San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Columns

Trump’s Climate Change Legacy: The Coast is Toast

by

Southern Californians got some bad news this week with the release of a report from the U.S. Geological Survey saying two-thirds of beaches from Santa Barbara to San Diego could be completely eroded back to sea cliffs or coastal infrastructure by 2100.

The central culprit in this likely scenario will be sea level rise fueled by climate change. And current projections could double, thanks to “job-saving” efforts involving rolling back environmental regulations by the Trump administration.

The executive orders signed by the President on Tuesday instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to review the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s signature policy for slashing greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector, by far the country’s biggest emitter.   [Read more…]

Photo Gallery: Indivisible Holds Issa’s Feet to the Fire

by

A progressive coalition led by Indivisible drew the largest ever “Resist Trump Tuesday” crowd outside the Vista office of Rep. Darrell Issa.

A few weeks ago, a hundred people were considered a good turnout. Last week, with a vote on #Trumpcare looming, over 300 people participated in a “die-in” to call attention to the shortcomings of the GOP package.

A head count taken by the group totaled up 620 citizens who came out on a Tuesday morning to call out Issa for not taking a harder line on #TrumpRussia and for his willingness to vote for the AHRA. CNN sent cameras to the protest, airing footage at 4 & 7pm PST.   [Read more…]

Will SoccerCity Fill a Void in Mission Valley?

by

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Those friendly folks collecting signatures for the billion dollar SoccerCity development to replace Qualcomm Stadium are being–how shall we put it?–less than honest.

Today’s Union-Tribune includes a story involving an informal survey of 25 signature gathering locations around San Diego. Petition bearers are reportedly being paid $5 per signature and are making promises with little connection to what is actually contained in the document they are pushing.

The hope is that the San Diego City Council, with visions of $2.8 billion in economic benefits dancing in their heads, will vote to enact the ‘citizen’s ordinance’ without the need for an actual ballot measure.   [Read more…]

Protests Dog Reps. Darrell Issa, ‘Dirty’ Duncan Hunter

by

These are troubled times for San Diego’s Republican Congressmen.

District 49’s Darrell Issa would appear to be one of the early political casualties in the failed battle for #TrumpDontCare.

District 50’s Duncan Hunter is in bigger trouble, as the House Ethics Committee has been told by the Justice Department to step aside while a more consequential investigation proceeds, one with a high probability of criminal indictments.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: March 19-25

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: Ballast Point boycott, Russia, border rally cancellation, the immoral budget, weathering storms, SD’s homelessness calamity, Huncan Dunter under investigation, Carlsbad’s cameras, the damning of Park City, 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 New Cold War

by

THE NEW COLD WAR

Icy axe of air
hacks through pink cherry blossoms –
white marble flurry   [Read more…]

Progressive Activist Calendar March 24 – April 4, 2017

by

The Trump administration’s agenda continues to run into a buzz saw powered by public opinion. Defeating these horrible schemes is, however, going to take an ongoing effort. This is a marathon, not a sprint. We’ll win some, we’ll lose a few, and we need you to keep active.

So what will you do? Check out this week’s Progressive Activist Calendar listings. Following those listings are upcoming events of national importance, along with opportunities for organizational involvement.   [Read more…]

Hector Gastelum Won’t Resign and Rally at the Border Cancelled

by

San Diego Free Press Doug Porter broke the story yesterday on a man by the name of Lawrence Deshawn Silva Nathaniel with “We Are One Foundation” who organized a rally that, in the end, did not include local grass roots border organizations. Instead, he made sure to contact Border Patrol, the SDPD and ICE and said any undocumented participants of the rally could rally in a specific ‘safe space’. Wha-huh? The March 25 rally has been cancelled.

And:
— California Assembly Bill ‘Resist the Wall Act’
— Hector Gastelum Won’t Resign
— South Bay Leadership PAC Asks: How Do We Progressives Work Together Moving Forward?
— Proctor Valley Ghosts & Monsters   [Read more…]

San Ysidro Border Rally Canceled, Questions About Sponsor Remain Unanswered

by

An event billed as a ‘Rally at the Border,’ previously scheduled for Saturday, March 25 has been canceled. I’m not sure ‘canceled’ is the right word. “Collapsed’ might be a better description. I’m hoping the sixteen hundred people who RSVP’d for the rally don’t waste their time showing up.

I’ve been digging into this story for a couple of days, and expect to post updates as people become aware of what’s occurred. There are lessons to be learned from this experience, coming in an era where anybody with a Facebook page and some clipart can call themselves ‘The Resistance.”   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Piercing The North County Bubble I’ve Put My Children In

by

My kids experience little socioeconomic diversity – am I doing them a disservice?

By Rachel Stewart Johnson, Ph.D.

I grew up in a working class neighborhood outside Denver. It was a suburban tract housing development of “starter homes” built in the early 1970s. One could find well-manicured properties, but also an abundance of crab grass and dandelions. An apartment complex occupied a large lot behind us, blocking much of our view of the Rocky Mountains to the west.

My children have different stories than mine. Here, in twenty-first century San Diego, the school district has a week off in February known as “Ski Week.” My kids have been to countless birthday celebrations through the years, where they have jumped on many square feet of trampolines, ridden ponies, petted exotic animals, played laser tag and paintball, and visited Snow White. Fourth graders at our elementary school can take a one-day trip to the state capitol by airplane, a 14-hour excursion with a $470 price tag.

This is a bubble, most definitely. The question is whether that matters, whether the affluence my children are surrounded by is a boon or harm to their moral compasses.   [Read more…]

FBI: Russia! Dems: Russia! Media: Russia! Republicans: Who Snitched?

by

Talk about timing. On Monday, FBI Director James Comey revealed an ongoing counterintelligence investigation into efforts by the Putin regime to influence the 2016 presidential election.

This morning we’re learning about a big dollar relationship between Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. Trump has known Manafort since the 1980s when he was partners with Roger Stone. Roy Cohn, who gained notoriety as chief counsel for Senator Joe McCarthy, introduced Trump to Stone during that decade.

On Thursday, San Diego’s Democrats For Equality meeting will feature activist John Mattes, whose early suspicions about the sources of anti-Clinton posts on the pro-Bernie Sanders Facebook pages pointed to foreign involvement, will present the findings of a six-month investigation he conducted about Russian interference.   [Read more…]

Club for Growth Ad Campaign Targets Congressman Issa on Health Care Bill

by

The battle over #TrumpDontCare, or as the Club for Growth is now calling it, #RyanCare is coming to a head.

Congressman Darrell Issa has been named as one of ten legislators targeted by the conservative anti-tax group in a $500,000 TV and digital ad buy urging opposition to the administration’s health care bill. They don’t like the bill because it doesn’t include enough ‘freedom,’ which is code for screwing the not-as-wealthy.

On the other side of the fence, Indivisible and associated groups opposing repeal of the Affordable Care Act are regularly picketing Issa’s Vista office. Tuesday’s action included a “die in” on the lawn nearby, with signs shaped like tombstones and messages on how the Republican plan will cost lives.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry