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Cash Bail Goes Away, Reform Flops in California

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Imagine California’s system for handling people accused of crimes embodied as a statue of bounty hunter Dwayne “ Dog” Chapman. Senate Bill 10 was supposed to make it go away.

What happened instead was the statue was gone, but the base upon which it stood remained intact. As of October 2019, the old system of requiring cash or a bail bondsman’s assurance as a condition for pre-trial release will go away.

I won’t miss the seedy buildings downtown or what they stand for. People with the means to post cash bail get it refunded if they’re found not guilty or the case is dismissed. If you’re not so wealthy, you get stuck with the bondsman’s 10% fee, regardless.   [Read more…]

Trump Endorses in 49th, Russian Hackers in Action. Keep Your Eye on the Prize

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Republican Diane Harkey, the Darrell Issa-endorsed candidate in the 49th Congressional District received the blessings of President Donald Trump via Twitter late yesterday.

Nobody should be happier about this news than her Democratic opponent, Mike Levin, although his campaign showed remarkable restraint in responding to the announcement.

Polling by the Public Policy Institute of California three months ago showed just 39% of voters in the two counties included in the district approve of the job Trump is doing as president. Hillary Clinton won the 49th by seven points over Trump, and Issa’s re-election margin was the closest of any House incumbent in 2016.
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Is Bank of America ‘Just Following Orders’ by Asking Citizenship Status Questions?

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It’s not just ICE and local bigots harassing immigrants and people who they think might be immigrants anymore.

Activists are claiming U.S. financial institutions, encouraged by the Department of Treasury, are including citizenship status as part of the Customer Identification Program provision of the USA Patriot Act, even though it is not legally required.

What this means in practical terms is that existing customers, like Josh Collins and wife Jessica Salazar Collins who thought envelopes from Bank of America were junk mail, are having their accounts suspended until such time as questions about citizenship are answered.
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Astroturfing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | Video Worth Watching

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John Oliver of Last Week Tonight presents an update on the practice of astroturfing. San Diego’s own Juan Vargas has a brief cameo during a discussion of the California flame retardant legislation lobbying.   [Read more…]

California Kids Meal Soda Ban: Would You Like Water, Milk, or Truth With That?

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If you were anywhere near the State Approved media lately, no doubt you heard about California’s upcoming ban on restaurants serving sodas to children. It must be true because Faux News and The Hill (among others) have made this assertion in headlines.

Except that it’s not true. Today’s headlines are based on an August 16 story in the Sacramento Bee which said no such thing   [Read more…]

Matt Brower for Judge | Candidate Profiles for the November 2018 Ballot

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Editor’s Note: The San Diego Free Press has asked three dozen candidates in key electoral contests from throughout the county for submissions explaining why they think progressive-leaning voters should consider voting for them. Many of these candidates are running in down-ballot contests often overlooked by voters.

I am challenging Gary Kreep in the upcoming November election for Seat 37 – California Superior Court Judge. This race stands out as the only one of six county-wide races from the June primary to advance to the general election in November. No matter where you live in San Diego County this race will appear on your ballot.

I began running for this seat when I saw the Commission on Judicial Performance had censured Judge Kreep in August of 2017 for committing over two dozen violations of the Cannons on Judicial Ethics that govern the behavior of judges in our local courts. Though these ethical violations were varied the ones that caught my attention were those involving unprofessional and disrespectful treatment toward women and minorities in court by Judge Kreep. I was already aware that Judge Kreep had participated in a lawsuit to prohibit President Obama’s name from appearing on the ballot in 2012 premised on the debunked theory that our nation’s first black president’s birth certificate lacked authenticity. This was known commonly as the birther movement. Once I became aware of the nature of Judge Kreep’s ethics violations it confirmed my suspicions regarding his worldview and made it clear to me he needed to be removed from his position of authority in our community.   [Read more…]

Marijuana, Opioids, and Alcohol: It Is Time to Change the Paradigm

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By Egberto Willies / Daily Kos

America needs a paradigm shift when it comes to how it deals with products that affect our moods, psyche, and our overall well-being. We must do so based on data instead of ideology, and deprogramming many will be difficult. But marijuana must be completely decriminalized.

