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Democratic Senators Throw a Wrench in Kavanaugh’s Sure Thing Nomination Process

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The junior United States Senator from California–Kamala Harris–is a boss. Her unrelenting questioning during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brent Kavanaugh was extraordinary. And things have gone uphill from there.

Now, the nomination that was supposed by a slam dunk, doesn’t look so easy anymore. Other United States Senators of the Democratic persuasion are no longer playing “the get along to go along” game.

I don’t care at this point who is or isn’t running to be the Democratic nominee for President. I care that elected officials are growing a spine. It’s about time. The GOP started out with enough votes to confirm Kavanaugh, who is clearly being positioned to obstruct proceedings against the President in addition to serving as the deciding vote on making this country re-live the not-so-good old days again.   [Read more…]

Corporate Landlords: The Fight for Affordable Housing in California | Video Worth Watching

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From the Brave New Films YouTube website:

Brave New Films, and the Proposition 10 campaign, have released a new short film – Corporate Landlords: The Fight for Affordable Housing in California (Paid for by BRAVE NEW FILMS 501(C)(4))– exposing the greed and abuses of corporate landlord, Blackstone. The film shows how Prop. 10, if passed, could be a lifeline for countless tenants across California struggling to get by.

Moldy walls, leaky roofs, rising rents. That’s what tenants of Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone CEO, are living with. It’s time to repeal Costa-Hawkins. It’s time to rise up for rent control. Vote YES on Prop 10!

  [Read more…]

‘I Have a Dream’ at the San Diego-Mexico Border and Reflections on 1968

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By Rev. Richard Lawrence

1968 came back to me when I stood with Martin Luther King, III, at the Border on August 28 and listened to folks on the other side of the Border holler in pure delight that the day had finally come when a black leader stood tall in the fight for a just immigration policy.

King, III, took us back to his father’s “I Have a Dream Speech” fifty-five years ago and reminded us that there’s no room for leaders who separate children from their parents in the world his father envisioned. No. Dr. King wanted to build bridges, not barriers, to freedom.   [Read more…]

Deep Dark Secrets – Opening Statement by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on the Kavanaugh Hearings | Video Worth Watching

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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s opening remarks at the Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh include an observation that the selection process and support for Kavanaugh has been a deep dark secret. He notes that the White House “in-sourced” the selection process to the Federalist Society. That process was opaque to any public observation. His nomination is being promoted, to the tune of millions of dollars, by organizations such as the Judicial Crisis Network, whose funding is also a deep dark secret. And a significant portion of his record is being hidden by claims of Executive Privilege. Is this any way to select a lifetime appointment to the highest court of the land?

The full transcript of Sen. Whitehouse’s remarks from his website are included below the video. To listen to the entire remarks, after the excerpt finishes, click on the replay icon in the lower-left corner of the video.   [Read more…]

Lousy Labor Day News Coverage, Kavanaugh, Bail Bonds, and Kaepernick | Short Takes

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**Labor Day came and went, and our revived local daily newspaper managed to get through it without coverage about the non-management side of the workplace.

**Hearings for Donald Trump’s latest nominee for the Supreme Court begin today. It’s going to be contentious; Democrats have no actual leverage to slow the ascent of a nominee so challenged that the Senate’s Majority leader privately advised against this nomination.

**The drive to eliminate cash bail in California has spawned the latest in a series of political efforts to maintain the status quo in the criminal justice system, namely that pre-trial detention is based on the premise of some people being more equal than others.

**Not that they need any help in this area, but former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and Nike are rattling the far right’s hive.   [Read more…]

Update on Prison Strike Demanding End of “Slave Labor”: After 10 Days, Protests Spread to 11 States | Video Worth Watching

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From the Democracy Now! YouTube channel, an update on the nationwide prison strike: Prisoners across the country join work stoppages, hunger strikes and commissary boycotts in at least 11 states to protest prison conditions and demand the end of what they call “prison slavery.” Organizers report prisoners in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Indiana are […]

With Labored Breath: The Polluted Legacy of the Steel Mills

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For the children of steel

The Atlantic recently ran an article about the long term impacts of the now largely defunct steel industry in Braddock, Pennsylvania. Braddock resident Tony Buba has produced a short documentary about the environmental racism that has created an overlooked health crisis among residents in the area, particularly among African Americans who were segregated in neighborhoods closest to the mills. The incidences of cancer and lung disease are shocking.

For those of us who lived in any one of the mill towns dotting the Monongahela River (Mon Valley) in southwestern Pennsylvania and lost loved ones to those diseases, the statistics are heartbreaking. The Trump administration’s attempts to roll back EPA air pollution standards and bring back asbestos are enraging.   [Read more…]

Lessons for Labor Day 2018: Solidarity Works!

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It has been the worst of times and the best of times for the American Labor Movement in 2018.  

Economic inequality has continued to spiral out of control as policy coming out of Washington, DC designed to tilt the scales in favor of the rich and corporations weakened the rights of working Americans at every turn. At the Supreme Court level, anti-labor justices joined the assault against labor and undermined public sector unions’ rights to collect dues.  This, combined with a tax bill that radically redistributed wealth upward and paved the way for new austerity measures aimed at gutting Social Security and Medicare, had some pundits sounding the death knell for unions and the legacy of the New Deal.

But in the midst of all this dire news, a funny thing happened: workers fought back in the unlikeliest of places.  West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma were hit by massive teacher strikes and huge protests demanding higher pay for educators, better conditions for students, and an end to the underfunding of public education.  

They shocked the world and won.     [Read more…]

Childish Gambino – Feels Like Summer | Another Video Worth Watching

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Childish Gambino has released a new animated music video celebrating Summer. It features a number of imagined celebrity appearances including Kanye West, apparently remorseful about recent comments, being consoled by Michelle Obama. More details at this TMZ article.   [Read more…]

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘Delivery’ from the Stephen Schwartz Musical ‘Working’ based on the Writing of Studs Terkel | Video Worth Watching

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Here’s a little something for Labor Day. The stage musical Working is based on the work of Studs Terkel and premiered on Broadway in 1978 with music by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso. Over the years it has grown and evolved and includes new material created by new composers such as James Taylor and Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose work was first featured in 2009. Much of the new work was unavailable as a recording until last March. Here’s one of Miranda’s contributions that was released as part of that offering: “Delivery”.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: August 26-September 1

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This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week contains articles, commentaries, columns, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, at-large contributors, and locally and nationally sourced writers on Deplorable Kalasho, refugee children still locked up, Senator McCain, Huncan Dunter’s support, wage inequality, Dr. Jen Campbell, Deep State tales, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s feisty, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

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