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Black Lives Matter on Black Friday

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Two elements of the ugly side of our society and economy are coming together this week.

Black Lives Matter groups and their supporters in cities around the country, including San Diego, are staging Friday protests and urging people not to shop. Events in Alabama, Washington state, Chicago and Minneapolis have served to bolster their case about the pervasiveness of racism.

Black Friday sales events stand as reminders of the false prosperity of the consumer economy. Retail workers and supporters will be ending a fifteen day fast as they picket outside WalMart heiress Alice Walton’s apartment in New York City and various locations around the country.   [Read more…]

Kill The Damn Turkeys, Already! GOP Voters Disapprove of Presidential Pardons

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Public Policy Polling is out with a survey of Americans holiday preferences and, much like the Thanksgiving dinner consumed by many, there’s something for every taste.

Republicans surveyed opposed President Obama’s pardoning of two turkeys last year by a 27% margin. Democrats and Independents approved of the executive order.

I wish I could say this was satire, but it’s not. From the PPP press release:

“Republicans are so opposed to everything President Obama wants to do that they even take issue with his handling of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey pardon,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “It’s pretty hard to work across party lines on real issues against that backdrop.”   [Read more…]

New Private Security Patrol Alarms OBceans

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By Daniel /OB Rag

Though not widely discussed, the presence of a new security force in Ocean Beach has some OBceans alarmed.

National Public Safety has been retained by the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association to “keep Ocean Beach family-friendly by enhancing public safety in specific geographical locations” … this after the OBMA dumped Elite Services USA (the red shirts) for general ineffectiveness.

As a security force, neither outfit has much leeway to effect actual change in terms of cleaning up the streets. Security guards in California are private citizens, and have no powers of arrest beyond that of any other private citizen and they’ve no power to temporarily detain anyone [editor: although they can make “citizen’s arrest” and detain someone until police arrive – much like supermarket security can do].   [Read more…]

Misuse Rampant, Oversight Lacking at California’s Law Enforcement Network

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By Dave Maass / Electronic Frontier Foundation

Confirmed cases of misuse of California’s sprawling unified law enforcement information network have doubled over the last five years, according to records obtained by Electronic Frontier Foundation under the California Public Records Act.

That adds up to a total 389 cases in which an investigation concluded that a user—often a peace officer—broke the rules for accessing the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), such as searching criminal records to vet potential dates or spy on former spouses. More than 20 incidents since 2010 have resulted in criminal charges.   [Read more…]

Hillary Held Her Own at Dems Debate; Sanders Needs to Step Up His Game

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I guess I have to start out by saying Senator Bernie Sanders is the democratic candidate whose positions align most closely with my own. I will, given the opportunity, cast my vote for him in the California primary.

Having put that disclaimer up first, I’ll go on to say that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won (by not losing) in Saturday’s Democratic Debate. Yes, I know that Sanders won every straw poll out there. I also know that Ron Paul won a lot of straw polls in 2012.

Straw polls don’t replace actual canvassing, social media interest is an unreliable predictor for election results, and the photos of overwhelmingly white male attendees at Sanders watch parties are a big warning flag about vital segments of the electorate that are not engaged with the campaign.   [Read more…]

San Diego, We Have a Use of Deadly Force Problem

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It should surprise no one that County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis called a press conference yesterday announcing that charges will not be filed against the San Diego Police officer who shot and killed Fridoon Rawshan Nehad in the Midway District last April.

Her conclusion may or may not be reasonable. The DA said Officer Neal Browder’s fear for his life was reasonable, based on the totality of evidence. She also said the dead man was mentally ill and DRUGS! were found in his system.

So there you have it. A “drug-crazed foreigner” got what was coming to him. Today we’ll look at developments in that case and one Customs and Border Patrol story in the news.   [Read more…]

Did San Diego Police Just Shoot and Kill an Unarmed Man Who Wasn’t Even Wanted?

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The killing by San Diego police of a man in Pacific Beach has raised some serious questions – although no one is asking them.

Now identified, Missouri resident Timothy Gene Smith was chased and then shot and killed by a San Diego Police officer around 3pm on Wednesday, November 4th in the1600 block of Thomas Avenue in PB. Police and press initially reported that he was wanted on felony warrants and was “armed and dangerous”.

Veteran cop Sgt. Scott Holslag believed, we are told, that the man being chased – Smith -, after being bitten by a police dog and after scaling a fence and getting out on a ledge, was reaching for a weapon in his pants, when Holslag fatally shot him in the torso.

No weapon was found.   [Read more…]

Are You Scared Yet? Proposition 47 Anniversary Marked by Fear Mongers

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One year ago this week, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 47.  The measure downgraded many non-violent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors and contained provisions allowing those already incarcerated to petition for release.

Passage of the law marked an important second step (the first being a voter-approved measure in 2012 easing “three-strikes” convictions) in moving the state apparatus away from an incarceration-centric approach to law breakers.

Those with vested interests, both moral and economic, in what I’ll call the prison-industrial complex, remain horrified at the implications of reshaping society’s treatment of bad behaviors. Prior to and since the passage of Proposition 47 law and order types warned of impending doom as evil-doers, freed from the prospect of prison, would spark a crime wave.   [Read more…]

Hundreds of Women in Immigrant Prison on Hunger Strike for Immediate Release

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“I’m dying of desperation from this injustice, from this cruelty,” wrote Insis Maribel Zelaya Bernardez.

By Sarah Lazare / Common Dreams

Just one week in, an indefinite hunger strike at an all women’s immigrant detention center in Texas—operated by the for-profit prison company Corrections Corporation of America—has swelled to hundreds of refugees and migrants who are uniting behind a single demand: immediate freedom.

While the exact number of participants is unknown, a person who regularly visits the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor where the protest is taking place told Common Dreams that a “very substantial proportion” of the 500 women detained there on hunger strike. The source requested anonymity to ensure continued access to the detention center, which is ultimately under the control of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.   [Read more…]

Republican Debators Not Demanding Removal of Brown M&Ms

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The latest act taking the center ring in the Republican presidential campaign circus involves a candidate revolt against debate formats, followed by a revolt against the revolt. You could say these are the most revolting developments yet in the revolt against the incumbency of the Black Guy in the White House.

Following a failed attempt by CNBC to spice up a debate format burdened by the reality of a dozen large egos competing for prominence, Republican candidates responded by agreeing to cut their own party out of the negotiating loop.

The campaigns held a summit over the weekend at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town to formulate demands for future debate ground rules, starting off by exempting the Fox Business debate scheduled for November 10th.   [Read more…]

Why Ocean Beach Should Be Wary of Police Surveillance Cameras Being Installed

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Ocean Beach has just been notified that the City of San Diego intends to install ten police surveillance cameras along OB’s waterfront, from the Pier to the River. This project has been announced lately at recent community meetings, such as the OB Town Council.

And it has been announced as a done-deal by police representatives, and they will be going up sometime over the next weeks or so, sometime between the end of November to the first of the New Year – and will cost $25,000 to install.

Without knowing who from the community has requested them, the appearance of police officers telling  community members that they are installing surveillance cameras for their benefit is somewhat unsettling.

Putting aside the Constitutional and privacy issues just for a moment, let’s look at what we know so far.   [Read more…]

No One is Talking About Taking Your Guns. And Why, Exactly, is That?

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By Susan Grigsby /Daily Kos

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the even further right-leaning Gun Owners of America continue to stoke fears of gun confiscation in America with able assistance from their political arm, the Republican Party. This is happening in spite of the fact that no Democratic politician is suggesting such a thing or sadly, appears to even want such a thing. Writing for Talking Points Memo, Catherine Thompson compares the current hysteria over gun confiscation to the threat of the Jade Helm exercise, and suggests that this too will all blow over in a couple of months when no guns are confiscated. Meanwhile, politicians like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump use the issue to raise funds from their base and increase their poll numbers.

The point of the gun confiscation hysteria is to prevent any discussion of gun control.   [Read more…]

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