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Angst Over Police Shootings Rocks California Cities

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Community unrest over the deaths of black people at the hands of police in California continued unabated throughout the weekend. And it wasn’t just in El Cajon/San Diego.

Alfred Olango died in El Cajon on Tuesday. A composite video taken from a security camera and a bystander’s cellphone was released on Friday. Carnell Snell Jr. died in Los Angeles on Saturday, the second police-involved death in two days. And a particularly grotesque video of the July 11th death of Joseph Mann in Sacramento surfaced showing police officers trying to run him down before chasing him down and firing 14 shots into him.   [Read more…]

Prop 57 – If Sentencing Reform Passes, Will Hospital Bombers Run Amok?

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Prop 57 is the final part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s mea culpa for the tough on crime laws passed during his first term. As a result, the state prisons were filled to overflowing. Lawsuits and investigative reporting exposed the cruel and inhumane process amounting to little more than warehousing.

The Supreme Court agreed, saying conditions were so bad they violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual treatment. In 2011, California was ordered to reduce its population by more than 30,000 inmates.

California’s penal system became larger than its colleges, and, in fact, functioned as a crime training facility for a lost generation of the economically dispossessed, most of whom were people of color. And, let’s face it, a major legacy of that era’s thinking was the use of the penal system as a means of social control for people of the non-white persuasion.   [Read more…]

Prop 56 – Tobacco Industry Lie Machine Runs at Top Speed

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EXTRA EDITION: Saturday Laryngectomy Rant 

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association in California and American Heart Association have placed Prop 56 on the ballot increasing taxes on tobacco products and updating state law to include e-cigarettes as a taxable product.

The tobacco industry has amassed a $56 million dollar war chest to defeat Prop 56. They know arguing in favor of tobacco use won’t work, so they’ve unleashed a blizzard of bullcrap advertising seeking to confuse and obfuscate the matter.   [Read more…]

Prop 55 – Keep On Funding Education in California

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Back in 2012 voters approved Proposition 30, which combined a one-fourth cent sales tax increase and a surcharge on incomes taxes for individuals earning more than $250,000 annually. The money raised went to fund education and healthcare agencies, both of which were severely impacted by budget cuts during the great recession.

The provisions of this measure expire at the end of 2018. Proposition 55 asks voters to extend the 1-3% increase on high-income earners through 2030. The sales tax increase would be allowed to sunset at the end of 2016.

The measure will keep money flowing to K-12 schools, community colleges, and (if the Gov. says ok) healthcare for low-income Californians, along with adding to the state’s rainy day fund. Even with the current level of funding, California still ranks near the bottom of the nation in per-pupil spending, class-size average and per-student ratio in nurses, librarians, and counselors.   [Read more…]

Family Calls for Peaceful Protests Over Death of Alfred Olango

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The Rev. Shane Harris of the National Action Network called a press conference on Thursday with the family of Alfred Olango, the Ugandan immigrant killed by a police officer in El Cajon earlier this week.

They gathered before the press, accompanied by supportive clergy and a couple of power lawyers, hoping to reshape what the family believes is a false narrative about the dead man.

In recent days following the official release of a single frame photograph from a bystander video, storylines casting aspersions on the character of Olango have worked their way into media accounts. These accounts include allegations of prior run-ins with law enforcement system and even the use of the word ‘suspect.’   [Read more…]

Props 53 & 54: Say No to Rich Guys Gaming the System

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Dean Cortopassi is a wealthy self-made agribusinessman from Stockton. Charles Munger is a Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and lives in Pasadena. Both have long histories in politics.

Each of them has bought a spot for a pet cause on the general election ballot. And they’d like you to believe their motives are altruistic.

They’re gaming the system, promising they have your interests in mind. Their measures are, in fact, simplistic solutions to complex problems with potential or real consequences not immediately apparent to the casual observer.   [Read more…]

(UPDATED) Family Calls for Federal Investigation – Alfred Olango Dies After Being Shot by El Cajon Police

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Thirty-year-old Alfred Olango died of gunshot wounds during a confrontation yesterday with police officers from the City of El Cajon. He was mentally ill, unarmed, and the 197th Black man killed by police in the United States this year. And the 172nd mentally ill person, according to the NY Daily News.

Police responded to calls about a man in the street behaving erratically near a strip mall on Broadway near Mollison Avenue shortly after 2 p.m. One of the callers was Olango’s sister, who told bystanders that she’d warned police about his illness. Friends of the dead man told reporters he was having a mental breakdown that caused him to act out in the minutes leading up to the shooting.

When a reporter on scene asked ECPD spokesman Rob Ransweiler if police knew of any calls that referred to the man as being mentally unstable, the spokesperson said, “I do know the answer to your question, but because it’s an ongoing investigation, I’m gonna decline to answer that question.”

News of the shooting spread quickly throughout the San Diego area. By evening, a crowd, estimated at 200 people gathered to protest, including community leaders and members of local churches who led prayers.   [Read more…]

Proposition 52 – Keep MediCal Funding Where It Belongs

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Back in the bad old days of the great recession, the California legislature diverted hundreds of millions in funding derived from a tax hospitals pay. The federal government kicks in matching funds for these taxes flowing back to the hospitals through MediCal, so it’s a sweet deal. Hospitals pay one dollar to get two back, more or less.

The recession is over, and the hospitals want their original deal back in place.

So they raised a boatload of money to put Proposition 52 before the voters. This is a “lockbox” measure, designed to give voters the opportunity to say that funds raised for or by a certain purpose must be spent in that general area as well.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Thin Skin Did Him in at the First Debate

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You really didn’t need the sound on for Monday’s Presidential debate at Hofstra University to understand what was taking place.

Donald Trump blustered. He made faces. His eyes turned into narrow slits spitting fire. And, I suppose, some of his comments were relevant to his followers.

Hillary smiled, eyes wide open. Towards the end, she even did a little victory shimmy, as her opponent once again stepped in it.   [Read more…]

Prop 51 – Will Schools Get Fixed and Repaired?

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The California Public School Facility Bonds Initiative, better known as Proposition 51, proposes to refill the State of California’s money pot used for school construction and repair.

It has been ten years since the last statewide school bond, and proponents say there is a massive backlog of local school projects.

Everybody loves building and fixing schools, right?   [Read more…]

Notes on the First 2016 General Election Presidential Debate

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The first presidential debate is not about “winning” or “losing.” It’s about perception and emotion. It’s time for a “gut check.”

Monday evening’s event (6pm start time, for those of us on the left coast) will be broadcast live from Hofstra University. NBC’s Lester Holt will moderate the first debate, broadcast live on each of the major networks and leading cable news sites. There will be a live feed from ABC News available on Facebook and Twitter will stream Bloomberg’s coverage.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump will be the only candidates on the stage. Libertarian Gary Johnson, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and that other stand-in for a Republican candidate failed to make the cut based on their results in the most recent major polling.   [Read more…]

Measure D – Nice Try, But No Cigar for The Citizens’ Plan

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A good metaphor for Measure D would be the guy who tries to break up a fight and ends up getting pummelled by both combatants.

Also known as the Citizens’ Plan, Cory Briggs Evil Plot, and Chargers Stadium Lite, the proposal is all-but-dead in the water.

The money spigot ran dry in May. The thoughtful discussion Measure D should have stimulated never happened, lost in the dread of yet another rich guy scheme, and the unintended consequences of its (mostly) good intentions.   [Read more…]

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