San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Doug Porter

A Moral Crisis Unleashed in Murrieta

by

By Doug Porter

For better or worse, it appears last week’s confrontations in Murrieta have unleashed a lot of pent up anger and frustration. And it’s my guess that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. My take is that this has the potential to blossom into a full-blown identity crisis for this country, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the civil rights movement of the 20th century.

On July 4th protesters again gathered in front of the Murrieta Border Patrol station. This time around those supportive of the refugees out-numbered the teahadist types who’d blocked busses filled with families from Central America earlier in the week. No busses arrived at that location, making the day essentially a media event.

The award for most over-the-top headline goes to CBS8/KFMB: “Massive protest in Murrieta centers around migrant families.” There were two stories beneath the headline on the station’s website, one by Associated Press and one video by reporter Matt Johnson which included the phrase “More than 100 people…”

More than a hundred people is massive? Really? Let’s take a spin around the media world to see what other bullshit’s been doled out lately.

  [Read more…]

SeaWorld: Stop the Fireworks, We Want to Get Off

by

By Doug Porter

It seems appropriate to report today –the day before July 4th– on a petition making the rounds calling on SeaWorld to end their nightly pyrotechnics.

Activist Alicia Coons and others are petitioning the City Council, asking them to tell SeaWorld they can only use fireworks alternatives for their nightly summer shows, including environmentally friendly laser light shows and electronic fireworks simulations.

In the past, those of us living inland hardly notice bada bing, bada-boom at about 9:50 each night during the summer months. This year, according to a report on CBS8/KFMB, the theme park is using a new vendor, “who may be using a higher degree of fire power.” The station played a video this week shot 20 miles away in Scripps Ranch, demonstrating just how far inland the sound travels…

NOTE: Unless there’s something REALLY BIG going on, I’m taking a day off from the column on Friday, July 4th. See you on Monday.

  [Read more…]

Ugly Americans Block Migrant Buses in Murrieta

by

By Doug Porter

A group of right-wing demonstrators took to the streets on Tuesday, turning away three Border Patrol buses bringing 136 Central American migrant children and families to a Murrieta, California processing center.

So much for the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, which begins:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

What the nation saw in Southern California yesterday (and last week in Escondido) was nothing short of racism and ignorance covered with a varnish of false patriotism. Right wing extremists have been sowing the seeds for this kind of confrontation for weeks now, stoking fears of disease, crime and economic ruin.

Today we’ll delve into the details of this sad moment in US history.   [Read more…]

Reactions to Supreme Court Hobby Lobby Decision Range From Real Disappointment to Really Dumb

by

By Doug Porter

The Supreme Court saved its most controversial decisions for last for this session, announcing twin 5-4 votes yesterday in cases limiting public sector unions and extending the concept of corporations as persons to include the right to opt out of contraceptive coverage based on the religious beliefs of the owners.

While the rulings were narrower than they could have been, they triggered reactions filled with hyperbole and misinformation. For purposes of today’s column, we’ll take a look at responses to Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the ruling holding closely held corporations (90% of all companies) are “persons” as defined by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

Make no mistake about it, the creeping person-hood of corporations combined with a ruling favorable to the theocracy set is serious business. But the headlines at places like the Huffington Post were beyond the pale.   [Read more…]

Court Rulings: Corporations Are People; Women Not So Much

by

By Doug Porter

Today was another day for bad news out of Washington. I knew there was trouble brewing when the announcement was made this morning that Supreme Court Justice Justice Samuel Alito would be reading the majority opinions for the high courts final decisions of this session.

First came the ruling (Harris v. Quinn) that home health care workers constituted a new class of “partial public employees” who cannot be required to contribute union bargaining fees. The ruling was narrower in scope than many unions feared a negative opinion might be, but significantly impacts one of fastest growing areas of labor organizing.

Then, in keeping with the current flair for the dramatic by Chief Justice Roberts (who decides when rulings will be announced), the Supreme Court (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby) held that closely held corporations (90% of all companies) are “persons” as defined by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, and can hold religious beliefs exempting them from the ObamaCare mandate on contraceptive coverage.

Again, the scope of this final ruling was not as broad as some analysts had feared. But if you happen to be a woman, its implications are huge.   [Read more…]

Battle Lines Are Drawn in Hillcrest

by

By Doug Porter

The leadership of the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association has come under fire following the dismissal of executive director Sonya Stauffer earlier this month.

At the heart of this unrest is HBIA President Jonathan Hale. Depending on who you talk to, he’s either a power-mad incompetent who’s leading the group towards disaster or the victim of a political witch-hunt based on his relationship as the significant other of ‘new Republican’ congressional candidate Carl DeMaio.

On one level the question is whether the event-centric HBIA, the driving force behind  the Hillcrest Farmers Market, Hillcrest Hoedown, CityFest, the Pride Block Party, and Mardi Gras, is really acting in the best interests of the estimated 1,300 businesses in the area. Critics of the  city-sanctioned group are calling for the resignation of Hale and asking for an audit of HBIA  finances

On a deeper level the controversy reflects divisions within the LGBTQ movement, which has historically been centered in Hillcrest.   [Read more…]

Score One for the GOP- Immigration Reform is Dead

by

By Doug Porter

Yesterday Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez rose on the floor of the House waving a red card (ala futbol) to pronounce the end of immigration reform.

As Lawrence Downes, writing in the New York Times put it, “In sports terms, Mr. Gutierrez’s speech was simply marking the moment when a losing team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.”

The US Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill one year ago this week. Republicans in the House rejected that approach, preferring to introduce piecemeal legislation which even they wouldn’t and/or couldn’t pass.

It’s been a year of excuses from the GOP bench and, to carry the sports analogy further, excuses are for losers.
  [Read more…]

Escondido Bigots Unite to Keep Migrant Child Shelter Out

by

By Doug Porter

Nearly five hundred people jammed the Escondido Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday night. At issue was a request for a conditional use permit to open a 96 bed shelter in a now-shuttered nursing home for unaccompanied minors detained after crossing the border.

Escondido’s now-famous racism ran rampant in the room. Despite Escondido Commission Chairman Jeff Weber repeatedly emphasizing that, by law, the panel could only consider local land-use issues, the fear of being overrun with Brown People dominated the discussion.

Here’s an example of what was being used to whip up hatred in the community:

The people of Escondido are about to be invaded with criminals from foreign countries, sent to them by the President of the United States. A former hospital, closed due to low ObamaCare reimbursements, is being transformed into either a prison or a group home. Of course, once Barack drops them off in Northern San Diego County nothing stops them from walking away and into the shadows of our large towns nearby
  [Read more…]

Glenn Greenwald Speaks on Edward Snowden’s Leaks

by

By Doug Porter

Journalist Glenn Greenwald came to town last weekend to promote his best selling book based on events surrounding former systems administrator Edward Snowden’s decision to go public with documents concerning intelligence programs run by the National Security Agency. It was a most unusual evening: part lecture, part political rally and part celebrity appearance.

Seven hundred people paid money to attend a book tour event in a theater in this day and age. His publisher set up a table in the lobby and sold hundreds of copies of “No Place to Hide.” After Glenn Greenwald’s one hour presentation about one third of the audience waited patiently in line for an autograph. San Diego was day four of this six-city excursion around the country.

He’s a man on a mission and he’s trying to make a difference. Greenwald and other journalists have peeled back the curtain on some of the government’s deepest secrets, working with a variety of news outlets with well-established records of journalistic integrity, reporting on the activities of National Security Agency and their cohorts in the United Kingdom, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.   [Read more…]

Atkins Budget Rider Gives Coastal Commission Power on Beach Access

by

By Doug Porter

California Gov. Jerry Brown was in San Diego last Friday for a budget signing ceremony. While much of the press coverage focused on all the backslapping and self congratulating about fiscal responsibility, a low-key rider attached to the budget bill by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins is a big victory for beach lovers.

The California’s Coastal Commission  is now allowed to levy fines on property owners who deny public access to he Pacific shoreline. Since 2008, when the Legislative Analysts Office recommended the notion, the legislature has tried and failed three times since the to pass a bill giving the commission a better enforcement mechanism.

While other state and local regulatory agencies in the resources area routinely exercised this kind of power, conservatives railed against allowing the commission to levy fines, claiming it would “wash away due process” (UT-San Diego) and “shred the Constitution, ignore all protections for property owners, and trample on civil liberties.” (Pacific Legal Foundation Blog)   [Read more…]

Smart Phone ‘Kill Switch’ Legislation Not So Smart

by

By Doug Porter

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has an op-ed in today’s UT-San Diego praising yet another ‘common sense’ reform.  She and other law enforcement types around the state are rallying behind a bill authored by State Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco that would require cellphone manufacturers to have “kill switch” technology enabled by default.

She argues that the wireless industry is fighting this legislation to protect the profits made from selling replacements for stolen smart phones. It all just sounds so logical. Until you think about her real track record–Since when did our feckless DA become a populist crusader? And haven’t we learned our lesson yet about reforms that seem too good to be true?

Fortunately for consumers and citizens the folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have cried foul on Sen. Leno’s SB962. It’s a bad idea wrapped up in sheep’s clothing that has the potential to make your smart phone stupid and into a tool for suppressing free speech.   [Read more…]

Riot Control Drone Comes with Pepper Spray, Paintball Guns and Blinding Lasers

by

By Doug Porter

The BBC released a story today trumpeting the initial sale of a remotely controlled octo-copter built specifically for crowd control situations. South African manufacturer Desert Wolf says its eight rotored “Skunk” can fire 80 doses of pepper spray per second from a storage tank holding 4000 pepper spray paintballs, plastic balls or other “non-lethal” ammunition.

Call them drones, RPVs, UASs, UVAs, SUAs or whatever. Remotely controlled robots are a big business in San Diego. A recent Voice of San Diego series covered the nascent industry’s impact on the local economy (more than a dozen companies),along with the uncertainty surrounding their use and development.

While I’m sure these machines can and should be be used for good purposes, the BBC story brings to light yet another moral dilemma facing society as technology continues to advance.  

  [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry