Less than twenty four hours after Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, President Trump went off the deep end.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was fired. the only thing surprising about that move was the swiftness wityh which it occurred. Sessions’ chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, is in as acting Attorney General, and has already removed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein from overseeing the investigation into Russian activities in the United States. [Read more…]
Election season is to San Diego Free Press is like Valentines Day is to florists. Based on what we’ve seen thus far, 2018 is looking to be a good-if-not-great election for progressives.
Since much of the next 24 hours will be like waiting for results of a biopsy, I’ve elected to skip the prognostication process share a few nuggets of info.
People who take comfort from voter turnout numbers have reason to be encouraged. Michael McDonald at the Elections Project says pre-election day votes will break the 40 million mark when all is said and done.
Indivisible 49 will hold one more rally outside the district office of Rep. Darrell Issa. Leaders of the coalition that hosted 65 weekly protests, and helped push Issa to retire, will honor nearly two years of volunteer effort and stand with Democrat Mike Levin to replace Issa in Washington.
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Attendees at Otay Ranch, Olympian, Eastlake, University City, Westview, Rancho Bernardo and Temecula Valley High Schools, along with Palomar College will be leaving classes on Tuesday.
[Read more…]
Two years ago Donald Trump lost the popular vote but still managed to become President thanks to the Electoral College. Americans now have the opportunity to weigh in on his performance, and early returns in many states are pointing to a significantly higher-than-normal turnout for a midterm election. By late Saturday, more than 33 million Americans had already cast their ballots.
The President’s name may not be on the ballot, but make no mistake; now we exist in Trump’s universe and it’s all about him.
A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll had two-thirds of respondents saying Trump will be a factor in their midterm votes. A similar poll taken before the midterm elections of 2014 found that then president Barack Obama would be a factor in voting for only 47% of respondents.
By Gladys Limon / Executive Director of the California Environmental Justice Alliance
Californians are united in our commitment to transitioning the state’s power grid to renewable energy. A strong step in that direction was the passage of SB 100 (De León) into law, which sets a goal of transforming our state’s electricity grid to zero-carbon sources by 2045, with an upgrade to the 2030 goal from 50 percent renewables to 60 percent.
Many California cities, including San Diego, Del Mar, and Chula Vista have set their city targets at 100 percent renewable by 2035.
Now, the real work begins: equitably implementing the transition. We need follow-up state and city regulations to ensure that the communities overburdened by fossil-fuel pollution and climate change impacts have ready access to the economic and public health benefits of this transition. [Read more…]
By Mona Rios
It’s been a big year for transportation in the San Diego region. Major transit lines have opened up, the public has been exploring new transportation technologies, and our transportation governing agencies have been overhauled for the better.
The year started with a bang as Assembly Bill 805 went into effect in January. This bill, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher and signed by Governor Jerry Brown, brought needed changes to the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). It’s made our agencies more democratic, more representative of voters, and it provided more oversight of our tax dollars.
At MTS, it required the chairperson to be a democratically-elected official. The Board of MTS selected city of San Diego Councilmember Georgette Gomez as Chairperson and myself as Vice Chair. It’s been an honor to serve National City and the region as Vice Chair of MTS.
There’s been much talk this election cycle of voting for things that are not explicitly on the ballot. Trump has said that even if his name isn’t on the ballot, a vote for a Republican is a vote for him. Here’s something else not on the ballot: the Antarctic. And even if it isn’t on the ballot, a vote for anyone that doesn’t take climate change seriously is a vote to destroy the Antarctic. Meanwhile, Thom Yorke graces us with his sonic interpretation of this mesmerizing Antarctic imagery from the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise”. [Read more…]
On Nov. 6, we’ll be voting in the first major election since Donald Trump was elected president. Trump is not on the ballot, but the future he envisions for the country is, and the stakes are incredibly high.
The nationally high profile contests locally are Congressional Districts 49 and 50. If you don’t happen to live in those districts, there are still candidates and causes worthy of your support.
Many candidates are looking for help in the next few days with encouraging people to vote. I gathered more than 50 such opportunities. They make up the bulk of this week’s calendar.
The mayor of Pittsburgh told Donald Trump to wait. Local religious leaders asked Trump to wait. Politicians in both parties begged Trump to wait.
Tens of thousands of local residents told Trump not to come at all until he was ready to completely disown the white nationalist agenda that contributed to the mass murder at Tree of Life Synagogue.
Still, Trump thought that doing a photo shoot in Pittsburgh as the families of 11 victims were getting ready for funerals was a good idea. And, as everyone except Trump predicted, his presence in the city generated anger and disruption on a day that was already so difficult for so many.
Daily Kos
It’s unclear just why the Trump administration is so absolutely insistent that refugees with the well-established right to seek asylum in this nation are an existential danger, but—oh, wait, it’s not unclear at all. They’re rancid racists who have been stoking anti-immigrant, anti-refugee fear as an existential danger to this country solely as cheap electoral theater; now we are learning that ploy will include up to 14,000 active-duty U.S. military troops, many of them armed, to be deployed to the border to intercept a caravan of unarmed men, women, and children. [Read more…]
By Stephanie Corkran of SanDiego350, and these six young people of San Diego who were interviewed.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from the children” is a quote attributed to the iconic environmentalist David Brower. Isn’t it time that we listen to what the children have to say? After all, they will be the ones who will inherit an overheated planet with extreme weather events, including intense storms, floods, droughts, and sea level rise.
The big question is: Will the children will have their say in court? Juliana v. U.S. is a constitutional climate lawsuit filed by 21 youths, ages 11 to 22. Since climate change is the overarching issue of our times (and perhaps of all time for our species), Juliana v. U.S. may well become the “trial of the century”. [Read more…]
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire
A week of horror: Bombs mailed, black people executed, Jews slaughtered at prayer while a well-armed lunatic shrieked, “All Jews must die!”, all as the heedless Nationalist in the White House blathers, “It’s a terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country.”
There were abundant signs: Michael Moore has outtake footage of a bulked-up Cesar Sayoc yelling “CNN Sucks!” at an early Trump rally, another sorry soul full of fear and anger, looking for someone to hate, “a lost dog with no direction home.”
