Diberdayakan oleh Blogger.

Popular Posts Today

Dodgers lose third game in a row, 2-1 to Pirates

Written By kolimtiga on Sabtu, 31 Mei 2014 | 16.38

KEY MOMENT: Chone Figgins drew a two-out, 11-pitch walk in the fifth inning to load the bases for Yasiel Puig. But Puig popped out to second base to end the inning and the Dodgers still trailed, 2-0. The Dodgers are now four for 37 this season with the bases loaded. Hanley Ramirez led off the sixth inning with a double, but Matt Kemp, Scott Van Slyke and Andre Ethier failed to drive him in. The Dodgers went on to lose their third consecutive game.

AT THE PLATE: Ramirez was two for four and drove in the Dodgers' only run with an eighth-inning single. Dee Gordon stole two bases, raising his season total to a major league-leading 34. That establishes a career high for Gordon, whose previous best was 32, in 2012. Puig singled in the fourth inning and has reached base in 31 consecutive games. As Gordon and Puig continue to play at All-Star-caliber levels, Kemp remains in a funk. Kemp, who recently moved from center field to left, is 0 for his last 20.

ON THE MOUND: The bullpen kept the game close, as Paul Maholm, Chris Perez, Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell each tossed a scoreless inning. Pittsburgh starter Francisco Liriano got his first win of the season; he had been 0-5.

ON THE BENCH: With the Dodgers facing a left-hander in Liriano, Manager Don Mattingly used it as a reason to give Adrian Gonzalez a day off. Van Slyke started in his place at first base. The last time Gonzalez didn't start was a game was May 7. "With Adrian, what's tough is you always want him in the lineup," Mattingly said. "He wants to be out there." At the same time, Mattingly said he wants to rest his first baseman every now and then, especially now that Gonzalez is 32 years old. Gonzalez pinch-hit in the eighth inning with two outs and Ramirez on second base, but grounded out to short.

UP NEXT: Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-2, 3.10 ERA) will face the Pirates and Brandon Cumpton (0-1, 3.38) at Dodger Stadium at 4 p.m. On the air: TV: Channel 11. Radio: 570, 1020 (Spanish).

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers lose third game in a row, 2-1 to Pirates

KEY MOMENT: Chone Figgins drew a two-out, 11-pitch walk in the fifth inning to load the bases for Yasiel Puig. But Puig popped out to second base to end the inning and the Dodgers still trailed, 2-0. The Dodgers are now four for 37 this season with the bases loaded. Hanley Ramirez led off the sixth inning with a double, but Matt Kemp, Scott Van Slyke and Andre Ethier failed to drive him in. The Dodgers went on to lose their third consecutive game.

AT THE PLATE: Ramirez was two for four and drove in the Dodgers' only run with an eighth-inning single. Dee Gordon stole two bases, raising his season total to a major league-leading 34. That establishes a career high for Gordon, whose previous best was 32, in 2012. Puig singled in the fourth inning and has reached base in 31 consecutive games. As Gordon and Puig continue to play at All-Star-caliber levels, Kemp remains in a funk. Kemp, who recently moved from center field to left, is 0 for his last 20.

ON THE MOUND: The bullpen kept the game close, as Paul Maholm, Chris Perez, Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell each tossed a scoreless inning. Pittsburgh starter Francisco Liriano got his first win of the season; he had been 0-5.

ON THE BENCH: With the Dodgers facing a left-hander in Liriano, Manager Don Mattingly used it as a reason to give Adrian Gonzalez a day off. Van Slyke started in his place at first base. The last time Gonzalez didn't start was a game was May 7. "With Adrian, what's tough is you always want him in the lineup," Mattingly said. "He wants to be out there." At the same time, Mattingly said he wants to rest his first baseman every now and then, especially now that Gonzalez is 32 years old. Gonzalez pinch-hit in the eighth inning with two outs and Ramirez on second base, but grounded out to short.

UP NEXT: Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-2, 3.10 ERA) will face the Pirates and Brandon Cumpton (0-1, 3.38) at Dodger Stadium at 4 p.m. On the air: TV: Channel 11. Radio: 570, 1020 (Spanish).

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers lose third game in a row, 2-1 to Pirates

KEY MOMENT: Chone Figgins drew a two-out, 11-pitch walk in the fifth inning to load the bases for Yasiel Puig. But Puig popped out to second base to end the inning and the Dodgers still trailed, 2-0. The Dodgers are now four for 37 this season with the bases loaded. Hanley Ramirez led off the sixth inning with a double, but Matt Kemp, Scott Van Slyke and Andre Ethier failed to drive him in. The Dodgers went on to lose their third consecutive game.

AT THE PLATE: Ramirez was two for four and drove in the Dodgers' only run with an eighth-inning single. Dee Gordon stole two bases, raising his season total to a major league-leading 34. That establishes a career high for Gordon, whose previous best was 32, in 2012. Puig singled in the fourth inning and has reached base in 31 consecutive games. As Gordon and Puig continue to play at All-Star-caliber levels, Kemp remains in a funk. Kemp, who recently moved from center field to left, is 0 for his last 20.

ON THE MOUND: The bullpen kept the game close, as Paul Maholm, Chris Perez, Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell each tossed a scoreless inning. Pittsburgh starter Francisco Liriano got his first win of the season; he had been 0-5.

ON THE BENCH: With the Dodgers facing a left-hander in Liriano, Manager Don Mattingly used it as a reason to give Adrian Gonzalez a day off. Van Slyke started in his place at first base. The last time Gonzalez didn't start was a game was May 7. "With Adrian, what's tough is you always want him in the lineup," Mattingly said. "He wants to be out there." At the same time, Mattingly said he wants to rest his first baseman every now and then, especially now that Gonzalez is 32 years old. Gonzalez pinch-hit in the eighth inning with two outs and Ramirez on second base, but grounded out to short.

UP NEXT: Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-2, 3.10 ERA) will face the Pirates and Brandon Cumpton (0-1, 3.38) at Dodger Stadium at 4 p.m. On the air: TV: Channel 11. Radio: 570, 1020 (Spanish).

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shelly Sterling: Trust agrees to sell Clippers to Steve Ballmer

Written By kolimtiga on Jumat, 30 Mei 2014 | 16.38

The sale of the Clippers continued on its bizarre journey late Thursday night when representatives of co-owner Shelly Sterling sent out a media release that the Sterling family trust has agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

Shelly Sterling asserted that she is acting as the sole trustee, with no mention of Donald Sterling, who bought the team three decades ago. 

Donald Sterling's lawyers have asserted that he needs a final sign-off before the team can be sold. However, according to two media reports,  Shelly Sterling has said her husband was not capable of making the decision to sell the team. The Times has not verified that report. 

"I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner," Shelly Sterling said in a statement.  "We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise.  I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."

On Thursday, The Times reported that Ballmer won the bidding process and the negotiated sale will now move to the NBA for approval. There is currently a Tuesday meeting scheduled for NBA owners in New York to determine if the Sterlings should be forced to sell the franchise.

"I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers," Ballmer said in the statement.

"I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win -- and win big -- in Los Angeles. L.A. is one of the world's great cities -- a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness.  I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community."

The trust statement said that Greenberg Glusker served as counsel to Shelly Sterling and  BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor.

Ballmer bid higher than competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Geffen group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler-Karsh group offered $1.2 billion. Those offers were rejected, according to several people involved in the negotiations who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the bidding.

The sale price would be almost four times the previous NBA franchise high: the $550 million paid earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be the second-highest price ever paid for a sports team in North America. The Dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion.

Donald Sterling agreed last week to allow his wife to conduct a sale of the team. The process was rushed to beat a Tuesday deadline, when NBA owners are scheduled to meet to decide whether to strip the Sterlings of their ownership after Donald Sterling insulted African Americans in an audio recording that was leaked by the celebrity website TMZ.

Days after the recording was released, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hit Donald Sterling with a $2.5-million fine, a lifetime ban from the league and called on the other owners to force him to sell the team he bought in 1981 for $12.5 million.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shelly Sterling: Trust agrees to sell Clippers to Steve Ballmer

The sale of the Clippers continued on its bizarre journey late Thursday night when representatives of co-owner Shelly Sterling sent out a media release that the Sterling family trust has agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

Shelly Sterling asserted that she is acting as the sole trustee, with no mention of Donald Sterling, who bought the team three decades ago. 

Donald Sterling's lawyers have asserted that he needs a final sign-off before the team can be sold. However, according to two media reports,  Shelly Sterling has said her husband was not capable of making the decision to sell the team. The Times has not verified that report. 

"I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner," Shelly Sterling said in a statement.  "We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise.  I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."

On Thursday, The Times reported that Ballmer won the bidding process and the negotiated sale will now move to the NBA for approval. There is currently a Tuesday meeting scheduled for NBA owners in New York to determine if the Sterlings should be forced to sell the franchise.

"I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers," Ballmer said in the statement.

"I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win -- and win big -- in Los Angeles. L.A. is one of the world's great cities -- a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness.  I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community."

The trust statement said that Greenberg Glusker served as counsel to Shelly Sterling and  BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor.

Ballmer bid higher than competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Geffen group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler-Karsh group offered $1.2 billion. Those offers were rejected, according to several people involved in the negotiations who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the bidding.

