San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics

2018: Time to Clean House in County Government

by

Imagine, if you will…

A place in California where a single official believes he has the power to turn back the clock on same-sex marriage… A place where investigations into the deaths of people in jail are dismissed… A place where elected officials get to pick their successors…

…A place where a politician can pick up the phone and order police retaliation on people whose views he doesn’t share… A place where hundreds of millions of dollars sit undisturbed while homelessness spreads unabated, while a single elected official can pledge $150 million for a sports stadium.

Welcome to San Diego County, a place where the basic functions of government have morphed into fiefdoms of neglect and a culture of corruption prevents transparency.   [Read more…]

Donna Brazile is Still Right: The Culture of the Democratic Party Needs to Change

by

Last week brought welcome news for those of us looking for some light at the end of the tunnel as we close in on the first year of the Trump era when voters repudiated Republican rule by handing resounding victories to Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere around the country.

While this is clearly a morale booster for beleaguered progressives, let’s hope that it does not stop folks from continuing to ask the hard questions that need to be answered if we truly want to change the course of the country from the dangerous path we are on.  

Some of those questions were beginning to be debated with a fresh focus in the wake of Donna Brazile’s revelations about the 2016 campaign in the days leading up to the good electoral news on Tuesday.  While most of the coverage belabored the question of whether or not the Democratic primary was “rigged,” what was more important about Brazile’s recounting of her time at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was what she revealed about the culture of the Clinton campaign and the national party.   [Read more…]

Ta-Nehisi Coates on using/not using the N-word | Video Worth Watching

by

Words have no meaning without context. Once stated, it seems obvious, but in certain situations this truism appears to be forgotten. During a Family Action Network event with Evanston Township High School while on tour for his newest book, We Were Eight Years In Power, Ta-Nehisi Coates responds to a question from the audience on the issues of the use of the N-word. With examples he reminds us of how we know the importance of context to be true. In his low-key conversational delivery he then extends the analysis to explain the contexts at play in the use of this hot-button vocabulary item.   [Read more…]

Randy Rainbow Asks ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Korea?’ | Video Worth Watching

by

Randy Rainbow may not have the answer, but he certainly knows how to ask the question! Here is his Sound of Music inspired “How do you solve a problem like Korea?” It’s apparent that even after (or should that be because of?) this week’s diplomatic tour, the problem is still unresolved. Aaargh!   [Read more…]

What Does a Successful Campaign for a Congressional Seat Look Like? | Video Worth Watching

by

Lee Carter’s campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates 50th district was successful, defeating Jackson Miller, the Republican incumbent who is serving as the current House Majority Whip. Running as a Democrat, but in the mold of Bernie Sanders, Marine veteran Lee identifies as a Democratic Socialist.

What does that mean? For Lee, he echoes Sander’s explanation: “It means I believe in strong unions, health care for everybody, and an end to discrimination”. In this campaign the issues also included single-payer health care and getting money out of politics, issues which very much resonate with the Democratic base. Those issues resonated strongly enough to get out 11,360 votes for Lee to 9,510 for Miller.   [Read more…]

Let’s Talk About The Real Winners of the 2017 Elections

by

Some pundits called last night’s elections a blue wave, as Democrats just about ran the table in competitive districts coast-to-coast. Others called it a repudiation of Trump.

Let’s tell the truth here. Yes, the most of the victors in the 2017 general election had a (D) next to their name, but the people who made it happen were led by political newcomers. And a disproportionate number of those doing the hard work were women and people of color.

Diversity and campaign themes not fitting on the front of a red baseball cap were the real winners. Healthcare mattered. Confederate statues didn’t.     [Read more…]

For Those Who Blacked Out and Missed It, Here’s a Brief Recap of Last Year’s Election Night Primal Scream | Video Worth Watching

by

Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock share a bit of “Welcome to My World” with SNL cast members representing stunned HRC supporters after last year’s historic election night returns.   [Read more…]

Nathan Fletcher Round 4 vs. My Resurrected SD Free Press Columns: The Final Death Match?

by

Tomorrow is Halloween.  Are we in for something scary?  

Not really.  

But, as in a lot of horror movies, so many things in San Diego politics never seem to die — they just keep coming back, over-and-over again.  That’s just how we roll here in the place “where happy happens.”  It’s not scary, but it’s not particularly exciting either.  

While the vast majority of people in San Diego are not paying the least bit of attention to local races heading into 2018, there has been quite a bit of petty drama surrounding the San Diego Board of Supervisors District 4 race in recent weeks.  It appears that local Republican operatives have decided to kill Nathan Fletcher’s most recent political aspirations with a strong dose of my all-powerful San Diego Free Press mojo from the 2013 mayor’s race by quoting me extensively on an anti-Fletcher website and, if my social media feed can be trusted, some people are in quite a twist about it.  
  [Read more…]

Hierarchy of Elected Venerables

by

You and I – as ordinary voters living in greater San Diego – have a mindnumbing number of opportunities to elect scads of people to serve as our public mouthpieces.

We routinely go to the polls or mail in our ballots to select the “public servants” we believe will represent our personal and community interests and improve our well-being.  Keeping up with who’s running for what is a daunting job.

In fact, if we built a totem pole made up of all our elected officials, it would surely reach the clouds, maybe even touch the sky.   [Read more…]

Sophia Bush Talks Birth Control | Video Worth Watching

by

From Planned Parenthood’s Twitter feed: If more lawmakers could get pregnant, we wouldn’t have to keep convincing them that birth control matters. Sophia Bush breaks it all the way down.   [Read more…]

San Diego’s Democratic Party Leadership Should Heed #MeToo

by

Last weekend’s San Diego County Democratic Convention was a success on many levels. Candidates spoke, networks were built, and the party faithful came away full of hope for the future. The mechanics of the event went smoothly.

But…

There was just the nagging question of you-know-who, who stands accused of doing you-know-what. A handful of demonstrators held banners near the entrance to the California Center for the Arts, reminding attendees that this issue wasn’t going away anytime soon.

Ten thousand dollars bought a lot of silence at the Democratic Convention. With the unfolding scandals concerning sexual misconduct and harassment by powerful figures in entertainment, politics, and labor, you’d think the local party might have doubts about cashing a check from San Diego’s poster child for allegations of such conduct.   [Read more…]

Call to Action: We Need Transparency, Not Secrecy, in Selecting New Chief of Police

by

In the next few months we will have a new San Diego Chief of Police and I hope that whoever gets the job can do something, for me, no one has been able to do: create an environment wherein I don’t find myself squirming a bit every time a police officer rolls up behind me or next to me. I just can’t help it, though, with my life’s experiences.

Now, hey, don’t get me wrong, I’ve known some good police officers — parents at my schools, guys I grew up with, dudes I’ve toked and toasted with, played ball with — it’s just that the bad seeds among them can be downright scary at times.

Police-community relations have concerned me enough that I’ve tried, every now and then over the years, to make our police department more humane.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry