San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Government

From Police Reform To Playgrounds, San Diego Coalition Seeks A City Budget For The People

by

By Susan Duerksen / Center on Policy Initiatives

San Diego’s Community Budget Alliance (CBA) has won approval of environmental, labor, police reform, and pedestrian safety projects this year, and will continue to push for more equitable spending throughout the final month of brewing the 2018-19 City budget.

The City Council has several chances in June to modify the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The CBA coalition advocates for budget equity to benefit low-wage working people and underserved communities…

The CBA’s successes in recent years demonstrate the power of direct community advocacy to make changes that improve daily life in San Diego.   [Read more…]

War and Moral Injury

by

Veterans often wrestle with the things they’ve done in war. When will ordinary Americans do the same?

By Saurav Sarkar / OtherWords

“As a sniper I was not usually the victim of a traumatic event, but the perpetrator of violence and death,” recalled Garrett Reppenhegen of Iraq Veterans Against the War in an essay for Salon.

“My actions in combat would have been more acceptable to me if I could cloak myself in the belief that the whole mission was for a greater good,” he reflected. “Instead, I watched as the purpose of the mission slowly unraveled.”

These words illustrate the concept of moral injury — where a soldier’s conscience has been shaken by what he or she has done, resulting in lasting trauma.

For so many of us, war is something that happens somewhere else. It’s a television news update or a click on the screen, at worst. The real costs of U.S. wars happen to other people, in other places.

Will ordinary Americans ever have to reckon with moral injury?   [Read more…]

Bill Withers – I Can’t Write Left Handed | Video Worth Watching

by

For the Memorial Day observation here’s Bill Withers’ plaintive and matter-of-fact “I Can’t Write Left-Handed”.   [Read more…]

Google Employees Quit Over Military Drone Program – Project Maven | Video Worth Watching

by

Around a dozen Google employees are reported to have quit over Google’s decision to participate in a military drone program known as Project Maven.   [Read more…]

Newest Existential Threat to Oakland’s Public Schools

by

A “Systems of Schools” plan has been introduced by the destroy public education (DPE) forces in Oakland, California. The plan basically posits that with 30 percent of students in charter schools, the system has become inefficient. Therefore, the school board needs to review resources and close schools in areas with too many seats and overlapping programs.

However, since Oakland’s school board has no authority over charter schools it is only public schools that can be closed or downsized unless charter schools voluntarily cooperate.   [Read more…]

What Life Is Like on Gaza’s Side of the Fence | Video Worth Watching

by

Most of the coverage on these events that I’ve seen have focused strictly on the border violence. Here’s something that attempts to provide a bit more context. From The New York Times YouTube site:

Palestinians in Gaza are taking part in mass protests, demanding an end to the 11-year blockade of the territory and a return to lands in what is now Israel. The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief reports from the region.

  [Read more…]

Trita Parsi: I Was Targeted by Black Cube in Dirty Ops Effort Attacking Supporters of Iran Deal | Video Worth Watching

by

Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council, says he was targeted by an Israeli private intelligence agency over his support for the Iran nuclear deal. The agency, Black Cube, was hired to orchestrate a “dirty ops” campaign against members of the Obama administration who negotiated the nuclear agreement. The Guardian reports Trump’s aides hired Black Cube; The New York Times says it’s not yet clear who hired the intelligence firm. Among those Black Cube was hired to investigate and discredit were Obama’s top national security aide Benjamin Rhodes and Vice President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Colin Kahl. Black Cube is made up of former officials from the Mossad and other Israeli agencies. It is the same firm hired by disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein to stop publication of articles that exposed him as a sexual predator.   [Read more…]

May Day in Puerto Rico: Police Attack Anti-Austerity Protesters with Pepper Spray & Tear Gas | Video Worth Watching

by

Disaster capitalism hits Puerto Rico. PROMESA, the board appointed by Congress to oversee Puerto Rico’s economy, is calling for, among other things, the privatization of the school system and a 10% cut to pensions. On May Day citizens turned out to protest. From the streets of San Juan we have a report filed by Democracy Now! correspondent Juan Carlos Dávila.   [Read more…]

North County’s McClellan-Palomar Airport 2018 – 2038 Master Plan Environmental Impact Review

by

Has the San Diego Water Board Provided the County Helpful Comments?

In January 2018, the County unpacked its 2018 – 2038 McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport Master Plan (PMP). Also, its sister Programmatic EIR (PEIR). The San Diego Water Board (SDWB) commented, but inadequately.

The PMP Purpose

The Board of Supervisors has a simple but complex question before it: Should county by 2038 spend $112 million to move and lengthen the Palomar 4900-foot runway by 800 feet to annually handle 30% fewer aircraft than county handled before?   [Read more…]

Los Angeles Chooses a Billionaire Privatizer for Superintendent of Schools

by

Eli Broad and friends have picked his wealthy business partner, Austin Beutner, to lead LA schools. Their kindred spirit from San Francisco, Reed Hastings, is chipping in for the cause as are Fisher, Walton, Bloomberg and several other billionaires. The selection of Beutner signals another existential crisis for America’s second largest public school district.

In May of 2017, these pro-privatization forces bankrolled a successful destroy public education (DPE) take-over of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). For the first time ever, a pro-charter school voting bloc is in control.

On April 16, Howard Blume reporting for the Los Angeles Times said, “Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles.” However, the selection has been surprisingly stalled.   [Read more…]

Should Councilman Scott Sherman Recuse Himself from Decisions on Short Term Vacation Rentals?

by

Sherman’s Family Owns 33 Rental Units in or Near Ocean Beach

There’s just something sketchy going on about San Diego Councilman Scott Sherman, the allegations that he has a conflict of interest in decisions concerning regulations for short-term vacation rentals (STVRs), and the lack of any genuine investigation by the San Diego Ethics Commission.

And the issue whether Sherman should recuse himself from any decisions about STVRs just won’t go away. Plus there are allegations he or his family own lots of rentals in Ocean Beach.   [Read more…]

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson Leaves People Nowhere to Go

by

“It is absolutely unthinkable that the Trump Administration’s response to the crisis is to make things worse with draconian rent increases and work requirements.”

By Tara Raghuveer / People’s Action Blog 

75 low-and moderate-income tenants and manufactured homeowners repeatedly disrupted Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson at a speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday, asking, “where will we go?”

Carson’s response? Instead of offering solutions, he insulted poor tenants, saying “This is a perfect example of what happens when the swamp gets ahold of people.”
  [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry