What does the “longest running weekly protest against a US congressman the USA” look like? Look no further. What began back on December 20, 2016 with a few dozen activists, is now celebrating its one year anniversary! It is a weekly event of 300+ unpaid protesters who show up outside of Issa’s Vista office to protest against Darrell Issa, Trump, and the GOP agenda. Here is a time-lapse view of one such event. [Read more…]
Happy First Issa-versary: 49 Weeks of Protests in the 49th Congressional District
The few dozen people who met up outside Congressman Darrell Issa’s office on December 20, 2016, were, like millions of Americans, still processing the shock of a Republican victory in the presidential election.
They knew something had to be done, and Issa’s close call in the congressional election gave them hope and, most importantly, a tangible target to protest. His smirking and sneering leadership in Republican efforts to devalue the basic concepts of truth and fairness for partisan gain, his early embrace of a candidate who encouraged the worst in the American zeitgeist, and his confrontational style, all made him a logical choice.
One year later, Issa’s Vista office is the location of largest, most sustained weekly congressional protests in the nation. A core volunteer group of thirty oversees an average weekly attendance of close to 400 people. They show up at 10am and disperse one hour later. Every week. That’s what I call dedication. [Read more…]
Happy Birthday Indivisible! Celebrating One Year of Citizen Activism | Video Worth Watching
Happy Birthday Indivisible! The Indivisible Guide first appeared online as a Google Doc on December 14, 2016. The Guide sparked a movement and the rest is history. Check out the brief anniversary video to get a flavor of some of the actions and impact this movement has had. [Read more…]
Progressive Activist Calendar, December 15, 2017-January 5, 2018
The holiday season is upon us, and many groups are taking a break, including the elves and gnomes prowling the interwebs for the Progressive Activist Calendar. Today’s events listing will be the last one for 2017; I’ll resume on January 5, 2018. I’m posting the Startling Line column separately later today.
Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings below. Following those listings are upcoming events of national importance, along with opportunities for organizational involvement.
Get your event listed: I try to list the next 10 days or so of mostly non-commercial events I think our readers might find of interest. I source my material from social media listings and press releases. Club meetings will be listed IF there are speakers and they are open to the public.
[Read more…]
Sheriff Groping Scandal: Nine Women and Counting… Progressive Activist Calendar December 8-18, 2107
A ninth woman has come forward with claims of sexual misconduct by San Diego County Sheriff Deputy Richard Fischer, according to the Union-Tribune. All the victims are alleging incidents involving unwelcome hugs, groping and, in some cases, implied threats. Although the complaints date back to 2016, the Deputy was not placed on formal leave until lawsuits were filed last month.
It’s not like this was a one-time thing for at least one of the women; I’d call it stalking:
“When he clicked the seat belt into place, he rubbed L.R.’s breasts up and down using the heel of his hand and the inner part of his arm,” one of the new lawsuits alleges. “Fischer said, ‘Oh I hope your husband doesn’t mind.’”
That complaint, filed Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court by a woman who did not want to be publicly identified as a victim of sexual assault, accuses Fischer of accosting her five other times before she was released with a misdemeanor ticket last year. [Read more…]
Organize the Outrage: The Republican Tax Bill Is Bad, What Are You Going to Do About It?
In the wee hours of Saturday, Republicans in the Senate, having learned from their shortfalls in attempting to repeal Obamacare, cobbled together enough votes to pass legislation using taxes as a mechanism to foster fundamental changes in the lives of Americans.
All the bad things you may have heard about this legislation are true to one degree or another, but it’s the overall effect that’s important. The GOP has signed America up for a subprime mortgage guaranteed to fail younger generations and paved the way for instilling a new social order based on greed and privilege.
So, the question remains, what can be done? Sure a few smallish protests by the already-committed can make some noise, as they did in New York this weekend with a crowd chanting “lock him up.” These ain’t gonna fix what is obviously a systemic problem. [Read more…]
Flynn Flips, Republican Tax Scam Lives On, for Now – Progressive Activist Calendar, December 1-11, 2017
The Good News: The man who chanted “Lock Her Up” obsessively at rallies for Donald Trump is now officially charged with a federal crime.
ABC News Special Report: Michael Flynn promised “full cooperation to the Mueller team” and is prepared to testify that as a candidate, Donald Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians.”
The Bad News: It appears the US Senate will pass some sort of budget. It still has to be reconciled with the House version of the bill, which is not a given because of the deficit hawks in the Freedom Caucus. Think about this: Republicans were ready to approve a tax bill that will affect our society for generations to be signed by an illegitimate President likely steps away from an indictment.
Three upcoming events you need to to be sure to notice: Save Affordable Housing – Planning Commision Meeting (December 7), Net Neutrality Protests at Verizon Stores (December 7), and Human Rights Day of Action (December 10)
[Read more…]
Duncan Hunter Vapes While Opponents Organize
By DWeisman/Escondido Grapevine
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50th Congressional District) has been a walking horror show for years, and generations if one harkens back to his dad from whom he “inherited” the once-safe Republican congressional seat.
Hunter and his mentor, President Trump, actually have a lot in common. They’re blowhards. They’re caught somewhere between ineffective and impotent. They shill. They lie. They’re under federal investigation and probable indictment.
Every day Trump says and does horrible and disconcerting stuff. Monday, it was Pocahontas slurs in front of Navajo code talkers and a portrait of Indian-killer Andrew Jackson, along with the appointment of a guy who wants to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as its director.
Progressive Activist Calendar – November 25 – December 4, 2017
Welcome to the abbreviated holiday weekend version of the Progressive Activist Calendar.
I was having such a good time I almost forget to put it together. Three events you need to to be sure to notice: The #Me Too March (November 25), The first forum featuring Both candidates for District Attorney (November 28), Justice for Johnathan Coronel Protest (December 2) [Read more…]
Learning Courage from Thoreau in Dark Times
One of the things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving is the fact that I am fortunate enough to teach Henry David Thoreau every fall, particularly this 200th year since the great American author’s birth.
Most of my students at City College have lived, worked, and struggled more than your average college student and, consequently, Thoreau’s call to avoid a life of “quiet desperation” speaks to them more profoundly than it might to other students from different circumstances. Simply put, they are in a college English class reading literature because they have chosen to be there. Running against the grain of all the siren calls for a more market-based education driven by efficiency and expediency, many of my students have decided that what moves them most is to read and think and to live a life they hope will be more meaningful because of it.
Hence, before my students even get to this great old courage teacher, they have chosen to live “deliberately” as Thoreau put it. And that, of course, is one of the central lessons that Thoreau still teaches us: that we can insist on choices and that those choices really matter. They have moral consequences. They make us who we are. [Read more…]
San Diego’s Cruelty Toward Homelessness Must Stop – Progressive Activist Calendar November 10 – 20, 2017
Oh, San Diego: just how low can you go? How about shutting down a church-based program to feed the hungry right before the holidays? Or making it illegal for charitable groups to feed the homeless? Or trying to arrest your way out of the problem?
According to Fox 5 News, the La Jolla town council is demanding the Mary Star of the Sea church put an end to the nine year old ‘So Others May Eat’ program of feeding homeless and low-income people. And pastor Jim Rafferty agreed, saying “I don’t want to be known as the pastor that brought Hepatitis to La Jolla.”
The El Cajon City Council has bought into the idea that harassing homeless humans will make the problem go away, passing an emergency ordinance prohibiting food distribution on any city-owned property. Hundreds of activists from throughout the region will be converging on Wells Park on November 19 & 25 to test the city’s willingness to enforce this law. [Read more…]
Issa Spooked by Halloween Rally; #TrumpTaxScam Resistance Growing
Congressman Darrell Issa got an early birthday present yesterday–he’s 64 today–from local activists, as more than six hundred people gathered outside his Vista office.
They were joined by Tom Steyer, in the news lately for shelling out $10 million to run TV ads calling for the impeachment of the president. This week’s rally, coming just one day after the Special Counsel’s first round of indictments, was Halloween-themed. The central premise was “we want a hero.”
In the coming weeks, protests at Issa’s office and around the country will shift the focus to the Republican tax plan, which they have yet to finish writing. Tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people are all set in stone; questions remain about who will be punished to pay for them. [Read more…]
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