San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Activism / #ResistanceSD

Immigrants’ Rights in Trump’s America: Know Them

by

By Andrés Dae Keun Kwon and Julia Harumi Mass / ACLU San Diego-Imperial Counties

California has been a national leader at the forefront of our struggle for immigrants’ rights, having already enacted a series of protections for immigrants. In passing the TRUST Act in 2014 and the TRUTH Act earlier this year, California created protections for people who come into contact with immigration authorities through local law enforcement. In a recent joint statement, state legislative leaders affirmed: “California is—and must always be—a refuge of justice and opportunity for people of all walks, talks, ages and aspirations—regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak, or who you love.”

There are also important rights under the U.S. Constitution that protect all Californians—regardless of immigration status. While we wait to see how the Trump administration’s policies unfold, here are some of the most important ways you can protect your rights right now:   [Read more…]

Trump’s Seven Techniques to Control the Media

by

Robert Reich / RobertReich.org

Democracy depends on a free and independent press, which is why all tyrants try to squelch it. They use seven techniques that, worryingly, President-elect Donald Trump already employs.

1. Berate the media. Last week, Trump summoned two-dozen TV news anchors and executives to the twenty-fifth floor of Trump Tower to berate them for their reporting about him during the election. For twenty minutes he railed at what he called their “outrageous” and “dishonest” coverage. According to an attendee, “Trump kept saying, ‘we’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong,’” and he called CNN a “network of liars.” He accused NBC of using unflattering pictures of him, demanding to know why they didn’t use “nicer” pictures.

Another person who attended the meeting said Trump “truly doesn’t seem to understand the First Amendment. He thinks we are supposed to say what he says and that’s it.”   [Read more…]

Trump Reneging on His Campaign Promises to Voters

by

His Supporters Have Been Snookered!

In a 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl, Trump back pedaled on his major campaign promises and a lot else. When asked what his sit-down with President Obama was like he replied, “I found him [President Obama] to be terrific. I found him to be– very smart and very nice. Great sense of humor, as much as you can have a sense of humor talking about tough subjects, but we were talking about some pretty tough subjects.” So no more questions about his legitimacy to be President? No more wondering whether he was born in Kenya? I guess not now that he, Trump, is a member of the club.

The interview went on:   [Read more…]

Justice Won’t Wait: Fight Back, Give Back, Stand Up

by

Tuesday, November 29 is Day One of a new era of protest. Older topics, like the Fight for $15 and ending mass incarceration, are being joined by newer concerns, as Uber drivers and Standing Rock supporters connect the dots in their quest for economic, environmental, and social justice.

It’s also Giving Tuesday, and with the Trumpian onslaught on human rights about to begin, supporting organizations working for progressive causes is more important than ever.

Two other developments worth noting on this day are Elizabeth Warren’s speech on the Senate floor Monday telling Democrats to stiffen their spines and the release of an app to help consumers avoid spending money with any Trump-related enterprise.   [Read more…]

From Postcards to Picket Lines, San Diego’s Activist Community is Mobilizing

by

Progressive Calendar for San Diego, November 25- December 4

Responses to the election results continue to dominate activist actions in San Diego in the coming weeks. There are also strikes, a union-sponsored diaper drive, and a critical hearing on the racial profiling practices of the San Diego Police Department.

The City of San Diego released a long-awaited report on the SDPD late on Wednesday afternoon right before Thanksgiving.  Of course, most folks were already on their way to other events. Coincidence? I don’t think so.   [Read more…]

Should You Apply for DACA Following the Election?

by

By Ignacia Rodriguez, NILC immigration policy advocate / National Immigration Law Center

There are many concerns about what could happen to the DACA program—and DACA recipients—once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump said during his campaign that he intends to end the DACA program, though he has not said exactly if, how, or when this might actually occur. We also won’t know until after Trump takes office on January 20, 2017, what Trump administration officials might do with the information that DACA applicants have submitted on their applications.   [Read more…]

The First 100 Day Resistance Agenda: We’re Not Going Away

by

By Robert Reich

Trump’s First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich a huge tax cut, and much worse. Here’s the First 100 Day resistance agenda [with thanks to Alan Webber]:

