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The Separation Clause of the Constitution and the Johnson Amendment

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

Our president has a bug up his ass about the Johnson Amendment, part of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 prohibiting 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from conducting political campaign activities to intervene in elections to public office. He thinks it unfairly restricts free speech.

But here’s the thing: the Johnson Amendment doesn’t stop church leaders from speaking out. Firstly, political activity is allowed so long as pastors stop short of directly or indirectly endorsing. But, even if pastors do actually endorse a candidate or ballot measure, only one church is known to have actually lost its tax-exemption due to electioneering. Also, some defiant clergy have repeatedly and for years, deliberately disregarded the Johnson Amendment. Some have even sent transcripts of their speeches to the IRS. That one church that lost its exemption, that was back in 1995.

All this rule does is pose a choice for clergy: do you wanna be a church or in politics? If you want the tax-exemption of being a church, you should simply stay out of politics. Can’t do both; choose. And this gets to the heart of the whole separation clause thing. I think the amendment solidifies the separation-of-church-and-state intent of the founding fathers.   [Read more…]

‘A Day Without Women’: Calls Grow for General Women’s Strike

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By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams

The next phase of the resistance as embodied by last month’s Women’s March may come in the form of a general women’s strike—a day inspired by feminist movements in other countries, during which women don’t work (in the office or at home) or go to school.

Meanwhile, a coalition of feminist academics and activists is separately calling for “an international strike against male violence and in defense of reproductive rights” to take place Wednesday, March 8. They reference President Donald Trump in their call, but their vision goes far beyond one man or one administration.   [Read more…]

Resist and Persist: Trump Can’t Stand It

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The third weekend of the Trump administration saw protests and organizing events in cities large and small around the country.

Two Republican Congressman ignored the advice of their colleagues to stay away from in-person town halls and ended up having catching hell. Republican Reps. Tom McClintock in Roseville Ca., and Mike Coffman in Aurora, Co. tried and failed to limit attendance at their events; both ended up calling for a police escort to escape constituents angry over attempts to repeal Obamacare.

In San Diego, an organizing meeting for the downtown chapter of nascent Indivisible network drew nearly 200 people on Saturday. The Indivisible national registry indicates more than 50 such groups have sprung up in San Diego County since the Women’s March.   [Read more…]

How Not to Be the Resistance: Local Democratic Party and Union Leaders Fail Early Test

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Last week I dedicated my column to outlining how, despite the emergence of inspiring protests in the streets and amongst the progressive base, many key Democratic figures in Congress and in the national leadership of the building trades unions still didn’t seem to understand what time it was. Sadly, it only took a few more days to see a couple of stunning examples of how not to be the resistance right here in San Diego.

On January 26th, Jessica Hayes, the newly elected chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, took advantage of her presence at a forum hosted by the Democrats for Equality entitled “#The Resistance: Women Lead the Way” to attack not the dangerous plutocrats running the country, but a key element of the Democratic base: unions.

The last few weeks have also held its challenges for local labor leadership as protesters, including Donna Frye and Irene McCormack, picketed outside the monthly delegates meeting at which there was no mention whatsoever of the elephant in the room, the lawsuits filed against Labor Council President Mickey Kasparian and what this means for local labor at this perilous moment in the history of the movement.   [Read more…]

Law and Disorder at U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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By Susan Grigsby / Daily Kos

In Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome, the used car salesman/second selectman of Chester’s Mill, Maine, a guy called Big Jim Rennie, had to turn to local bullies to form his police force. For those unfamiliar with the novel, the people of Chester’s Mill woke one morning to find themselves under an impermeable dome and cut off from the outside world. Published in 2009, many took the power-hungry blowhard Big Jim to be a stand-in for Dick Cheney. But it doesn’t take much re-focusing to visualize the character as a Donald Trump or perhaps a Steve Bannon, if you can ignore the rampant incompetence and only focus on the takeover.

Donald Trump, however, will not have to rely on local bullies to make up his enforcement unit. He already has at his disposal some of the most troubled law enforcement agencies in the United States, not the least of which is the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a behemoth agency that is supposed to make us think we are safer with it than without it.   [Read more…]

Thank You UC Berkeley Students and Community for Confronting Racist

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This Is Not an Issue of “Free Speech” for a White Nationalist with Connections to the White House

Risking becoming the lone voice in today’s wilderness, we say today that somebody has to say “thank you” to the UC Berkeley students and community members who demonstrated against the white nationalist Breitbart News senior editor back on Wednesday, February 1st, and helped cause the campus to cancel the talk by Milo Yiannopoulos.

So, thank you.

The whole incident has now blown up, with claims the protesters violated free speech, with Trump threatening to cut off funds to UC Berkeley – which he cannot do unilaterally – and the subsequent push-back against him from school and California officials.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Madness

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Madness
to take a direct flight
into the storm

Submit my body
to random searches for poetry
as if metal detectors
read metaphor   [Read more…]

Trump Kicks Off Black History Month By Suspending Investigations of White Supremacists

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Or, As the World Spins, Day 12

I’m suffering from Post Traumatic Trump Disorder.

Jon Stewart called what’s going on “vicious chaos” recently and I have to agree. So today’s column is just a list of all things I wish I could write about but can’t figure out which one is most deserving.

So, since I last looked, the President of the United States has…   [Read more…]

Prominent Democrats, Community Activists Call on Labor Leader Kasparian to Stand Down

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Four years after the Bob Filner scandal, little has changed with the leadership culture in the centers of power on the left in San Diego–namely labor and the Democratic party.

The enablers and apologists for workplace sexual improprieties, gender discrimination, and retaliation continue to use the political clout and cash flow of their organizations as a shield, preventing them from answering for their behavior or learning from their mistakes.

Engaged women are leading the resistance to what portends to be an era of oppression and repression. They can’t fight the good fight locally or nationally if women within this movement are subjugated by abusive men in powerful positions. They cannot be expected to roll up their sleeves to make changes only to realize the institutional power they need amounts to more of the same.   [Read more…]

The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: The Not-So-Great Depression and WW II Come to Logan Heights – Part I

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The Mexican Repatriation and hard times

Editor Note: “Build a wall” and “Send them all back” have become the mantra of the Trump campaign and Republican party. This is not the first time in our history that racism and xenophobia have threatened our democracy and the lives of our citizenry.

Between 1929 and 1944, over two million people of Mexican descent were repatriated to Mexico. Sixty percent of these individuals, 1.1 million, were American citizens. This encore presentation of Maria Garcia’s article originally published in 2015 provides insight into how this policy affected the lives of people living in San Diego at the time.

As William Faulkner observed “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”   [Read more…]

I Do Not Remember Ever Being this Depressed Over the Results of an Election as this One.

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I Do Not Remember …

In all of the years I have voted – and I have voted in 31 scheduled elections plus special elections – ever being as depressed over the results of an election as I am of this one. I do not ever remember the feelings of despair every time the candidate of my choosing lost. I do not remember the tremendous depression that I feel now; the feeling of helplessness; the feeling of doom.   [Read more…]

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Anti-Semitic Acts Impact San Diego

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San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer made a statement on Tuesday indicating his disapproval of the executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries where President Donald Trump’s companies do not have investments.

Though milder in tone than statements by mayors in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle (some of whom have actually joined protests), Faulconer’s statement does recognize that individuals affected by the order are essential parts of the community.

In making the statement, Faulconer sidestepped a potentially thorny confrontation with supporters of an online petition who were using his silence to promote the idea of San Diego declaring itself a sanctuary city.   [Read more…]

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