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The Impact of the Student-Led March for Our Lives, Even Before Local and Nationwide March 24 Rallies

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The mission and moral clarity of the student survivors of the Valentines Day shooting in Parkland, Florida continues to have a nationwide impact. Locally there will be March for Our Lives rallies on Saturday in Temecula, Escondido, and downtown San Diego. And these mass gatherings are not occurring in a vacuum.

Indivisible 49 and its coalition partners moved its weekly protest on Tuesday from the Vista office of Rep. Darrell Issa to the Oceanside office of State Assemblyman Rocky Chávez, who seeks to replace Issa in Congress.  Several hundred people showed up to make their feelings known about Chavez’s 93% approval rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its endorsement during his last campaign.

The Del Mar City Council is asking directors of the nearby fairgrounds to end their relationship with the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, held there five times a year. According to the Union-Tribune, they have also reached out to 78th District Assemblyman Todd Gloria and State Sen. Toni Atkins to draw up legislation prohibiting gun shows at the facility. The City of Solana Beach will be considering a similar action.   [Read more…]

Cambridge Analytica Scandal: A Threat to Democracy and Facebook’s Future

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There’s some disturbing news about our digital existence emerging. A company called Cambridge Analytica used data from Facebook to build psychographics to influence political perceptions and voting behavior. The profiles of 50 million users of the ubiquitous social media platform were harvested through a contract with a UK-based research firm (Global Science Research, GSR).

Investigations by the Intercept, the Guardian/Observer, the New York Times, and undercover footage from the British Channel 4 network reveal a company whose use and abuse of data–along with more conventional covert activities–crossed the line between consumer persuasion to political manipulation.

According to CNN, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie says the company tested Trump slogans such as “drain the swamp” and “deep state” as early as 2014, before Trump announced a presidential run.   [Read more…]

A War of Words in the D4 County Supervisor Race

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The race for District 4 County Supervisor is heating up. And not necessarily in a good way.

Four Democratic candidates are seeking the seat: attorney Omar Passons, former Deputy Fire Chief Ken Malbrough, along with former Assemblypersons Lori Saldaña and Nathan Fletcher. Former DA Bonnie Dumanis is the sole Republican on the June 5 primary ballot.

Saldaña and Fletcher are the ones making the news this week, with stories in the Union-Tribune and the Times of San Diego. You’d need a scorecard to keep track of the charges and counter-charges between two camps. While I’m not going to detail every move and countermove, I will give readers a taste of what’s been happening.

In a nutshell, last week candidate Lori Saldaña was endorsed by a breakaway labor group scorned by many progressive activists. This news has triggered a war of words.   [Read more…]

It’s Time to Start Thinking About the June 5 Elections Progressive Activist Calendar, March 16-26, 2018

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It’s off to the races time. The June Primary races, that is.

The deadline for candidates to file has passed, and now it’s time or the sorting process to begin. Over the past few months, various organizations have vetted candidates. Some have already made endorsements. (We’ll have a list of who likes who posted next week.) Others are still in the process.

There is already a major controversy in Democratic circles triggered by endorsements announced by Micky Kasparian’s rump labor organization, the Working Families Council. I will write more on this shortly.   [Read more…]

Healthcare Repair: The Achilles Heel for Republicans in 2018 Elections

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Indivisible Panel to Discuss Solutions at Balboa Park Club March 18

Issues of health and wellness represent a threat to the quality of life to most Americans.      

Healthcare. Obamacare. Medicare-For-All. Single-payer.  These are issues key to stemming the Red Tide of Republicanism come election time. The systems we to turn to for self-preservation often aren’t working when people need them. And it’s about to get much worse. So let’s have that conversation.

The GOP couldn’t come up anything beyond ‘don’t get sick and die quickly if you do’ after years of prophesizing the collapse of capitalism and civilization itself unless the collection of compromises passed while the Black Guy was in the White House were repealed.

Having robbed the treasury via ‘tax reform’ to pad the pockets of the wealthy, the Congress will have no choice but to announce yet another round of ‘reforms’ designed to reduce access to–along with the quality of–healthcare.
  [Read more…]

Thank You, Students Everywhere, for Walking Out to Protest Gun Violence

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Students from over 3000 schools nationwide and more than 30 in San Diego stopped what they were doing on Wednesday, March 14, to send a message.

This was about more than guns. This was about saying no more business as usual. This was about saying platitudes won’t do. This was about saying personal attacks on survivors just makes their cause stronger.

Making change is a lot of work. I hope and pray they continue on the path of righteousness.   [Read more…]

Protest Journal: Trump’s San Diego Visit

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There were to be no groups exercising their free speech in the “Free Speech Zone” on the occasion of President Donald Trump’s border wall prototypes inspection tour.  Organizers took a look at what was being offered by the San Diego County Sheriffs and said “no thanks.”

Both anti-Trump/Border Wall protests scheduled near the site of the prototypes in Otay Mesa during President Trump’s visit relocated themselves to San Ysidro late on Monday.

***This post will be updated throughout the day***   [Read more…]

UPDATED: What’s Happening During Trump’s San Diego Visit

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The President of the United States is coming to one the safest cities in the United States to complain about crime and immigration. No doubt he’ll echo this weekend’s Saturday address expressing his unhappiness with California’s defiant stance on cooperation with federal authorities:

“California’s leaders are in open defiance of federal law,” Mr. Trump said. “They don’t care about crime. They don’t care about death and killings. They don’t care about robberies. They don’t care about the kind of things that you and I care about.”