The sale price would be almost four times the previous NBA franchise high: the $550 million paid earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be the second-highest price ever paid for a sports team in North America. The Dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion.

Donald Sterling agreed last week to allow his wife to conduct a sale of the team. The process was rushed to beat a Tuesday deadline, when NBA owners are scheduled to meet to decide whether to strip the Sterlings of their ownership after Donald Sterling insulted African Americans in an audio recording that was leaked by the celebrity website TMZ.

Days after the recording was released, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hit Donald Sterling with a $2.5-million fine, a lifetime ban from the league and called on the other owners to force him to sell the team he bought in 1981 for $12.5 million.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shelly Sterling: Trust agrees to sell Clippers to Steve Ballmer

The sale of the Clippers continued on its bizarre journey late Thursday night when representatives of co-owner Shelly Sterling sent out a media release that the Sterling family trust has agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

Shelly Sterling asserted that she is acting as the sole trustee, with no mention of Donald Sterling, who bought the team three decades ago. 

Donald Sterling's lawyers have asserted that he needs a final sign-off before the team can be sold. However, according to two media reports,  Shelly Sterling has said her husband was not capable of making the decision to sell the team. The Times has not verified that report. 

"I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner," Shelly Sterling said in a statement.  "We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise.  I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."

On Thursday, The Times reported that Ballmer won the bidding process and the negotiated sale will now move to the NBA for approval. There is currently a Tuesday meeting scheduled for NBA owners in New York to determine if the Sterlings should be forced to sell the franchise.

"I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers," Ballmer said in the statement.

"I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win -- and win big -- in Los Angeles. L.A. is one of the world's great cities -- a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness.  I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community."

The trust statement said that Greenberg Glusker served as counsel to Shelly Sterling and  BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor.

Ballmer bid higher than competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Geffen group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler-Karsh group offered $1.2 billion. Those offers were rejected, according to several people involved in the negotiations who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the bidding.

The sale price would be almost four times the previous NBA franchise high: the $550 million paid earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be the second-highest price ever paid for a sports team in North America. The Dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion.

Donald Sterling agreed last week to allow his wife to conduct a sale of the team. The process was rushed to beat a Tuesday deadline, when NBA owners are scheduled to meet to decide whether to strip the Sterlings of their ownership after Donald Sterling insulted African Americans in an audio recording that was leaked by the celebrity website TMZ.

Days after the recording was released, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hit Donald Sterling with a $2.5-million fine, a lifetime ban from the league and called on the other owners to force him to sell the team he bought in 1981 for $12.5 million.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vitalii Sediuk allegedly attacks Brad Pitt on 'Maleficent' carpet

Written By kolimtiga on Kamis, 29 Mei 2014 | 16.38

Vitalii Sediuk, the longtime red-carpet accoster of celebrities, was arrested Wednesday night after allegedly attacking Brad Pitt as the star was making his way down the carpet for the premiere of partner Angelina Jolie's "Maleficent."

Police brought Sediuk into custody after he "made contact" with Pitt on the carpet of the Disney pemiere, according to The Times' L.A. Now blog. The 25-year-old was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail, according to online Sherriff's Department booking records.

"Some guy jumped over the barricades and made contact with Brad Pitt," Los Angeles Police Department officer Nuria Vanegas said.

According to The Times' Saba Hamedy, who was on the red (technically blue) carpet, Pitt and Jolie started walking the carpet together at about 6:25 p.m., waving and smiling to fans and even stopping to sign some autographs. Pitt passed by a group of reporters, presumably before the incident, at about 6:45 p.m. It was unclear when the alleged attack happened, though Jolie was on the carpet acknowledging fans and giving interviews until as late as 7:15 p.m., a little bit after the screening was scheduled to start.

Over several years of exploits, Sediuk has earned the sobriquet of "the red-carpet prankster." But his actions have long had a sinister quality. As recently as the Cannes Film Festival he was caught running under America Ferrera's dress, while in the past he has kissed Will Smith on a Moscow red carpet and pressed his face against Bradley Cooper's crotch.

He also tried to sabotage Adele's Grammy speech in 2013, prompting the organization behind the awards show to ban him.

Sediuk's skill may lie not so much with what he does on the carpet but how he dupes publicists into allowing him near it in the first place.

Though historically there is added security when wildly popular A-listers like Pitt and Jolie are involved — an average citizen would need to vault several barriers and run across a no-man's land monitored by dozens of security and police officers to get near a star — Sediuk has found a way around that.

He has managed to be credentialed at various events, according to the sources cited in this Washington Post piece, alternately getting on the carpet under the banner of Russia Life News, Eurovision and the Ukrainian organization 1+1. It is unclear how he was given permission to be near the carpet outside the El Capitan Theatre on Wednesday night for the "Maleficent" premiere.

Will incidents like this increase calls for tougher credentialing policies? Or make some stars shy away from carpets altogether? Both would be possible. The Pitt incident is the latest to highlight that in an increasingly global Hollywood, and with the ascendancy of previously little-known blogs, it's harder than ever for gatekeepers to keep track of who should be given access to these press events. No one wants to be the person who denies a credential to a legitimate foreign journalist and submarines a movie's chances in that territory. But as incidents like this increase, no one wants to be responsible for Brad Pitt getting attacked either.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vitalii Sediuk allegedly attacks Brad Pitt on 'Maleficent' carpet

Vitalii Sediuk, the longtime red-carpet accoster of celebrities, was arrested Wednesday night after allegedly attacking Brad Pitt as the star was making his way down the carpet for the premiere of partner Angelina Jolie's "Maleficent."

Police brought Sediuk into custody after he "made contact" with Pitt on the carpet of the Disney pemiere, according to The Times' L.A. Now blog. The 25-year-old was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail, according to online Sherriff's Department booking records.

"Some guy jumped over the barricades and made contact with Brad Pitt," Los Angeles Police Department officer Nuria Vanegas said.

According to The Times' Saba Hamedy, who was on the red (technically blue) carpet, Pitt and Jolie started walking the carpet together at about 6:25 p.m., waving and smiling to fans and even stopping to sign some autographs. Pitt passed by a group of reporters, presumably before the incident, at about 6:45 p.m. It was unclear when the alleged attack happened, though Jolie was on the carpet acknowledging fans and giving interviews until as late as 7:15 p.m., a little bit after the screening was scheduled to start.

Over several years of exploits, Sediuk has earned the sobriquet of "the red-carpet prankster." But his actions have long had a sinister quality. As recently as the Cannes Film Festival he was caught running under America Ferrera's dress, while in the past he has kissed Will Smith on a Moscow red carpet and pressed his face against Bradley Cooper's crotch.

He also tried to sabotage Adele's Grammy speech in 2013, prompting the organization behind the awards show to ban him.

Sediuk's skill may lie not so much with what he does on the carpet but how he dupes publicists into allowing him near it in the first place.

Though historically there is added security when wildly popular A-listers like Pitt and Jolie are involved — an average citizen would need to vault several barriers and run across a no-man's land monitored by dozens of security and police officers to get near a star — Sediuk has found a way around that.

He has managed to be credentialed at various events, according to the sources cited in this Washington Post piece, alternately getting on the carpet under the banner of Russia Life News, Eurovision and the Ukrainian organization 1+1. It is unclear how he was given permission to be near the carpet outside the El Capitan Theatre on Wednesday night for the "Maleficent" premiere.

Will incidents like this increase calls for tougher credentialing policies? Or make some stars shy away from carpets altogether? Both would be possible. The Pitt incident is the latest to highlight that in an increasingly global Hollywood, and with the ascendancy of previously little-known blogs, it's harder than ever for gatekeepers to keep track of who should be given access to these press events. No one wants to be the person who denies a credential to a legitimate foreign journalist and submarines a movie's chances in that territory. But as incidents like this increase, no one wants to be responsible for Brad Pitt getting attacked either.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sisi's crushing presidential election in Egypt undercut by turnout

Victory celebrations erupted by backers of Abdel Fattah Sisi, who easily won election as Egypt's next president, according to unofficial talllies released by his campaign early Thursday.

But the landslide win — more than 92 percent of the vote, with nearly all ballots counted — was soured by a turnout lower than his camp had hoped for, pointing to a wellspring of anger, mistrust or apathy among a large chunk of the electorate.

Moreover, Sisi's strongman image took a battering by the seemingly desperate measures the government took to badger voters into casting a ballot — keeping the polls open an extra day, declaring an impromptu national holiday, threatening substantial fines for those who stayed away and providing free transport to voters' home districts. As polling stations stood nearly empty, pro-military talk-show hosts unleashed a torrent of invective at "traitors" who failed to vote.

The turnout figure, estimated at 40% after the three-day vote ended Wednesday night, instantly proved controversial. Sisi's lone opponent, Hamdeen Sabahi, withdrew his polling monitors on the last day to protest the extension, and international observers said the government's last-minute move to keep the polls open for an unscheduled additional day raised questions about the integrity of the electoral process, including the turnout reports.

To a major extent, Sisi was a victim of inflated expectations put forth by his own camp. The turnout, in fact, resulted in a greater number of votes than were cast for now-ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2012. But in percentage terms, it was well below the 52% of the voters who took part in the runoff balloting that brought Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood to power.

