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The Rights of Nature and the Power of Law

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In the war for social and environmental justice, even the best lawyers rarely serve as anything more than battlefield medics.

They do what they can to stop the bleeding for the people, places, and causes suffering on the front lines, but they do not possess the weapons to return fire in any serious way. Lawyers lack effective weapons because American law functions to protect those in power from the rest of us; effective legal weapons are, quite literally, outlawed.

Nonetheless, understanding the limits of the law to affect change through my experiences as a public defender, I recently helped the Colorado River sue the State of Colorado in a first-in-the-nation lawsuit — Colorado River v. Colorado — requesting that the United States District Court in Denver recognize the river’s rights of nature. These rights include the rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and naturally evolve. To enforce these rights, the Colorado River also requests that the court grant the river “personhood” and standing to sue in American courts.   [Read more…]

Issa Protesters Cry Fowl Over Sheriffs Ticketing

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It was supposed to be just another Tuesday on the picket line outside the Thibodo Road building housing Congressman Darrell Issa’s office in Vista. Little did organizers know the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department had a surprise waiting for them.

Roughly 300 people showed up, as they have every week for the past nine months, urging the 49th District Republican to disavow President Trump’s policies. To keep interest up, there are weekly themes and protest subjects. This week’s theme was “It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s the Resistance! the matter at hand was the GOP budget coming before Congress in the coming weeks.

In keeping with their weekly theme, protest organizers obtained a 20-foot tall inflatable chicken, complete with Trump hair styling, and arranged for a plane to fly overhead towing a banner “Not One Penny in Tax Cuts for Issa and the 1%.”   [Read more…]

A San Diego Vets for Peace Homeless Encounter

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Three of us, two members of San Diego Veterans for Peace and a guest, are jammed into a Prius — along with 20 new sleeping bags. We are driving slowly south, down 16th Street in search of people lying on the sidewalks.

Chapter members have been here many times over the past five or six years, and have distributed more than 3,200 bags to unfortunates on the street.

“There’s someone.”

We park some distance from the homeless person. Caution and intuition are at work now, tempered by experience. One of us stays with the car, while the other two make contact.   [Read more…]

A First Hand Account of the Northern California Fires

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We have all read about the horrible fires and devastation north of us. This account was sent to San Diego Free Press contributor Judi Curry by a friend living in the Bay Area, who has given permission to post.

I am going up today to look around. I am still shut out of my neighborhood. The boys are staying at the beach.

Reflecting on the current reality, and thought I’d share, since some folks who haven’t been here yet are driving in this weekend …   [Read more…]

Fighting Fire with Fire: Sam Bee’s Penis PSA, Eminem Draws the Line | Video Worth Watching

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Today’s videos and commentary are NSFW

ICYMI, Samantha Bee launched a no holds barred response to the sordid tales of the decades long sexual harassment and alleged assaults by Harvey Weinstein. Women, and there are a lot of them, are having their day and say. Weinstein became an instant pariah, losing his business interests, wife and status.

The Fall of Harvey Weinstein is in sharp contrast to the Rise of the Pussy Grabber-in-Chief. The Access Hollywood Tapes were released a year ago and eleven women came forward alleging sexual harassment by Trump. Didn’t Orwell say “All pigs are equal. Some pigs are more equal”?   [Read more…]

If Trump Is Impeached Will His Base Mobilize Against a ‘Liberal Coup’?

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In one of the most provocative incidents involving self-styled neo-Nazis since Charlottesville, about 25 men in masks and bandanas descended on a progressive book fair in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 24. They set off smoke bombs, shouted “Sieg Heil!”and “blood and soil!” and generally harassed folks at the event.

It was a story totally missed by mainstream media, but observed by reporters from AlterNet who filed a report, picked up by other progressive news sites:

They rushed the door of a multicultural community center [where children were inside], igniting a pair of smoke bombs. Together, they raised their arms in a salute of “Sieg Heil.” … After shouting “blood and soil” and other vulgar slogans for 15 minutes, they stole a handmade sign from the fair and fled the scene. They later posted photos of themselves defiantly clutching the cloth banner on social media. 

Police, who organizers claimed had appeared earlier in the day to intimidate the book fair’s participants, did not intervene. 

The masked men were part of a group called Patriot Front which is “loosely affiliated with Vanguard Front, a fascist organization” which includes James Alex Fields as a member, the man who murdered Heather Heyer at Charlottesville.   [Read more…]

SANDAG Reform Becomes Reality; Governor Signs AB 805

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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 and Donald Trump Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

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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…]

Why Does the FAA Charge to Find Records That It Already Must Find?

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Dodging Public Record Requests

Four months ago, San Marcos and Carlsbad residents asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to produce records related to the expansion of McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport in Carlsbad. The FAA replied: Sure, just pay $545 to $745 so the FAA can retrieve them.

Did the FAA follow the law, its own regulations, or common sense?
  [Read more…]

Sanctuary States Make Sense | Video Worth Watching

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Robert Reich breaks it down for us! Here are the reasons why Sanctuary State legislation makes sense.   [Read more…]

The Battle of Cable Street – the London East Ender’s Response to Fascism | Video Worth Watching

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Eighty one years ago last Wednesday, October 4th, 1936, Londoners stood up to the threat of Fascism in England at the Battle of Cable Street. This was about eight months after the release of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. In Europe, the Fascists were in power in Germany under Hitler and in Italy under Mussolini. In Spain, Franco had begun receiving military support from Germany and Italy in his battle against the Popular Front. Londoners were familiar with nature of Fascism and its virulent anti-semitism.

In England, the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley were planning to lead a march of about 3,000 in their blackshirt uniforms through the East End of London, which at the time had a predominantly Jewish population. The government hesitated to ban the Fascists from marching and instead dispatched a contingent of about 6,000 Metropolitan Police in an attempt to protect the Fascists. The Young’uns’ Cable Street describes how citizens opposed to Fascism who understood the march to be an attack on the Jewish residents and on solidarity in general, responded. In two words: No pasarán!   [Read more…]

Michael Moore’s Proposal to Repeal the Second Amendment and Replace It With a New 28th Amendment

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By Michael Moore / Facebook

My Proposal to Repeal the Second Amendment and Replace It With This:

PROPOSED 28th AMENDMENT TO THE US CONSTITUTION
“A well regulated State National Guard, being helpful to the safety and security of a State in times of need, along with the strictly regulated right of the people to keep and bear a limited number of non-automatic Arms for sport and hunting, with respect to the primary right of all people to be free from gun violence, this shall not be infringed.”

I, Michael Moore, along with all who support an end to this epidemic of gun violence, propose a new Amendment to our Constitution that repeals the ancient and outdated 2nd Amendment (which was written before bullets and revolvers were even invented), and replaces it with a new 28th Amendment that guarantees States can have State militias (a.k.a. State National Guards which are made up of citizen-soldiers who are called upon in times of natural disasters or other State emergencies), allows individuals to use guns for sport and gathering food, and guarantees everyone the right to be free of, and protected from, gun violence (i.e., the public’s safety comes ahead of an individual’s right to own and fire a gun).

This amendment would allow states and the federal government to pass laws that would regulate gun ownership in the following manner:   [Read more…]

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