The race to replace disgraced former mayor Bob Filner between Democrat David Alvarez and Republican candidate Kevin Faulconer, both former city council members and local government colleagues, ended with a decisive victory for Faulconer.

Faulconer promises to work to heal a city that is reeling from the second resignation of a Mayor in a decade, winning February’s special election in a decisive victory which will allow him to remain in office for the remainder of the disgraced former Mayor’s term, which ends in 2016 (coincidentally).

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Volkswagen workers at Tennessee factory reject United Auto Workers union by a vote of 712 to 626. http://t.co/hNaBnT26jX

— WSJ Live Journalism (@WSJLive) February 15, 2014

TENNESSEE – President Barack Obama on Friday waded into a high-stakes union vote at Volkswagen AG’s plant in Tennessee, accusing Republican politicians who oppose unionization of being more concerned about German shareholders than U.S. workers.

Obama’s comments, made at a closed-door meeting of Democratic lawmakers in Maryland, came as the vote to allow union representation at the Chattanooga plant drew to a close.

The vote will have wide-reaching implications for the auto industry in the South, where all foreign-owned assembly plants employ nonunion labor, and for the United Auto Workers union, which could use a victory to reverse a decades-long downward spiral.

The vote has faced fierce resistance from local Republican politicians and national conservative groups who have warned that a UAW victory could hurt economic growth in Tennessee. While voting was under way on Wednesday, Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker said VW could announce new investment in the plant if the UAW lost the secret ballot.  (read more)

Don’t hold your breath and wait for the national media to report the story, it doesn’t fit their desired narrative….

NEW ORLEANS – Jurors deliberated for just six and a half hours.  Although he faced 21 charges involving a complex cast of characters and schemes, most of them revolved around a single question: Did Ray Nagin believe the jury knew the things of value he was getting were meant to influence him.

As Judge Berrigan’s instructions to the jury showed, a bribe has been committed if the public official taking the thing of value does so knowing that the giver wants something in return. The jurors in this case clearly did not believe that Nagin did not know what was going on.

Count 1: Conspiracy – Guilty

The charge: Creating, through a variety of bribes and kickbacks, “a scheme and artifice to defraud” the residents of New Orleans of his honest services as a public official. Many of the individual elements of this scheme make up the other 20 crimes with which Nagin was charged. Maximum prison term: 5 years (more…)

This PJ Media story is horrifying on so many levels – to say the least.

( Via PJ Media ) A former high-ranking San Francisco government employee convicted of felony possession of child pornography will continue to receive his government pension because, according to city regulations, evidence of “moral turpitude” is required to revoke a pension yet viewing violent kiddie porn does not qualify as moral turpitude.

As reported here in the Tatler, Larry Brinkin, a prominent San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner and nationally known gay rights advocate, was arrested in 2012 for possessing and possibly distributing videos and images of babies being raped by adult men.

Because of Brinkin’s “iconic” stature in the community as the person who pioneered “domestic partnership” laws nationwide, supporters at the time accused the police of framing him with false charges. But the evidence was so overwhelming that, after 18 months of legal wrangling, on Tuesday, January 21, Brinkin pled guilty to felony possession of child pornography, with various other more serious charges dropped as part of the plea bargain. He will serve just six months in jail and thereafter have to register as a sex offender.

But the scandal didn’t end there. A recent law defining which type of actions count as “moral turpitude” required to nullify municipal pension benefits does not include sex crimes involving children, and only refers to financial crimes: (more…)

UPDATE: FULLERTON, Calif. — Thirteen people have been arrested while protesting the acquittal of two former California police officers charged in the beating death of a homeless man.

Police Sgt. Jeff Stuart says Saturday’s demonstration in Fullerton, which drew about 200 people, turned violent when someone assaulted a KCBS-TV camerawoman. Stuart says the camerawoman fled into her news van, and her crew called 911 when a group surrounded the van.

Stuart says officers in riot gear came to disperse the crowd, and arrested 10 for not complying.  Police also arrested a woman in the assault and two others for scrawling an obscenity and an anarchist symbol on police property.  (LINK)

Another Report from the LA Times HERE

HatTip Jello – CALIFORNIA – An Orange County jury Monday found two former Fullerton police officers accused of killing a schizophrenic homeless man, Kelly Thomas, not guilty.

(Via DC) The Chicago Fire Department rescued a very lucky dog after it fell through ice over Lake Michigan while walking with its owner.

“He was warmed up and returned to its owner,” Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford told the Chicago Tribune last Friday after the rescue. “This one just got a little too close.”

While attempting the rescue of the 50- to 60-pound animal one responder dived into the icy water himself, after which he held the dog while both were dragged to safety by rope.

“Its head was the only thing above water,” Langford said. “He or she was treading to hold on and the diver went in and got him or her.” (link)

Democrat party operatives, big labor unions, and liberal financial operations are quickly organizing themselves to support the re-election goals of the following candidates…..  Is there anything more you need to know about why these Republicans should NOT be re-elected.

WASHINGTON DC – Labor unions are funneling cash to a super-PAC tied to a former lawmaker that is working to elect centrist Republicans to Congress.

Unions have contributed about $765,000 so far to the Defending Main Street Super-PAC, which is associated with former GOP lawmaker Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), according to Federal Election Commission records.

The total, while small in the new big money era of campaign politics, is an unusually strong show of support from labor for a Republican venture. (more…)

The last time a Democrat Politician held the office of New York Mayor was more than 20 years ago.   Mayor Ed Koch (1978-1989 ) was a lifelong Democrat who described himself as a “liberal with sanity“.  Koch later endorsed Rudi Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and George W. Bush – so you can tell he was not what modern politico’s would define as liberal, and by most current definitions he would not be considered a Democrat.  Koch was socially liberal, but fiscally conservative – heck he ran as an independent in 85′.
Removing the one term David Dinkins (89′-93′)  who was the city’s first black mayor, elected solely on the basis of his race,  it is intellectually honest to say the last time a left-wing liberal held the New York office was, before Ed Koch, almost 40 years ago.
The last time left-wing liberalism was used in New York policy and governance was also almost 40 years ago.   There’s a reason for that:
New York City was a nightmare under liberal policies.  It was a petri dish of crime and decay brought upon by decades of Democrat/Liberal governance.   You could not even think about walking through Central Park unless you were trying to get mugged, raped or killed.

Crime, drugs and criminal life had driven the city almost into total ruin.   No-one was safe on the subway;  hence a subway rider named Bernard Goetz famously said “enough”, and began to shoot the criminals in the subway cars. (more…)

NEW YORK – Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to act quickly to abolish horse-drawn carriages in the city.

“We are going to get rid of the horse carriages. Period,” de Blasio said in response to a question at his press conference announcing his schools chancellor pick Monday.
“It’s over,” he said.
De Blasio said he would work with existing drivers to set them up with alternative vehicles to ferry tourists around Central Park. (more…)

Ya’, sure he is.
Watch the video first, then read the story:

Full Story Here