The failure to hit that target carries a heavy symbolic resonance for Sisi and his backers, because the election followed a months-long buildup in which he was depicted as a universally beloved leader, destined by fate to lead Egypt out of three years of nonstop turmoil.

More importantly, the vote was meant to remove the taint of having ousted Morsi by force last July and to give a stamp of public approval to the repressive measures Sisi and the interim government have since employed to try to crush the Brotherhood. The Sisi camp had hoped to silence critics at home and abroad who maintain that after engineering the coup in the wake of huge anti-Morsi protests, he should not have been the one put forward to lead a civilian government as part of a promised democratic transition.

Sisi's decision not to wage what he called a "traditional" campaign — he made no public appearances and did not hold any debates with Sabahi — struck some voters as out of touch and arrogant. During the weeks of electioneering, Sisi opted instead for a series of television interviews with friendly interlocutors, and closed-door appearances before carefully vetted audiences who were more like focus groups.

The preliminary election results were bruising for Sabahi — he had fully expected to lose, but votes for him were outnumbered by invalid ballots, many deliberately spoiled by voters in protest — placing him third in a two-man race.

At polling places, Sisi's supporters made themselves highly visible, dancing and shouting slogans supporting him, but even before the vote, it was apparent that his backing was narrower than fervent displays of devotion suggested.

Days before the polling, the Pew Research Center released a survey that found just 54% viewed the candidate favorably, compared to 45% who did not, and that four in 10 Egyptians still held favorable views of the Brotherhood, even amid the vitriolic outpouring against the movement in state media.

In the hours after the polls closed and the preliminary tallies pointed to a resounding win, Sisi supporters staged triumphal all-night gatherings, honking car horns, waving flags and setting off fireworks. One of the celebration venues was downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that swept away dictator Hosni Mubarak.

"This result wasn't what we fought for in those days," said Nada Fouad, 29, who spent days and nights protesting in the square more than three years ago, and cheered what she thought was the start of a new order. "Our revolution still has a very long way to go."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers' starting five continues to rebound in 6-3 win over Reds

Written By kolimtiga on Rabu, 28 Mei 2014 | 16.38

The drama ended early Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Zack Greinke's bid for a perfect game was over when he gave up a second-inning single.

So the Dodgers' dugout was devoid of the superstitions and don't-spoil-the-no-hitter behavior present during most of their previous two games.

But Greinke gave another winning performance in a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that featured Andre Ethier's solo home run and three-run triple.

Greinke's impressive outing was the latest by a member of a five-man rotation that appears to be rounding into one of the best in the National League.

Greinke, left-handers Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu and veterans Josh Beckett and Dan Haren all appear to be physically sound at the same time for perhaps the first time this season.

"Hopefully, we're at that point where we can keep these guys together, keep them in line, keep them on turn and then just basically just keep giving us a chance to win every day," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said before the game.

After Beckett's no-hitter at Philadelphia on Sunday and Ryu's flirtation with a perfect game Monday night against the Reds, the Dodgers entered Tuesday's game with a 3.50 ERA, seventh in the National League.

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said that watching Beckett chase and finish a no-hitter and Ryu complete seven perfect innings on consecutive days produced "kind of a buzz in your gut."

But history aside, Honeycutt was pleased on another level.

"No-hitters and perfect games you don't anticipate," he said. "We just look for consistency."

Greinke has been the model.

The right-hander, who is earning about $26 million this season, gave up three runs and eight hits and had 11 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings to improve his record to 8-1, with a 2.18 earned-run average. He didn't walk a batter.

"Kind of typical Zack," Mattingly said. "It's just kind of every time out."

It marked the first time the 30-year-old Greinke gave up more than two runs in a regular-season start since last July. He had allowed two or fewer runs in 22 consecutive regular-season starts, the longest streak in the major leagues since 1914.

Greinke compared his experiences in Kansas City, where the staff gave up lots of runs, to the present Dodgers staff.

"All you ever see is giving up runs, you start to think it's really hard to get outs," Greinke said. "And then you're on a team where everyone's pitching really good and you think that's how it should be and you start to think more confidently."

Next up: staff ace Kershaw.

The Dodgers have staked their future on — and committed $215 million to — to the 26-year-old from Texas.

Kershaw, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2011 and 2013, was sidelined for about six weeks because of a back injury, but he has been effective since his return.

He enters Wednesday's start against the Reds with a 3-1 record and 3.49 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings. But even Kershaw will be hard-pressed to match Beckett and Ryu's most recent outings.

Beckett, who is earning $17 million this season, pitched the first no-hitter of his career, the Dodgers' first since 1996.

Beckett, 34, had surgery to remove a rib last July and he acknowledged Monday that there were times last season and during his rehabilitation that his career was in jeopardy. But his no-hitter improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.43.

Ryu, 27, who is earning $4.3 million, was on the disabled list because of shoulder inflammation but he was impressive when he returned against the New York Mets last week and stellar in Monday night's victory.

Haren, 33, who signed a free-agent contract for $10 million in November, is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA.

"You roll as your starters go," Honeycutt said. "When they're consistent the team is able to kind of feed off that and that's when you start making some strides toward more wins."

Tuesday's victory improved the Dodgers' record to 29-24, keeping them in second place in the NL West.

"We're getting the rotation pretty much at the point where you feel, more than anything, that they're getting into their rhythm a little bit," Honeycutt said. "Each time you see them not only get stronger but go deeper [into games]. And that's where you hope it will continue."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers' starting five continues to rebound in 6-3 win over Reds

The drama ended early Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Zack Greinke's bid for a perfect game was over when he gave up a second-inning single.

So the Dodgers' dugout was devoid of the superstitions and don't-spoil-the-no-hitter behavior present during most of their previous two games.

But Greinke gave another winning performance in a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that featured Andre Ethier's solo home run and three-run triple.

Greinke's impressive outing was the latest by a member of a five-man rotation that appears to be rounding into one of the best in the National League.

Greinke, left-handers Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu and veterans Josh Beckett and Dan Haren all appear to be physically sound at the same time for perhaps the first time this season.

"Hopefully, we're at that point where we can keep these guys together, keep them in line, keep them on turn and then just basically just keep giving us a chance to win every day," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said before the game.

After Beckett's no-hitter at Philadelphia on Sunday and Ryu's flirtation with a perfect game Monday night against the Reds, the Dodgers entered Tuesday's game with a 3.50 ERA, seventh in the National League.

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said that watching Beckett chase and finish a no-hitter and Ryu complete seven perfect innings on consecutive days produced "kind of a buzz in your gut."

But history aside, Honeycutt was pleased on another level.

"No-hitters and perfect games you don't anticipate," he said. "We just look for consistency."

Greinke has been the model.

The right-hander, who is earning about $26 million this season, gave up three runs and eight hits and had 11 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings to improve his record to 8-1, with a 2.18 earned-run average. He didn't walk a batter.

"Kind of typical Zack," Mattingly said. "It's just kind of every time out."

It marked the first time the 30-year-old Greinke gave up more than two runs in a regular-season start since last July. He had allowed two or fewer runs in 22 consecutive regular-season starts, the longest streak in the major leagues since 1914.

Greinke compared his experiences in Kansas City, where the staff gave up lots of runs, to the present Dodgers staff.

"All you ever see is giving up runs, you start to think it's really hard to get outs," Greinke said. "And then you're on a team where everyone's pitching really good and you think that's how it should be and you start to think more confidently."

Next up: staff ace Kershaw.

The Dodgers have staked their future on — and committed $215 million to — to the 26-year-old from Texas.

Kershaw, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2011 and 2013, was sidelined for about six weeks because of a back injury, but he has been effective since his return.

He enters Wednesday's start against the Reds with a 3-1 record and 3.49 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings. But even Kershaw will be hard-pressed to match Beckett and Ryu's most recent outings.

Beckett, who is earning $17 million this season, pitched the first no-hitter of his career, the Dodgers' first since 1996.

Beckett, 34, had surgery to remove a rib last July and he acknowledged Monday that there were times last season and during his rehabilitation that his career was in jeopardy. But his no-hitter improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.43.

Ryu, 27, who is earning $4.3 million, was on the disabled list because of shoulder inflammation but he was impressive when he returned against the New York Mets last week and stellar in Monday night's victory.

Haren, 33, who signed a free-agent contract for $10 million in November, is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA.

"You roll as your starters go," Honeycutt said. "When they're consistent the team is able to kind of feed off that and that's when you start making some strides toward more wins."

Tuesday's victory improved the Dodgers' record to 29-24, keeping them in second place in the NL West.

"We're getting the rotation pretty much at the point where you feel, more than anything, that they're getting into their rhythm a little bit," Honeycutt said. "Each time you see them not only get stronger but go deeper [into games]. And that's where you hope it will continue."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers' starting five continues to rebound in 6-3 win over Reds

The drama ended early Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Zack Greinke's bid for a perfect game was over when he gave up a second-inning single.

So the Dodgers' dugout was devoid of the superstitions and don't-spoil-the-no-hitter behavior present during most of their previous two games.

But Greinke gave another winning performance in a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that featured Andre Ethier's solo home run and three-run triple.

Greinke's impressive outing was the latest by a member of a five-man rotation that appears to be rounding into one of the best in the National League.

