Here’s another sort of “national celebration”: people gathering to celebrate the customs and cultures of indigenous peoples. From the YouTube website:
Anchored by the drum and vocals of the seven-time Grammy nominated Northern Cree Singers, DJ Shub’s “Indomitable ft. Northern Cree Singers” re-introduces the world to the musical prowess of this award winning music producer and title earning competition DJ.
Sometimes loser’s names in political races aren’t on the ballot. These folks are behind the scenes players working to advance their causes, some with less than sterling intentions. At the top of my losers column is Mickey Kasparian, the now-marginalized labor leader whose choices in the June primary amounted to a revenge campaign.
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The R in tRump stands for Racism.
Let’s face the facts: the President is really good at generating outrage (see low-lights from his Montana speech) and making good on his promise to Make American White Again. If the elimination of barriers to discrimination, the cozying up to nativists, and the cruelty to children weren’t enough evidence, perhaps the purges of immigrants from the military will be enough to convince you.
The ship has run aground
in coiled ropes of clouds
and unanchored waves
No sign of crew or cargo
just tears of rust
for a salty sea
[Read more…]
The baby is cleared for takeoff! After having cued up this video from The Guardian showing the initial inflation of baby Trump, just heard today that the mayor of London announced that the balloon protest has gotten the green light and will be greeting Trump on his visit to the U.K. next Friday! Looking forward to more video of the actual event. Stay tuned! [Read more…]
One hundred seventeen years ago, direct democracy came to California with the adoption of the initiative, referendum and recall processes by way of a special election called by a newly empowered progressive wing of the Republican Party (yes, there was such a thing back then).
The push for direct democracy was a reaction to the excesses of the gilded age when millionaires and their corporate entities became powerful politically. In California, the entire state government was under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Bribery was the accepted method of doing business in the state capitol.
The state’s political establishment and its wealthy backers spent a decade trying to undo the process but eventually threw in the towel, opting for gaming the new system. Although California voters have generally been cautious at the ballot box when it comes to exercising their power (only about one-third of ballot propositions have passed), there have been some embarrassing exceptions and unintended consequences over the years. [Read more…]
From the Brave New Films YouTube website:
Pediatricians reveal the long-term damage that can be done when children are imprisoned – even with their families. Let’s stop this government-sanctioned child abuse now!
Childhood trauma, like imprisonment and family separation, provokes long-lasting implications caused by high levels of toxic stress. Short term damage can present with depression, anxiety, developmental delays, and autism-like symptoms; long term damage presents as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Through the expertise and first-hand observations of current American Academy of Pediatrics president, Dr. Colleen Kraft, and her pediatric colleagues: Dr. Lanre Falusi and Dr. Nathalie Quion viewers are confronted with the heartbreaking reality that these innocent, traumatized children are unwilling participants forced to endure the consequences of the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policy.
On this day when we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, it’s important to remember Jefferson himself believed that each new generation needed to make the American creed their own. And everyone from slaves to women to working people did just that as we see in Frederick Douglass’s great speech “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”, the early feminist manifesto “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls,” and the much lesser known “Working Men’s Declaration of Independence.”
This last is centrally important to remember because while Americans are largely aware that the battle for inclusion involved long and heroic abolition, civil rights, and women’s movements, struggles around issues of class have all-too-frequently been relinquished to the dustbin of history. Such is the case with the early Working Men’s Party that was railing about what Bernie Sanders calls “the billionaire class” well before the time when many historians mark the beginning rustlings of the American labor movement.
Indeed, what the early Working Men’s Party history shows is class rebellion is as American as apple pie and was seen as a fulfillment of the Jeffersonian project. How so? [Read more…]
A song for our nation’s birthday from an iconic U.S. citizen musician … [Read more…]
Brave New Films has produced an exposé of the private, for-profit prison industry’s role in the incarceration of immigrants: Immigrant Prisons. Here is a portion of the work that highlights the for-profit component and puts names and faces to the anodyne company names. [Read more…]
Tabulating the ballots from the June 5 primary may be just about finished in San Diego, but the results aren’t clear. Two contests are within single-digit margins, a recount is possible in one, and a court case could muddy the waters in another.
City Council District 2 candidate Bryan Pease has announced plans to challenge incumbent Lorie Zapf’s eligibility to run for a third term.
Pease was the third-place finisher in the June 5 primary. A court ruling affirming his contention would allow him to advance to the November general election. [Read more…]
From the CNN YouTube website:
An EPA whistleblower tells CNN’s Drew Griffin that Scott Pruitt directed staff to scrub his official calendar to hide meetings.
Hmm, isn’t that illegal? [Read more…]
The uproar over the Trump administration’s immigration policies continues unabated.
Over the weekend there were protests in big cities and small towns across the 50 states. (See San Diego coverage here.) Sister demonstrations took place in London, Munich, Paris, Hamburg, Tokyo, and others cities around the globe.
Starting today, San Diego and nearby points will be the focus of more protests and non-violent civil disobedience in response to the ramping up of the Justice Department’s Operation Streamline, which applies a one-size-fits-all approach in assembly-line court proceedings for migrants.
Busses and caravan with labor and faith activists came to San Diego from Orange County, Los Angeles and Pheonix to a start-up rally in Chicano Park.
