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Will Gov. Brown Do the Right Thing for Farmworkers?

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After two years and more than five thousand proposed laws, resolutions, and constitutional amendments, the current version of the California Legislature wrapped up its session in frenzied fashion. Wednesday, August 31st saw more than one hundred bills up for consideration. Now it’s up to the Governor to say yea or nay on legislation affecting all aspects of life in California.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-80), who successfully shepherded 19 of 20 bills through the legislature this year, is leaving nothing up to chance with her hard-fought victory on AB 1066, gradually phasing in standards for farmerworker overtime.

She’s started a petition drive for voters to let the Governor know they want this bill signed.   [Read more…]

A Sneak Peek at the 2016 California Ballot Propositions

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There are seventeen propositions appearing on the November California ballot. The Secretary of State’s Official Voter Guide weighs in at 240 pages this year.

Today I’m going to give those propositions a quick once over. The San Diego Free Press will publish more detailed analyses in the coming weeks. And those of you fantasizing about an unbiased assessment can leave now to go chase unicorns elsewhere.

The conventional wisdom in pundit-land is so many ballot decisions will encourage weary voters to vote against everything. Fortunately, the people at Ballotpedia have researched this assumption, and it turns out to be mostly not true.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Black Outreach: Anything’s Better Than Zero

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A couple of weeks back, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump told a largely white audience in Michigan that he’d win 95% of the black vote during his 2020 re-election campaign.

He’s got his work cut out for him. Public Policy Polling released a preview of a new poll on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday night showing Donald Trump’s favorability rating among African-American voters at 0 percent. 97% of those polled knew for sure they didn’t care for him. 3% were undecided. And there’s the matter of winning the 2016 election.

Public Policy Polling skews liberal, so it’s best to take this result with a grain of salt. But this isn’t the first survey showing Trump doing extremely poorly with black voters.   [Read more…]

SB 32: California’s Big Bet on the Environment

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Senate Bill 32 was approved by the California legislature last week along with a companion bill (AB 197), putting the Golden State on a path to further reducing greenhouse gas emissions past the end of the decade.

Gov. Jerry Brown fought long and hard for the legislation mandating an additional 40 percent cut in emissions by 2030. The state is already on track to meeting the goal, set by AB 32 in 2006, to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions back down to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

Not included in the new legislation was extending the state’s cap-and-trade program, arguably a more flexible, lower-cost policy tool to cut emissions. As things stand now, the future of the program is uncertain, as the California’s Chamber of Commerce is in court seeking to overturn the program on the basis that it needed two-thirds approval.   [Read more…]

A Cliffhanger for California Farm Workers Overtime Legislation

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Will Agribusiness Interests Buy Some Votes by Monday?

The disappointment at the California Capitol building was palpable as the legislature adjourned on Thursday without voting on a bill granting farm workers overtime pay after eight hours or more than 60 hours in a week.

The vote was postponed to Monday in the face of uncertainty about the support of business-friendly Democrats facing political pressure from agribusiness interests. When leaders realized they might be short of the 41 votes they needed, they pulled the bill from the Assembly floor.

Hundreds of farm workers came on buses from around the state came to Sacramento to rally in support of Assembly Bill 1066, authored by Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego.  A similar proposal died in June four votes short of the majority it needed to pass and supporters were there to witness what many assumed would be a turnaround.   [Read more…]

Shining a Light on Trump’s Cockroach Army

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Today’s the day when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton confronts the ugly underside of the Trump candidacy: the alt-right. Or, as I like to call them, racists.

Challenged by advisors with polling data showing him losing badly among better-educated suburban whites, Donald Trump has reportedly been “softening” the inflammatory rhetoric. He’s even gone so far as to accuse Clinton of being a “bigot.”

Clinton isn’t labeling Trump personally as a racist or a white nationalist; she’s labeling his words and policies as such. Donald Trump’s recent history in politics from his birther comments through to this campaign are all anybody needs.   [Read more…]

A Sneak Peek at the 35 (!) Local Measures Appearing on San Diego Ballots

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Labor Day used to be the traditional start of the Fall Election season. That’s no longer the case, with the increasing popularity of mail-in ballots driving endorsements and campaigning further backward on the calendar.

Last night’s endorsement session of the San Diego Democratic Central Committee proves the point. Dozens upon dozens of candidates and ballot measures were considered. The really big deals were the top four ballot measures.

If this all seems like gibberish to you, you’re at the right place. Here’s your first peek at the 35 (!) ballot measures to be presented to voters in various parts of San Diego County for the 2016 general elections.   [Read more…]

A Black Eye for the City as Ocean Beach Torrey Pine Falls

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A running controversy over the fate of the ‘Esperanza’ Torrey Pine in Ocean Beach ended early Monday morning as the tree was removed by private contractors.

The city of San Diego believed the 80-foot tall tree was in danger of falling over. Local residents funded an arborist who said it represented a low risk after an initial attempt to remove the tree was blocked by protests, including a sit-in.

Area residents set up a daily watch. A fundraising campaign raised over $1000 and Friends of Peninsula Trees was born. The city was asked to participate in a community forum to discuss the matter. Their response was to cut the tree down.   [Read more…]

Del Mar Races: Cruel As Ever

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There’s disagreement over how many horses have died at the Del Mar races this year. Animal rights advocates say it’s 18. The Union-Tribune says 16. The Daily Racing Form says 14. Some of the variance, no doubt, comes from the time frame from when it was reported.

Regardless of the final number–and it’s likely to increase by the time the summer season ends on Labor Day–more horses have died this year than last. Betting is down, and purses for the last two weeks of the season have been reduced by another 5% on top of the across the board 10% reduction from 2015.

Saturday was supposed to be the biggest day of the racing season at Del Mar, the $1 million Pacific Classic, including big name horses Beholder, California Chrome, and Dortmund. It started with another death.   [Read more…]

So Long, Suckers! One Million Uber Jobs Going, Going…

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A decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen rejecting a legal settlement that would have divided up to $100 million among about 380,000 Uber drivers to resolve claims they’ve been treated as independent contractors instead of employees may be beside the point.

The settlement would have paid as much as $8,000 to some drivers, but the majority would receive $24 or less. And the question of their status would largely remain unresolved.

In any case, it looks like Uber’s planning on just dumping its people. The San Francisco-based ride share company, according to Bloomberg, is rolling out a program to test robo-rides in Pittsburgh this month, with the goal of replacing its one million drivers with automated vehicles as quickly as possible.   [Read more…]

Trump Flees to the Alt-Right Bunker

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Faced with increasingly bad polling news and chafing as he read pre-sanitized speeches on teleprompters, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has again revamped his campaign leadership.

After vacillating between being a traditional candidate and staying with the rabble-rousing style evidenced during the primaries, Trump looks to be going with a full-on angry white man approach.

The non-family inner circle for the New York billionaire now includes Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster already in the organization and Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News. Reports have also surfaced that Roger Ailes, the recently ousted head of Fox News, will begin to advise Trump as he prepares for the presidential debates.   [Read more…]

Why Do People Hate the Homeless?

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They’ll say it’s the smell of excrement. Or the public intoxication. Or the aggressive panhandling. Or the intrusion on their public or private space.

People hate what they don’t understand. Lots of people translate their repulsion in hate.

Homeless people on the street are a stark reminder of the failure that could be lurking around the next corner in life. And in order to get along in life the rest of us have to deny the possibility of becoming one of ‘them.’

All homeless people apparently lived great lives until they somehow fucked it up and ended up homeless. And “we” are better than that. Or so we think.   [Read more…]

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