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Pelosi to Visit San Diego as DC Ratchets Up the Racism

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As the administration’s war on immigrants and brown people reached new lows, it was announced that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will visit San Diego next week, with a delegation of 15 Democrats organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Things are looking bad, really bad, right now. Just about every part of the government is actively working hard to inflict cruel and unusual punishment on human beings who happen to lack identity papers.

We can only hope Pelosi’s trip to the border region will generate enough awareness to stimulate opposition to government actions that should be seen as violating international law and basic moral conduct.   [Read more…]

From the Ministry of Truth: Singapore Summit Video | Video Worth Watching

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Who do you think promulgated this video, Trump or Kim Jung-un? If your first impression is that this is a North Korean propaganda video, you are not alone. Seeing the White House icon with WH.GOV beneath it is pretty damn chilling. And the propaganda machine is fueled with our taxes.   [Read more…]

Third Time’s the Charm for Cheesecake Factory Janitors’ Wage Claims

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Also: Dead Men Don’t Talk in National City, the Dotard and the Billionaire Class, and the Democratic Party’s New Free Speech Zone

Remember the days when corporations in California avoided responsibility for breaking labor laws by blaming contractors, who all-to-often disappeared when investigations were complete?

An investigation initiated by San Diego’s Employee Rights Center, a nonprofit that assists low-wage workers without union representation, led to a ruling by the  Labor Commissioner’s Office holding the Cheesecake Factory restaurants in Southern California and its janitorial subcontractors liable for $4.57 million in minimum wages, overtime, liquidated damages, waiting time penalties, and meal and rest period premiums.   [Read more…]

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Students Perform At The 2018 Tony Awards | Video Worth Watching

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From the CBS YouTube site:

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, perform Rent’s “Seasons Of Love” in honor of their theatre teacher, Melody Herzfeld, who was named the recipient of the 2018 Excellence in Theatre Education Award, presented by Carnegie Mellon.

  [Read more…]

America, the UnBeautiful: Otay Mesa Protest, Border Patrol Harassment, & Children in Cages

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Border Patrol Targets Demonstrators

In what is likely the first in a series of immigration-related protests, several hundred people came to a rally outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Sunday demanding the release of asylum seekers fleeing gang violence and state repression.

They were taking up the cause of asylum seekers who –for the most part–have voluntarily turned themselves at the border. Little did the protesters know their own participation in the event would lead to harassment by border authorities.

Protests are spreading nationwide in the wake of horrific reports of abuse and mistreatment by immigration agencies. People are speaking out against a President who refers to immigrants as ‘animals’ and implements policies inflicting punishment on people whose rights to due process are rapidly vanishing.   [Read more…]

Thoughts on the Midterms: Defeats for Big Money and Democrats’ November Hopes Somehow Survive

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Thud!  What’s that sound?  It’s the unceremonious crash landing of tens of millions of dollars of Charter Schools Association money in the Governor’s race backing Antonio Villaraigosa.  

Never has such an obscene amount of money been spent on a bad cause with so little to show for it.  The good news here is that their efforts to turn the November election into a proxy war between the billionaire boys club and California’s educators failed miserably.  

Now, rather than having to watch the tragic irony of a multimillion-dollar crusade against teachers’ unions standing in for our Governor’s race in California while elsewhere in the red states teachers are turning the tide against decades of austerity budgeting brought to us by the GOP, we can watch a Democrat cruise to victory against the Trump-endorsed Republican.   [Read more…]

What It Was Like Pounding Precincts in the 49th District for June’s ‘Jungle Primary’

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By Mark R. Day 

Like many Americans, I have grown weary of the squabbling pundits on cable television, and tired of fulminating at the latest gaffes and missteps from the man in the White House.

So when a neighbor suggested I get out the vote for the June 5 California primary, I joined the Democrat’s effort in North San Diego County to flip the 49th Congressional District —the seat left vacant by Republican, Darrell Issa.

When I told the recruiter that my first canvassing job was with Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 California primary, his jaw dropped.  

“That’s awesome,” he said. ”You made history.”   [Read more…]

This Tiny Home Community In Oregon Is Bringing Shelter And Hope To The Homeless | Video Worth Watching

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Eugene, Oregon is not San Diego, but it is not so radically different that the same kind of approach to providing shelter to the unsheltered will not work. This tiny home village in Eugene has already saved lives and the same successes are possible here in San Diego. What’s needed in San Diego is the political will to get it done.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: June 3-9

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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, cartoonists, at-large contributors, and locally and nationally sourced writers on 2018 Primary Election results, racial harmony, Claudio Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, The Madres, SDG&E’s pipeline, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s feisty, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Optimism – a Poem, Paper-Cut Animation and Cello | Video Worth Watching

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A brief little work featuring poetry by Jane Hirshfield, animation by Kelli Anderson and music by Zoë Keating. It’s a selection from The Universe in Verse 2018, curated and hosted by Maria Popova as part of her BrainPickings project.   [Read more…]

Wake Up (Rage Against the Machine Cover) | Video Worth Watching

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For anyone out there who while listening to Rage Against the Machine’s Wake Up has wondered “What would this sound like with heavy brass?”— this is for you. This cover by Brass Against the Machine features Sophia Urista as vocalist.   [Read more…]

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