Greinke, left-handers Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu and veterans Josh Beckett and Dan Haren all appear to be physically sound at the same time for perhaps the first time this season.

"Hopefully, we're at that point where we can keep these guys together, keep them in line, keep them on turn and then just basically just keep giving us a chance to win every day," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said before the game.

After Beckett's no-hitter at Philadelphia on Sunday and Ryu's flirtation with a perfect game Monday night against the Reds, the Dodgers entered Tuesday's game with a 3.50 ERA, seventh in the National League.

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said that watching Beckett chase and finish a no-hitter and Ryu complete seven perfect innings on consecutive days produced "kind of a buzz in your gut."

But history aside, Honeycutt was pleased on another level.

"No-hitters and perfect games you don't anticipate," he said. "We just look for consistency."

Greinke has been the model.

The right-hander, who is earning about $26 million this season, gave up three runs and eight hits and had 11 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings to improve his record to 8-1, with a 2.18 earned-run average. He didn't walk a batter.

"Kind of typical Zack," Mattingly said. "It's just kind of every time out."

It marked the first time the 30-year-old Greinke gave up more than two runs in a regular-season start since last July. He had allowed two or fewer runs in 22 consecutive regular-season starts, the longest streak in the major leagues since 1914.

Greinke compared his experiences in Kansas City, where the staff gave up lots of runs, to the present Dodgers staff.

"All you ever see is giving up runs, you start to think it's really hard to get outs," Greinke said. "And then you're on a team where everyone's pitching really good and you think that's how it should be and you start to think more confidently."

Next up: staff ace Kershaw.

The Dodgers have staked their future on — and committed $215 million to — to the 26-year-old from Texas.

Kershaw, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2011 and 2013, was sidelined for about six weeks because of a back injury, but he has been effective since his return.

He enters Wednesday's start against the Reds with a 3-1 record and 3.49 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings. But even Kershaw will be hard-pressed to match Beckett and Ryu's most recent outings.

Beckett, who is earning $17 million this season, pitched the first no-hitter of his career, the Dodgers' first since 1996.

Beckett, 34, had surgery to remove a rib last July and he acknowledged Monday that there were times last season and during his rehabilitation that his career was in jeopardy. But his no-hitter improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.43.

Ryu, 27, who is earning $4.3 million, was on the disabled list because of shoulder inflammation but he was impressive when he returned against the New York Mets last week and stellar in Monday night's victory.

Haren, 33, who signed a free-agent contract for $10 million in November, is 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA.

"You roll as your starters go," Honeycutt said. "When they're consistent the team is able to kind of feed off that and that's when you start making some strides toward more wins."

Tuesday's victory improved the Dodgers' record to 29-24, keeping them in second place in the NL West.

"We're getting the rotation pretty much at the point where you feel, more than anything, that they're getting into their rhythm a little bit," Honeycutt said. "Each time you see them not only get stronger but go deeper [into games]. And that's where you hope it will continue."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kings look like the regal deal, beat Chicago 5-2 for 3-1 series lead

Written By kolimtiga on Selasa, 27 Mei 2014 | 16.38

One game from the abyss has turned into one game from the bliss of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Kings may not always be the world's most interesting team in the regular season, but they have seized that mantle in the postseason and owned it in the month since they nearly exited the playoffs in the opening round against the San Jose Sharks.

They took another step toward dethroning their nemeses of last season, moving to within one game of eliminating the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings took a four-goal lead and held on for a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Monday night at Staples Center.

With a 3-1 series lead, they can clinch it Wednesday if they win Game 5 at the United Center in Chicago.

The Kings exploded for three first-period goals Monday night, in their first six shots. Defenseman Jake Muzzin and captain Dustin Brown scored on the power play and, in between, winger Marian Gaborik beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford for an even-strength goal, all in the opening 16 minutes, for a 3-0 lead.

Their penalty-killing was flawless and they went two for three on the power play. And they had the usual scoring balance, as five different Kings had goals in Game 4.

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, continuing his compelling bid for playoff MVP recognition, scored once and had an assist. He has three goals and 14 points in the postseason.

Perhaps just as important, Doughty has talked big and followed it up in a big way.

"I know how much I mean to our team and how much I mean to this series if we want to win it," he said. "Even though I'm playing against a guy like [Blackhawks captain Jonathan] Toews every single night, it's a tough battle. I just know I've got to out-compete him. He's still getting his chances. He's still going to get his opportunities. I've just got to do everything I can do minimize him."

Doughty's will to win against the Blackhawks is two-fold, starting with the fact that Chicago dethroned the Kings as Stanley Cup champions last season in the conference finals. There's also the fact that Doughty was a shadow of himself in the second and third rounds a year ago, playing on a severely injured ankle.

"That stuck with me. It was a frustrating time," he said. "I wanted to win that Cup again so bad along with all the other guys on my team. It hurts when you can't get what you want and what you want back.

"It really gave me the drive, even more of 'the want' to beat this team just because they did take our season away last year and it's our turn to do it back to them."

The Blackhawks mounted some push-back Monday, starting late in the second period with Brandon Saad's goal at 14:03. They then cut the Kings' lead to 4-2 midway through the third period.

That goal came off a furious scramble finished off by Bryan Bickell's backhander at 9:29, just seconds after Doughty had made a stick save on Toews. Patrick Kane got the first assist on the goal — his first point in this series.

Chicago pulled Crawford for an extra attacker with 3:01 remaining, and Kings rookie forward Tanner Pearson scored an empty-netter with 1:02 left to make it 5-2.

The Blackhawks rallied from a 3-1 series deficit against Detroit last year in the playoffs, and the Kings were quick to mention that.

"Every team has been through experiences which make them better, especially Stanley Cup championship teams like Chicago and us," said Kings winger Justin Williams. "We've been through a lot. Persevered through a lot. They're down 3-1. We're trying to squash them. They're trying to get some life."

Toews, who assisted on Bickell's goal, said it starts with the small things, to try to recapture confidence

"Here we are. We've got to give it everything and nothing less," he said. "Credit that team, they're a good team, but we know we've got more. We know that there's something else we can bring to the table.

"We've just got to do some little things here and there to make ourselves feel good and get that confidence, get that swagger back to our game."

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter: @reallisa

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kings look like the regal deal, beat Chicago 5-2 for 3-1 series lead

One game from the abyss has turned into one game from the bliss of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Kings may not always be the world's most interesting team in the regular season, but they have seized that mantle in the postseason and owned it in the month since they nearly exited the playoffs in the opening round against the San Jose Sharks.

They took another step toward dethroning their nemeses of last season, moving to within one game of eliminating the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings took a four-goal lead and held on for a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Monday night at Staples Center.

With a 3-1 series lead, they can clinch it Wednesday if they win Game 5 at the United Center in Chicago.

The Kings exploded for three first-period goals Monday night, in their first six shots. Defenseman Jake Muzzin and captain Dustin Brown scored on the power play and, in between, winger Marian Gaborik beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford for an even-strength goal, all in the opening 16 minutes, for a 3-0 lead.

Their penalty-killing was flawless and they went two for three on the power play. And they had the usual scoring balance, as five different Kings had goals in Game 4.

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, continuing his compelling bid for playoff MVP recognition, scored once and had an assist. He has three goals and 14 points in the postseason.

Perhaps just as important, Doughty has talked big and followed it up in a big way.

"I know how much I mean to our team and how much I mean to this series if we want to win it," he said. "Even though I'm playing against a guy like [Blackhawks captain Jonathan] Toews every single night, it's a tough battle. I just know I've got to out-compete him. He's still getting his chances. He's still going to get his opportunities. I've just got to do everything I can do minimize him."

Doughty's will to win against the Blackhawks is two-fold, starting with the fact that Chicago dethroned the Kings as Stanley Cup champions last season in the conference finals. There's also the fact that Doughty was a shadow of himself in the second and third rounds a year ago, playing on a severely injured ankle.

"That stuck with me. It was a frustrating time," he said. "I wanted to win that Cup again so bad along with all the other guys on my team. It hurts when you can't get what you want and what you want back.

"It really gave me the drive, even more of 'the want' to beat this team just because they did take our season away last year and it's our turn to do it back to them."

The Blackhawks mounted some push-back Monday, starting late in the second period with Brandon Saad's goal at 14:03. They then cut the Kings' lead to 4-2 midway through the third period.

That goal came off a furious scramble finished off by Bryan Bickell's backhander at 9:29, just seconds after Doughty had made a stick save on Toews. Patrick Kane got the first assist on the goal — his first point in this series.

Chicago pulled Crawford for an extra attacker with 3:01 remaining, and Kings rookie forward Tanner Pearson scored an empty-netter with 1:02 left to make it 5-2.

The Blackhawks rallied from a 3-1 series deficit against Detroit last year in the playoffs, and the Kings were quick to mention that.

"Every team has been through experiences which make them better, especially Stanley Cup championship teams like Chicago and us," said Kings winger Justin Williams. "We've been through a lot. Persevered through a lot. They're down 3-1. We're trying to squash them. They're trying to get some life."

Toews, who assisted on Bickell's goal, said it starts with the small things, to try to recapture confidence

"Here we are. We've got to give it everything and nothing less," he said. "Credit that team, they're a good team, but we know we've got more. We know that there's something else we can bring to the table.

"We've just got to do some little things here and there to make ourselves feel good and get that confidence, get that swagger back to our game."

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter: @reallisa

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chinese vessel sinks Vietnamese fishing boat, raising tension

A Chinese ship rammed and sank a wooden Vietnamese fishing boat near a Chinese-operated oil drill in disputed South China Sea waters, Vietnamese state media said on Tuesday.

Although there were no severe injuries reported, the incident was the most serious in a weeks-long standoff at sea in which Chinese and Vietnamese vessels have been circling each other, occasionally dueling with water cannons.

Vietnam said the incident happened at 4 p.m. Monday and that its vessel was a wooden boat operating in traditional fishing waters off the coast of Da Nang. Vietnamese state media claimed the boat was encircled by 30 larger, steel Chinese boats, one of which — another fishing boat — deliberately rammed it.

"I call this an act of attempted murder because the Chinese sank a Vietnamese fishing boat and then ran away," Tran Van Linh, president of the Fisheries Association in the central port city of Da Nang, was quoted telling the Associated Press. "We vehemently protest this perverse, brutal and inhumane action by the Chinese side.''

China fired back a competing version of events with its own state press, saying that the Vietnamese fishing boat was harassing a Chinese fishing boat.

"Chinese fishermen took resolute measures to prevent acts of sabotage and interference with Vietnam," the official Xinhua news agency reported on its microblog account on Tuesday.

Both sides said that ten people had been aboard the fishing boat and that they were rescued, but the boat sank.

Vietnam has been protesting Chinese intrusions into its waters since early May when the $1-billion Chinese oil rig known as Haiyang Shiyou 891 was moved approximately 150 miles off of its coast. Vietnam says that China's drilling violates its right to resources within a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, while China claims to have jurisdiction over the nearby Paracel islands, which it controls militarily.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has become more assertive about its maritime claims, sending fishing, maritime surveillance and oceanography vessels into disputed waters. Another too-close encounter occurred over the weekend when Japanese and Chinese planes flew within 30 meters of each other over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Anti-Chinese sentiment has been swelling in Vietnam in recent weeks and culminated in riots in which at least four people were killed. More than 3,000 mainland Chinese, as well as Taiwanese, evacuated Vietnam because of the violence.

Since Vietnam's reunification in 1975, relations between the former Communist allies have soured, with Vietnam now looking increasingly to the United States for protection. China and Vietnam fought a brief border war in 1979 and clashed again at sea in 1988.

Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy, described the current situation as the most dangerous since 1988, but said he believes it will not escalate further because of economic interests.

"Vietnam is a market and a source of materials and a stepping stone into southeast Asia for China. Vietnam is also pushing for Chinese investment to make up for its trade deficit," said Thayer. "I don't see anybody wanting violence that will kill the goose that lays the golden egg.''

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

In Isla Vista, red flags came too late

Written By kolimtiga on Senin, 26 Mei 2014 | 16.38

Elliot Rodger enjoyed sunsets, mountain vistas, retro pop music. He said it time and again: The world was a magical, beautiful place, but only in stark contrast to his small, pitiful life. "No friends," he said one day this spring, in a video recorded on his phone. "No love."

It's tempting, now that the finale has been written, to think that someone could have stepped in before Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 Friday before apparently killing himself, that the law could have been crafted to raise a red flag, to compel someone to act.

But according to interviews with Rodger's acquaintances, law enforcement officials and mental health professionals, all that was known about the 22-year-old college student was that he was terribly sad. And being sad is not a crime, nor the sort of mental state that would, alone, cross a legal threshold requiring official response.

The mental health system is imperfect, by design — a teeter-totter that weighs patients' civil liberties against public safety. Rodger existed in the middle, on the fulcrum, simmering and disturbed, just beyond arm's reach.

In that quiet space he planned his attack — lonely, but highly functioning; worrisome, but never explicitly threatening himself or anyone else; bumping into police, but never landing in jail; resistant to medication, but never outright rejecting care; able to articulate his misery, but conniving enough that authorities did not see a need for involuntary hospitalization.

The writing may have been on the wall, but no one — despite the apparently diligent efforts of his family, therapists and doctors, and law enforcement — knew what it said until it was too late.

"We never, as a society, got that opportunity with this boy — to find out if society could have intervened," said Carla Jacobs, a prominent advocate for an effective mental health system in California.

The son of a Hollywood director, Rodger grew up privileged in Calabasas and Woodland Hills. He had traveled extensively, to Morocco, Singapore and England. All along, he harbored a crushing darkness. His family suspected he was somewhere on the autism spectrum, and he had been in therapy since childhood. He was prescribed psychotropic drugs but declined to take them, he wrote.

Belying the aggressive personality seen on his now-notorious videos, he spoke haltingly and did not look people in the eye, said Simon Astaire, a family friend. "He was fundamentally withdrawn," Astaire said.

"He was very standoffish," said Thom McFadden, who lived next door to Rodger's father, Peter, in Woodland Hills. "A loner."

Dr. George Woods, a San Francisco psychiatrist who lectures on mental health and the law, said Rodger appeared to have been in an early phase of pre-psychosis. The ability to mask symptoms is common, he said.

"Oftentimes you'll see that the paranoia is in the service of the delusion," Woods said. "They aren't telling people their business."

The family was caring and attentive, said family friend Adam Krentzman. Peter Rodger "is the sweetest, nicest, most genuine, caring person, and he did everything he could," Krentzman said.

But after Elliot turned 18, he started rejecting mental health care that his family provided, Krentzman said. "He turned his back on all of it," he said. "At some point, your kid becomes an adult."

Elliot Rodger became increasingly isolated, sometimes by his own design. He complained that he couldn't make friends, but acquaintances said in interviews that he rebuffed their attempts to be friendly.

Bitterness rising, Rodger began to resent the carefree students in the tight-knit Isla Vista community, where more than half of the 23,000 residents are students at the nearby UC Santa Barbara. He viewed himself as a sophisticate and a catch, and reserved much of his venom for attractive women, who he believed spurned him, and men who had more success in dating.

One night last summer, he went to a party and tried to shove women off a ledge where they had been sitting. Several men intervened and pushed him off the ledge

instead, and he injured his ankle.

He was treated at a clinic for his injuries, and police showed up to interview him. In theory, this was an opening for formal, official intervention. But the officers determined that Rodger was "not a victim," a Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman said Sunday — that he had instigated the altercation.

Asked if there was anything about that incident that would have prompted authorities to follow up with Rodger, spokeswoman Kelly Hoover replied: "No."

Around the same time, Rodger hatched his plan for what he called "slaughter" and began buying semiautomatic handguns. Again, here was an opportunity for official scrutiny — he was making the purchases legally, abiding by California's background check system and waiting periods.

But Rodger sailed through, because despite his troubles, it does not appear that he triggered any warnings — he had no criminal history; he had never explicitly threatened anyone or been deemed a risk to himself or others; he had never been ordered to submit to involuntary mental health treatment; he had no history of addiction.

Even a diagnosis of serious mental illness, in itself, would not have prevented Rodger from buying a gun under California law, said Lindsay Nichols, staff attorney with the advocacy group Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

If Rodger had issued a threat of violence against specific, identifiable victims to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist would have been required to report it to law enforcement, and Rodger could have been banned from owning guns for five years. That did not happen, and there is no evidence that Rodger made such a threat — in fact, his writings suggest that he had worked studiously to hide his violent plan.

Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and expert on gun laws, said that in general, a diagnosis of mental illness doesn't affect a person's right to own a gun in California unless it has been adjudicated by a court or the person has voluntarily checked into a mental facility.

"It's just not a surprise that someone with mental health problems would still be able to get a gun," Winkler said.

Chuck Michel, one of the most prominent gun-rights attorneys in California, said there was nothing in Rodger's background that would have prevented him from being able to buy a gun.

"California's got pretty much every gun control law the gun control lobby wants, and it didn't stop this," he said.

More recently, Rodger began to post numerous videos to YouTube. Some were innocuous. Most, though, were brooding and dark.

At one point, he filmed from his glistening BMW as two young people kissed on a park bench in the distance. "I hate the world because no girl would do this with me," he said.

Rodger's parents were disturbed by the videos, family friends said. Mental health professionals put them in touch with the Sheriff's Department, and in April, deputies visited Rodger at his apartment, the same one where he would soon stab and kill three men to launch his rampage.

Rodger would later write that he was terrified when deputies knocked on his door — terrified that they would find his weapons, his ammunition and the detailed written plans of his attack. He feared he would be "denied of the chance to exact revenge on my enemies."

Rodger wrote that he "tactfully" told the officers there had been a misunderstanding — that everything was fine. They believed him.

Hoover, the Santa Barbara County spokeswoman, said the April visit by sheriff's deputies is now under investigation, and she declined to discuss the details. But, she said: "Generally speaking, unless we have a lawful reason to enter a residence, we cannot do so without a warrant. An exception would be if deputies felt that a person was a harm to themselves or others or there was an immediate threat. In this case, we would have had to determine that Elliot Rodger or his roommates were in immediate danger."

That did not happen, said Sheriff Bill Brown. Rodger had "a very convincing story," he said.

Officers could have more aggressively investigated Rodger and his mental state. For instance, officers could have checked records to see if he legally owned weapons. "But if they're just saying someone is not functioning well and exhibiting signs of depression, I can't see that they'd have a reason to do that," Woods, the San Francisco psychiatrist, said.

Had officers found Rodger a danger to himself or others, they could have placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold, known as a "5150." But the laws governing such aggressive action "are stringent," Woods said.

"And I think they're appropriately made that way. There has to be an acute reason, when you're talking a danger to yourself, a danger to others, or gravely disabled. There was no way that in these kinds of interviews and with his presentation that you could have made the conclusions."

Earlier this month, Orange County became the first large county in California to implement Laura's Law, allowing court-ordered treatment for the severely mentally ill. The law allows family members, licensed mental health providers, police officers and others to refer potential patients for treatment.

That law is not on the books in Santa Barbara County — but even if it were, proponents of the law conceded that Rodger would

almost certainly not have qualified, given what was known about him at the time.

So the deputies left, and never came back. "The biggest wave of relief swept over me," Rodger wrote.

He decided to launch his attack on Friday because if he'd waited past the weekend, the semester would have begun to wind down at the nearby university, and many of his "enemies" would be leaving for the summer.

At 9:17 that night, 13 minutes before the first gunshots rang out, his mother, Chin Rodger, was at home in a western suburb of Los Angeles when her phone rang. It was one of her son's therapists. "Have you gotten Elliot's email?" he asked.

Chin Rodger opened the email, according to an account of the night provided to The Times by a family friend. Something had changed. Her dejected son was gone, replaced by a man with a savage view of the world, and a terrible plan.

"This is the story of how I, Elliot Rodger, came to be," the email said. "It is a dark story of sadness, anger and hatred." Then: "I will punish everyone. And it will be beautiful. Finally, at long last, I can show the world my true worth."

Chin Rodgers frantically called her ex-husband, Peter, who was out to dinner. Together, they raced up the 101 Freeway. But it was too late. The radio started barking while they were still on the road — a vicious rampage in Isla Vista, a young man emptying his guns into crowds of pedestrians. By the time they reached the police station there, it was over.

On Sunday evening, a crowd prayed in front of the Alpha Phi sorority house in Isla Vista, where Rodger shot three women, two of whom died. There was a surprising amount of compassion for Rodger — for how he lived, if not how he died.

"The insecurities and rejection he felt is something I believe exists in a lot of hearts in this city," said Yvette Johnson, 22. "There's this unspoken survival of the fittest.... If you don't fit in a box, you're going to feel rejected."

"Some people think that he doesn't deserve love," said Christina Perez, 24. "But we all deserve love."

scott.gold@latimes.com

abigail.sewell@latimes.com

lee.romney@latimes.com

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Adolfo Flores and Kate Mather in Isla Vista, and Amy Kaufman, Joe Mozingo, Bob Pool, Garrett Therolf and Richard Winton in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

In Isla Vista, red flags came too late

Elliot Rodger enjoyed sunsets, mountain vistas, retro pop music. He said it time and again: The world was a magical, beautiful place, but only in stark contrast to his small, pitiful life. "No friends," he said one day this spring, in a video recorded on his phone. "No love."

It's tempting, now that the finale has been written, to think that someone could have stepped in before Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 Friday before apparently killing himself, that the law could have been crafted to raise a red flag, to compel someone to act.

But according to interviews with Rodger's acquaintances, law enforcement officials and mental health professionals, all that was known about the 22-year-old college student was that he was terribly sad. And being sad is not a crime, nor the sort of mental state that would, alone, cross a legal threshold requiring official response.

The mental health system is imperfect, by design — a teeter-totter that weighs patients' civil liberties against public safety. Rodger existed in the middle, on the fulcrum, simmering and disturbed, just beyond arm's reach.

In that quiet space he planned his attack — lonely, but highly functioning; worrisome, but never explicitly threatening himself or anyone else; bumping into police, but never landing in jail; resistant to medication, but never outright rejecting care; able to articulate his misery, but conniving enough that authorities did not see a need for involuntary hospitalization.

The writing may have been on the wall, but no one — despite the apparently diligent efforts of his family, therapists and doctors, and law enforcement — knew what it said until it was too late.

"We never, as a society, got that opportunity with this boy — to find out if society could have intervened," said Carla Jacobs, a prominent advocate for an effective mental health system in California.

The son of a Hollywood director, Rodger grew up privileged in Calabasas and Woodland Hills. He had traveled extensively, to Morocco, Singapore and England. All along, he harbored a crushing darkness. His family suspected he was somewhere on the autism spectrum, and he had been in therapy since childhood. He was prescribed psychotropic drugs but declined to take them, he wrote.

Belying the aggressive personality seen on his now-notorious videos, he spoke haltingly and did not look people in the eye, said Simon Astaire, a family friend. "He was fundamentally withdrawn," Astaire said.

"He was very standoffish," said Thom McFadden, who lived next door to Rodger's father, Peter, in Woodland Hills. "A loner."

Dr. George Woods, a San Francisco psychiatrist who lectures on mental health and the law, said Rodger appeared to have been in an early phase of pre-psychosis. The ability to mask symptoms is common, he said.

"Oftentimes you'll see that the paranoia is in the service of the delusion," Woods said. "They aren't telling people their business."

The family was caring and attentive, said family friend Adam Krentzman. Peter Rodger "is the sweetest, nicest, most genuine, caring person, and he did everything he could," Krentzman said.

But after Elliot turned 18, he started rejecting mental health care that his family provided, Krentzman said. "He turned his back on all of it," he said. "At some point, your kid becomes an adult."

Elliot Rodger became increasingly isolated, sometimes by his own design. He complained that he couldn't make friends, but acquaintances said in interviews that he rebuffed their attempts to be friendly.

Bitterness rising, Rodger began to resent the carefree students in the tight-knit Isla Vista community, where more than half of the 23,000 residents are students at the nearby UC Santa Barbara. He viewed himself as a sophisticate and a catch, and reserved much of his venom for attractive women, who he believed spurned him, and men who had more success in dating.

One night last summer, he went to a party and tried to shove women off a ledge where they had been sitting. Several men intervened and pushed him off the ledge

instead, and he injured his ankle.

He was treated at a clinic for his injuries, and police showed up to interview him. In theory, this was an opening for formal, official intervention. But the officers determined that Rodger was "not a victim," a Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman said Sunday — that he had instigated the altercation.

Asked if there was anything about that incident that would have prompted authorities to follow up with Rodger, spokeswoman Kelly Hoover replied: "No."

Around the same time, Rodger hatched his plan for what he called "slaughter" and began buying semiautomatic handguns. Again, here was an opportunity for official scrutiny — he was making the purchases legally, abiding by California's background check system and waiting periods.

But Rodger sailed through, because despite his troubles, it does not appear that he triggered any warnings — he had no criminal history; he had never explicitly threatened anyone or been deemed a risk to himself or others; he had never been ordered to submit to involuntary mental health treatment; he had no history of addiction.

Even a diagnosis of serious mental illness, in itself, would not have prevented Rodger from buying a gun under California law, said Lindsay Nichols, staff attorney with the advocacy group Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

If Rodger had issued a threat of violence against specific, identifiable victims to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist would have been required to report it to law enforcement, and Rodger could have been banned from owning guns for five years. That did not happen, and there is no evidence that Rodger made such a threat — in fact, his writings suggest that he had worked studiously to hide his violent plan.

Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and expert on gun laws, said that in general, a diagnosis of mental illness doesn't affect a person's right to own a gun in California unless it has been adjudicated by a court or the person has voluntarily checked into a mental facility.

"It's just not a surprise that someone with mental health problems would still be able to get a gun," Winkler said.

Chuck Michel, one of the most prominent gun-rights attorneys in California, said there was nothing in Rodger's background that would have prevented him from being able to buy a gun.

"California's got pretty much every gun control law the gun control lobby wants, and it didn't stop this," he said.

More recently, Rodger began to post numerous videos to YouTube. Some were innocuous. Most, though, were brooding and dark.

At one point, he filmed from his glistening BMW as two young people kissed on a park bench in the distance. "I hate the world because no girl would do this with me," he said.

Rodger's parents were disturbed by the videos, family friends said. Mental health professionals put them in touch with the Sheriff's Department, and in April, deputies visited Rodger at his apartment, the same one where he would soon stab and kill three men to launch his rampage.

Rodger would later write that he was terrified when deputies knocked on his door — terrified that they would find his weapons, his ammunition and the detailed written plans of his attack. He feared he would be "denied of the chance to exact revenge on my enemies."

Rodger wrote that he "tactfully" told the officers there had been a misunderstanding — that everything was fine. They believed him.

Hoover, the Santa Barbara County spokeswoman, said the April visit by sheriff's deputies is now under investigation, and she declined to discuss the details. But, she said: "Generally speaking, unless we have a lawful reason to enter a residence, we cannot do so without a warrant. An exception would be if deputies felt that a person was a harm to themselves or others or there was an immediate threat. In this case, we would have had to determine that Elliot Rodger or his roommates were in immediate danger."

That did not happen, said Sheriff Bill Brown. Rodger had "a very convincing story," he said.

