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Trump Immigration Facility: ‘Effectively, These Kids Are Incarcerated’ | Video Worth Watching

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After Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from the Casa Padre Center in Brownsville, Texas, operated by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, where immigrant children are being detained, the department began to provide access to the media. From the MSNBC YouTube website:

MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was one of a small group of reporters allowed inside the largest facility for immigrant children in the U.S. – the facility Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) was refused entry to earlier this month. Jacob joins Lawrence to share what he saw. Sen. Merkley also joins the discussion.

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Rich People Follies: A Refund for Issa, the Billionaire Ballot Measure, and a Badass Convention Center

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When Congressman Darrell Issa announced his retirement on January 10, speculation began over what would become of his million-plus dollar campaign war chest.

In early March, nearly $180,000 in refunds were made to donors–including the Koch Brothers–who earmarked contributions for his 2018 general election campaign. Republican party organizations in San Diego and Orange counties received $5,000 each, and $2000 went to his endorsed candidate in the 49th Congressional District, Diane Harkey.

Now we know what recipient Issa has in mind for the rest of the money: himself.   [Read more…]

Immigrant Children’s Detention Center in Texas Displays Ominous Trump Mural

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By Julia Conley / Common Dreams

Children who are taken to the former Walmart which now serves as a detention center for young immigrants in Brownsville, Texas, are greeted by a mural of the man responsible for their incarceration—President Donald Trump.

MSNBC journalist Jacob Soboroff was given a tour of the facility, now known as Casa Padre. He shared images of the mural, which includes the quotation, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”   [Read more…]

Are Public Schools in California’s Inglewood a Warning?

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In 2006, the relatively small Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) had over 18,000 students and was a fiscally sound competent system. Today, IUSD has 8,400 students, is 30 percent privatized and drowning in debt. In 2012, the state of California took over the district, usurped the authority of the elected school board and installed a “State Trustee” to run it. IUSD is on its sixth state appointed trustee in six years.

This crisis was created by politicians and wealthy elites. It did not just happen. Understanding the privatization of Inglewood’s schools through the choice agenda is instructive of the path that could lead to the end of public schools in California.   [Read more…]

From the Ministry of Truth: Singapore Summit Video | Video Worth Watching

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Who do you think promulgated this video, Trump or Kim Jung-un? If your first impression is that this is a North Korean propaganda video, you are not alone. Seeing the White House icon with WH.GOV beneath it is pretty damn chilling. And the propaganda machine is fueled with our taxes.   [Read more…]

This Tiny Home Community In Oregon Is Bringing Shelter And Hope To The Homeless | Video Worth Watching

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Eugene, Oregon is not San Diego, but it is not so radically different that the same kind of approach to providing shelter to the unsheltered will not work. This tiny home village in Eugene has already saved lives and the same successes are possible here in San Diego. What’s needed in San Diego is the political will to get it done.   [Read more…]

SDG&E’s Proposed Pipeline at Odds with San Diego’s Climate Action Plan

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SDG&E Seeks to Install Unnecessary Pipeline

San Diego Gas & Electric says San Diego County needs a new gas pipeline. I say that’s bunk, and I’m not the only one.

In May, California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge Colette E. Kersten concluded that SDG&E and its partner SoCalGas “failed to demonstrate that there is a need for the proposed Line 3602 Project.” If her draft decision to deny certification to the applicants is approved by other commission members, the pipeline project cannot proceed.

SDG&E has set its hopes on installing 47 miles of new pipeline to transport natural gas from the Rainbow Metering Station near Fallbrook, south through Escondido and Poway, and ending at Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar. Most of this pipeline, known as 3602, will travel aside Interstate 15, passing through public, private, and federal land. An alternative route has it going through Mission Trails Regional Park.

The company says Pipeline 3602 will offer San Diegans “greater reliability” because the line will serve as backup in the event that two existing pipelines — 1600 and 3010 — should ever fail. San Diego’s population is growing, the company says, so an additional pipeline is needed to fuel the county’s future energy needs; the economy will benefit and the pipeline will offer safe, clean and affordable energy.

The company’s justifications sound good, but they’re not.   [Read more…]

Documents Suggest Favoritism on San Diego County Property Tax Appeals by Assessor’s Office

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It pays to have friends in high places, especially when it comes time to appeal property tax assessments in San Diego County, according to documents released via the California Public Records Act and provided to the San Diego Free Press. These documents, along with a careful analysis of campaign finance records and personal financial disclosures, suggest favoritism has been a factor in reducing the tax burdens of those with connections to County Assessor Ernest Dronenburg. 

A major local corporation, along with a longtime campaign contributor’s family, were among the beneficiaries, thanks to a seeming lack of interest in challenging appeals by the agency responsible for such matters. Because there was no push-back by the County, the assessment appeals process was effectively manipulated, paving the way for significant reductions in property values for Qualcomm, the largest property taxpayer in San Diego County.   [Read more…]

‘America’s Finest City’ is Worst in Nation in Housing the Homeless

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By Murtaza Baxamusa / SanDiegoUrbDeZine

San Diego does not have a homeless problem, it has a housing bed inventory problem in comparison to other large cities. The region’s homeless as a percentage of the total population is 12th in the nation, and the five-year trend is relatively flat when including both sheltered and unsheltered homeless. Yet, despite the public outcry, there are still about five thousand unsheltered homeless sleeping on our streets, sidewalks, canyons, riverbeds, parks and open spaces.

One can prognosticate on the individual causes of homelessness, but its pervasive existence suggests that as a society we have failed the most vulnerable amongst us. The homeless crisis across American cities originated with the Reagan cuts to federal housing budgets, and rental housing continued to be underfunded in subsequent administrations. An inadequate patchwork of tax credits and housing vouchers replaced the safety-net provided by now-defunct public housing. It was left to cities and counties to deal with the issue. Compounding the problem was the emergence of family homelessness, as families with children were caught between poverty and lack of affordable housing. To illustrate, evictions rose eightfold during the early 1980s, pushing many families onto the street.

In San Diego, about a hundred families with children spend the night unsheltered. Research shows that the children in these families will likely have developmental difficulties, and will need mental health services even after they are no longer homeless.   [Read more…]

San Diego Disabled Homeless Who Live in RVs Will Have Their Say in Court – Some Day

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A class-action suit against the City of San Diego by a group of disabled homeless challenging the enforcement of parking laws that prevent homeless people from living and sleeping in recreational vehicles is winding its way through Federal court.

The suit was filed in November 2017 by 9 homeless men and women who say they have no other housing option except to live in their RVs – which forces them to park overnight in city parks or streets. Their disabilities make them unable to afford rent and that homeless shelters are unsuitable for the disabled.

Their lawsuit demands that the city immediately stop citing disabled people under its long-standing vehicle habitation ordinance and its relatively new RV ordinance. The RV ordinance, enforced by the city in 2014, prohibits such vehicles from parking on any San Diego city street or in any public parking lot between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The suit was written by attorneys from the Sacramento-based nonprofit group Disability Rights California.   [Read more…]

Homelessness and Capitalism: Some Untold Truths

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According to the survey in the 2018 Point-in-Time Count (PITC) of homeless people in San Diego County, the four main reasons for becoming homeless are: Loss of Job; Money Issues; Cost of Housing, and Other. Abuse/Violence ranks lowest. But this survey is missing input from thousands of families, as I explained in my prior column, so in reality, fleeing from domestic violence could be a major cause of homelessness. So too could deportation of the primary breadwinner be a factor, which is not even listed as an option, but is a contributing factor for some homeless families.

Underlying those four highest causes are specific failings in our current economic system, such as: jobs that don’t pay enough to cover the basics; lack of reasonable family planning; unsustainable rent increases; lack of affordable housing for people with extremely low incomes; social safety nets that are cut off as soon as a family starts to get on their feet, leaving them worse off; a broken health care system, and racism that sets young blacks and Latinos up for failure.

I’ve been told, “Don’t go there,” when I suggest that homelessness is a symptom of an economic system struggling to stay alive. But if we can’t be honest about the systemic causes of homelessness, we are doomed to be the archetypal dog chasing its tail. It’s my opinion that homelessness has a symbiotic relationship with unchecked capitalism – both being a result of it, and serving to sustain it. The “tell” in this game is the recent escalation of the criminalization of homelessness.   [Read more…]

So, How Many Deaths Were Due to Hurricane Maria? 64? 4,645? | Video Worth Watching

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The Real News’ Aaron Maté speaks with Omaya Sosa, co-founder of Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism, about a recent Harvard study which calculates the deaths due to Hurricane Maria to be around 4,645, more than 70 times the figure officially announced by the Puerto Rican government. For comparison, the death toll for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was 1,833.

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