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San Diego DA Candidate Summer Stephan’s Bad Day

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Wednesday, May 2, wasn’t a good day in appointed interim District Attorney Summer Stephan’s quest to win her first election in the June Primary.

In Justice Today, a leading publication in the field of criminal justice reform called out Stephan’s claims about human trafficking, suggesting she’s used inflated numbers to bolster her political and professional profile.

And Genevieve Jones-Wright, Stephan’s opponent in the upcoming June primary, has asked the State Attorney General’s office to investigate ten alleged violations of state law prohibiting employees–in this case, local law enforcement–from participating in political activities of any kind while in uniform.     [Read more…]

San Diego City Council | Progressive Voter Guide 2018 Have You Made a Plan to Vote?

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Today: Information on races in San Diego City Council Districts 2, 4, 6 & 8, but only two endorsements.

The San Diego Free Press and OB Rag are pleased to present part two of our 2018 Primary Election Progressive Voter Guide. As usual, we tried not to let perfect be the enemy of good in our decision making. This year we’re breaking it into parts to make it more digestible.

Upcoming: Friday-Statewide Offices & Legislative Seats, Monday-Federal Offices, plus Ballot Measures, >b>Tuesday: Voter Guide Crib Sheet (All Contests)   [Read more…]

World Press Freedom Day: US Press Freedom Ranking Drops To 45th

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May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day as declared by the United Nations. This year’s theme is “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law”.

By Mark Taylor Canfield / Daily Kos

Although this annual commemoration serves to highlight the struggle for press freedoms around the globe, the real work of securing these rights goes on daily in dozens of nations where reporters are threatened, jailed and killed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 262 reporters were imprisoned in 2017. 62 have been killed in 2018 and 58 are missing globally.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the press is facing major challenges from an adversarial presidential administration.   [Read more…]

Progressive Voter Guide for County of San Diego Elected Offices, June 2018 – When We Vote, We Win

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Today: Judicial Offices, Assessor/Recorder/Clerk, Sheriff, District Attorney, Board of Supervisors, Community College Board, SD Unified School Board, & SD County Board of Education.

The San Diego Free Press and OB Rag are pleased to present our 2018 Primary Election Progressive Voter Guide. As usual, we tried not to let perfect be the enemy of good in our decision making. This year we’re breaking it into parts to make it more digestible.

Upcoming: Thursday-City of San Diego, Friday-Statewide Offices & Legislative Seats, Monday-Federal Offices, plus Ballot Measures, Tuesday:Cheat Sheet Voter Guide (All Contests)   [Read more…]

How Russian Trolls Weaponized Your Social Media Feed | Video Worth Watching

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Vox’s Danush Parvaneh pulls together recent reporting on how Russian trolls weaponized social media and interviews Darrell West of the Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution to present a picture of the dynamics of the disinformation campaign.   [Read more…]

Campaign Cash Reports Reveal Status of City & County Primary Races

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Today we’ll walk through the latest financial reports for San Diego City and County races. Republicans have rounded up large amounts of cash, hoping to protect their incumbents on the City Council. Democrats are hoping to pick up some spots in County contests.

Things are about to get nasty with the emergence of two Independent Expenditure outfits representative of a split in organized labor which itself is illustrative of divisions in what some call the “professional left.”

Reports filed with the San Diego City Clerk and the County Registrar of Voters reveal how candidates are faring with campaign contributions. Today’s report includes the grand total of monies raised for 2017 and 2018 through April 21.   [Read more…]

Should Councilman Scott Sherman Recuse Himself from Decisions on Short Term Vacation Rentals?

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Sherman’s Family Owns 33 Rental Units in or Near Ocean Beach

There’s just something sketchy going on about San Diego Councilman Scott Sherman, the allegations that he has a conflict of interest in decisions concerning regulations for short-term vacation rentals (STVRs), and the lack of any genuine investigation by the San Diego Ethics Commission.

And the issue whether Sherman should recuse himself from any decisions about STVRs just won’t go away. Plus there are allegations he or his family own lots of rentals in Ocean Beach.   [Read more…]

Another Fail for San Diego County Jail

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Suicides and attempts at self-harm in the San Diego County jail system remain an unsolved problem. And, despite reforms in sentencing, the cost of incarceration in California continues to grow.

Two studies released this week point to local and statewide issues concerning incarceration. I’ll start with the local one, especially since it is relevant to the June 5th elections.

Disability Rights California, which has federal authority to investigate conditions in adult and juvenile detention facilities throughout the state, has issued a detailed report on suicides in San Diego County’s Jail System. Reforms instituted by Sheriff Bill Gore, who has oversight of County facilities are too little and too late.   [Read more…]

Why Build a Lynching Memorial? | Video Worth Watching

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Today, April 26th, a new museum and memorial is opening in Montgomery, Alabama, on a site where enslaved people were once warehoused. It is a project of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and the museum and memorial are dedicated to the memory of more than 4400 victims of racial lynchings between 1877 and 1950.

But why build a lynching memorial? EJI believes that publicly confronting the truth about our history is the first step towards recovery and reconciliation. A history of racial injustice must be acknowledged, and mass atrocities and abuse must be recognized and remembered, before a society can recover from mass violence.   [Read more…]

Cate vs. Hough June Contest Will Repeat in November | San Diego City Council District 6 Snapshot

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One of the downsides of having a top two campaign system as we do in the City of San Diego is having a primary political contest repeat itself in the general election.

With the (soon to be announced) withdrawal of Democrat Fayaz Nawabli from the District 6 City Council race, it’s a virtual certainty incumbent Republican Chris Cate will face Democrat Tommy Hough in both June and November.

No Political Preference candidates Jeremiah Blattler, Kevin Egger and Democrat Matt Valenti have qualified for the ballot, but don’t appear to have much momentum. Or money.    [Read more…]

When We Vote, We Win. Will We Vote in San Diego?

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Over one million registered voters in San Diego County can be expected not to vote in the upcoming election. To be precise, the number of ‘not voters’–if turnout is similar to 2014–will be 1,240,981.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, voter turnout in the June 2014 primary was a mere 25% of those who registered. This number is even lower than the national average, which was only 36% of eligible voters actually voting.

Looking at the expected number of voters for San Diego compared to those are eligible to vote is even more depressing: 1,800,933 people will not cast a ballot.   [Read more…]

Uncle Sam Says ‘So Long, Suckers! I Quit!’

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Leonard Eiger / The Loose Nukes

In the greatest White House personnel shakeup in history, Uncle Sam gave notice that he is retiring.

Sam, who has been on the job since 1813, said that he has finally had enough, saying, “I’m tired of being the spokesman for warmongering, racist, oil-hungry scum!”

In an unprecedented and surprise appearance before The White House Press Corps this morning, Sam appeared visibly shaken by recent events. He ranted for ten minutes about what has happened to our country and “what a damn mess Trump has made of it.”

He also referred to Friday’s missile strikes against Syria as “the last straw.” The Congress has become a complete joke; they’ve handed the President a blank check for war and just about anything else he wants. And don’t get me started on Bolton!”   [Read more…]

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