Another update on the Department of Justice policy of taking children away from their parents when taken into custody at the border: All In’s Chris Hayes speaks with Pramila Jayapal (D-WA7) who reports on her visit with 174 women being held in a Federal prison in Washington state. None of the women had yet even had a “Credible Fear” hearing. [Read more…]
Third Time’s the Charm for Cheesecake Factory Janitors’ Wage Claims
Also: Dead Men Don’t Talk in National City, the Dotard and the Billionaire Class, and the Democratic Party’s New Free Speech Zone
Remember the days when corporations in California avoided responsibility for breaking labor laws by blaming contractors, who all-to-often disappeared when investigations were complete?
An investigation initiated by San Diego’s Employee Rights Center, a nonprofit that assists low-wage workers without union representation, led to a ruling by the Labor Commissioner’s Office holding the Cheesecake Factory restaurants in Southern California and its janitorial subcontractors liable for $4.57 million in minimum wages, overtime, liquidated damages, waiting time penalties, and meal and rest period premiums. [Read more…]
A Vote for Summer Stephan and Sheriff Bill Gore Is an Endorsement of Police Brutality
By R. Zamora / La Voz Es Fuerza
On July 5, 2017, Christopher Villanueva, a San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy fired 16 hollow-point bullets at my unarmed cousin, Jonathon Coronel. According to the medical examiner’s report, he had 22 gunshot wounds on his very slim body. Hollow point bullets expand upon entering the tissue and cause more pain. Jonathon was tortured to death. He was willing to comply with the law.
There were 155 officer-involved shootings from 2005-2015 in San Diego and they have all been deemed justified by the District Attorney’s office.
The witness at the scene of his murder stated that Jonathon was already on the ground surrendered and shirtless to prove he was unarmed. However, even that blatant form of compliance did not stop Deputy Villanueva from executing him in such a monstrous way. I cried every single day since his death and, alongside his family and other victims’ families of police brutality, demanded justice for his murder.
As if finding out that a loved one was brutally slaughtered to death wasn’t painful enough, the villainization of his character and condoning of that violence by Interim District Attorney Summer Stephans added salt to our wounds. In March 2018, eight months after his murder, Summer Stephans held a press conference regarding Jonathon’s case and ruled the Deputy’s violence justified. [Read more…]
Interim District Attorney Summer Stephan Did Nothing When I Was Assaulted By White Supremacists
My name is William Johnson. I’m an activist here in San Diego and have been a regular at protests since 2011. I go out to march, rally, protest, and demonstrate, because I care deeply about fighting for the civil and human rights of all people, and against institutional poverty, environmental degradation, and militarism. Nowhere in our greater San Diego/Tijuana Metropolitan area are these issues more intersectional than at our border.
This has drawn me to protest there many times, most recently to protest Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he announced his policy to separate all migrant children from their parents, to which I called him “evil”. (And he announced this policy at Friendship Park of all places… The nerve of that man! But I digress…) To many people’s amazement, I walked away from this protest like I do 99% of the protests I attend; unscathed.
This was not the case on December 9th of last year, where I, and some of my friends and allies, were attacked by a group of well-known San Diego-based white supremacists. [Read more…]
San Diego Disabled Homeless Who Live in RVs Will Have Their Say in Court – Some Day
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…]
San Diego County’s Continuing War on Marijuana
Today in Spring Valley – an unincorporated community of San Diego County – sheriff deputies raided an unlicensed marijuana dispensary on Troy Street. This effort demonstrates that the war against pot continues in this area of California.
Twenty-two years after the voters of California legalized medical cannabis and a year and half after voters over the state voted to legalize recreational marijuana, the County of San Diego pushes on against the will of the people, cracking down on pot shops.
The current crop of County supervisors voted in March 2017 to prohibit any marijuana operations in the unincorporated areas of the County and phase out existing ones. [Read more…]
ACLU Documents Show Widespread Abuse of Child Immigrants in U.S. Custody
New Report Is Based on Thousands of Government Documents Obtained Through the Freedom of Information Act That Detail Horrific Stories
By ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties
Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union featured in a new report released today show the pervasive abuse and neglect of unaccompanied immigrant children detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The report was produced in conjunction with the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.
“These documents provide a glimpse into a federal immigration enforcement system marked by brutality and lawlessness,” said Mitra Ebadolahi, ACLU Border Litigation Project staff attorney. “All human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their immigration status — and children, in particular, deserve special protection. The misconduct demonstrated in these records is breathtaking, as is the government’s complete failure to hold officials who abuse their power accountable. The abuse that takes place by government officials is reprehensible and un-American.” [Read more…]
As Monsanto Glyphosate Case Moves to Trial, Man Dying of Cancer Gets Day in Court
By Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams
A California man dying of cancer will soon become the first person ever to take agrochemical giant Monsanto to trial over allegations that the company has concealed findings that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the company’s popular weedkiller Roundup, causes cancer.
Before DeWayne Johnson, a 46-year-old father of three, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 42, he worked for a school district in California, “where his responsibilities included direct application of Roundup and RangerPro, another Monsanto glyphosate product, to school properties,” according to his “landmark” lawsuit (pdf).
“Monsanto does not want the truth about Roundup and cancer to become public,” Johnson’s attorney, Michael Miller, told the Guardian. “We look forward to exposing how Monsanto hid the risk of cancer and polluted the science.” [Read more…]
The Use and Abuse of Police Authority in San Diego
If you think this story is just about people with badges doing bad things, think again. There’s plenty of blame to go around, including people who might normally be excluded from ‘the usual suspects.’
We have great candidates challenging the current County Sheriff and District Attorney. Their campaigns reflect the growing public desire to make the ‘Justice’ part of the Criminal Justice System an equal partner.
The institutions charged with protecting people and administering justice are, all-too-often, ailing–infected with racism, plagued by cronyism, and paralyzed by self-interest. Sworn personnel are expected to be enforcers of perceived class privilege by those benefitting from such advantages. [Read more…]
Koch Brothers-Backed Effort to Sabotage Unions Uses Secret “Tool Kit” to Encourage Members to Quit | Video Worth Watching
Ed Pilkington, chief reporter for The Guardian in the U.S., speaks with Amy Goodman and Juan González of Democracy Now! about his recent exclusive report on the $80 million dollar effort led by the State Policy Network to undermine unions. The upcoming Supreme Court decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case will have a major impact on this effort. [Read more…]
The Janus Case: Free Riders Are An ‘Injury to All’
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the “Janus Case” and determine the legality of state laws that allow public employee union contracts to require all covered employees to pay at least a “fair share” fee to cover the union’s cost of negotiating and enforcing their agreement. There are 23 states that have such laws and California is one of them.
In 1977 the Supreme Court decided unanimously that yes, states could do that. But just a few years ago several of the current conservative Supreme Court Justices let it be known that they would be willing to revisit that 1977 decision. So the Janus case worked its way up the legal system. Now the Supreme Court has heard the Janus case and will announce their decision in the coming months. [Read more…]
Clouds Gather Over District Attorney Candidate Summer Stephan’s Campaign
Debate dodging, a suggestion of pay-to-play among her supporters, and the hint of a visit to a Thai whorehouse add up to bad news for “Law Enforcement’s Choice” for County District Attorney Summer Stephan.
The interim appointed DA has backed out of speaking with voters tonight at the City of Hope International Church in Lincoln Park at a forum that was supposed to feature both candidates for San Diego County District Attorney.
Organized by the Mid-City CAN (Community Advocacy Network) and San Diego Organizing Project, the event has been advertised for weeks on Facebook, drawing interest or commitments from over 500 people. [Read more…]
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