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Readers Write: It’s Gonna Be Known as the The D.C. Shuffle

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

I watched (again) the movie “Lucky Number Slevin” just last night, so as soon as the thought hit me, I called it a Kansas City shuffle.

No, it’s not a card trick. But it is an old jazz tune, originally by Benny Moten, who hailed from there.

But, that’s not it either. It’s more akin to the kind of side-step that Charles Durning performs as a fictional Texas governor in another film, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

As used in “Lucky Number Slevin” Kansas City Shuffle is a distraction tactic. When everybody looks one way, you do something else in another direction.

That’s exactly what is going on in D.C. lately, in the administration of 45*.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Feb 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: resistance, A Day Without Immigrants, Altar Boyz, Ecopsychology as Human Supremacism, ACLU suing San Diego, SD lawyers’ rally, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Photo Gallery: Rally in Solidarity with Immigrants

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“Trump’s a fool, Trump’s a clown, we are here to shut him down”– crowd chant.

The bad weather took a pause for Saturday’s Solidarity with Immigrants rally. SDFP editor Frank Gormlie counted two thousand people as the crowd left the staging area in front of the County Administration Building.

Speakers included Sharia Alam (Rage against Fascism), Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales-Fletcher, Ismahan Abdullahi (PANA), Former Los Angeles Major Antonio Villaraigosa, Dreamer Maren Ramos, Imam Taha Hassane (Islamic Center San Diego) and Christian Ramirez (Alliance San Diego).   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Resistance

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RESISTANCE

The sun rose
without an executive order

Unvetted clouds immigrated

Crows bullied each other
over the tallest lampposts
in vacant parking lots
  [Read more…]

ResistSD! Progressive Calendar for San Diego February 16-March 1, 2017

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More than two dozen ways to get involved

Congress will be taking a break next week to listen to their constituents, except for the 200 Republican members of the House of Representatives who refuse contact with the public.

By contrast, in the first two months of 2015, Republicans held 222 in-person events.

Donald Trump is already campaigning for 2020, and as was true with his last launch event, people are being paid to be there.

So what can you do? There’s plenty of local activism to support. Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings   [Read more…]

South Bay Loses Investigative Reporter, Voice for School District Communities

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South Bay took a big blow in comprehensive news coverage and support this week when reporter Christine Huard was laid off from the San Diego Union Tribune.

Huard covered all of the South Bay school districts, often uncovering scandals such as the fact that San Ysidro has paid millions, but not yet received their solar panels from Manzana Energy — a company whose owner also owns La Prensa San Diego. She also covered school board irregularities, celebrated school successes and so much more. This has now, overnight, disappeared.

Huard is only one of two regular South Bay writers at the Union Tribune, Allison Sampite-Montecalvo being the other reporter who serves approximately 450,000 residents south of the I-54 to the border. The other reporters laid off with Huard apparently are going to be staff members who wrote about the Chargers in the sports section. This is yet another example of under-covered and sometimes outright ignored communities losing a key voice who skillfully and thoroughly took on tough assignments necessary to get to the truth   [Read more…]

Reflections on A Day Without Immigrants

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A week of immigration roundups by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has triggered a wave of one-day strikes impacting business and schools in cities throughout the United States.

Eyewitness reports from around the country belie the administration’s assurances that enforcement efforts are aimed at criminal offenders. Deportation forces are harassing legal residents and targeting DACA-recipients, domestic violence survivors, and those seeking shelter from cold weather at a church.

Thus far, San Diego seems to have been spared, according to local advocates. People are afraid, nonetheless.   [Read more…]

Constituents Buy Newspaper Ad Seeking Rep. Issa Town Hall Appearance

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Several hundred people crowdfunded a full page ad in the Union-Tribune on Tuesday, inviting Congressman Darrell Issa to a town hall in Vista on February 21.

For weeks now people in the 49th Congressional district have been calling, writing, and even picketing hoping to get Issa to directly engage with them on issues of concern, especially what in store for them with the promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The wily congressman tried to dodge the issue by staging a “telephone conference” involving carefully screened callers. He rolled out a proposal for ‘accessible’ health care, hoping people wouldn’t notice they’d have no way to afford it. It didn’t work.   [Read more…]

Up is Down and Flynn is Out: More Complicated Than It Seems

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On Monday evening the President of the United States accepted the resignation of his national security advisor, Ret. General Michael Flynn.

The oft-stated scenario has Flynn falling on his sword following news accounts calling into question his ties with the Russian government and the Trump administration’s refusing to acknowledge there might be a security problem because of the relationship.

There is, as you will see, a three-dimensional chess game going on in world politics, and this incident is just the latest move.   [Read more…]

Resistance Efforts Turn Towards City Council Over Trump Travel Ban

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On Tuesday, February 14, the San Diego City Council will vote on whether to join the Washington State lawsuit challenging the Trump Travel Ban. Local activists are being asked to support this effort by contacting City Council members and attending a hearing on the matter.

Although a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of a ban on travel from some Muslim-majority nations, the suit challenging the executive order continues to move forward.

One year ago the very idea of San Diego joining this lawsuit would not have been considered. The election of Mara Elliott as City Attorney has changed the political landscape.   [Read more…]

Hiking as Resistance

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Over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at a variety of forums along with folks from other activist groups about what needs to be done in the age of Trump. During one of these events at Grossmont College, I was struck by something a colleague of mine who leads nature expeditions for the Sierra Club said about his students and their relationship or lack thereof to the natural world.

Ten years ago, he observed, about half of the students he dealt with had had some experience hiking in the backcountry, roaming the desert, or visiting a state or national park, but that number has been consistently shrinking over the last decade or so.

He told a few stories of students on their first venture into the wild being afraid of getting attacked by mountain lions. Initially many of them are not sure what to do or how to act outside of the city. The experience, he explained, is uncomfortable for them at first, but, after some reassurance and education, they open their eyes to the wonder of the world.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Feb 5-11

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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: Dem Party and Labor’s Kasparian mess, Trump, immigration crackdown, Hershey Felder, Ajisen Ramen, Sunset Cliffs erosion, public transit as social justice, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

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