Officers could have more aggressively investigated Rodger and his mental state. For instance, officers could have checked records to see if he legally owned weapons. "But if they're just saying someone is not functioning well and exhibiting signs of depression, I can't see that they'd have a reason to do that," Woods, the San Francisco psychiatrist, said.

Had officers found Rodger a danger to himself or others, they could have placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold, known as a "5150." But the laws governing such aggressive action "are stringent," Woods said.

"And I think they're appropriately made that way. There has to be an acute reason, when you're talking a danger to yourself, a danger to others, or gravely disabled. There was no way that in these kinds of interviews and with his presentation that you could have made the conclusions."

Earlier this month, Orange County became the first large county in California to implement Laura's Law, allowing court-ordered treatment for the severely mentally ill. The law allows family members, licensed mental health providers, police officers and others to refer potential patients for treatment.

That law is not on the books in Santa Barbara County — but even if it were, proponents of the law conceded that Rodger would

almost certainly not have qualified, given what was known about him at the time.

So the deputies left, and never came back. "The biggest wave of relief swept over me," Rodger wrote.

He decided to launch his attack on Friday because if he'd waited past the weekend, the semester would have begun to wind down at the nearby university, and many of his "enemies" would be leaving for the summer.

At 9:17 that night, 13 minutes before the first gunshots rang out, his mother, Chin Rodger, was at home in a western suburb of Los Angeles when her phone rang. It was one of her son's therapists. "Have you gotten Elliot's email?" he asked.

Chin Rodger opened the email, according to an account of the night provided to The Times by a family friend. Something had changed. Her dejected son was gone, replaced by a man with a savage view of the world, and a terrible plan.

"This is the story of how I, Elliot Rodger, came to be," the email said. "It is a dark story of sadness, anger and hatred." Then: "I will punish everyone. And it will be beautiful. Finally, at long last, I can show the world my true worth."

Chin Rodgers frantically called her ex-husband, Peter, who was out to dinner. Together, they raced up the 101 Freeway. But it was too late. The radio started barking while they were still on the road — a vicious rampage in Isla Vista, a young man emptying his guns into crowds of pedestrians. By the time they reached the police station there, it was over.

On Sunday evening, a crowd prayed in front of the Alpha Phi sorority house in Isla Vista, where Rodger shot three women, two of whom died. There was a surprising amount of compassion for Rodger — for how he lived, if not how he died.

"The insecurities and rejection he felt is something I believe exists in a lot of hearts in this city," said Yvette Johnson, 22. "There's this unspoken survival of the fittest.... If you don't fit in a box, you're going to feel rejected."

"Some people think that he doesn't deserve love," said Christina Perez, 24. "But we all deserve love."

scott.gold@latimes.com

abigail.sewell@latimes.com

lee.romney@latimes.com

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Adolfo Flores and Kate Mather in Isla Vista, and Amy Kaufman, Joe Mozingo, Bob Pool, Garrett Therolf and Richard Winton in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

In Isla Vista, red flags came too late

Elliot Rodger enjoyed sunsets, mountain vistas, retro pop music. He said it time and again: The world was a magical, beautiful place, but only in stark contrast to his small, pitiful life. "No friends," he said one day this spring, in a video recorded on his phone. "No love."

It's tempting, now that the finale has been written, to think that someone could have stepped in before Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 Friday before apparently killing himself, that the law could have been crafted to raise a red flag, to compel someone to act.

But according to interviews with Rodger's acquaintances, law enforcement officials and mental health professionals, all that was known about the 22-year-old college student was that he was terribly sad. And being sad is not a crime, nor the sort of mental state that would, alone, cross a legal threshold requiring official response.

The mental health system is imperfect, by design — a teeter-totter that weighs patients' civil liberties against public safety. Rodger existed in the middle, on the fulcrum, simmering and disturbed, just beyond arm's reach.

In that quiet space he planned his attack — lonely, but highly functioning; worrisome, but never explicitly threatening himself or anyone else; bumping into police, but never landing in jail; resistant to medication, but never outright rejecting care; able to articulate his misery, but conniving enough that authorities did not see a need for involuntary hospitalization.

The writing may have been on the wall, but no one — despite the apparently diligent efforts of his family, therapists and doctors, and law enforcement — knew what it said until it was too late.

"We never, as a society, got that opportunity with this boy — to find out if society could have intervened," said Carla Jacobs, a prominent advocate for an effective mental health system in California.

The son of a Hollywood director, Rodger grew up privileged in Calabasas and Woodland Hills. He had traveled extensively, to Morocco, Singapore and England. All along, he harbored a crushing darkness. His family suspected he was somewhere on the autism spectrum, and he had been in therapy since childhood. He was prescribed psychotropic drugs but declined to take them, he wrote.

Belying the aggressive personality seen on his now-notorious videos, he spoke haltingly and did not look people in the eye, said Simon Astaire, a family friend. "He was fundamentally withdrawn," Astaire said.

"He was very standoffish," said Thom McFadden, who lived next door to Rodger's father, Peter, in Woodland Hills. "A loner."

Dr. George Woods, a San Francisco psychiatrist who lectures on mental health and the law, said Rodger appeared to have been in an early phase of pre-psychosis. The ability to mask symptoms is common, he said.

"Oftentimes you'll see that the paranoia is in the service of the delusion," Woods said. "They aren't telling people their business."

The family was caring and attentive, said family friend Adam Krentzman. Peter Rodger "is the sweetest, nicest, most genuine, caring person, and he did everything he could," Krentzman said.

But after Elliot turned 18, he started rejecting mental health care that his family provided, Krentzman said. "He turned his back on all of it," he said. "At some point, your kid becomes an adult."

Elliot Rodger became increasingly isolated, sometimes by his own design. He complained that he couldn't make friends, but acquaintances said in interviews that he rebuffed their attempts to be friendly.

Bitterness rising, Rodger began to resent the carefree students in the tight-knit Isla Vista community, where more than half of the 23,000 residents are students at the nearby UC Santa Barbara. He viewed himself as a sophisticate and a catch, and reserved much of his venom for attractive women, who he believed spurned him, and men who had more success in dating.

One night last summer, he went to a party and tried to shove women off a ledge where they had been sitting. Several men intervened and pushed him off the ledge

instead, and he injured his ankle.

He was treated at a clinic for his injuries, and police showed up to interview him. In theory, this was an opening for formal, official intervention. But the officers determined that Rodger was "not a victim," a Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman said Sunday — that he had instigated the altercation.

Asked if there was anything about that incident that would have prompted authorities to follow up with Rodger, spokeswoman Kelly Hoover replied: "No."

Around the same time, Rodger hatched his plan for what he called "slaughter" and began buying semiautomatic handguns. Again, here was an opportunity for official scrutiny — he was making the purchases legally, abiding by California's background check system and waiting periods.

But Rodger sailed through, because despite his troubles, it does not appear that he triggered any warnings — he had no criminal history; he had never explicitly threatened anyone or been deemed a risk to himself or others; he had never been ordered to submit to involuntary mental health treatment; he had no history of addiction.

Even a diagnosis of serious mental illness, in itself, would not have prevented Rodger from buying a gun under California law, said Lindsay Nichols, staff attorney with the advocacy group Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

If Rodger had issued a threat of violence against specific, identifiable victims to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist would have been required to report it to law enforcement, and Rodger could have been banned from owning guns for five years. That did not happen, and there is no evidence that Rodger made such a threat — in fact, his writings suggest that he had worked studiously to hide his violent plan.

Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and expert on gun laws, said that in general, a diagnosis of mental illness doesn't affect a person's right to own a gun in California unless it has been adjudicated by a court or the person has voluntarily checked into a mental facility.

"It's just not a surprise that someone with mental health problems would still be able to get a gun," Winkler said.

Chuck Michel, one of the most prominent gun-rights attorneys in California, said there was nothing in Rodger's background that would have prevented him from being able to buy a gun.

"California's got pretty much every gun control law the gun control lobby wants, and it didn't stop this," he said.

More recently, Rodger began to post numerous videos to YouTube. Some were innocuous. Most, though, were brooding and dark.

At one point, he filmed from his glistening BMW as two young people kissed on a park bench in the distance. "I hate the world because no girl would do this with me," he said.

Rodger's parents were disturbed by the videos, family friends said. Mental health professionals put them in touch with the Sheriff's Department, and in April, deputies visited Rodger at his apartment, the same one where he would soon stab and kill three men to launch his rampage.

Rodger would later write that he was terrified when deputies knocked on his door — terrified that they would find his weapons, his ammunition and the detailed written plans of his attack. He feared he would be "denied of the chance to exact revenge on my enemies."

Rodger wrote that he "tactfully" told the officers there had been a misunderstanding — that everything was fine. They believed him.

Hoover, the Santa Barbara County spokeswoman, said the April visit by sheriff's deputies is now under investigation, and she declined to discuss the details. But, she said: "Generally speaking, unless we have a lawful reason to enter a residence, we cannot do so without a warrant. An exception would be if deputies felt that a person was a harm to themselves or others or there was an immediate threat. In this case, we would have had to determine that Elliot Rodger or his roommates were in immediate danger."

That did not happen, said Sheriff Bill Brown. Rodger had "a very convincing story," he said.

