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A Sampling of 2018 Voter Guides for San Diegans | Progressive Activist Calendar, October 12-22, 2018

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I don’t know if there’s Blue Wave building, but I can tell you I haven’t seen such engagement and interest in an election in recent memory. This week’s activist calendar includes 36 events related to canvassing or voter education, and I know I just scratched the surface.

Another indication of voter interest is the proliferation of voter guides. Not that long ago, the term ‘voter guide’ either meant a handout from a political party or a slate mailer from a pay to play outfit.

Given that I worked on two such efforts this year, I thought I’d take a few minutes to catalog and comment upon some of what I’m seeing in the way of election-related compendiums and endorsement lists.    [Read more…]

The Joke On Us | Geo-Poetic Spaces

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The joke is
on US
when laughter
provokes tears

Good medicine
goes bad

Delivery
executed
with the slap of a stick
that punches
our original voices
into mimes   [Read more…]

53,000 Voter Registrations On Hold In Georgia, 70% African American | Video Worth Watching

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Here’s this week’s case of Republican voter suppression. From the MSNBC YouTube page:

AP reports that more than 53,000 residents have had their registrations on hold thanks to a policy that requires their applications to “precisely match” info from other state agencies. Reasons could be mundane as a “dropped hyphen in a last name.” 70% of the people on the list are African Americans.

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Marriott Strike at the San Diego Westin Gaslamp: Because One Job Should Be Enough

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Nearly 8,000 union members have gone on strike at Marriott hotels in seven cities around the country, including San Diego. Workers at the Westin Gaslamp Hotel joined the nationwide walkout this week, and are picketing in shifts from 4am to midnight daily.

Locals from UNITE HERE around the country started taking strike authorization votes in September, as members grew frustrated working under expired contracts. To date, there are also picket lines in Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with five locations in Hawaii.

While the theme for the work stoppage is “One Job Should Be Enough,” the union is pushing for new contracts will cover more than just raises. The union has made a big push to force hotel companies to adopt panic buttons for housekeepers, as a way to reduce the likelihood of sexual harassment and assault.   [Read more…]

My Meeting with Escondido Mayor Sam Abed Was Worse Than Expected

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By Wendy Wilson / Alianza North County

Most people in Escondido are not required to meet with the mayor. I had to and was outraged. The following account is all from one meeting with Sam Abed. It gives you a good idea of who he is and what drives his policies.

As the local arts agency representative, my task was to present data about cultural tourism in Escondido and North County.

At the start of my meeting with Mayor Abed, he told me right off…My first priority as mayor is my personal finances.   [Read more…]

Valve Turners on Trial: Judge Acquits Three Climate Activists Who Shut Down Tar Sands Pipelines | Video Worth Watching

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From the Democracy Now! YouTube page:

A month before the 2016 election, anti-pipeline activists staged an unprecedented coordinated action to shut down the flow of oil from the United States to Canada. On October 11, 2016, activists in North Dakota, Washington, Montana and Minnesota turned the manual safety valves on four pipelines, temporarily halting the flow of nearly 70 percent of the crude oil imported to the United States from Canada. They came to be known as the “Valve Turners.” What followed was a lengthy legal battle that ended with some of the activists in jail. But on Tuesday, three valve turners who broke into an oil pipeline facility in Minnesota on that day in 2016 were acquitted. We speak with the valve turners themselves, Annette Klapstein and Emily Johnston, about their acquittal. Johnston is a poet and co-founder of 350Seattle.org and Klapstein is a retired attorney for the Puyallup tribe and member of the Raging Grannies. We also speak with their attorney Kelsey Skaggs and Dr. James Hansen, the former top climate scientist at NASA.

  [Read more…]

The Connection Between ‘Pulp Fiction’ in Istanbul and ‘Lock Her Up’ in Iowa

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A columnist for the Washington Post was apparently murdered in Istanbul, Turkey. This was no robbery, not a drive-by shooting. Officially, Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi is a missing person. 

This is a story with implications going beyond the unbridled cruelty of the Saudi regime. It goes beyond the 11 journalists currently being detained in Saudi Arabia and the rising tide of violence aimed at the news media worldwide. It should come as no surprise that there are threads back to the Trump administration woven into this story.

There is security cam footage of him walking into the Saudi Consulate, but no evidence that he left. His fiance waited outside the building for 10 hours.   [Read more…]

Los Angeles Celebrates First-Ever Indigenous Peoples Day | Video Worth Watching

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Los Angeles celebrated its first Indigenous Peoples Day. Come on San Diego! What will it take to get support for this change here?   [Read more…]

Bernie Sanders to Stump for Congressional Candidates Mike Levin and Ammar Campa-Najjar in San Diego

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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will visit San Diego to speak on behalf of congressional Democratic candidates Mike Levin and Ammar Campa-Najjar later this month as part of a nine-day nationwide pre-midterm blitz.

Rallies and events for the Sanders tour, which begins October 19, will include support for candidates in Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California.

Details of his appearances have yet to be announced, although it seems probable–based on news reports about the itinerary–Sanders’ local events will occur just prior to his final stop in Oakland on October 27.   [Read more…]

Donna Frye Makes the Case for Vivian Moreno as D8 Councilmember

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By Donna Frye

Last week I officially endorsed Vivian Moreno to serve as the next Council District 8 City Councilmember. Vivian is someone who has strong core beliefs and values that will not change based on politics. She is honest and straightforward- she tells it like it is and I appreciate that.

Vivian and I agree about what it takes to be a public servant. It means listening to others with an open mind, understanding what people are saying about their positions on issues and the reasons people believe as they do and working hard to find equitable and reasonable solutions. Vivian was active in serving her community long before she ever thought about running for office. Her passion to serve is a result of her upbringing and strong family ties. Vivian is a lifelong resident of South San Diego and knows firsthand the challenges facing the community.   [Read more…]

Can Women’s Anger Save America? | Video Worth Watching

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From the Atlantic website:

In America today, women are angry. But this isn’t a modern phenomenon, argues the author Rebecca Traister. In her new book, “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger,” Traister details how female rage has long been the country’s political fuel. She expounded on this idea at Aspen Ideas Festival in June, where, in a video interview, she discussed how the fury of American women—from the suffragists to the abolitionists to Rosa Parks—has catalyzed major political movements.

[h/t to AGD]   [Read more…]

Marshall Tuck: The Republicans’ Trojan Horse

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In last week’s column, I wrote that “the future of public education and the heart and soul of progressive California” were at stake in the Superintendent of Public Instruction race.  What makes this race so important is that it represents an attempt by moneyed interests and forces on the right to play in Democratic politics through the use of stealth and dishonesty.  Indeed, if you like the way the Lincoln Club intervenes in and tries to upset the Democratic apple cart in races here in San Diego, you’ll love how the right is trying to game California’s Democratic voters in this contest.

It’s so bad, that the state party came out with this extraordinary assertion last May leading up to the primary in response to Tuck’s refusal to disavow his Republican allies:

Tony Thurmond has won the overwhelming support of Democrats for Superintendent of Public Instruction because he champions our progressive values. Marshall Tuck’s support is limited to ultra-wealthy billionaires and right-wing thugs like Newt Gingrich and John Cox, who we see next to him in the latest independent mailer that Tuck has tacitly endorsed. It doesn’t matter how many pictures of President Obama he sends out to voters. We hear both sides of his mouth, and we know the conservative agenda he is part of.

  [Read more…]

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