San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Courts, Justice

County Vote Audits Challenged (And Campaign Contributions Flow)

by

I will not write about Donald Trump today. I will not write about Donald Trump today. I will not write about Donald Trump today. I will not write about Donald Trump today. I will not write about Donald Trump today. I will not write about Donald Trump today…

The Cheeto Jesus is not the only thing coming at voters this fall.

It’s looking like there will be 17 (or 18) statewide, as many as a dozen citywide measures on the ballot for San Diegans and a few countywide measures for voters to consider. A few (okay, lots of) other people are running for office in local, state, and federal elections.

San Diego Free Press coverage of those contests will commence shortly after Labor Day, and culminate as mail-in ballots are sent out with a comprehensive progressive voter guide. Meanwhile, there are some developments to report.   [Read more…]

Tri-City’s Fired CEO Cleared Again of Wrongdoing

by

When Tri-City Medical Center fired Larry Anderson three years ago, they wanted to save the $650,000 in severance pay his contract required if they fired him without cause.

They chose to rely on an anonymous telephone call, followed by a secret internal investigation conducted by hospital attorneys, to come up with a list of fourteen reasons to fire him for cause. He was accused of one or more of the following offenses: committing a felony, an illegal act involving moral turpitude, a willful and dishonest act, or a breach of duties and obligations.

Without telling him in advance what the charges were, the hospital offered Anderson thirty minutes to defend himself at a hastily arranged board meeting. When he refused to attend the board voted to fire him.   [Read more…]

Photo Gallery: #Alton #Philando Vigil & March

by

Several hundred people rallied in City Heights on Friday night, marching to protest the fatal police shootings of Alton Streling in Lousianna on July 5 and Philando Castile in Minnesota on July 6.

There were no reports of arrests or violence during the protest, which included briefly blocking traffic on southbound Interstate 15.

  [Read more…]

City Attorney’s Justice for Sale Scheme Targets Family of Mentally Ill Man Slain by Police

by

PLUS: Trump, Trump, Trump, and More Trump

The office of City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has proved beyond a doubt that San Diego has the best legal system money can buy… provided the victims have the money to pay.

Fridoon Nehad was shot and killed in April 2015 by veteran San Diego Police Officer Neal Browder. The officer said–after being shown a video of the incident– he believed Nehad was carrying a knife, but it turned out to be a shiny blue pen. The dead man was a 42-year-old refugee from Afghanistan diagnosed as mentally ill following incarceration in a Taliban prison camp.

In the wake of an investigation clearing the officer of any misconduct, the family is suing, saying the city has a pattern of inadequate investigations into police shootings. A federal judge has ordered the city to turn over records of other shootings by officers as part of the case. The City Attorney’s office is demanding that the family pay $12,000 up front to search for and assemble the documents.
  [Read more…]

Policing Isn’t Working for Cops Either

by

By Kazu Haga / Waging Nonviolence

“It’s okay mommy…. It’s okay, I’m right here with you…”

Those were the words of four-year-old Dae’Anna, consoling her mother Lavish Reynolds after she witnessed the police shoot and kill her boyfriend Philando Castile.

Those words are now scarred into the psyche of America, much like words that came before it: “Hands up, don’t shoot.” “I can’t breath.” “It’s not real.”   [Read more…]

Protests Reveal American Angst About Racism

by

Protests triggered by videos of fatal encounters of young Black men with police continued across the nation through the weekend. Memorials for the Dallas Police officers slain while protecting marchers were also scheduled nationwide.

The more grown up among us acknowledge that it was possible to reject violence against people for the color of their skin and the color of their uniforms. At the same time, it remains more important than ever to exercise first amendment rights in furtherance of ending the brutality of America’s legacy of racism.

Street demonstrations protesting police violence were held in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Memphis, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Mineapolis, Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and, yes, San Diego. In fact, you can search Google News for just about any large city with “BLM [city name] protest” and chances are you’ll find a story.   [Read more…]

A Horrible Day for Police (and Everyone) In Dallas

by

“We are not going to let a coward who would ambush police officers change our democracy”

Five Dallas law enforcement officers were killed, and seven officers along with two civilians were wounded Thursday evening by a lone gunman, now identified as Micah X Johnson.

The assailant opened fire on police in downtown at the conclusion of an otherwise peaceful protest organized in response to videos released in recent days depicting Black men being killed by law enforcement.

Ironies abound amid the tragedy in Dallas, starting with the police department’s shift towards community-oriented policing, resulting in excessive force complaints against the Dallas Police Department dropping by 64% between 2009 and 2014.   [Read more…]

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and That’s Not Funny

by

A killer targeting homeless humans is likely using San Diego’s transit system to get to his “work…”

…Another human gunned down in Minneapolis for –apparently– being a scary Black person, the day after cops in Louisiana are caught trying to cover their asses following what many are calling an extra-legal execution…

…And a local Congressman is ready to shut down the government to prove his loyalty to an orange-colored racist dog posing as a presidential candidate Donald Trump.   [Read more…]

[Updated] Another Homeless Human Nearly Murdered

by

As Wednesday morning’s gray skies crept over the city, the San Diego Police were called to State and E Streets, where a man was fatally critically injured and set on fire. Police told NBC7 that a suspect was running from the area of the attack, near the Federal Courthouse.

Two additional assaults on persons believed to be homeless were reported Wednesday morning. These attacks come on the heels of a 24-hour spree over the holiday weekend where two people were killed and another left with serious injuries.

Just an hour after the first incident Wednesday morning, two more attacks were reported. A man sitting at the Fifth and University bus stop–where many homeless people go after being released from emergency room care– was struck by an unknown object in the back of the head. A few blocks away a man sleeping on Third Ave., not far away from Mercy Hospital was struck in the head with a rock, according to police.   [Read more…]

Benghazi Bombshells Go Bust: Committee Report Has Little to Say

by

Four years of trash-talking by Republicans in Congress following an attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya appears to have come to an end.

Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee released an 800-page report Tuesday morning, full of broad denunciations and thin on actual proof of wrongdoing. Eight different investigations, a boatload of incriminatory headlines added up to “woulda, shoulda, coulda.”

The ‘scandal’ that was supposed to bring Hillary Clinton down before the 2016 primaries turned into an opportunity for her show grit during an 11-hour marathon testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi last October.   [Read more…]

For Private Prison Companies, Orange Is the New Green

by

By Donald Cohen / Capital & Main

Private prison companies are extremely secretive, but in the last few weeks we’ve gotten two powerful glimpses of how these companies harm prisoners and the people that work for them.

Recently, Netflix released the latest season of its fictional drama series depicting female prisoners, Orange Is the New Black. The show’s prison, now managed by a private company, receives a flood of new prisoners and becomes dangerously understaffed.

Piper Kerman, the former prisoner whose experience the show is based on, wrote, “This is true to reality—to maximize profit for their investors and reduce operational costs, private prisons often cut corners on staffing and other essentials of safety.”   [Read more…]

Another Ten Minute Acquittal Against DA Dumanis in Medical Cannabis Trial

by

The thin-as-air manufacturing case against medical cannabis patient and collective operator, Shaun Smith swept so quickly through trial that before we knew it, Attorney Michael Cindrich had queued up his third cannabis-related not guilty verdict in four months.

The Cindrich winning streak started with defendant John Mazula in El Cajon, moved north to LA and then touched down in San Diego County’s Vista yesterday – surely making waves in District Attorney’s office and changing the landscape for medical cannabis patients.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry