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Weathering Storms

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A hawk flies on gentle breezes outside my window, crowing away, perhaps seeking its prey or a mate, all unfolding on one of those “Reasons Why I Live in San Diego” kind of days: so lovely and warm, giving an appearance that, when it comes to weather, all is well with the world.

Then I think of the other day when my son and I ducked into the theater at the Reuben H. Fleet Museum to see “Extreme Weather,” an IMAX movie that took us on a breathtaking 360-degree tour of scenes that remind us that, climate-wise, we earthlings are in deep ca-ca.

All is definitely not well. We’ve jabbed and danced around and clowned, burning coal and oil and natural gas and bulldozed and chopped down our rain forests, backing Mother Nature up against the ropes, leaving her no choice but to come off those ropes and huff and puff and blow us and our houses down!   [Read more…]

Ballast Point Boycott Tied to Support for Congressman Paul Ryan, Trumpcare Fight

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A boycott of Ballast Point products is being pushed by groups in Chicago as part of a campaign of resistance to the Trump administration’s hurry-up plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Ballast Point is the largest brewer in San Diego and was acquired by Constellation Brands in November 2015 for a reported of $1 billion. The parent company’s Political Action Committee has donated $25,000 thus far in 2017 in support of Rep. Paul Ryan, who’s leading the congressional fight for passage of what I like to call #TrumpDontCare.

The brewery has reached out via social media as news of the boycott has gone viral, saying “Ballast Point does not support Paul Ryan, nor the healthcare bill.”   [Read more…]

A Deeply Immoral Budget

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They say that budgets are moral documents, and if that is the case, then the Trump administration just released the most immoral budget in the history of the United States.

While there are many things to condemn in Trump’s depraved plan, starting with the way it pays for a completely unnecessary, massive increase in funding for the military industrial complex by eviscerating programs that help the poor, fund education, and maintain the social fabric of the country, there is still something worse than all that contained within it.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Homelessness Calamity: You Have Just Entered the Twilight Zone

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Say what you want about the faraway White House. But watch what you say about City Hall and the people we elect to local government – they’re practically family.

They live in our neighborhoods. We have coffee with them when they’re running for office. We bump into them at the movies or supermarket. We could hop a trolley downtown and collar them at work. We elect them to work for us.

Their job is to pave the streets, limit what gets built on that empty lot around the corner, keep an eye on the police department, get the trash picked up, and make sure there are enough fire stations to keep us safe and good air-quality levels to keep us healthy and enough libraries and parks to help make us happy.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: March 12-18

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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 Duncan & Darrell Show, labor talks with the County, American style dehumanization, G.I. José, craft beer in the South Bay, Trump BS, My Lai, Pepe’s, upcoming homeless hearing, 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: Draft

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A gust of air
rushed walls
blew open the bound city
rustled through pages
turned over

Leaves   [Read more…]

Progressive Activist Calendar, March 17-28, 2017

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The Randian nightmare, also known as the Trump administration continues to unfold. A budget plan presented by the White House this week is a boon for billionaires and kick in the teeth for the rest of us.

It should be clear by now we’re in for a long struggle. There are ongoing activities, organizations to support, and organizing to be done. AND, we should try to have a little fun along the way! Take a walk, have a talk, read a book, and turn off the internet from time-to-time.

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

  [Read more…]

Poverty Rates in the South Bay and My Rant About Beer

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Chula Vista is the second largest city in San Diego County. The South Bay has approximately 450,000 residents. If San Diegans mean to say, “The biggest hurdle has been trying to get someone from Carlsbad to come down to National City and Chula Vista to drink beer.” Okay. Fair Enough.

I’d then ask: When was the last time people from the South Bay went North of downtown San Diego? It’s too far. There’s very little culture up there — very little to do.   [Read more…]

Mayor Faulconer Says No to Trump Immigration Scheme

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Mayor Kevin Faulconer issued a memorandum on Wednesday, March 15, saying San Diego will not be participating a federal program deputizing local law enforcement officers to perform the duties of immigration authorities.

I learned about the memorandum, which came in response to an earlier letter from Councilmembers Chris Ward, David Alvarez, and Georgette Gomez, by way of social media from the 9th District councilman.

I get multiple press releases from the Mayor’s office daily, but somehow this one didn’t rate a mention. I’ve already been informed twice, for instance, hizzoner will be first in line on Thursday afternoon at Stone Brewing’s Liberty Station to taste “Full Circle Pale Ale, the first local craft beer brewed with advanced-treated recycled water from the city’s “Pure Water” facility.”   [Read more…]

Indivisible Provides Another Glimpse into Duncan Hunter’s Delusions

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Plus: A Few Thoughts About the State of the Resistance

The good folks at Indivisible have released a four and half minute video from Congressman Duncan Hunter’s Ramona town hall meeting over the weekend.

In it, the East County’s Republican Representative lays out the world in Washington as he sees it, condemning the thousands of “seditious Obama folks” who’ve infiltrated the Justice Department, the FBI, and the intelligence community.

You have to give it to Duncan, Jr. His arrogance is only exceeded by his ignorance, as he took a break from his “…very busy two months making America great again” to speak with the common folk this past weekend.   [Read more…]

County Employees Seek Community Input in Labor Talks

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This week (Wednesday, March 15), unions and community groups will appear before the County Board of Supervisors to urge them to begin negotiations on a new labor agreement.

What would normally be a matter of negotiating pay and benefits for 10,000 San Diego County employees has become another front in the battle for social justice, thanks to a strategy called ‘bargaining for the common good’ adopted by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 221.

The SEIU has invited representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Policy Initiatives, the Community Advocacy Network and other groups to join them at the bargaining table and participate in negotiations.   [Read more…]

The Man Who Skipped Breakfast and Found a World of Love

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Charlie Chatman woke up one morning saying to himself, as he had for so many mornings, for eternities: “Lord, give me the strength to put up with these damn peckerwoods one more day.”

The only thing he cared about in his godforsaken life, on a Hawkinsville, Georgia sharecropping plantation, was breakfast, whatever it happened to be, cornbread and scraps of pork, a potato or two, a cup of milk (maybe) – or some stolen boiled corn that the pigs were fed.

Anything to sustain his body and spirit to stand up against the insults to his humanity he had to put up with each day. What kept him alive each day were his daydreams, simple imaginings: sleeping in a nice bed, walking leisurely down a country road, meeting Gabriel on Judgment Day.   [Read more…]

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