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Privatizing the Veterans Administration: A Key Part of the Trump Agenda

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By Mark Sumner / Daily Kos

The replacement of Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin has two narratives in the media—that Shulkin “embarrassed” Donald Trump with a trip to Europe that included days of sightseeing, and that Shulkin “clashed” with other officials at the VA.

Despite the amount of play the first item has received in the press, and despite some completely justified criticisms of Shulkin’s efforts both slip his wife’s travel costs onto the VA’s dime and indulgence in gifts he should never have accepted, the idea that he was pushed out over travel costs is clearly ludicrous. Scott Pruitt has engaged in far more lavish—and ridiculous—travel policies, hauling along a vast entourage on trips to Italy and Morocco, and the only thing his actions have earned from Trump is a suggestion that Pruitt may get a promotion to some other department ripe for wrecking. Besides, Trump isn’t capable of embarrassment. 

And when the press reports that Shulkin butted heads with officials, what they really mean is that Shulkin was blocking appointees from Trump who were pushing to privatize the VA. Fast. The conflict was simple: Shulkin, the only hold-over in Trump’s cabinet from the Obama administration, was trying to maintain the VA as a viable system of health care for veterans. The Trump appointees that filled all the other VA slots, were actively working to do to the VA what Pruitt has done to the EPA—destroy it.   [Read more…]

Indiana’s Destroy-Public-Education Leader is Going National (Again)

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Harris propagates the Koch-DeVos school privatization agenda

Last week, a press release from The Mind Trust announced that founder and CEO, David Harris was leaving. Writing for Chalkbeat, Dillon Peers McCoy reported:

“Now, Harris is moving on from the city he helped shape to the national stage, although he still plans to live in Indianapolis. The national group is in the early stages of development, said Harris, who declined to provide more details about his co-founders or their plans. A release from The Mind Trust said the new organization aims to “help cities around the country build the right conditions for education change.”

This is at least the third attempt Harris has made to take his brand to a national scale.   [Read more…]

Supervisor Bill Horn’s McClellan-Palomar Airport Retaining Wall: $12 Million for 60 Feet?

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Sometimes, you just have to shake your head and ask, What was he thinking? Today, the “he” is San Diego Board of Supervisor Bill Horn.

Here is today’s specific question: Did the McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport consultant add a massive $12 million retaining wall to the 2018 Palomar Master Plan so Bill Horn could add 60 more feet to the Palomar runway?

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The County of San Diego operates eight county airports (but not the San Diego International Airport). Palomar is one county airport within the city of Carlsbad in North County. At a cost of $700,000 in 2013, county asked a consultant to study whether the runway could be stretched from 4,900 feet to 5,800 feet.

The county archives are yet to tell us why a 900-foot extension was picked. Though this article may provide some clues.

  [Read more…]

ACLU: Greyhound Must Stop Giving Border Patrol Permission to Conduct Bus Raids

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Greyhound buses, once a symbol of travel on America’s vast highways, have become rolling traps where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents routinely board to unlawfully interrogate, detain and arrest passengers.

The agents, with the agreement of Greyhound, stage surprise boardings without warrants to question riders about their citizenship and travel plans. In many cases, all too reminiscent of police states, the agents demand to see a passenger’s “documents.”

The warrantless raids, which saw a rapid increase in the past year, are not only a blatant disregard of passengers’ constitutional rights, they are also clearly driven by racial profiling.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: Violent American Culture, NC-17

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By Dave Patterson, San Diego Veterans for Peace

How can we talk with our school children about the irrationality of violence when we happily take them to gun shows, military air shows and military museums where indiscriminate killing is portrayed as a fun activity for all?  

Since the last school shooting, our educators are racing to prevent more violence by implementing depression screenings and Rachel’s Challenge non-violence program, while at the same time we promote our violent American culture. Now some are talking about banning sales of guns to those younger than 21, so wouldn’t it be logical to assign an NC-17 rating to the institutions that promote violence?

At the core of all this violence is the way we promote it in American culture. Selling someone an assault weapon that’s designed for killing people is clearly the promotion of violence against other people. In San Diego, we bus our school kids to the USS Midway where the ship was used to bomb Vietnam and helped kill 2 to 3 million people there. Yet everyone gets a thrill looking at the cool planes that deliver bombs on whomever.   [Read more…]

A Nation Bamboozled: Invasion of Iraq 15 Years Later

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By Bill in Portland Maine / Daily Kos

Today is the anniversary of one of the most avoidably-idiotic days in American history—the day Republicans shot our country in the face and expected a parade of sweets and flowers for it. It’s the 15th dumbstickiversary of the invasion of Iraq. As always, we mark the occasion with a reminder of some of the lying and/or moronic statements made by the band of Very Serious People who orchestrated and/or promoted the debacle. Feel free to hurl rotten tomatoes as you see fit…

“Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
—George W. Bush (10/7/02)

“I will bet you the best dinner in the gaslight district of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week. Are you willing to take that wager?”
—Bill O’Reilly (1/29/03)   [Read more…]

San Diego Vets for Peace Bring My Lai Memorial Exhibit to San Diego

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Who Will Control the Narrative?

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the civilian massacre of My Lai, the Vietnamese village that was destroyed by US forces during the Vietnam War. The Pentagon is spending $63 million dollars to glorify our unnecessary, unjust and immoral military actions in Vietnam and in our continuing wars today. The My Lai Memorial Exhibit honors the Vietnamese who died in what they refer to as the American War. It is a strong, anti-war response to the Pentagon’s campaign and is a way of assuring that the Vietnam War does not slip down the memory hole.

The exhibit, which is traveling the whole country and installed in San Diego this week, is a critical element in fulfilling the Veterans for Peace mission — to seek justice for veterans and the victims of war, expose the true costs of war and to work for peace.   [Read more…]

DeVos Damages to Detroit Schools: A Crime in Progress

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The destroy public education (DPE) movement’s most egregious outcome may be in Detroit and it is being driven by a virulent Christian ideology.

In 2001, Dick and Betsy DeVos answered questions for the Gathering. Dick DeVos opined that church has retreated from its central role in communities and has been replaced by the public school. He said it is our hope “churches will get more and more active and engaged in education.” Betsy noted “half of our giving is towards education.”   [Read more…]

An FAA FOIA Request Update: 218 Days and Counting and No End in Sight

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Foolishly believing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) makes timely decisions, a friend and I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FAA on July 29, 2017. Why? To gather info to comment on the County of San Diego 2018 McClellan-Palomar Master Plan.

We asked for the records showing what the FAA knew about the County of San Diego opening three landfills on McClellan-Palomar Airport for a 14-yeard period in the 1960s and 1970s.

Why this request? Because the County of San Diego has received more than $30 million in FAA funds and agreed to FAA grant conditions. And the County now wants at least $70 million more to extend and relocate its Palomar runway 800-feet. One FAA grant condition says: Don’t use airport property for non-airport purposes.

We also asked for an FOIA fee waiver. The feds charge for records unless an FOIA fee exemption applies. Two exemptions should apply. Reporters with a demonstrated history of informing the public of community issues qualify for an exemption. FOIA fee waivers also apply when records are requested that further a significant public interest.

One week after our request, the FAA West Coast FOIA office denied it. On August 3, 2017, we filed our appeal with the FAA in Washington, D.C. As of March 9, 2018, the FAA official position is: We’re still reviewing the issues.   [Read more…]

ACLU Files Amicus Brief Supporting Civil Rights of Man Ticketed For Allegedly Living in His Truck

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City ordinance prohibiting people from living in their vehicles is “vague, discriminatory and unconstitutional,” advocates and attorneys say

The ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties and Think Dignity filed an amicus brief in the case of a man cited for allegedly living in his truck. The man’s defense attorney, Think Dignity and the ACLU say the law he is accused of violating is vague, discriminatory and unconstitutional.

“This law doesn’t adequately define what constitutes the criminal act of ‘living in a vehicle’,” said Coleen Cusack, an attorney defending Tony Diaz. “The law is overbroad and may encompass innocent activities that many of us do every day in our vehicles, such as eating, reading or resting.”
  [Read more…]

An Open Letter to the Bellwether State | Dear Ohio, Part 3

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Dear Ohio,

This is my third letter to you, my sister state. Oh, I know you don’t think of California as your sister state, but in the now-forgotten context of a United States of America, we are all sister (and brother?) states, right? Being our bellwether election state, Dear Ohio, you have a special importance for us all.

I was reading about the Lowmillers the other day. You probably know of them. They run a dairy farm their granddaddy and daddy started in 1942 in Columbiana County, Ohio. They’re very proud of it, and they’ve won awards for their farming excellence. But one day when one of the Lowmillers was hunting rabbit on his land with his cousin, they noticed the hunting dogs never stopped once to drink from the stream. And the Lowmiller boy said he got to thinking, “I kinda know what’s going into that stream.” It was runoff from manure produced by the dairy herd.   [Read more…]

My Lai Memorial Exhibit Program Comes to San Diego

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By San Diego Veterans for Peace

Fifty years ago, American boys, most under 20 years of age, committed unspeakable acts against a civilian hamlet in Vietnam. Over 500 women, children (yes! there were babies!) and old men were slaughtered by American soldiers. Civilian “collateral damage” is a tragic cost of any war; the My Lai massacre only exemplified it at a highly public level.

The San Diego Chapter of Veterans For Peace is named after Hugh C. Thompson, the courageous US Army helicopter pilot who landed his chopper and, along with fellow crewmen, intervened against fellow American troops to end the carnage at My Lai. Thompson reported the “incident” up the chain of command but was met with indifference and ridicule by authorities.

Fifty years removed from My Lai, today we see American troops in more than 120 countries, with US bases in more than 80. We are embroiled in multiple wars and conflicts, and the “Doomsday Clock” has just been advanced 30 seconds closer to midnight, due to escalating tensions over possible nuclear war. Drone warfare is commonplace with mounting civilian casualties, as American warriors in Nevada routinely target and kill in places around the globe.   [Read more…]

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