1. Get Democrats in the Congress and across the country to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Prolong the process of approving choices, draw out hearings, stand up as sanctuary cities and states. Take a stand. Call your senator and your representative (phone calls are always better than writing).   [Read more…]

The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America: An Insider View

by

In deep-red white America, the white Christian God is king

By Forsetti’s Justice / AlterNet

I grew up in rural, Christian, white America. You’d be hard-pressed to find an area in the country that has a higher percentage of Christians or whites. I spent most of the first 24 years of my life deeply embedded in this culture. I religiously (pun intended) attended their Christian services. I worked off and on, on their rural farms. I dated their calico skirted daughters. I camped, hunted, and fished with their sons. I listened to their political rants at the local diner and truck stop. I winced at their racist/bigoted jokes and epithets that were said more out of ignorance than animosity. I have also watched the town I grew up in go from a robust economy with well-kept homes and infrastructure turn into a struggling economy with shuttered businesses, dilapidated homes, and a broken down infrastructure over the past 30 years. The problem isn’t that I don’t understand these people. The problem is they don’t understand themselves, the reasons for their anger/frustrations, and don’t seem to care to know why.   [Read more…]

Anti-Trump Groups Strive for Unity

by

The organizers of Monday night’s Community Forum on the Role of Progressives in the Age of Trump weren’t expecting a packed house at the Joyce Beers Center in Hillcrest.

Additional chairs were brought in. People were invited to sit on the floor and encouraged to share the eighty printed agendas once they became scarce.

While the overall numbers of people anxious to participate in doing something about the upcoming reign of reaction was impressive, the makeup of the crowd–mostly white, male, and of the baby boomer generation–was disappointing.   [Read more…]

Going from Angst to Action Focusing on Climate Change

by

One of many things causing me angst about Trump is his belief that climate change is a hoax – never mind the scientific community’s consensus to the contrary.

So, rather than sit on my sofa and continue to wallow in post-election depression, I joined my daughter and attended two local climate action events this past week and came away feeling empowered to take action.

The first event was the Hillcrest Town Council monthly meeting – this one featured “sustainability” as its theme. Representatives of San Diego 350 (Lindsay Richardson) and Surfrider San Diego (Roger Kube) discussed their respective programs and focused on practical things we can each do to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (the stuff that causes global warming and could lead to the destruction of the planet).   [Read more…]

The Ecopsychological Imperative to Dismantle Civilization

by

The fading roar of an ATV engine leaves silence in its wake. Birds, offended by the intrusion, refuse to sing. Grasshoppers stop their dance to consider their safety. Even the reliable mountain breeze hides. And, with the tidings of violence borne by the sounds of explosion in the engine’s combustion, I know I cannot blame them.

Only the September Utah sun is unbothered. The heat, originating so far away, is oblivious. The last rain fell weeks ago and the dust antagonizes the lump forming in my throat. My co-workers at the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District Trails Maintenance Department have dropped me off with a water bottle, work gloves, and an ancient, wood-handled rake that leaves half-inch splinters in my hand when I’m not careful.

I’ll be paid $12 an hour today to rake gravel and leaves from a freshly cut trail in the Wasatch Mountains high above Park City, Utah. My co-workers won’t be back for 6 hours. This is the same job I did yesterday and the day before, and I know now, from experience, that each stroke only pulls more gravel into the space my rake passes over. I watch a boulder watching me and wonder if he recalls Sisyphus, too. I wonder if I could move that boulder and push him up the hill. I wonder if the effort might provide some distraction.   [Read more…]

The Trump White House: Pulpit for a Bully?

by

In her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, psychiatrist Elisabeth Kṻbler-Ross described five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In the wee hours of the morning on November 9, I entered Stage One.

When I had gone to bed the night before, I remained hopeful, but harbored a gnawing dread that Trump could actually win. That week’s Saturday Night Live skit of an election night party with true believer Democrats, captured how I felt.

Shortly after midnight I woke up to check the latest news on my iPad. I couldn’t believe what I saw. There had to be a terrible mistake. By sunrise my brief encounter with denial had turned to anger. If I were 30 years younger I would have joined protesters in the streets.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry