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Out-of-Town Vacation Rental Owners Summoned for ‘Firestorm of Anger’ At City Council Meeting

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When the San Diego City Council voted by a wide majority on July 16 to regulate short-term vacation rentals, it was using the democratic process to resolve an issue that has been plaguing the city and especially the beach and coastal neighborhoods for years. By a vote of 6 to 3, the bi-partisan majority vote saved coastal residences for long-term renters.

Yet, immediately, the Airbnb crowd cried foul, threatening legal suits – and more against the vote – which has to be confirmed on Wednesday, August 1 in a so-called “second reading” of the ordinance. The second reading will be at 1PM in the Council Chambers at 202 C Street, 12th floor.

So, now Airbnb, HomeAway, and local STVR operators are planning “an all-out assault” against the regulations just passed coming up for that second reading. One owner of a local mini-empire of vacation rentals has called for a “firestorm of anger” to be unleashed at the City Council meeting.   [Read more…]

The Right-Wing Firestorm Starting With the Smear of ACORN Rages On

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By Peter Dreier

In their recent documentary ACORN and the Firestorm, Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard not only reveal how the mighty ACORN fell but also show how the attack on ACORN was a dress rehearsal for our current toxic political culture, including the rise of Donald Trump and the alt-right.

Through archival clips and interviews with ACORN staffers, leaders and members, friendly and hostile politicians, and political analysts, the film recounts the group’s history, starting with its founding in Arkansas in 1970 by Wade Rathke, a charismatic and brazen young organizer.

In addition to registering millions of voters, ACORN assisted the working poor to buy homes and avoid foreclosure, challenged banks’ racist and predatory lending practices, stopped companies from spewing cancer-causing pollution in low-income neighborhoods, got local governments to fix up abandoned buildings that had become havens for crime, and fought for fair treatment by employers, landlords, insurance companies, and government. ACORN led the campaign to get Congress to strengthen the anti-redlining Community Reinvestment Act. It organized the victims of Hurricane Katrina to gain a voice in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. It spearheaded the living-wage movement in more than 100 cities and helped make the federal Earned Income Tax Credit an effective anti-poverty program.   [Read more…]

Kaniela Saito Ing’s Progressive Campaign Ad ‘A New Possible’ Is Creating a Stir | Video Worth Watching

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The ad agency that produced the massively popular campaign ad for the recent Democratic primary of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—Means of Production—has produced another one, this time for a Democratic primary candidate in Hawai’i.: Kaniela Ing. The new ad echoes many of the themes of the previous one: health care for all, free college, affordable housing, a green jobs program; but also adds an Hawai’in element. Both are upbeat, positive and unapologetically progressive. Although Ing faces much tougher odds, let’s hope the similarities extend to outcomes, as well.   [Read more…]

Earl McNeil: No Justice! No Peace! Riot Police Summoned for National City Council Meeting

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Another week has gone by without the National City Police Department coming clean about what happened to Earl McNeil, who never regained consciousness after being taken into custody on May 27. He passed on at UCSD Medical Center on June 11.

The man may be dead, but he’s not been forgotten. The story of his arrest and the lack of transparency about what happened afterward have begun to attract national attention, thanks to the persistence of community activists.

The fourth consecutive protest at a National City Council meeting brought police in riot gear from six agencies around San Diego County. Platoons of cops marched up and down outside the meeting, forcing the two dozen or so demonstrators off the sidewalks for no apparent reason.   [Read more…]

Why Is The Right So Scared Of A Democratic Socialist? | Video Worth Watching

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All In’s Chris Hayes speaks with The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg, The Majority Report’s host, Sam Seder and The Intercept‘s Briahna Gray about “Why Is The Right So Scared Of A Democratic Socialist?” Chris presents some of the right’s coverage of recent primary winner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and how it weirdly appears threatened by her stand in favor of health care, education and that “every person in this country [should be] paid a living wage to lead a dignified life”.   [Read more…]

‘Black Identity Extremists’ Report Is FBI’s COINTELPRO 2.0 | Video Worth Watching

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From the NOW THIS YouTube page:

Decades ago, the FBI targeted Black activists who were fighting for equality — now, this sad chapter of history is repeating itself.

