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New California Law Could Force Hungry Humans to Eat Out of Garbage Cans

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NIMBY Law Would Close Down Charitable Feeding Efforts

By Keith McHenry / Food Not Bombs

The sharing of food with the hungry is an unregulated gift of compassion. The purpose of food safety laws is to regulate commercial food establishments that have an economic incentive to serve unsafe food. Until AB- 2178, this concept in law was understood.

August 15, 2018, marked the 30th anniversary of the first arrests of Food Not Bombs for “making a political statement” by sharing free food with the hungry. Nine volunteers were arrested at the entrance of Golden Gate Park by a squad of San Francisco Riot Police as they were about to share lunch with several dozen people.

Thirty years later a new threat that could lead to more arrests is on Governor Brown’s desk. He has until September 30th to sign or veto the bill.   [Read more…]

In San Diego and Across All Seven Continents, #RiseForClimate Actions on September 8, 2018

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Building on actions that kicked off earlier in the week, activists on Saturday hosted hundreds of #RiseForClimate demonstrations across all seven continents, drawing massive crowds “to demand our local leaders commit to building a fossil-free world that puts people and justice before profits.”

There were more than 900 actions in 95 countries, according to the searchable database that enables those interested to locate protests in their area.

The main event was the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice march in San Francisco, California, which brought together some 30,000 people and is being hailed as the West Coast’s largest climate march ever.   [Read more…]

Superpod Of Common Dolphins In Monterey Bay | Video Worth Watching

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From the Monterey Bay Aquarium YouTube page:

There are few things more magical in this world than hundreds of dolphins racing through the wild Monterey Bay on a foggy fall morning.

For the last week, a superpod of common dolphins hundreds strong has been racing the Monterey Bay, hot on the tails of billions of baitfish. This video was filmed on Labor Day just off of Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, and is being played back at half speed.

Also a bit more info on HuffPost (h/t to AGD)   [Read more…]

People Worldwide Will #RiseforClimate This Weekend | Progressive Activist Calendar September 7 -17, 2018

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People worldwide will mobilize this weekend under the banner of Rise for Climate, a grassroots movement seeking a fossil fuel free world.

More than 600 events are planned in at least 80 countries, with one of the key aims to challenge the decision-makers attending the Global Climate Summit in California on September 12 to escalate decarbonization efforts and targets.

The flagship event in San Fransisco will be the largest climate march the US west coast has ever seen, according to organizers. Nationwide, community groups are finding innovative ways to urge a future in which all energy sources are 100% renewable, including an initiative asking participants to share artworks related to the movement.

There are events in both Downtown and Oceanside on Saturday, September 8 listed in this week’s calendar.
  [Read more…]

San Diego Families Hit By Outrageous SDG&E Bills

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Now is the Time to Adopt Community Choice

By San Diego Community Choice Alliance

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) customers are already reeling from bills that come in at twice the national average. Even while customers take measures to reduce consumption during this summer’s heatwave, many San Diegans report hardship due to their most recent bills.impact on San Diego families and small businesses, who already suffer the highest rates in the state and some of the highest in the country.   [Read more…]

As Immigrant Children Contemplate Suicide, Trump Administration Moves to Extend Detentions

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Having been stymied in attempts to circumvent the 1997 Flores ruling which set standards for children in immigration detention centers, the Trump administration is proposing new federal regulations with sweeping implications.

The more than 200-page proposed regulation would give the administration much broader authority over how undocumented immigrant children are treated in its care. Publication of the proposal in the Federal Register on Friday will kick off a 60-day window for the public to comment, after which the administration can move to certify the regulations as final.

Meanwhile, Pro-Publica Illinois and Mother Jones have jointly published a story based on confidential documents providing an overview of the inner workings and life inside one of the country’s largest shelter networks for unaccompanied minors,     [Read more…]

Miramar Airshow Sells War: Just Don’t Go!

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By Gil Field / San Diego Veterans for Peace

Local veterans, friends and supporters from the San Diego Veterans For Peace are in their third year of a five year educational outreach encouraging the public to stay home and not attend the annual Miramar Air Show this month.

Veterans believe that the Miramar Air Show glorifies war with an exciting show of speed, power and noise. It celebrates the skills and machinery that exist to kill, maim and destroy. The show is very dangerous …. 10% of all Blue Angel pilots have been killed in shows or accidents. Miramar jets have already crashed in San Diego neighborhoods. Lastly, the show is a misleading recruiting tool for our youth and exists to allow defense contractors to showcase and sell their latest tools of death.   [Read more…]

‘I Have a Dream’ at the San Diego-Mexico Border and Reflections on 1968

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By Rev. Richard Lawrence

1968 came back to me when I stood with Martin Luther King, III, at the Border on August 28 and listened to folks on the other side of the Border holler in pure delight that the day had finally come when a black leader stood tall in the fight for a just immigration policy.

King, III, took us back to his father’s “I Have a Dream Speech” fifty-five years ago and reminded us that there’s no room for leaders who separate children from their parents in the world his father envisioned. No. Dr. King wanted to build bridges, not barriers, to freedom.   [Read more…]

September 8 Global Mobilization Demands ‘Fast and Fair Transition to 100% Renewable Energy for All’

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By Jake Johnson / Common Dreams

Change only happens when people rise up to demand it.”

That is one of the principal rallying cries of environmentalists around the world who are gearing up for a historic mobilization aimed at highlighting the devastating effects the climate crisis is already having on vulnerable communities—and demanding a just transition to a world without fossil fuels.

“At the core of the fight to tackle the climate crisis is a concern for protecting communities and families—we need to accelerate to a renewable energy world without leaving behind the people who build the economy and power this inevitable transition,” noted 350.org, one of the groups that helped organize the 500 Rise for Climate events in over 70 countries, which are set to take place next Saturday.   [Read more…]

Victory! California Passes Net Neutrality Bill

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By Katharine Trendacosta / Electronic Frontier Foundation

California’s net neutrality bill, S.B. 822 has received a majority of votes in the Senate and is heading to the governor’s desk. In this fight, ISPs with millions of dollars to spend lost to the voice of the majority of Americans who support net neutrality. This is a victory that can be replicated.

ISPs like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast hated this bill. S.B. 822 bans blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, classic ways that companies have violated net neutrality principles. It also incorporates much of what the FCC learned and incorporated into the 2015 Open Internet Order, preventing new assaults on the free and open Internet. This includes making sure companies can’t circumvent net neutrality at the point of interconnection within the state of California. It also prevents companies from using zero rating—the practice of not counting certain apps or services against a data limit—in a discriminatory way. That is to say that, say, there could be a plan where all media streaming services were zero-rated, but not one where just one was. One that had either paid for the privilege or one owned by the service provider. In that respect, it’s a practice much like discriminatory paid prioritization, where ISPs create fast lanes for those who can pay or for other companies they own.   [Read more…]

With Labored Breath: The Polluted Legacy of the Steel Mills

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For the children of steel

The Atlantic recently ran an article about the long term impacts of the now largely defunct steel industry in Braddock, Pennsylvania. Braddock resident Tony Buba has produced a short documentary about the environmental racism that has created an overlooked health crisis among residents in the area, particularly among African Americans who were segregated in neighborhoods closest to the mills. The incidences of cancer and lung disease are shocking.

For those of us who lived in any one of the mill towns dotting the Monongahela River (Mon Valley) in southwestern Pennsylvania and lost loved ones to those diseases, the statistics are heartbreaking. The Trump administration’s attempts to roll back EPA air pollution standards and bring back asbestos are enraging.   [Read more…]

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