San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Columns

Darrell Issa’s Exclusive Town Hall Set for June 3

by

Nobody has ever accused Darrell Issa of being stupid. After initially promising a town hall for constituents on May 31st, the 49th District Congressman has announced a one-hour event for 9am Saturday, June 3rd at the San Juan Hills High School Theatre.

Located in San Juan Capistrano, the venue for Issa’s gathering is at the northern edge of his district in Orange County, far from the maddening San Diego county constituents who’ve dogged him over his stances on health care, RussiaGate, and immigration.

The eventbrite page to register for the town hall encourages would-be attendees to carpool, rideshare, or take public transportation. I doubt that anybody from Issa’s office checked on the availability of bus service because there doesn’t appear to be any.   [Read more…]

DC Democrats Target Congressman Duncan Hunter

by

Early generic polling on Congressional races, along with what the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee calls (among other things) the “goat rodeo” of Republican governance, have led Rep. Duncan Hunter’s district being added to a list 20 new seats targeted for 2018.

Although the 50th district has a history of being solidly (+16 registration advantage) Republican, Hunter’s legal and ethical troubles give Democrats the opportunity to invest in building political infrastructure in an area once considered hostile territory.   [Read more…]

Cat Herding and Loathing at the Democratic State Convention

by

Democrats gathered in Sacramento this past weekend for their annual convention, and there were–surprise, surprise–disagreements. Based on the angst woven into some news accounts of the event, you’d think some of these writers had never heard the comparison made between organizing Dems and herding cats.

Foremost among the hand-wringing coverage were stories about the competition for chair of the California Democratic Party. Kimberly Ellis, widely considered to be an insurgent candidate symbolizing the aspirations of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, lost to Eric Bauman, Male Vice Chair and Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair, by 62 votes.

Ellis may have lost the vote, but as Los Angeles Times reporter Cathleen Decker noted, a significant generational shift took place, with the party’s traditional leadership displaced by a new, more activist vision.   [Read more…]

What’s the Matter with San Diego Labor (Part 2): Rank and Who?

by

Last week I outlined why the ill-conceived Mickey Kasparian-driven split in San Diego labor was such a bad idea, citing the recent history of the failed attempt of several national unions to form a break-away organization outside of the AFL-CIO called Change to Win (CTW) that eventually fell apart under its own weight accomplishing not much of note in the long run.

As I observed in that column, CTW cited a bold new organizing strategy as its justification but the split was really more about big egos in leadership and ended up dividing the labor movement while not doing anything to increase organizing or unions’ political power. In fact, the long decline of the American Labor Movement continued unabated on both sides of the split in the midst of much ado about nothing.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: May 14-20

by

This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles, commentaries, columns, toons, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, at-large contributors, cartoonists, and sourced writers on: The Trumptanic, Kasparian getting the boot from Labor Council, Amy Goodman, making schools safe, sexual assaults at SWC, Smart People, Truax House, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: The Sirens of Amathus

by

The shattered skull of Amathus
buzzes with invaders
from unexcavated countries

Visitors comb
temple splinters
whose gods have been sold
to the sirens of human immortality.   [Read more…]

Sexual Assaults at Southwestern Community College Prompts Protest

by

Students held a protest against sexual assault at Southwestern Community College on Thursday, May 18th. The group gathered in front of Mayan Hall and several speakers made demands on the administration, after which they marched to the Student Center.

The protest was ignited by a special April edition of the college newspaper The Sun, which devoted itself entirely to sexual assault.

On the front page, The Sun editorial board reported, “A stunning lawsuit by a former student worker in the SWC Campus Police Department accuses three male employees of systemic sexual harassment over a two-year period, culminating in an attempted gang rape of the woman by police employees inside SWCPD headquarters. Even more stunning is her description of how the situation was mishandled by campus police chief Michael Cash. According to the lawsuit brief, she reported the harassment and misogynistic behavior to Cash, who then violated her confidence and told the defendants. They were not investigated or punished.”   [Read more…]

Trump’s World Tour. (Gulp) Meanwhile, Here’s the Progressive San Diego Calendar – May 19-31, 2017

by

Combover Caligula is headed out on a roadtrip to a bunch of countries, some of which are populated by brown people. The trip marks the first time since taking office that he has spent a night away from the White House at a property that doesn’t bear his name.

According to the Associated Press, his (well done with ketchup) steak dinner in Saudi Arabia will been butchered in a Shariah-compliant halal manner as per Islamic custom and served alongside the traditional feast food of lamb and rice.

According to Reuters, briefing materials prepared by National Security Council officials include Trump’s name in “as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he’s mentioned.”

So what will you do? Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings…   [Read more…]

The Trumptanic Springs a Bunch of Leaks

by

The appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead investigations into Trump/Russia/Corruption has not, as some Republicans hoped, slowed the flow of revelations and accusations concerning the administration. The number of leaks is almost too much to keep up with, which is why I’m listing a few of the big ones in today’s column.

Leaks and lots of them are to be expected when the Commander-in-Chief all but declares war on the intelligence/industrial complex. Trump thought coal miners were pissed about losing their jobs; now he’s seeing the fury of the FBI faithful.   [Read more…]

San Diego Commons at the Crossroads: The Sell-Off of ‘Excess’ Properties

by

“Why didn’t you ask the neighbors and the community what they might think?”

This past week San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced as one of the key highlights of his State of the City that he is bringing forward “the first comprehensive vision for San Diego’s parks in more than 60 years” and promised that “ground would be broken on 50 new or upgraded parks during the next five years. “

Actual budgets are always a reality check on visionary pronouncements. By April we should know if and how this vision will be reflected in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

There is a need for yet another kind of reality check. The convergence of the promise of a new grand vision for parks by the Mayor while the city’s Real Estate Asset Department (READ) pushes ahead with the sale of city-owned properties brings us to an important crossroads for determining the future of the Commons for the City of San Diego.   [Read more…]

Amy Goodman Speaks Out for the Silenced Majority in SRO San Diego Appearance

by

Journalist Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! spoke to an overflow crowd at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral on Tuesday evening.

As a progressive journalist, Goodman puts her fame to good use, hosting benefits for independent and public media wherever she goes. The local beneficiary was KNSJ (89.1FM, but it’s easier to hear online.), a local all-volunteer community broadcaster born through the efforts of Activist San San Diego.

Democracy Now!, co-hosted by Juan Gonzalez, is the largest public media collaboration in the U.S, broadcasting on over 1400 Pacifica, NPR, community/college radio stations; on public access/cable networks, and on the internet.   [Read more…]

Party Over Country. Tax Cuts Over Treason. Follow the Money.

by

There are lots of words to describe the President of the United States bragging about how smart he is in front of Russian officials. Treason is one. Careless is another. Clueless is yet another.

Yet the likelihood of consequences for this ‘intelligence disaster’ are slim and none. The chief executive can choose to declassify anything he wants. The country providing this information on the condition it not be shared wasn’t asked their opinion, however.

And there are not even close to enough people with the backbone willing to participate in the checks and balances system created by the nation’s founders. Why? Follow the money.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry