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Keeping the Spirit of Martin Luther King Alive Through COMD

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Martin Luther King once said “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

Those words sure ring true today as the folks in the White House have little to no interest in anything even resembling “social uplift” and it seems our nation is “approaching spiritual doom” at a blinding pace.

And, as I write these words, U.S. missiles are flying in Syria with talk of more such attacks, and nothing “socially uplifting” ever rises from scenarios like that, especially at a time when this administration plans to give the Pentagon 54 billion dollars, a 10 percent raise – at the expense of our schools and the arts and our housing needs and our ability to feed the elderly and keep the citizenry well and protect the planet …

And so many people are down with what’s going on, elevating our president from a ding-dong “who doesn’t have a clue” to an overnight war hero.   [Read more…]

Nuclear Shutdown News – March 2017 : San Onofre Nuke Waste to Be 100 Feet from Ocean

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Nuke Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear industry in the US and abroad, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world. Here’s our March 2017 report:

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

San Onofre nuke owner wants to put lots of high level nuclear waste 100 feet from the Pacific Ocean.

On March 20 Surfer Magazine reported:

“They’re going to put nuclear waste 100 feet from the water.”

  [Read more…]

Veterans For Peace Condemns U.S. Actions In Syria

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By Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace condemns the illegal U.S. attack in Syria. We call on the Trump Administration to immediately end all military actions in Syria and to begin intense U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in the region. We call on our members and all those who want an end to U.S. wars to contact the President and Congress, to meet and talk to people about peaceful means to end the war in Syria and hit the streets to make our resistance to war visible.   [Read more…]

Cruel Downtown Sweeps against San Diego Homeless People Have Got to Stop – Now!

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On April 5th, while I was in City Hall with other advocates for homeless people voicing our objections to the Mayor’s proposed ballot measure to increase the Transit Occupancy Tax to pay for an expansion of the convention center, with a few crumbs tossed in for “Reducing Homelessness”, only a few blocks away, some of our City’s most destitute citizens were being cruelly victimized.

Their tormentors not only took away everything they had left in the world, including what little makeshift shelter they had, but in one case documented in photos and a video by Michael McConnell, they even took a man’s pet dog!   [Read more…]

These 156 Lawmakers Support Expanding, Not Cutting, Social Security. Does Yours?

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Bill to expand Social Security ‘gives lie to the myth’ that safety net program is going bankrupt

By Deidre Fulton / Common Dreams

Legislation that would expand benefits for Social Security recipients while giving millions of seniors a tax break was re-introduced in the U.S. House on Wednesday, with support from over two-thirds of the Democratic caucus—and, its backers hope, from large swaths of the grassroots resistance movement.

Rep. John Larson’s (D-Conn.) bill, the “Social Security 2100 Act” or H.R. 1902, bears more co-sponsors than any other previous proposal to expand Social Security.

It “gives lie to the myth that Social Security is going bankrupt and the only way to save it is by cutting benefits and raising the retirement age,” said National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare president Max Richtman upon its unveiling. “This legislation asks the wealthy to start paying their fair share so that current and future retirees know that Social Security is there for them well into the future—solid, strong, and uncompromised.”   [Read more…]

Under Trump, the U.S. May Now Be Killing More Civilians Than Russia

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With mass-casualty events from Raqqa to Mosul, some think the U.S. military is scrapping rules designed to protect innocents

By Peter Certo / Institute for Policy Studies

In a desolated patch of Mosul, Iraq, people are still digging through the rubble. Rescuers wear masks to cover the stench, while anxious family members grow desperate about missing loved ones.

The full story of what happened in the al-Jidideh neighborhood isn’t yet clear, but the toll is unmistakable. A New York Times journalist reported stumbling across charred human limbs, still covered in clothing, while a man stood nearby holding a sign with 27 names — extended family members either missing or dead.   [Read more…]

Let’s Talk About ‘Job-Killing’ Regulations

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By Mark E. Anderson / Daily Kos

On March 25, 1911, on three floors of the Asch Building in Manhattan, young immigrant women from across Europe were making clothing for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. On that fateful day a fire broke out.

In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote a novel titled The Jungle. It told the story of Jurgis Rudkis, an immigrant trying to find his way and support his family in his new country. This book tells a tale of food poisoning, work accidents, unsafe and unsanitary practices in the meat-packing industry

What do the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and The Jungle have in common?   [Read more…]

Turning the Ingenious Tables: Buying the Right To the Privacy Of Those Who Sold Yours

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By Abby Zimet / Common Dreams

If You Can’t Fight ‘Em Join ‘Em Dept: Now that Congress has voted to sell your Internet history to the highest bidder – be it telecom giant, marketing company, Big Brother, law enforcement, pushy bank, vengeful ex or anyone with any questionable agenda – a new crowdfunding campaign wants to raise enough money to buy the histories of those GOP leaders and lobbying racketeers who sold yours.

The website searchinternethistory.com, one of several proposed resistance efforts, is trying to raise $1 million to bid on the browsing history – financial to medical to pornographic – of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and every member of Congress who voted to gut former Obama-era regulations protecting our browser history from corporate and governmental busybodies.

Some sold their souls and your privacy rights for as little as $300 in donations.   [Read more…]

Hungry and Homeless in College

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Over the more than two decades I have spent teaching at the college level, the vast majority of that time at San Diego City College, I have seen a little bit of everything. From the homeless student sleeping in Balboa Park who ended up at USC to the single mother living in her car with her kids who still got every assignment in on time before transferring to SDSU, there have been far too many stories of triumphs against all odds for me to recount.

Along with those stories come sadder tales like the cab driver supporting his family who almost finished but got knocked out of the game by an unexpected financial challenge or the lost kid who, even though you tried to reach out, lost the battle to despair and commits suicide. When you work at a community college it humbles you quickly. No matter how well you teach, how hard you try, you soon realize that there are so many things out of your control, and that, despite your best efforts, you just can’t help everyone.   [Read more…]

San Diego Council Committee to Hear Proposals for Short-Term Rentals – Fri., Mar. 24th

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A San Diego City Council committee is posed to hear three different options for short-term vacation rentals being proposed by the Planning Department this coming Friday, March 25th.

The Smart Growth and Land Use Committee of the Council will meet in the morning at the Jacob Center and attempt – once again – to juggle the contentious issue of how to deal with these particular types of rentals, an issue that the Council and city staff have bounced around now for 2 years.

The issue of short-term rentals have roiled the beach areas and Ocean Beach in particular.   [Read more…]

Citing FBI Probe of Trump, Democrats Told to ‘Declare National Emergency’

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‘The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate,’ says filmmaker Michael Moore, ‘needs to bring a halt to all business being done in the name of this potential felony suspect, Donald J. Trump.’

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams

Documentary filmmaker and political activist Michael Moore on Wednesday said it’s time for the Democratic Party in Congress to “declare a National Emergency” and put a stop to all legislative activity—including the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch—until the FBI completes its investigation into possible ties between members of President Donald Trump’s campaign and alleged interference by the Russian government in last year’s U.S. election.   [Read more…]

Midway Planning Group Hosting Beach Community Planners Discussion About Homelessness in April

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By Geoff Page / OB Rag

The Midway Planning Group is devoting its entire April monthly meeting to an in depth discussion of one subject – homelessness. Councilmember Lorie Zapf has committed to attend as has Stacie Spector, the mayor’s “homeless czar.” The group had not yet settled on a venue as of its March 15 regular monthly meeting.

The Midway planners are attempting to find a place for the discussion that will accommodate an expected large group of people. The Peninsula, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, and Mission Beach planning groups are being invited to the discussion. The homeless population in the Midway area and the problems that it causes is a major concern for the mostly business oriented members of the group. Information on the meeting site will be provided in the coming weeks.   [Read more…]

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