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Dumanis & The Cesspool of Local Politics – Progressive Activist Calendar October 27 – November 6, 2017

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As hard as it may be to take our eyes off the train wreck happening in Washington DC, there are significant local developments worthy of our attention this week.

Court papers filed by the lawyer for Mexican businessman Jose Susumo Azano Matsura this week claim former DA Bonnie Dumanis knew he was a foreign citizen and legally barred from funding her 2012 mayoral campaign, yet sought his money anyway.

Attorney Knut Johnson contended both Dumanis and her campaign fundraiser Kelli Maruccia embarked on an “unrelenting solicitation of campaign funds from Mr. Azano and his company knowing he was a foreign national,” in a 25-page memo arguing against prison for his client.
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Not The News: Uranium and Pee Pee Dossier Stories Revived

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Two recycled stories are making Fox News extra rabid this week.

John Solomon, chief operating officer of Circa News, an online site owned by Sinclair Broadcasting (known as Trump News in the broadcast industry) ‘broke’ a story at The Hill claiming,  “Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow.”

Story number two is a class one nothingburger–the Democrats paid for some opposition research. Okay, okay, now we know the name of the person who paid Fusion GPS/Christopher Steele for “legal services.”   [Read more…]

Make It Fair: Close a Prop 13 Corporate Loophole and Dull Trump’s Budget Ax for Californians

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November 1, 2017, will be an important day for San Diegans concerned about what the future of California looks like.  

Republicans in Washington DC are scheduled to release the paperwork outlining the #TrumpTaxScam on November 1st. Congressman Paul Ryan told a press conference on Tuesday the House is on track to get a “tax overhaul bill” to the Senate before Thanksgiving.

On November 1st there will be a town hall at San Diego City College about closing a major tax loophole in California that could lessen the impact of the #TrumpTaxScam. The ‘Make It Fair’ forum will discuss a proposal to revise Proposition 13, which currently allows corporations to claim the same property tax protections as the homeowners the measure was intended to protect.   [Read more…]

House Republicans: We Need More Investigations into Hillary Clinton

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Yes, news fans, you read that right. With everything else going on in Washington DC, two Congressional panels are going to conduct a joint investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

But wait! There’s more! Congressman Devin Nunes just announced that the House Intel Committee is opening an investigation into the US-Russia-Uranium deal struck under Clinton.

I have no doubt Nunes is responding to Rush Limbaugh’s recent aired massive conspiracy theory implicating President Barack Obama, Special Counsel Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Clintons and the Russians over a uranium sale from years ago that’s going to blow the lid off everything.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Democratic Party Leadership Should Heed #MeToo

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Last weekend’s San Diego County Democratic Convention was a success on many levels. Candidates spoke, networks were built, and the party faithful came away full of hope for the future. The mechanics of the event went smoothly.

But…

There was just the nagging question of you-know-who, who stands accused of doing you-know-what. A handful of demonstrators held banners near the entrance to the California Center for the Arts, reminding attendees that this issue wasn’t going away anytime soon.

Ten thousand dollars bought a lot of silence at the Democratic Convention. With the unfolding scandals concerning sexual misconduct and harassment by powerful figures in entertainment, politics, and labor, you’d think the local party might have doubts about cashing a check from San Diego’s poster child for allegations of such conduct.   [Read more…]

San Diego County 2017 Democratic Convention: Photo Gallery and Impressions From Escondido

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There were no fireworks at the seventh biennial San Diego County Democratic Convention on Saturday at Escondido’s California Center for the Arts. The old cliché of organizing Democrats being akin to herding cats did not apply to this particular gathering. Some people–gasp!–were even having fun. 

The trauma of Trump has eased, and what I saw were a bunch of folks bound and determined to defend their turf in California and hoping for a major pushback in 2018. Factional divisions like those described at the State Party convention earlier this year were not in evidence. And that was by design–this gathering had nothing to do with internal governance and everything to do with strutting their stuff.

The agenda consisted of two general sessions, nine workshops, and a luncheon featuring speeches by Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and billionaire investor turned activist Tom Steyer. Various campaigns looking to increase awareness among Democratic activists set up tables in the hallways.
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California’s Combustible Climate Change Crisis + Progressive Activist Calendar, October 20 – 31

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It’s the time of year when the smell of smoke in the air makes many of us afraid. The Santa Ana (Southern California) and (Northern California) Diablo winds become more frequent in October, with humidity and the temperature rising and falling through each week.

Our state’s “fire season” used to run from June to October is now a year-round threat due to a mixture of perennial drought and increasing development near canyons and on hillsides surrounded by brush and forest.

The fossil fuel apologists running our government and their compatriots in the echo chamber otherwise known as Fox News have waved away meaningful discussion about the connections between climate change, wildfires in the west, and hurricanes in the Atlantic.

“It’s too soon,” they say, mimicking the approach used by the National Rifle Association and their toadies after every mass shooting.   [Read more…]

Ginning Up Fear Over California Fires and Hepatitis A

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Right now, right here in San Diego, we have prototypes being built for a wall of shame.

The facts about our border with Mexico don’t matter; that border cities generally have low crime rates, unlawful border crossings are down, people and/or drugs are being mostly smuggled through regular ports of entry.  

The Trump administration is dead-set on spending tens of billions of dollars for a symbolic barrier as a testament to their success in selling fear of the ‘other’ as a vehicle for dismantling the social safety net and lining the pockets of their loony financiers.

The President took time out yesterday from disrespecting grieving widows and boosting conspiracy theories floated by Putin’s propagandists to Tweet out a video of the construction in Otay Mesa.

Let’s look around at what Trump’s allies have been up to lately and see if we can find anything in common.   [Read more…]

Peter Navarro’s Economic Hallucinations, Trump’s Lack of Empathy, and the Latest Lorena Conspiracies

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Did you know NAFTA is responsible for just about everything wrong with this country except your co-worker’s bad breath? The President’s economic advisor said so in a memo last month. Abortions, divorce, infertility and opioid abuse are all on the rise because of a trade agreement. And they’ve got a chart to “prove” it.

Sad stuff… Today would be a good day for even the most die-hard Trump supporter to acknowledge the man’s complete lack of empathy, thanks to some –now apparently misunderstood– remarks made to the widow of Army Special Forces Sergeant La David Johnson.

Speaking of hallucinations, there must be something really dreadful coming out of the water fountains at the San Diego branch of the Associated General Contractors.  They should probably get those pipes looked before penning their next screed promoting conspiracies about Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez.
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Issa Protesters Cry Fowl Over Sheriffs Ticketing

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It was supposed to be just another Tuesday on the picket line outside the Thibodo Road building housing Congressman Darrell Issa’s office in Vista. Little did organizers know the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department had a surprise waiting for them.

Roughly 300 people showed up, as they have every week for the past nine months, urging the 49th District Republican to disavow President Trump’s policies. To keep interest up, there are weekly themes and protest subjects. This week’s theme was “It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s the Resistance! the matter at hand was the GOP budget coming before Congress in the coming weeks.

In keeping with their weekly theme, protest organizers obtained a 20-foot tall inflatable chicken, complete with Trump hair styling, and arranged for a plane to fly overhead towing a banner “Not One Penny in Tax Cuts for Issa and the 1%.”   [Read more…]

San Diego’s GOP Congressmen: Issa’s Opponents Have Incoming Cash, Hunter Could Be Picking Up Trash

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Democratic activists have been serious about campaigning early in the 49th and 50th Congressional districts and it would appear those efforts are paying off.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa is down 10 points in polling pitting him against any generic Democratic candidate. While the three Dems opposing Issa all filed strong third quarter fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission, the incumbent maintains a substantial cash-on-hand advantage.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently moved Congressman Duncan Hunter’s 50th District from “solid” to “likely” Republican. Democrats Josh Butner and Ammar Najjar-Campa each raised more money than the incumbent in the third quarter report.   [Read more…]

Why Councilman Cate Likely Won’t Be Prosecuted for Helping Out Soccer City

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City Councilman Chris Cate’s admission of his decision to pass along a confidential legal memo to a lobbyist working for the backers of the Soccer City development proposal has been at the center of controversy in recent days.

Cate and his PR guy say the decision to share was a necessary part of gathering information to make an informed decision. Except it would appear the Councilman had already taken a stance since his photograph appears alongside a supportive quote with other project backers at GoalSD.com. And lobbyist Craig Benedetto, who received the memo–stamped “confidential”–donated to and raised funds for Cate earlier this year.

The City Attorney says she believes a misdemeanor offense was committed and referred the case to the County District Attorney’s office. And there it will die, despite compelling evidence Cate violated San Diego Municipal Code section 27.3564(e).       [Read more…]

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