President Donald Trump will fly into Miramar Marine Corps Air Station on Tuesday morning, sometime between 9 and 11am. He’ll make a late morning/mid-day appearance at the site of the Border Wall prototypes in Otay Mesa, returning to Miramar to make a speech before TV cameras at 2pm.

NOTE: Both protest events originally scheduled for Otay Mesa have moved to San Ysidro due to safety concerns.   [Read more…]

Progressive Groups Hope to Fund Digital Billboard at Border Crossing for Trump Visit

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If protests aren’t your thing, there’s now another way for San Diegans to express their opposition to Trump.

As I’m writing this post on Saturday morning, there are a half-dozen protests, press conferences, and rallies announced in anticipation of a Presidental visit to San Diego for the purpose of inspecting prototypes of a border barrier erected in Otay Mesa. Additional responses are being organized for an expected stop later in the day by Trump at a GOP fundraiser in Beverley Hills.

Fourteen organizations in the San Diego have joined forces to fundraise for a digital billboard aimed at countering the pro-Border Wall message Donald Trump is expected to deliver on Tuesday, March 13. The 10 X 20 Digitron billboard at the San Ysidro border crossing, will be visible to those crossing the border from Tijuana. It is expected the message will garner up to 150,000 daily views during the average 100-minute border wait, running for 20 seconds every hour, 24 hours a day for 28 days.   [Read more…]

Black Women, Anti-Trump, & Student Protests! Progressive Activist Calendar March 9-19, 2018

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This is likely to be a historic week for activism in San Diego. Black Women will march to build power and community on Saturday, Anti-Trump Protests will span Monday & Tuesday, and students from five colleges, along with 29 elementary thru high schools will walk out for 17 minutes on Wednesday to protest gun violence.

Plus! There are thirty-two other opportunities to educate, organize, demonstrate, and engage with progressives throughout the region. Whether it’s electoral politics, teach-ins, grass root community activism on neighborhood issues, there’s something to do.

I’ll maintain and update a page about anti-Trump demonstrations here. Email me dougporter@sandiegofreepress.org or tag me on Facebook if you have information that needs to be added. Oh, and the County of San Diego is kinda freaking out about demonstrations near the border; learn about those restrictions here.   [Read more…]

UPDATED: Trump’s Visiting San Diego on Tuesday: How Will Activists Respond?

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UPDATED as of 3/11

Monday–

Rally and Press Conference —  Monday, March 12 at 11 am, Chicano Park, Participants include Alliance San Diego, American Friends Service Committee, San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, Southern Border Communities Coalition, Interfaith Justice Coalition, Unite Here Local 30, Union del Barrio, City Councilmember Georgette Gomez (D-9)

Fuera Donald Trump — Monday, March 12 at 5pm, Edward J Schwartz Federal Building, 880 Front Street, For More Information, Hosted by Unión del Barrio

Tuesday–

Tuesday–

NOTE: Both protests scheduled for Otay Mesa have been moved to San Ysidro due to safety concerns. This listing is accurate as of 7:20am Tuesday.

Protest Trump at San Ysidro Border
9:30 – 11:30am
Corner of Virginia Ave and Camino de La Plaza  San Ysidro
 For More Information
Being Organized by Nuevo Movimento and San Diego Protests

We are meeting at the San Ysidro border crossing and welcoming our Mexican brothers and Sisters into the United States. We are meeting at the corner of Virginia Ave and Camino de La Plaza. We will have a couple of speakers and open Mic for our community members. We hope to see you all there. Afterward feel free to stop by at the Women’s March and Clergy event located at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church
2020 Alaquinas Drive
San Ysidro, CA 92173.

Please show up in masses and support us! Park at Las Americas mall outlet, plenty of free parking there. The rally will be at the corner of Camino de la Plaza and Virginia Ave.

Press Conference and Rally:
Interfaith Leaders and Elected Officials to Urge Trump
to Build Bridges Not Walls in San Diego Visit
Tuesday, March 13 at Noon, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, 2020 Alaquinas Drive, San Ysidro. Hosted by San Diego Organizing Project.

Women’s March San Diego issued the following statement late on Monday
After gathering information and many considerations, Women’s March San Diego has decided to join forces with many community organizations and rally (see above) at the following location near the border:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church,  2020 Alaquinas Drive, San Ysidro, CA 92173
Rally and Press Conference: Stand with Immigrant Families’
Hosted by San Diego Organizing Project
Speeches begin at NOON!
WOMEN’S MARCH SAN DIEGO WILL ARRIVE AT 11:30 TO VOICE OUR OPPOSITION TO THE WALL AND THIS VISIT!
For More Information, Hosted by Women’s March San Diego   
Taxpayers Resist Trump’s Wall – Tuesday, March 3, 9:30am, Corner of F St and Front St (on lawn behind IRS Building), For More Information, Hosted by Indivisible San Diego

San Diego Undocuyouth RESIST Trump— Tuesday, March 13, 5:30pm, Waterfront Park – County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Highway, For More Information, Hosted by The Seed Project
  [Read more…]

Attorney General Sessions Swoops into Sacramento to Denounce ‘Lawless Open Borders Radicals’

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Sacramento for a media moment Wednesday morning, hoping to stoke support for a lawsuit destined for the Supreme Court aimed at overturning over state laws protecting immigrants.

He got a cool reception –polite applause– from what the Trump administration hoped would be a receptive audience, a meeting of the California Peace Officers Association at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel.

Continuing the Trump administration’s assault on the truth, Sessions compared the sanctuary movement in California to secessionist and racist defiance in the South during the civil rights era.   [Read more…]

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