The good news as I write this is that Dear Leader hasn’t declared war. Yet. The bad news is that worrying about armed conflict can be distracting as hell.

I compiled an extra long list of events this week proving that, whatever the challenges, people remain engaged in a big way.

And, this will be the last calendar this month because I’m going to Switzerland to pick up suitcases full of small bills from George Soros. We’ll be livin’ la vida loca in September, comrades.

I will not be off the grid, however, so if major news breaks and there is an activist response brewing, there will be something written about it at San Diego Free Press.   [Read more…]

Two incidents reported by Voice of San Diego over the past week highlight the unfinished work of making sure the ‘justice’ part of criminal justice becomes a reality in San Diego. This coming week offers opportunities for activists to weigh in issues concerning both the Sd Sheriffs Department and the San Diego Police Department.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department dropped a dime on a couple pulled over for a cracked windshield in Mission Bay, holding them until Border Patrol agents could detain them, despite a policy prohibiting deputies from stopping, detaining or questioning people for reasons related to immigration. A conveniently conjured up ‘ongoing felony criminal investigation’ (not mentioned in subsequent bail hearings) was all the deputies needed, apparently.

We also learned about a San Diego Police officer lying multiple times under oath thanks to body camera footage discovered by the city attorney’s office after a homeless man’s lawyer appealed his conviction. Sadly, after doing the right thing and filing a motion to throw out the conviction, they neglected to inform the SDPD about the officer’s perjury.   [Read more…]

Area Activists Have a Plan…

The President and his defenders have been actively seeking a way to disrupt Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into allegations of illegal activities surrounding the 2016 general election.

What started out as a response to reports of Russian interference has now expanded into money laundering and shady real estate deals. It’s important to remember also there is at least one State Attorney General investigation (New York) into the financial side of Donald Trump’s empire.

Activists with MoveOn, Public Citizen, and Indivisible San Diego (among others) are laying the groundwork for local responses to actions the President may take along these lines.   [Read more…]

The first 44 Presidents of the United States didn’t contemplate pardoning their children. Now we’ve learned number 45 may be breaking this precedent.

The Washington Post is reporting that Trump is discussing the possibility of pardoning himself, his family, and his closest aides in response to news about investigators looking into his finances as well as his campaign’s complicity in Russia’s subversion of the 2016 election.

His legal team, according to reporting at the Post and a NY Times story, is digging up dirt on the special counsel investigators in an attempt to discredit them.

The media is rife with speculation concerning the employment security of the Attorney General and the Special Counsel.

For right now, it’s all just talk. But the President’s disregard for constitutionally derived checks and balances has never been clearer.   [Read more…]

San Diego Pride Weekend Plus Dozens of Other Events 

Who knew one vote could be so important? That’s all it will take to stop TreasonCare V.3 in the United States Senate. Two key Senators on opposite ends of the GOP political spectrum have already said ‘no way.’

At this point, anything perceived as “win” is all the GOP wants. They’ll promise or say anything to get there. A whopping 61% of the American public opposes the plan.

So, if you know people in states with Senators known to be wavering on this legislation, make a call, send a text, or DM urging them to send a message to Capitol Hill.  

In the meantime, there is lots of activist action in San Diego over the next ten days.   [Read more…]

Five days of rioting followed a June 28, 1969, police raid on the Stonewall bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village mark the beginning of contemporary Gay Pride activities around the United States.

Groups with radical-sounding names and agendas like the Gay Liberation Front or the Gay Activist Alliance became part of the landscape of protest in the era of Black Power, anti-war protests, Women’s Liberation, and the Counterculture movement.

The first local Gay-In was held in December 1970 at Presidio Park, organized by the nascent San Diego State Gay Liberation Front.

Much has changed since those early days, where simply being gay exposed people to felony charges in most states. Community organizing enabled economic and political power, leading to increased visibility, and, most importantly, to a greater degree of equality in the eyes of the law.   [Read more…]

Now is as good a time as any to recognize that most humans living in the United States, whether they supported Republicans, Democrats or a third party in the last election aren’t very happy about what’s going on in the Nation’s Capitol these days.

It’s a mistake–I think–to let those who wrap themselves in the flag and let fear guide their moral compass claim the high ground of patriotism. We, the people, are better than that. Let the Fourth of July be an occasion where our better instincts and aspirations for peace and justice set the tone.

Housekeeping Notes: We’re moving. San Diego Free Press is migrating to a new home on the internet (our address will remain the same): all 10,000+ graphics, 7,000+posts, and 29,000+comments accumulated over the five years we’ve been doing this are boxed up and ready to go. As with any move, there are bound to be some glitches. We expect things to return to ‘normal’ by Monday. If we’re lucky, readers won’t notice anything different.

Over the Holiday Weekend: I expect to post a story + pictures about Sunday’s Impeachment March. The Starting Line column will return on Wednesday unless something really earthshaking occurs.     [Read more…]