A checklist of the Trump administration’s accomplishments the week:
** Raised the possibility of using executive power to critical media… [Read more…]
I’m pleased to report some good news today. San Diego’s regional transportation agency is going to change the way they do business, thanks to AB 805, legislation introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher and signed by the Governor on Wednesday.
This is a big deal, even if most of the benefits are in the future. The balance of power is shifting to areas of the region where most people live. The old boy network’s influence over long-term planning for San Diego County has been diminished.
This is a good thing for the quality of the air we breathe, the needs of lower income and minority communities, and the future of transportation. No longer will the State of California’s environmental standards be relegated to a lower priority in planning. [Read more…]
Harvey Weinstein. Donald Trump. Bill Cosby. Roger Ailes. Bill O’Reilly. Bill Clinton. Bob Filner. Mickey Kasparian.
These names are among those at the center of past and present reports and accusations of outrageous conduct involving male sexual aggression, harassment and/or violence against women. There are more names to be named and countless more victims.
Liberals do it. Progressives do it. Conservatives do it. Fascists do it. So why in hell are people attempting to put a partisan frame on misogynist misconduct? [Read more…]
After 25 years in representing California in the US Senate, Dianne Feinstein says she wants another whack at it. She took to Twitter, saying there is “lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. I’m all in!”
Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the first woman to hold that role. She is also a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and was the first woman to lead the panel, from 2009 through 2015.
Although she occupies what is likely the safest of the 25 Democratic Senate seats up for grabs in 2018, the media is chock full of speculation about a primary challenge coming from the progressive wing of the party. [Read more…]
This is going to be a bad week for progressives. Like a cornered rat, Trump and his minions are lashing out in all directions. While the chattering class discusses Senator Bob Corker’s tactical differences with the administration, its strategies remain the same, no longer burdened with any pretense of bipartisanship.
The President has issued–via email–a list of preconditions guaranteed to end discussions with the Democratic congressional leadership regarding a deal extending DACA. An executive order to be issued this week will significantly undermine what remains of the Affordable Care Act, as insurers are signaling they’ll no longer wait for stability in the marketplace.
Unbridled racism wrapped in the flag continues to play a significant role in the administration’s agenda, as evidenced in the Vice President’s pre-planned stunt at an NFL game costing taxpayers upwards of a quarter million dollars in transportation costs. [Read more…]
It must feel as though the walls are closing in at the White House. And the President’s responses go way beyond Twitter.
CNN reports Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team met with Christopher Steele, the former MI-6 officer whose dossier on alleged Russian involvement with the Trump campaign triggered months of investigations. Steele was reportedly willing to name his heretofore secret sources.
Politico reported on GOP donors, frustrated with the lack of accomplishments, closing their wallets. Contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee have fallen by 50% in recent months. The President took time out from his Las Vegas photo ops to meet with top donor Sheldon Adelson, who reportedly was unhappy about what’s not going on. [Read more…]
Two seemingly different stories illustrate the external challenges faced by media in the 21st century.
The President wants the news media investigated by Congress.
Google’s algorithm changes made earlier this year are impacting more than the just the purveyors of fraudulent news accounts.
These threats come on top of the ongoing collapse of the traditional business model(s) responsible for funding the fourth estate. [Read more…]
San Diego’s reputation for stealthy relationships between land developers and elected officials got a boost on Tuesday as the source for a leaked memo revealed himself.
At a hastily called press conference, City Councilman Chris Cate came clean, admitting to giving a confidential legal communication to proponents of a proposed Mission Valley development marketed under the name Soccer City.
The press release –sent by a public relations firm associated with the developers of Soccer City– made it seem like this disclosure was no big deal.
Except that it IS a big deal. [Read more…]
We no longer have to wonder whether there will be more Las Vegas-style mass executions in the United States; the only question is ‘when?’
The handwriting on the wall following the slaughter of schoolchildren in Newtown Connecticut five years ago was clear. The supremacy of weapons ownership trumps life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Sexual predator and former Fox blowhard Bill O’Reilly took to the interwebs yesterday, using his blog to declare mass shooting incidents were the ‘price of freedom’ we have to pay for the having the Second Amendment as part of the Constitution.
[Read more…]
Just the facts: On Sunday night, at least 58 people died and more than 500 hundred people were injured when shots were fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort into a crowd of 22,000 attending a nearby music festival.
Stephen Paddock, age 64, was found dead by Las Vegas police in the room believed to be the site from where the shots were fired. Official reports say there were 10 rifles in the room.
This year has already seen 273 mass shootings (defined as four or more individuals being shot or killed in the same general time and location), according to the Gun Violence Archive. The slaughter in Las Vegas holds, for now, the all-time record for casualties in a modern-day mass shooting.
[Read more…]
If you happen to live in or visit one of the neighborhoods surrounding the East Village, you’ve no doubt noticed an influx of homeless humans in the past few days.
San Diego’s been getting an increasing amount of negative publicity about the epidemic of Hepatitis A. Based on what I’ve seen this week, the City’s response has been two-fold:
What started out as a trickle of news stories suggesting social media was being manipulated to influence public opinion is now turning into a flood.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has summoned executives from Twitter to testify about the role of automated accounts, known as bots, in spreading propaganda and misinformation in the United States. The New York Times says the short form platform may have played a larger role than previously reported in the 2016 elections.
Facebook is giving up images of over three thousand ads paid for (in rubles, according to Sen. Mark Warner) by Russian entities attempting to influence the voting public. There is widespread speculation the $100,000 in direct payments from overseas accounts is just the tip of the iceberg. [Read more…]
