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It’s Been a Big Year for Transportation, More Needs to Be Done | Readers Write

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By Mona Rios

It’s been a big year for transportation in the San Diego region. Major transit lines have opened up, the public has been exploring new transportation technologies, and our transportation governing agencies have been overhauled for the better.

The year started with a bang as Assembly Bill 805 went into effect in January. This bill, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher and signed by Governor Jerry Brown, brought needed changes to the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). It’s made our agencies more democratic, more representative of voters, and it provided more oversight of our tax dollars.

At MTS, it required the chairperson to be a democratically-elected official. The Board of MTS selected city of San Diego Councilmember Georgette Gomez as Chairperson and myself as Vice Chair. It’s been an honor to serve National City and the region as Vice Chair of MTS.

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The Cast of ‘Hamilton’: Vote on November 6th – Lin-Manuel Miranda Approves This Message | Video Worth Watching

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This is it folks! And in case anyone needs to be reminded, here’s the Broadway cast of Hamilton with “The Election of 2018” reminding us what it’s all about: voter turnout on Tuesday, November 6th! [h/t to thoughtfulbear]

Lin-Manuel Miranda and the original Broadway cast approve this message. “The ‘room where it happens’ is wherever your voting booth is.”   [Read more…]

Lila Downs – Zapata Se Queda | Video Worth Watching

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The Day of the Dead has passed, but here’s a little something by Lila Downs, accompanied by Totó la Momposina and Celso Piña, that resurrects that sensibility.   [Read more…]

Thom Yorke (Radiohead) – Hands off the Antarctic | Video Worth Watching

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There’s been much talk this election cycle of voting for things that are not explicitly on the ballot. Trump has said that even if his name isn’t on the ballot, a vote for a Republican is a vote for him. Here’s something else not on the ballot: the Antarctic. And even if it isn’t on the ballot, a vote for anyone that doesn’t take climate change seriously is a vote to destroy the Antarctic. Meanwhile, Thom Yorke graces us with his sonic interpretation of this mesmerizing Antarctic imagery from the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise”.   [Read more…]

Massive Voter Turnout is What Matters Most Now | Progressive Activist Calendar November 2 -12, 2018

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On Nov. 6, we’ll be voting in the first major election since Donald Trump was elected president. Trump is not on the ballot, but the future he envisions for the country is, and the stakes are incredibly high.

The nationally high profile contests locally are Congressional Districts 49 and 50. If you don’t happen to live in those districts, there are still candidates and causes worthy of your support.   

Many candidates are looking for help in the next few days with encouraging people to vote. I gathered more than 50 such opportunities. They make up the bulk of this week’s calendar.

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America is Greater Than It’s Ever Been in One Man’s Really Big Brain

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Regarding the synagogue catastrophe,
a friend of a friend of mine composed
these words setting a healing tone:
“But we Jews are strong;
we have been through this before;
I just had hoped
that we would never have
to go through it again”
and one’s mind,
as it assesses yet another tragedy
during these unquiet times,
wanders to how intensely out of hand
our world seems to be   [Read more…]

Descent | Geo-Poetic Spaces

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Water’s weight
raised sky
held her down

Waves beat fatigued wings
into molten scales of sun:   [Read more…]

Oprah Rallies Supporters Campaigning for Stacey Abrams in Georgia Ahead of Midterm Elections | Video Worth Watching

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Oprah Winfrey’s opening remarks at a town hall with Stacey Abrams demonstrate once again her skill and talent for engaging a crowd and being a stirring storyteller. In emphasizing the sacrifices made by those before us, she reinforces the significance and seriousness of exercising our right to vote. And she does it in a way that’s personal, intimate and moving. She reminds us that “this land was made for you and me. … That’s not just a song, that’s the truth. … We are not powerless. Every single one of us has the same power at the polls.” She reminds us, too, that she’s an independent woman. No one paid her to attend, no one asked her to come. She votes her values and Stacey Abrams is the one who best represents those values.   [Read more…]

The ‘I’m Not Voting’ Thing – Getting Off Your Duff is the Point

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Just in time for the elections, the Union-Tribune’s contrarian opinionator Chris Reed has penned an article disputing the oft-repeated claim about voting being needed for a healthy democracy.

Everyone: Voting key to healthy democracy. Evidence: No, it’s not is thoughtful and, I suppose, logical in its own way. Ultimately it’s about debunking one of those oft-quoted things that “everybody knows.”

But seeing the article right before election day makes me think… Don’t vote? Really? What’s up with that?  

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November 2018 Cheat Sheet & Progressive Voter Kit San Diego Free Press

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What do you mean you haven’t voted yet? Damn, you’d better get moving.

Here’s our 2018: Printable cheat sheet, links to assorted voter guides, and your questions answered about where, when and how to vote.

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14 Million People Are On the Brink Of Starvation In Yemen | Video Worth Watching

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From the MSNBC YouTube website:

14 million people are on the brink of starvation in Yemen, but the U.S. can avert disaster if it stops supporting the Saudi war atrocities in Yemen.

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Happy Halloween – Talk Radio Host Carl DeMaio’s Proposition 6 Trick or Treats

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What if Proposition 6, brought to the ballot largely through a campaign led by Carl DeMaio, was only partially about repealing Senate Bill 1?

It certainly looks like Prop 6 is going to fail, with a coalition of business, labor, and politicians raising ten times more to oppose it than supporters have raised. The argument that taxpayers collectively stand to lose more–via transportation infrastructure projects– is prevailing over the claim the individual pain–more $$$ at the gas pump–used by signature gatherers to get the measure on the ballot.

At this point, it appears the real winner will be Carl DeMaio, armed with a large, national network of small-dollar donors and statewide recognition for his Reform California platform.

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