court" briefs in support of Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal challenge of same-sex marriage barring Proposition 8:Irvine United Congregational ChurchOrange Cou ... More >>

Looking Back at 2008: The Ecstasy and the Irony

This is not a look back at disgraced Sheriff Mike Carona, the Little Sheriff, the Debs, the Little Debbie Snack, the Freeway Complex Fire, Rick Warren, Wiley Drake, any lantern-jawed preacher with the last name of Schuller, pedo-priests, the 241 toll road extension, Proposition 8, fluctuating gasol ... More >>

Declassified FBI Files Exonerate Joel Dvorman, OC's Original Conservative Scapegoat

Chapman settles suit with ACLU, Jewish Fraternity

The ACLU Orange County Chapter plans to announce that it settled a case it brought against Chapman University regarding the school's censoring of an unrecognized chapter of the Jewish fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu, ACLU spokeswoman Celeste Durant says. Chapman senior Pascal DeMaria and more than a doz ... More >>

Smiley Coyotl

When is a prosecutor not a prosecutor? The answer spared a Santa Ana activist/punk rocker from criminal charges

Chapman responds to outlaw fraternity

As reported yesterday on Navel Gazing, a group hoping to start a Jewish Fraternity at Chapman, see [Scarlet Letters, May 10] has issued a warning through the American Civil Liberties Union that the school cease what they consider violations of their First Amendment rights on campus or face the cons ... More >>

Unflinching Sincerity

Unitarian Human Rights Forum

Diary of a Mad County

Blitzed

Fullerton activist fights rave bill

Suspicious Minds

Local libertarians look licked

Jet Set!

Hangin with homos in OKC and RepCon 2002, dawg

Pompeii Dog

Irvine agitators stuff selves at San Pedros Elias Cafe

Dine and Dashboard

Censorship With a Happy Face

How Anaheim bans books without banning them

Guilty Pleasures

1901-2000

The Computer Wore Colors

How a software glitch produced the DAs gang problem

DWUS

Driving While a UCI Student

Geeks of the World, Unite!

And write!