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San Diego Veterans for Peace Memorial Day Observance

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By Jack Doxey/ San Diego Veterans for Peace

On Monday, May 29th, 2017 (Memorial Day), the San Diego Veterans For Peace will be setting up its respected “Hometown Arlington West Memorial” on the front lawn of the USS Midway Museum…

Chapter veterans from all five services will be honoring our 300+ fallen brothers and sisters from Southern California who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with special memorial markers. The public is asked to stop by, read their names, honor the ultimate sacrifice made by these local fallen veterans, and to reflect on the overall costs of these two ongoing wars.   [Read more…]

SANDAG is Ailing; Assembly Bill 805 Could Be the Cure

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By Lisa Wellens/ SanDiego350

Tired of stalled progress from San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)? Frustrated with its failure to address San Diego’s poor air quality and lack of transportation options in overburdened communities? Outraged at it’s latest scandal – hiding financing shortfalls and misleading voters about how much money Measure A would raise?

Wishing this planning organization would do the work to bring about a holistic, connected, transportation system that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with state targets? Assembly Bill 805, introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher could be just what’s needed – kicking the agency into gear with better representation, accountability, transparency, and an eye towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

What has been holding SANDAG back?   [Read more…]

Veterans for Peace On the March: Memorial Day Actions in DC

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By Brian Trautman

The United States is the most militarized and jingoistic nation on earth. Its foreign policy is guided by imperialist militarism, neoliberal capitalism and racial xenophobia. For more than sixteen years now, three presidential administrations have carried out a so-called “War on Terror” (GWOT), a perpetual state of war that is waged globally, under the depraved reasoning that “the world is a battlefield,” to quote investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill.

As demonstrated by the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the GWOT is conducted through conventional warfare. More often, however, it is executed through covert or “dirty” wars, against groups and individuals in many other nations.

The U.S. has the financial and logistical capacity to wage these illegal wars.   [Read more…]

Think Tank Recommends Universal Draft Registration and Military Testing

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By Rick Jahnkow / Draft NOtices

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) recently released a report on U.S. military personnel policy that, among other things, recommends registering women for the draft and giving all young people the military’s aptitude test when they register.

The report’s title is “Building a F.A.S.T. Force: A Flexible Personnel System for a Modern Military” (F.A.S.T stands for Fully engaged, Adaptable, Sustainable, and Technically proficient). It was created by a BPC task force that includes former Department of Defense officials, retired military officers and several former U.S. senators.   [Read more…]

ACLU on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ First 100 Days

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The following is a statement from Faiz Shakir, national political director of the ACLU:

Today marks the 100 day since Jeff Sessions took the helm of the Justice Department as attorney general.

In just 100 days, Attorney General Sessions has already rolled back the clock on decades of progress for civil rights. The Justice Department’s lowlights include opposition to consent decrees that aim to correct systemic bias in policing, its revival of mass incarceration policies that destroy communities, and multiple failures in the court of law as it has tried to implement Donald Trump’s unconstitutional policies.   [Read more…]

The Federal Aviation Administration’s New Airport Communication Policy

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Communicating or Avoiding?

Should the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) talk directly to you about airport expansion projects when it funds up to 90 percent of their cost?

In 2016, the FAA revised its 1976 Airport Planning Communication Policy in the October edition of its Advisory Circular titled “Community Involvement in Airport Planning.” As it turns out, for individual projects, the FAA wants you to talk to the county, not them at all.   [Read more…]

“Frickin’ Illegal”: Congressman Says Trump Has No Authority for Latest Bombing

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“Trump does not have Congressional authorization to attack Syria, a country that has not attacked US,” says Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif)

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams

In the wake of news that the U.S. military bombed forces allied with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, at least one member of Congress is voicing dissent by saying President Donald Trump has no legal authority to order such attacks.

“For the second time in as many months, the U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against pro-Assad forces in Syria,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). “The Trump Administration does not have congressional authorization to carry out military strikes against the Assad regime. Furthermore, the situation that led to today’s strike is precisely why I warned against getting further entangled in the Syrian civil war without a clear strategy.”   [Read more…]

San Diego Commons at the Crossroads: The Sell-Off of ‘Excess’ Properties

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“Why didn’t you ask the neighbors and the community what they might think?”

This past week San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced as one of the key highlights of his State of the City that he is bringing forward “the first comprehensive vision for San Diego’s parks in more than 60 years” and promised that “ground would be broken on 50 new or upgraded parks during the next five years. “

Actual budgets are always a reality check on visionary pronouncements. By April we should know if and how this vision will be reflected in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

There is a need for yet another kind of reality check. The convergence of the promise of a new grand vision for parks by the Mayor while the city’s Real Estate Asset Department (READ) pushes ahead with the sale of city-owned properties brings us to an important crossroads for determining the future of the Commons for the City of San Diego.   [Read more…]

How Well Can One Eat For Less Than $5 A Day? My Family Is About To Find Out.

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By Dave Rice / OB Rag

How well can one eat for less than $5 a day? My family is about to find out.

According to the latest available statistics, 285,000 people in San Diego County receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Once referred to as “food stamps,” here the government food assistance program goes under the moniker CalFresh.

The average benefit for a program participant is currently $4.18 a day, down from $4.27 eight months ago. As I’m quickly learning, those few pennies can quickly add up.

  [Read more…]

NSA Tools, Built Despite Warnings, Used in Global Cyber Attack

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Disruptions reported in at least 74 countries, including Russia, Spain, Turkey, and Japan, with some reports of U.S. infiltration as well.

By Nadia Pupris / Common Dreams

Apparent National Security Agency (NSA) malware has been used in a global cyber-attack, including on British hospitals, in what whistleblower Edward Snowden described as the repercussion of the NSA’s reckless decision to build the tools.

“Despite warnings, @NSAGov built dangerous attack tools that could target Western software. Today we see the cost,” Snowden tweeted Friday.

At least two hospitals in London were forced to shut down and stop admitting patients after being attacked by the malware, which operates by locking out the user, encrypting data, and demanding a ransom to release it. The attacks hit dozens of other hospitals, ambulance operators, and doctors’ offices as well.   [Read more…]

Darrell Issa’s 2016 Report Card Revealed

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The day after Rep. Darrell Issa cast his vote in favor of the GOP’s 2017 American Health Care Act, I received his first 2018 campaign mailing, disguised as a “Constituent Survey” to qualify for free postage.

There’s no mention of the Congressman’s position on healthcare in his mailing. Instead, he trots out his GovTrack.com’s 2016 Report Card to prove he kept his promises of “Effective Leadership. Real Results” in the 114th session of Congress. GovTrack.us is “a project of Civic Impulse, LLC, a completely independent entity wholly owned by its operator and receives no funding in any form from outside organizations.”

Like a kid who tries to keep his parents from seeing his entire report card, Issa attempts to do the same with his constituents.   [Read more…]

Sessions May Revive Harsh Penalties for Low-Level Drug Charges

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If new changes are implemented, it will mark another major pivot by Trump administration to reverse recent efforts to address mass incarceration crisis

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is considering scrapping Obama-era rules that banned harsh punishments for low-level drug crimes and could direct prosecutors to resume charging severe penalties, according to U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Post on Tuesday.   [Read more…]

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