The daily dose of headlines generated from the cesspool that is Trumpistan is horrifying. Enraging. Endless. And Trump hasn’t even been sworn in as president yet.
While we cannot let up on our resistance, maintaining our esprit de corps over the next years is also essential. Friday, January 20 has not just one but two opportunities to hit the dance floor. [Read more…]
By Anna Daniels
Editor Note: Congressman John Lewis told Chuck Todd in a recent interview that he did not see Trump as a legitimate president and that he would not attend the inauguration. Congressman Lewis brings the voice of moral authority and courage to his decision. The following is an article from the SDFP archives published on March 2, 2014.
On Saturday March 1, Congressman John Lewis received the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) Peacemaker award for his outstanding work as a civil rights champion and inspiring congressional leader. The reception, dinner and award ceremony were held at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. I did not attend, but there is no doubt in my mind that the guests were moved by his powerful oratory as he embraced another opportunity at that event to promote non-violent action as the only democratic remedy and response to injustice in the world.
Earlier in the day, Congressman John Lewis entered the Oak Park Public Library and became Storyteller John Lewis. In the intimacy of this small library, Lewis was clearly in his element. The Oak Park Library has no meeting room. Over eighty people sat and stood in the heart of this library surrounded by computers and book stacks. We sang This Little Light of Mine, lead by Lisa Sanders followed by a brief, heartfelt introduction from 4th district Councilwoman Myrtle Cole, the first African American woman on the city council.
In this place, Congressman Lewis unhurriedly and deftly wove the personal details of his own life, about how he grew up in rural Alabama on a farm in the segregationist south. We were immediately drawn into the storyteller’s enchanted circle.
[Read more…]
The 115th Congress convened for the first time earlier this week. After their disastrous behind closed doors attempt to gut the Office of Ethics went down in flames, they decided that it was time to concentrate on the number one priority–Repeal and Replace Obamacare.
Repeal and Replace Obamacare has been the Republican mantra since 2009. Their call for repeal of the Affordable Care Act is gratuitous, but it has kept the base hopeful if not happy. Repeal is infinitely easier than proposing a replacement and Republicans have nothing to offer in its place. Maybe that is because the Affordable Care Act IS the Republican healthcare coverage position. Democrats advocated for a universal health coverage system, an expansion of Medicare. [Read more…]
Over the past ten years consumers have absorbed higher costs at the check-out counter for all manner of goods. Remember when gasoline costs spiked and affected more than just gas at the pump? Everything from the potted plants at the local nursery to grocery items reflected an attendant price increase. Remember when the cost of coffee went up? What about the shortage of cheese and how that was reflected in higher consumer costs?
These consumer cost increases reflect everything from volatility in the commodity market to shortages caused by natural disasters to price fixing. We weren’t handed restaurant checks or grocery bills with a surcharge added for “free market” or “act of god” or “corporate greed.”
So why are some San Diego restaurants considering a surcharge on bills to cover the most recent “government mandated” wage hike which raises the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour?
[Read more…]
AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, recently sent a call to action letter to its members about the need to secure future Social Security benefits. That opening line should have generated a sigh of relief from AARP’s 37.8 million members over the age of 50 who have been following the rumblings from the new Republican Congress to privatize Medicare and Social Security.
Read a little further and you find out that AARP is not alerting us to the potential unraveling in 2017 of two wildly popular and essential components of our social safety net–but rather the potential insolvency of Social Security in 2034. Imagine that your house has been doused in gasoline and an arsonist is standing close by with a box of matches but you are being told that your problem is that you aren’t saving enough money to tent the place for termites seventeen years into the future. [Read more…]
San Diego City Councilwoman Myrtle Cole’s contentious election as Council President last week culminated with her appointments to the various City Council committees. Few of us know that these committees exist or what they do, but by the time issues are brought before the full City Council for legislative action they have been discussed and pretty much finalized in a committee.
Cole’s appointments to the Public Services and Livable Neighborhood (PS&L) committee denies a seat at the table for those of us who live in communities south of 8. Her selection of Councilmembers Chris Cate (chair), Lorie Zapf (vice chair), Barbary Bry, and Chris Ward is enraging, deeply concerning and unacceptable. [Read more…]
Maria Garcia recently release her long awaited book based on the award winning San Diego Free Press series The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights. The site of the book release—the historic Marston House—was no accident.
On Saturday December 10 over fifty people gathered at the Marston House garden where decades earlier San Diego businessman and philanthropist George Marston and his daughters Mary and Helen held fundraisers for the settlement house. [Read more…]
The first of two storms expected to move through the San Diego region this week arrived last night with steady moderate rainfall here in City Heights.
It was sixty degrees on the porch at 6:00 am this morning. The cats had taken shelter there and were curled up in loosely strewn bedding. I was still bed warm and savoring the first cup of coffee. Then I remembered this: [Read more…]
Yesterday, December 19, electors cast their votes in the Electoral College against a backdrop of protests across the country, including here in San Diego. For the second time in some of our memories, the winner of the popular vote lost the Electoral College vote.
Democrats howled after Al Gore’s loss in 2000 and agreed that something must be done about the Electoral College. All of the sound and fury ultimately signified nothing–here we (Democrats) are again.
A useful thought experiment is to imagine what would have happened if Trump had won the popular vote and not the Electoral College. Do you seriously think that we would be hearing about anything except how the election was stolen from Trump? [Read more…]
San Diego Free Press asked Stan Levin and Gil Field of San Diego Veterans for Peace to let us know about local involvement at Standing Rock. Over two thousand veterans are currently providing support and protection at the Standing Rock Sioux nation camp near the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Stan and Gil put us in touch with Veteran for Peace Will Griffin whose work can be found at the Peace Report. Will provided us with the video below from his October 2016 trip to Standing Rock with Matthew Hoh, Advisory Board Member of Veterans For Peace. [Read more…]
Last night, November 30, KPBS presented the 2016 Local Heroes Celebration at the Kitchens for Good at the Jacobs Center. KPBS and their partner Union Bank have been hosting this event since 1998 as a way to “showcase what is good in our communities”.
It is impossible to showcase what is good in our communities without showcasing the people in our communities who do good. Sixteen heroes who reflect the strengths and challenges of San Diego’s diverse communities were honored for the unique way they do good. Jeeni Criscenzo, who is known to the San Diego Free Press community as a vocal, fearless and tireless advocate for homeless women and children was one of those honorees. [Read more…]
Time to rip off the mantle of economic populism that Trump has wrapped himself in and expose what’s beneath it. It doesn’t bode well for those who thought pulling the lever for Trump meant that their Social Security and Medicare are safe.
While Donald Trump is busy Making America Great Again, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is more than willing to take care of the policy making, starting with privatizing Medicare.
Let that sink in for a moment. Paul Ryan will propose legislation to privatize Medicare. Starting March of 2017. [Read more…]