A 2017 report identified “black identity extremists” as a threat to law enforcement. Critics say this report is eerily similar to the FBI’s counter intelligence program, a.k.a. COINTELPRO, which was established in the 50’s by J. Edgar Hoover to specifically target African-Americans who were fighting for justice and equality, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and many members of the Black Panther Party.

  [Read more…]

John Cox Can’t Escape Trump’s Shadow in the Race for California Governor

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Gubernatorial candidate John Cox is the latest in a long line of business executives who believe their experiences in the boardroom make then qualified to run the state of California.

To be sure, he was the less extreme of the GOP candidates with name recognition in the June 5 primary. His approach is less bombastic than Travis Allen, but that’s just a matter of rhetoric.

A debate between the two men (and Doug Ose, who dropped out shortly thereafter) in February turned into a bragfest about who supported The Dear Leader the most.   [Read more…]

The MS-13 Gang, A Straw Man for Republican Racism

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By Hunter / Daily Kos

Donald Trump’s support is based on racism. And the racism is based on Republican conspiracy theories. And those conspiracy theories are now, thanks to White House propaganda, taking root within his racist, gullible base.

A majority of people who voted for President Donald Trump consider criminal gang MS-13 a threat to the United States, a new poll finds, indicating the Trump administration may be succeeding in inflating the perception of the gang’s national risk.

Specifically, 85 percent of Trump voters call MS-13 a “very” or “somewhat” serious threat to the United States, and roughly half of them are worried MS-13 is going to target them or their families personally, which is a ludicrous, asinine theory based entirely on Trump-peddled propaganda. Before Trump’s team settled on “MS-13” as their stand-in for Violent Ethnic People Coming To Get You, it would be a fair bet to say that precious few among Trump’s base would even know what MS-13 was. Now half of them are worried that MS-13 is hiding under their floorboards.   [Read more…]

Wealth — Not Enrollment in Private School — Increases Student Achievement, According to New Study

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By Steven Singer / Common Dreams

Students enrolled in private schools often get good grades and high test scores.

And there’s a reason for that – they’re from wealthier families.

A new peer-reviewed study from Professors Richard C. Pianta and Arya Ansari of the University of Virginia found that once you take family income out of the equation, there are absolutely zero benefits of going to a private school. The majority of the advantage comes from simply having money and all that comes with it – physical, emotional, and mental well-being, living in a stable and secure environment, knowing where your next meal will come from, etc.   [Read more…]

Who Does He Think He’s Fooling?

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“No collusion,”
the man, with way more talk
than walk says.
And he flies across
waters to Helsinki
to meet and greet
a Russian of ill repute
who is seen
as our number one enemy,
a man who slapped our country
upside the head
like a Mafia Godfather
putting an underling
in his place,
interfering with a presidential race,
utilizing the wizardry
of technology,
exposing our inability
to think critically,
resulting, tragically,
in a wretched excuse of a human being
ascending to the presidency   [Read more…]

These 16-Year-Olds Are Campaigning for the Right to Vote | Video Worth Watching

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Exciting signs from the D.C area: sixteen-year olds are conducting a campaign—Vote16DC—to lower the voting age to sixteen in the District. Four other nearby cities have already lowered the voting age to sixteen for local and School Board races. The D.C. initiative would lower it for federal elections as well. Sentiment in support of the proposition is building. If this movement is successful in D.C., can we expect to see a similar push here in San Diego?   [Read more…]

Racism 101: White Lady Reporter Wants You to Know Black Lives Matter is Coming to National City to Riot

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“…They are demanding answers and they say they are not going to go away until they get them. The groups say next they plan on collaborating with the National Black Lives Matter group and staging riots in the streets if necessary; that is if the National City Police Department doesn’t release police body worn camera [footage] of an incident where a man died in custody.” —NBC 7 Reporter Wendy Fry

UPDATE: “Never mind” says NBC7. “An NBC 7 article referred to demonstrators staging riots in the streets in their pursuit of information. NBC 7 could not attribute that development to a specific community leader and has corrected the text. We greatly regret the error.”

UPDATED UPDATE: The reporter in question is sorry/not sorry

Protests are sometimes loud. They’re always messy. And they’re emotional. They’re challenging for reporters to cover because of the linguistic shorthand used by activists to make their points. 

NBC7’s Wendy Fry takes the cake for decorating her reporting with racist suppositions drawn from the tumultuous protests ongoing at council meetings in National City.
  [Read more…]

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