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More at SFGate.com : “A man was found stabbed to death in downtown Oakland, police said today. Nemekhbayer Gaitav, 42, was found inside an apartment on the 1400 block of Jackson Street near Lake Merritt about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said. He had been stabbed and was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been made.”

This is the video that "started it all" for me as a nationally-known video-blogger. It was one of several I made for the CNN / YouTube Democratic Debates, but the one CNN producers really liked. "The Coin Question."

The Oakland BART Police Fruitvale Station shooting was a horrifying act of an individual police officer that, upon reflection, went insane for a moment. I'm glad people had video cameras and used them. But I'm not happy with the state of the police in Oakland and the East Bay. What the officer did to young Oscar Grant was shameful. If you look at the videos, the officer first drags Grant over the station floor then positions him against the ground, and then pulls out his gun slowly then shoots him, but then looks up as if to say "Oh, that was an accident." It did not look that way. This should prompt a major investigation into how police are trained and the backgrounds and attitudes of the people that are recruited and how they're trained. There's something wrong and where there's smoke,there's fire. Now, Oakland Lawyer John Burris has introduced a $25 million lawsuit against the police department and BART, and given the look of the videos -- ther...

Of all the videos I've seen on last New Year's Day Morning's shooting by the BART / Oakland Police at Fruitvale BART Station, this one is the first I've seen that expresses an urban anger that was not expressed before. The evidence is clear the officer directly shot Oscar Grant, even if it was by accident. I have to have a closer look at his actions -- if he reached for his gun and took it out deliberately, then it was not an accident. This is tragic.

Famous stylist and restauranteur B Smith and Dan Gasby are the hosts for a major party to be held in Washington D.C during Inauguration Weekend, Saturday, January 17th at the lovely B. Smith Restaurant in Union Station, which can be seen in this video: There's a great list of Oaklanders and even former Oaklaners who now live in Washington DC, like former City Manager Robert C. Bobb, To attend, you have to fill out a form, which you can obtain here: REGISTRATION FORM  . Tickets are $150 per person. For more information, call 510-562-5560.

Today, as I was attending the memorial service for Dr. C. Diane Howell, the Oakland City Council selected Councilmember Jane Brunner (D-1) as its new President, replacing and breaking the long string of Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente (District 5) serving in that role. Frankly, I say "Congratulations" to Jane, who was rewarded for her long term of service to her North Oakland constituents.   But I can't help but feel that Councilmember Larry Reid should be the President.  But then one has to have the votes for that to occur, and perhaps Larry counted heads and saw they weren't there.   Regardless of who the head of the helm is, the City has a laundry list of large problems.  According to my friend Tom Guarino of Pacific Gas and Electric, Oakland City Attorney John Russo gave what Tom called an "incredible speech" about how Oakland needs to improve and what to do.    Sorry I missed it.  The City Council has it's first meeting every year, I'...

"Phishing" is the act of sending a "safe" looking email that asks you to give out sensitive information: your username and password. That practice has found it's way to Twitter. Here's what you should do if it happens to you.