Houston cannabis activist Ashley Miller appeared on Politics Done Right to bring awareness to many issues about marijuana, aka weed, aka cannabis. Her first goal was to dispel the notion that there are any valid reasons why marijuana is illegal. Second, she hoped to activate Americans both locally and throughout the country. As one listens to all the arguments and discourse about marijuana, there can only be one conclusion: the product should not be illegal.

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Beto O’Rourke’s Straight Answer to a Tough Question: Kneeling in the NFL | Video Worth Watching

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Beto O’Rourke fields a tough question during a town hall type meeting. And he does it with grace and sincerity. (h/t to Doug P.)

BONUS VIDEO: This 37 minute Facebook campaign video starts off with a minute or so of Beto skateboarding in the parking lot of a Whataburger. The dude can move.   [Read more…]

‘AMERICA’- A Musical Parody of the Classic ‘West Side Story’ Scene | Video Worth Watching

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I love Leonard Bernstein; I love the spirt, the sensibility, the music and dance of West Side Story. BUT! Anyone who has been to Puerto Rico, or has even a slight familiarity with Puerto Rican culture knows that the music and dance of the ostensibly Puerto Rican community of West Side Story is completely off-base.

News of a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner for a remake of the musical, motivated actor/comedian Suni Reyes to call attention to this egregious misrepresentation. Her method is to parody one of the key musical scenes in a clever, timely and pointed skit. She even manages to briefly get in some authentic Puerto Rican music! Latino Rebels features an interview with Suni where she discusses some of the issues she wrestled with while creating the number.   [Read more…]

Democrats Have Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

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By Kerry Eleveld / Daily Kos

The results of an Ohio special election last week that many viewed as a harbinger for November—and that should have been a gimme for Republicans—aren’t even final yet. And yet even as the GOP candidate in Ohio’s 12th congressional district, Troy Balderson, clings to a lead of less than one percent over Democrat Danny O’Connor, a Washington narrative is developing that the Democratic advantage could all fall apart under the weight of either longtime liberal Nancy Pelosi of California or progressive phenom Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, depending on which article you read. 

It’s preposterous. As has been widely reported, House Democrats need to win 23 seats to regain control of the lower chamber and they have some 69 target districts that are less red than OH-12 and ripe for the picking. And yet there’s some scary myth out there that Pelosi’s too establishment and Ocasio-Cortez is too progressive and their mere presence is killing Democratic chances this fall.

Seriously, is this a joke? Just take note, they’re both women and supposedly they’re both the death knell for Democratic success this fall. The New York Times reported last week, for instance, that calls to “Abolish ICE,” partly led by Ocasio-Cortez, had “many Democrats fretting in competitive races.” In the meantime, reporters can’t seem to get enough of perseverating over some 50 Democratic House candidates who say they won’t back Pelosi for speaker if they’re elected or re-elected—something she actually encouraged them to do. Wow, it turns out Democrats truly have the big tent Republicans had been lauded for in theory for decades, but now that conservative advantage has morphed into a liberal liability and Democrats are doooomed!   [Read more…]

Group Asks District Attorney Stephan to Recuse Her Office from Investigation into Earl McNeil’s Death

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Monica Montgomery, Tasha Williamson, Mark Lane, Yusef Miller, and other community members held a press conference on Wednesday to publicly request that District Attorney Summer Stephan recuse herself and her office from the investigation into Earl McNeil’s death while in the custody of the National Police Department.

On August 10, 2018 the National City Police Department turned the investigation into Mr. McNeil’s death over to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. They are also asking DA Stephan to re-open every case where Earl McNeil was used as a law enforcement informant for the Office. 
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Today is the Anniversary of Nixon’s Confidential Enemies List Memorandum | Video Worth Watching

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On this date, August 16th, in 1971, John Dean drafted a confidential memo that essentially outlined the structure of what is now popularly referred to as Nixon’s Enemies List. Rachel Maddow shows us the gory details from a copy of the original memorandum and notes that unlike the current administration’s very public retaliations against its perceived enemies, the Nixon administration believed it was necessary for this behavior to remain behind-the-scenes and covert. How times have changed!   [Read more…]

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