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San Diego’s Multi-Headed Beast of a “Citizens’ Plan” Initiative

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A whopper of a ballot petition has been stalking the city these past few months. It’s a 77-page proposal with the unwieldy title “The Citizens’ Plan for the Responsible Management of Major Tourism and Entertainment Resources.”

Whatever good intentions it may once have had (and I don’t doubt they existed), the “Citizens’ Plan” detoured down a back alley and emerged out the other end as a grotesque, multi-headed hydra.

Now, I’ve read the “Citizens’ Plan.” Then I read it again… and again. But for the heck of me, I can’t figure it out. And I’m not the only one!   [Read more…]

Meet Sarah Saez: Candidate for San Diego City Council District 9 (Part Two)

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Sarah Saez is best known locally for her work on the heroic United Taxi Workers of San Diego (UTWSD) campaign.  As labor leader Richard Barrera noted after their big win in 2014:

The victory by UTWSD comes five years after drivers, improperly classified as independent contractors and without NLRB recognition, came together and organized a strike to protest their wages, benefits, and working conditions.  Despite constant harassment, retaliation, and intimidation by permit holders and dispatch companies over the last five years, and despite obstruction by public agencies, these workers stuck together, fought back against injustice, and prevailed.  It reminds and teaches all of us that a union is not formed by formal government recognition, it is formed by workers standing together to fight for justice and a brighter future for their families. 

And the Taxi Workers’ victory was about more than just their own struggle in that, as I observed at the time, it provided a good example of precisely how [a] new kind of workers’ movement can succeed.”      [Read more…]

Why Bernie’s Struggle Will Continue

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What the U.S. needs now is a good old-fashioned platform fight at the Democratic Party Convention, only 4 months distant in this nightmare year.

We need to see just who are these people we’re told are the party’s established leaders. What do they really believe?   [Read more…]

Plastic Bag Industry Seeks the ‘Freedom’ to Pollute by Confusing California Voters

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The California legislature passed a ban on many uses of plastic bags back in 2014. Gov. Brown signed it and the American Progressive Bag Alliance, representing bag manufacturers, dumped $3.2 million to get signatures for a referendum on the November, 2016 ballot. So now the law is on hold.

Not content with a simple up or down vote on the matter, the industry is now in the process of gathering signatures for a second measure mandating fees from grocery bag sales be used for environmental projects. If you think this sounds too good to be true for an idea ultimately emanating from the dirty energy industry, you’re right.

This second ballot item is aimed at punishing the grocery industry for backing the original statewide ban. What’s even worse is the sales spiel being used by this effort confuses the matter, implying that the 10 cent fee allowed for store-furnished shopping bags is lining the interests of “special interests” and “union bosses.”   [Read more…]

SeaWorld Calls It Quits on Orca Breeding, Promises to End Killer Whale Shows

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Starting off with the admission that Americans’ attitudes about orcas have changed dramatically, SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby has announced –via an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times– the end of the company’s controversial breeding programs and the phasing out theatrical killer whale shows at all its locations.

SeaWorld has been the target of nationwide protests over its treatment of captive orcas in recent years. Revenues and attendance began a steady decline following the release of the documentary “Blackfish,” which spotlighted the animals’ living conditions and the dangers posed to their handlers.

The company currently has 29 orcas listed in its care — seven in Orlando, five in San Antonio, eleven in San Diego and six in Loro Parque, Spain.   [Read more…]

Bernie Is Best to Trounce Trump

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By Frank Thomas

Vote for Bernie in the primary and get a guaranteed win for Trump in November. … or is it … Vote for Hillary in the primary and get a guaranteed win for Trump in November?

I prefer a presidential candidate of exemplary integrity, keen problem-solving skills, a dedication to improving the common man’s welfare and equitable sharing in society’s progress (or breakdowns) – as opposed to the systemic marginalization and impoverishment of Main Street taking place the last 35-40 years.

As we have moved further and further to the right in past years, we’ve moved further away from our founding values of fair play, justice, and a rising tide for all.   [Read more…]

It’s Time to Stand Up to the Bully Trump

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More than twenty progressive and liberal organizations on both sides of the Hillary/Sanders split released a letter yesterday calling on all Americans to join together in taking action to oppose the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Calling him “a five-alarm fire for our democracy,” the letter sets forth concrete steps to oppose the Republican front-runner — from protesting to organizing large-scale voter turnout efforts.   [Read more…]

Meet Sarah Saez: Candidate for San Diego City Council District 9 (Part One)

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I’m running for City Council after being asked to do so by my community. I’m committed to supporting workers – including the working poor – fixed-income seniors, people of color and others who are ignored by our current political system. As a nonprofit professional and organizer, I also want to be the best constituent services councilmember ever in order to advance the quality of life for residents in the district and throughout San Diego. I believe I have the personal, professional, and academic experience to ensure that everyone in our community has an equal opportunity to succeed by continuing to draw from the wisdom of residents and strongly promoting the political voice of disenfranchised community members.   [Read more…]

‘Free Trade’: The Elites Are Selling It But The Public Is No Longer Buying

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By Dave Johnson / Campaign for America’s Future

Voters have figured out that our country’s current “free trade” policies are killing their jobs, wages, cities, regions and the country’s middle class. Giant multinational corporations and billionaires do great under free trade, the rest of us not so much.

Elites say increasing trade is always good. But when you close a factory here, then open the factory “there” and bring the same goods back to sell in the same outlets, you have “increased trade” because those goods now cross a border. The differential between wages paid here and there goes into the pockets of the executives and shareholders. Those unemployed American workers add to wage pressures on the rest of us. Inequality increases.   [Read more…]

Beat the Press: The Violent Side of Trump’s Campaign

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“The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”–Trump supporter, arrested for sucker-punching a protester

The rise of The Donald as a presidential candidate is universally described as an expression of anger on the part of American voters. His promises to deport Mexican rapists, discriminate against Muslims and/or teach the Chinese a lesson all play upon fears born of economic and political desperation.

The implied violence of Donald Trump’s rhetoric has inspired his followers to take action. Intimidation of the “other” is an essential part of his campaign, allowing the candidate to avoid protesters upset with his racism, along with questions about his checkered past.   [Read more…]

Will California Feel the Bern? Vermont Senator’s Michigan Win Changes the Game

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In past years, California’s presidential primary has come so late in the cycle as to be irrelevant. This year might be different.

Despite pollsters unanimously saying Senator Bernie Sanders would lose to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by as much as 20 points, he won in Michigan. Sanders trails in total delegate count at this point, but my prediction is that last night’s upset will quell talk of an early conclusion to Democratic contests.

The Donald carried Michigan, Ted Cruz carried Idaho and Marco Rubio got nada. John Kasich thinks he stayed alive by coming in third in Michigan. In Miami, Trump gave a totally bizarre victory speech that at times sounded like an infomercial for his retail lines. ….And there are a few interesting tidbits in local politics to share today.   [Read more…]

Trump Is the Most Offensive GOP Candidate, But Cruz Would Be More Dangerous in the Oval Office

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Ted Cruz is a conniving, uncompromising, power-hungry demagogue whose policies would serve the richest Americans

By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet

As the 2016 primary season continues, the notion that Ted Cruz might be the Republican Party’s last best chance to save itself from Donald Trump’s takeover is a spectacle all by itself. Cruz, the most mistrusted and reviled Republican senator, a serial liar who led the 2013 government shutdown and called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a fraud on the Senate floor, is now the party’s great savior?   [Read more…]

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