Officers could have more aggressively investigated Rodger and his mental state. For instance, officers could have checked records to see if he legally owned weapons. "But if they're just saying someone is not functioning well and exhibiting signs of depression, I can't see that they'd have a reason to do that," Woods, the San Francisco psychiatrist, said.

Had officers found Rodger a danger to himself or others, they could have placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold, known as a "5150." But the laws governing such aggressive action "are stringent," Woods said.

"And I think they're appropriately made that way. There has to be an acute reason, when you're talking a danger to yourself, a danger to others, or gravely disabled. There was no way that in these kinds of interviews and with his presentation that you could have made the conclusions."

Earlier this month, Orange County became the first large county in California to implement Laura's Law, allowing court-ordered treatment for the severely mentally ill. The law allows family members, licensed mental health providers, police officers and others to refer potential patients for treatment.

That law is not on the books in Santa Barbara County — but even if it were, proponents of the law conceded that Rodger would

almost certainly not have qualified, given what was known about him at the time.

So the deputies left, and never came back. "The biggest wave of relief swept over me," Rodger wrote.

He decided to launch his attack on Friday because if he'd waited past the weekend, the semester would have begun to wind down at the nearby university, and many of his "enemies" would be leaving for the summer.

At 9:17 that night, 13 minutes before the first gunshots rang out, his mother, Chin Rodger, was at home in a western suburb of Los Angeles when her phone rang. It was one of her son's therapists. "Have you gotten Elliot's email?" he asked.

Chin Rodger opened the email, according to an account of the night provided to The Times by a family friend. Something had changed. Her dejected son was gone, replaced by a man with a savage view of the world, and a terrible plan.

"This is the story of how I, Elliot Rodger, came to be," the email said. "It is a dark story of sadness, anger and hatred." Then: "I will punish everyone. And it will be beautiful. Finally, at long last, I can show the world my true worth."

Chin Rodgers frantically called her ex-husband, Peter, who was out to dinner. Together, they raced up the 101 Freeway. But it was too late. The radio started barking while they were still on the road — a vicious rampage in Isla Vista, a young man emptying his guns into crowds of pedestrians. By the time they reached the police station there, it was over.

On Sunday evening, a crowd prayed in front of the Alpha Phi sorority house in Isla Vista, where Rodger shot three women, two of whom died. There was a surprising amount of compassion for Rodger — for how he lived, if not how he died.

"The insecurities and rejection he felt is something I believe exists in a lot of hearts in this city," said Yvette Johnson, 22. "There's this unspoken survival of the fittest.... If you don't fit in a box, you're going to feel rejected."

"Some people think that he doesn't deserve love," said Christina Perez, 24. "But we all deserve love."

scott.gold@latimes.com

abigail.sewell@latimes.com

lee.romney@latimes.com

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Adolfo Flores and Kate Mather in Isla Vista, and Amy Kaufman, Joe Mozingo, Bob Pool, Garrett Therolf and Richard Winton in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

It's illegal to reject rental applicant just because she has no job

Written By kolimtiga on Minggu, 25 Mei 2014 | 16.38

Question: I am a widow who received a significant sum as a result of life insurance and the sale of our house when my husband died. As a result of this life-changing event, I need to move and I decided to rent rather than buy a new house.

I found a lovely apartment and submitted an application, but the rental agent rejected it out of hand, saying that I have no evidence of regular income. This is true, because I don't need to work because of the inheritance, and I am too young to receive Social Security or pension benefits.

I have sufficient money in the bank and my investment accounts to pay any reasonable rent for a number of years, but when I explained my finances to the rental agent, he insisted that I must have proof of current income to rent the apartment. What am I supposed to do?

Answer: Under California fair housing laws, it is illegal for a housing provider to refuse to rent to an applicant because of the source of the applicant's income, so long as the rental applicant can prove financial ability to pay the rent. Here, the rental agent's rejection of your application because you do not have current employment income appears to violate these laws.

This law is intended to protect persons who are retired, disabled or living on government benefits from being discriminated against in housing because their income comes from sources other than a current job. The alternative income source has to be reliable, however, and the amount of the income still must meet the landlord's minimum income standards.

To increase your chances of obtaining a rental, you may consider offering to show a prospective landlord your credit report, bank statements, government benefit stubs or other verification of your income as well as prior rental references. You also could offer to pay the maximum security deposit allowable by law.

If you are still refused a rental based on your lack of current employment income, you have the option of contacting a fair housing agency to ask for an investigation of your problem, or you may file a housing discrimination complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Van Deursen is director of Dispute Resolution Programs for Project Sentinel, a Bay Area nonprofit. Send questions to info@housing.org.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope Francis calls for end to Israeli-Palestinian stalemate

Pope Francis called the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate "unacceptable" as he landed Sunday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state.

Jubilant, flag-waving Palestinians greeted Francis on the second day of his Mideast pilgrimage, which featured a Mass in Manger Square on a stage next to the Church of the Nativity, built over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. Giant Palestinian flags in red, white, green and black hanging alongside the Vatican's yellow-and-white flags decorated the square.

Previous popes always came to the West Bank after first arriving in Tel Aviv, Israel. Francis, however, landed at a Bethlehem helipad from Jordan aboard a Jordanian helicopter and immediately headed into an official welcoming ceremony and meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Standing alongside Abbas, Francis declared: "The time has come to put an end to this situation which has become increasingly unacceptable." He said both sides needed to make sacrifices to create two states, with internationally recognized borders, based on mutual security and rights for everyone.

"The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good," he said.

In his remarks, Abbas voiced his concerns about the recent breakdown in U.S.-backed peace efforts and lamented the difficult conditions facing the Palestinians. He also expressed hope for peace.

"Your visit is loaded with symbolic meaning as a defender of the poor and the marginalized," he said.

Abbas listed a series of complaints against Israel, including continued settlement construction, the plight of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, Israel's control of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' would-be capital and Israel's construction of the "ugly wall" that encircles Bethlehem.

"We welcome any initiative from you to make peace a reality in the Holy Land," Abbas said. "I am addressing our neighbors — the Israelis. We are looking for the same thing that you are looking for, which is safety, security and stability."

Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by Israel's separation barrier. Israel says the barrier is a necessary security measure. But the Palestinians say it has engulfed land across the West Bank and stifled life in Bethlehem. After meeting Abbas, Francis stepped out of his open-air vehicle to inspect the massive concrete structure.

Francis spent a few minutes at the wall, surrounded by Palestinians waving Vatican flags and taking pictures with their cellphones,  then boarded his open-topped car the rest of the ride to Manger Square.

Security was lax by papal standards, even for a pope who has shunned the armored popemobile that his predecessors used on foreign trips.

When Francis went to Brazil last year, a half-dozen or more bodyguards jogged alongside his open-topped car any time he went out. With the crowds smaller in Bethlehem, only two bodyguards stood on the back of Francis' vehicle keeping watch as Palestinian police kept the crowd at bay. Francis waved and warmly smiled as his car made its way through the crowd in Manger Square.

Palestinian officials have hailed Francis' decision to arrive first in Bethlehem, rather than Tel Aviv, and to refer to the "state of Palestine." In its official program, the Vatican referred to Abbas as the president of the "state of Palestine," and his Bethlehem office as the "presidential palace."

"The fact that he is coming straight from Jordan to Bethlehem, without going through Israel," is a tacit recognition of a Palestinian state, said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian who is a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly recognized a "state of Palestine" in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — lands Israel captured in the 1967 war — as a non-member observer. The recognition still has little meaning on the ground, with Israel remaining in full control of east Jerusalem, which it annexed in 1967, and the West Bank.

However, it has enabled the Palestinians to start seeking membership in U.N. agencies and accede to international conventions in a further upgrade of their status. Israel objects to the Palestinian campaign, saying it is an attempt to bypass negotiations.

Francis is expected to press the Vatican's call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict upon his arrival in Israel. He is also expected to give a word of encouragement to Palestinian Christians, whose numbers have been dwindling as the conflict drags on.

Currently, Christians are roughly 2 percent of the population of the Holy Land, down from about 10 percent at the time of Israel's establishment. In Bethlehem, they are less than one third of the population, down from 75 percent a few decades ago.

Early Sunday, police arrested 26 Israelis for throwing stones at police officers and causing disturbances at a Jerusalem holy site where the pope will celebrate Mass at the end of his trip, Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said 150 religious Jews demonstrated at the holy site to protest rumors that Israel will transfer control of the site to the Vatican. According to Catholic tradition, the site marks the Last Supper of Jesus. But devout Jews believe the biblical King David is buried there, and they protest Christian prayer at the site. Israeli officials say there are no plans to turn the site over to the Vatican, but that they may reach a deal to allow more Christian prayer.

Francis' day calls for him to celebrate the Mass in Manger Square, where a large poster with a Nativity scene and the pontiff's three predecessors served as a backdrop to the altar. Many in the crowd also wore black-and-white checkered scarves around their heads or necks, a symbol of the Palestinian cause, and held clusters of balloons in the colors of the two flags.

After Mass, he was to lunch with Palestinian families and visit a Palestinian refugee camp before arriving at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport for a welcome ceremony.

His final event of the day is to be a prayer service with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Francis has said the encounter marking the 50th anniversary of a landmark meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement, was the primary reason for his three-day pilgrimage.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More
techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger