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ResistSD! Progressive Calendar for San Diego February 16-March 1, 2017

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More than two dozen ways to get involved

Congress will be taking a break next week to listen to their constituents, except for the 200 Republican members of the House of Representatives who refuse contact with the public.

By contrast, in the first two months of 2015, Republicans held 222 in-person events.

Donald Trump is already campaigning for 2020, and as was true with his last launch event, people are being paid to be there.

So what can you do? There’s plenty of local activism to support. Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings   [Read more…]

Reflections on A Day Without Immigrants

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A week of immigration roundups by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has triggered a wave of one-day strikes impacting business and schools in cities throughout the United States.

Eyewitness reports from around the country belie the administration’s assurances that enforcement efforts are aimed at criminal offenders. Deportation forces are harassing legal residents and targeting DACA-recipients, domestic violence survivors, and those seeking shelter from cold weather at a church.

Thus far, San Diego seems to have been spared, according to local advocates. People are afraid, nonetheless.   [Read more…]

Constituents Buy Newspaper Ad Seeking Rep. Issa Town Hall Appearance

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Several hundred people crowdfunded a full page ad in the Union-Tribune on Tuesday, inviting Congressman Darrell Issa to a town hall in Vista on February 21.

For weeks now people in the 49th Congressional district have been calling, writing, and even picketing hoping to get Issa to directly engage with them on issues of concern, especially what in store for them with the promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The wily congressman tried to dodge the issue by staging a “telephone conference” involving carefully screened callers. He rolled out a proposal for ‘accessible’ health care, hoping people wouldn’t notice they’d have no way to afford it. It didn’t work.   [Read more…]

Up is Down and Flynn is Out: More Complicated Than It Seems

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On Monday evening the President of the United States accepted the resignation of his national security advisor, Ret. General Michael Flynn.

The oft-stated scenario has Flynn falling on his sword following news accounts calling into question his ties with the Russian government and the Trump administration’s refusing to acknowledge there might be a security problem because of the relationship.

There is, as you will see, a three-dimensional chess game going on in world politics, and this incident is just the latest move.   [Read more…]

Resistance Efforts Turn Towards City Council Over Trump Travel Ban

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On Tuesday, February 14, the San Diego City Council will vote on whether to join the Washington State lawsuit challenging the Trump Travel Ban. Local activists are being asked to support this effort by contacting City Council members and attending a hearing on the matter.

Although a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of a ban on travel from some Muslim-majority nations, the suit challenging the executive order continues to move forward.

One year ago the very idea of San Diego joining this lawsuit would not have been considered. The election of Mara Elliott as City Attorney has changed the political landscape.   [Read more…]

Weekly Progressive Calendar for San Diego: February 10-22, 2017

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Over Two Dozen Ways to Get Involved and Make Your Voice Heard

Congratulations, resistees! We have survived 1.4% of Donald Trump’s (only) four-year term. It’s more important than ever to remember we’re involved in a marathon, not a sprint.

The latest polling results are out as I write this, and they offer encouragement for those of us involved in this movement. Support for impeaching the president has risen from 40% to 46% in the past week. NBC’s Saturday Night Live comedy now has more credibility than the man in the oval office.

Congress-critters from around the country, even those in so-called safe districts are seeing angry voters whenever they appear in public. And when they won’t appear in public –we’re talking about you, Darrell Issa– congressional town halls sans congress-critters are being organized.   [Read more…]

Dueling Downtown Protests Set as Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Escalates

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Guadalupe García de Rayos was taken into custody by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Phoenix during a routine check-in with the agency on Wednesday.

Seven people were arrested as dozens of immigration activists blocked the gates surrounding the office in an effort to stop several vans and a bus from leaving. The mother of two was photographed attempting to communicate with her children from inside one of the vehicles, which are used to transport people in ICE custody to detention centers, or to Arizona’s border with Mexico for deportation.

Observers fear this could be the beginning of a nationwide crackdown, targeting as many as 8 million people.   [Read more…]

‘Nevertheless, She Persisted.’ One Heck of a Resist Trump Tuesday

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Indivisible Gets Visible at Local Congressional Offices, National City Hearing

Mitch McConnell and his Republican friends in the United States Senate handed the resistance movement a gift on Tuesday night when they invoke an obscure rule to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she read from a letter by Coretta Scott King concerning the record of Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions.

The letter was addressed to then-Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1986. In it, King objected to Sessions nomination to be a federal judge due to his use of “the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens.” King continued, “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of this office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters.”   [Read more…]

It’s Time to Clean House at SANDAG

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Andy Keatts story at Voice of San Diego about SANDAG (San Diego’s Regional Planning Agency) prompted one of those “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” moments for me yesterday.

He’s obtained emails showing the agency’s executive director and other high-ranking officials deliberately misled the public regarding economic forecasts with significant errors overstating sales tax revenues expected for transportation projects included as part of Measure A.   [Read more…]

Alt-President Bannon Presides and Other Tales of Trump

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Today we’ll look at some recent developments as the divisions of power within the White House are coming into focus.

So-called President Donald Trump is there for the fame and fortune. Vice President Pence and his buddy Reince Priebus are there to oversee the dismantling of the new deal social contract. And ‘Economic Nationalist’ Steve Bannon is overseeing the reshuffling of the world order while tweaking domestic social policies.

The rise of a nationwide resistance continues. While Senate Democrats won’t actually achieve the historically rare feat of denying cabinet confirmations, the drip, drip, drip of damning information combined with an increasingly aware and active electorate will continue to challenge the administration’s priorities.   [Read more…]

Resist and Persist: Trump Can’t Stand It

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The third weekend of the Trump administration saw protests and organizing events in cities large and small around the country.

Two Republican Congressman ignored the advice of their colleagues to stay away from in-person town halls and ended up having catching hell. Republican Reps. Tom McClintock in Roseville Ca., and Mike Coffman in Aurora, Co. tried and failed to limit attendance at their events; both ended up calling for a police escort to escape constituents angry over attempts to repeal Obamacare.

In San Diego, an organizing meeting for the downtown chapter of nascent Indivisible network drew nearly 200 people on Saturday. The Indivisible national registry indicates more than 50 such groups have sprung up in San Diego County since the Women’s March.   [Read more…]

Progressive Calendar for San Diego February 3-13, 2017

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Activism works, particularly when it is on many levels. Demonstrations, teach-ins, forums, phone and letter writing campaigns all have cumulative effect. And while not every battle can be won –Trump will get most of his cabinet– they effectively shift public opinion and the tone of media coverage.

It took sixteen months for the Watergate scandal to convince 40% of Americans of the need to impeach President Nixon. Donald Trump made it in less than two weeks.   [Read more…]

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