A deceptively edited video –released by a conspiracy theorist associated with the crackpot site InfoWars– depicting the effort of a White House staffer to take a microphone away from CNN reporter Jim Acosta during an exchange with President Trump is being held up as the truth.

Multiple outlets consulted experts, who found the video shared by White House Press Secretary Sanders was sped up to exaggerate a hand movement by the CNN reporter, giving the impression it was more forceful than footage broadcast on CSPAN.

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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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Having nothing positive to campaign on, reactionaries are relying upon the time-honored techniques of fear, loathing, and falsehoods. There is no wall. There is no Obamacare replacement. (Although Republicans who voted to dismember it are now claiming to want to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.)  There is no infrastructure program. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Republicans once believed would be the centerpiece of their re-election campaign, has given Wall Street a sugar rush and the average four grand bumps promised Americans is nowhere to be seen.

That’s why Ammar Campa-Najjar– a really decent human being–is being portrayed as a terrorist. That’s why Trump’s on the stump ginning up his base about hordes of brown people headed to the border.

There is only one defense against this kind of campaigning. YOU must take personal responsibility to make sure everybody around you votes. Make sure the world knows you voted. Tell everybody. Brag a little.   [Read more…]

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…]

Every woman I have contact with in any way, at my home, on the phone, on social or mass media, had a visceral reaction to the Republicans’ misogyny-fest on Capitol Hill this past week, also known as the judicial confirmation process. Tears, fears, rage, and physical reactions are the norm, not the exception.

I’m not about to write about the details of Senate spectacle of a bunch of old men sending a message that women don’t matter. It just makes me incoherently angry. Besides, I’m not so sure words from me are what’s needed right now. 

I do believe a line has been crossed. We have an obligation to make this upcoming election a statement. It is already the year of the woman in terms of candidates for elected office. Now we all need to make sure it’s the year that women’s voices driving voter turnout.

I hope I’m right. There are more than two dozen events in this week’s Activist Calendar for your consideration. If you haven’t already volunteered for a campaign or get out the vote effort, now is the time to make a commitment.   [Read more…]

Donald Trump and his enablers know the statistics from experience and rely on it to shield their groping, harassment, and pussy-grabbing. And now they are exploiting this reality in their quest to place a man on the nation’s highest court who’s history indicates he’ll do everything possible to further subjugate women. 

There are well-established facts about sexual assault and its aftermath: only 310 out of every 1,000 rapes are reported. Of those rapes reported to police, just 57 lead to arrests, 11 are referred to prosecutors, seven lead to felony convictions, and six lead to incarceration for the rapist. Victims of rape have long-lasting consequences, including PTSD, suicidal thoughts, problems at work or school, drug use, and more. 

I have no way of knowing how the vote on Kavanaugh will turn out. I do know that, whatever the outcome, the old white guys in DC have further motivated millions of women to make sure to vote in the upcoming elections. 

Now’s the time to make a plan to vote, and to encourage your friends to do so. Mail-in ballots go out in less than two weeks. Even though most of them won’t appear on every ballot, there are more than six hundred people running for office in San Diego County alone. Opportunities to learn about and engage with campaigns and issues are popping up everywhere. All you have to do is pay attention.   [Read more…]

With more than two dozen canvassing efforts planned for the coming days, Nathan Fletcher, Tommy Hough, Monica Montgomery, Dr. Jen Campbell, Ammar Campa-Najjar, Mike Levin, Todd Gloria, Chris Ward, Dr. Akilah Weber, Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Mona Rios, Jose Rodriguez, Cori Schumaker, Tasha Boerner Horvath, James Elia, and Sunday Gover all want a little help from their friends with talking to voters throughout San Diego. And if you read through the listings below, you’ll find there’s also a celebrity coming to town to knock on doors.

Getting out the vote is serious business in San Diego this year. There’s still time to join campaigns. If you’re not able, be sure to be encouraging should they knock on your door. Contacting voters is the absolute best way to win an election and this level of pre-election activity is unprecedented in my experience.
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People worldwide will mobilize this weekend under the banner of Rise for Climate, a grassroots movement seeking a fossil fuel free world.

More than 600 events are planned in at least 80 countries, with one of the key aims to challenge the decision-makers attending the Global Climate Summit in California on September 12 to escalate decarbonization efforts and targets.

The flagship event in San Fransisco will be the largest climate march the US west coast has ever seen, according to organizers. Nationwide, community groups are finding innovative ways to urge a future in which all energy sources are 100% renewable, including an initiative asking participants to share artworks related to the movement.

There are events in both Downtown and Oceanside on Saturday, September 8 listed in this week’s calendar.
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As we head into the midterm elections, the administration’s “Make America White Again” agenda is kicking into high gear.

The zero-tolerance program at the border, which had zero intention of ever showing any compassion to children separated from their families has 497 of migrant kids *still* in custody, according to a just-filed government update. Parents of 322 of those kids have already been deported; 22 of the still-separated kids are under 5 years old.
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