San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Inequality in America: Incomes Collapsing for Bottom 50% as Top 1% Soars

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While most of us were busy watching the Trump administration and their crack team of “populist” millionaires light the world on fire, a new study released by Thomas Piketty, Facundo Alvaredo, Lucas Chancel, and Emmanuel Saez underlined the fact that the steep costs of our historic level of economic inequality are being borne by those at the bottom of the economic system, particularly here in the United States. As the Market Watch story on this new research outlined:

In the U.S., between 1978 and 2015, the income share of the bottom 50% fell to 12% from 20%. Total real income for that group fell 1% during that time period.   [Read more…]

Union Density in San Diego Below State Average

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By Murtaza Baxamusa

There were about 185 thousand union members in San Diego, based on surveys by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016. About 110 thousand of these workers are in the private sector. There are additionally 20 thousand workers covered by union contracts in the region. The continuing employment recovery in the last two years contributed to an increase in union membership.

Union density is the share of workers that are union members. It is an important measure of union prevalence that determines the impact of collective bargaining agreements on area-wide labor wages and benefits. In 2016, union density was 12.9 percent for all workers in San Diego. It was about 6.2 percent in the private sector and 45.5 in the public sector in San Diego. Union membership rate in California stayed almost constant at 15.9 percent since membership grew by 65,000 members at the same pace as the overall employment.   [Read more…]

Readers Write: It’s Gonna Be Known as the The D.C. Shuffle

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

I watched (again) the movie “Lucky Number Slevin” just last night, so as soon as the thought hit me, I called it a Kansas City shuffle.

No, it’s not a card trick. But it is an old jazz tune, originally by Benny Moten, who hailed from there.

But, that’s not it either. It’s more akin to the kind of side-step that Charles Durning performs as a fictional Texas governor in another film, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

As used in “Lucky Number Slevin” Kansas City Shuffle is a distraction tactic. When everybody looks one way, you do something else in another direction.

That’s exactly what is going on in D.C. lately, in the administration of 45*.   [Read more…]

Over 100 People Celebrate Valve Turners Climate Direct Action Event in San Diego

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By Scott Starbuck/ SanDiego350

Reuters reported that on October 11, activists in four states “shook the North American energy industry.” An appreciative audience at San Diego’s First Church of the Brethren greeted them Monday February 13 with $2,300 in donations for their legal funds, repeated applause, and a standing ovation honoring their vision and courage. A donation link has been set up for those who want to support Valve Turners.

Of the group of five, Emily Johnston, Annette Klapstein, Leonard Higgins, and Michael Foster were present and spoke at the event. Ken Ward, the fifth member and first to face trial, was unable to attend due to preparing for a retrial after a jury in Mt. Vernon, Washington, refused to convict him on February 1.

San Diego was the last California stop on this leg of the Valve Turners Speaking Tour that will take them from Pacific to Atlantic in effort to awaken consciences of citizens to respond to climate reality.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Feb 12-18

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This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles, commentaries, columns, toons, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, at-large contributors, cartoonists, and sourced writers on: resistance, A Day Without Immigrants, Altar Boyz, Ecopsychology as Human Supremacism, ACLU suing San Diego, SD lawyers’ rally, and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Photo Gallery: Rally in Solidarity with Immigrants

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“Trump’s a fool, Trump’s a clown, we are here to shut him down”– crowd chant.

The bad weather took a pause for Saturday’s Solidarity with Immigrants rally. SDFP editor Frank Gormlie counted two thousand people as the crowd left the staging area in front of the County Administration Building.

Speakers included Sharia Alam (Rage against Fascism), Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales-Fletcher, Ismahan Abdullahi (PANA), Former Los Angeles Major Antonio Villaraigosa, Dreamer Maren Ramos, Imam Taha Hassane (Islamic Center San Diego) and Christian Ramirez (Alliance San Diego).   [Read more…]

Trump’s Budget Office Preps ‘Hit List’ on Public Programs

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National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, Office of National Drug Control Policy, and Americorps are among targets meant to showcase ‘waste’ of taxpayer funds

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

With Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) confirmed to lead the White House budget office, the Trump administration is getting ready to follow through on plans to slash major domestic programs, the New York Times reported Friday.

Work on President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal has been delayed as Republicans worked to get Mulvaney—known for his unyielding stances on safety net programs—approved as head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Now, his office has targeted nine popular and critical programs to axe, according to an early internal OMB memo obtained by the Times.

The so-called “hit list” includes, in part, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Export-Import Bank, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, which funds AmeriCorps and SeniorCorps projects.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Resistance

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RESISTANCE

The sun rose
without an executive order

Unvetted clouds immigrated

Crows bullied each other
over the tallest lampposts
in vacant parking lots
  [Read more…]

San Diego Lawyers and Legal Workers Rally in Solidarity with General Strike Against Trump

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As part of a set of actions at courthouses across the country, San Diego lawyers and legal workers rallied in downtown San Diego today – February 17 – in front of the Federal Courthouse on Front Street, all in solidarity with the proclaimed General Strike Against Trump on F17.

Several dozen brave folks made their voices heard and presence known in front of the red-bricked buildings, as the wind kicked up and the skies promised rain. Additionally, there were courthouse rallies in at least 17 other cities nation-wide.   [Read more…]

ResistSD! Progressive Calendar for San Diego February 16-March 1, 2017

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More than two dozen ways to get involved

Congress will be taking a break next week to listen to their constituents, except for the 200 Republican members of the House of Representatives who refuse contact with the public.

By contrast, in the first two months of 2015, Republicans held 222 in-person events.

Donald Trump is already campaigning for 2020, and as was true with his last launch event, people are being paid to be there.

So what can you do? There’s plenty of local activism to support. Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings   [Read more…]

South Bay Loses Investigative Reporter, Voice for School District Communities

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South Bay took a big blow in comprehensive news coverage and support this week when reporter Christine Huard was laid off from the San Diego Union Tribune.

Huard covered all of the South Bay school districts, often uncovering scandals such as the fact that San Ysidro has paid millions, but not yet received their solar panels from Manzana Energy — a company whose owner also owns La Prensa San Diego. She also covered school board irregularities, celebrated school successes and so much more. This has now, overnight, disappeared.

Huard is only one of two regular South Bay writers at the Union Tribune, Allison Sampite-Montecalvo being the other reporter who serves approximately 450,000 residents south of the I-54 to the border. The other reporters laid off with Huard apparently are going to be staff members who wrote about the Chargers in the sports section. This is yet another example of under-covered and sometimes outright ignored communities losing a key voice who skillfully and thoroughly took on tough assignments necessary to get to the truth   [Read more…]

Trump Exempts 3 Calif. Oil Fields from Water Protection at Gov. Brown’s Request

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By Dan Bacher

As soon as I heard on election night that Donald Trump was going to be the next President, I predicted on Twitter, Facebook and in conversations with friends that Governor Jerry Brown, in spite of his “green” image, would try to make a deal with Trump to build his legacy project, the environmentally destructive Delta Tunnels, and expand fracking and other oil drilling in California.

Sure enough, Jerry Brown has been working hard since the election to pressure Trump to support the Delta Tunnels, going so far as to praise Trump’s infrastructure plans in his state of the state. Departing from his prepared remarks, Brown remarked, “I say, ‘Amen to that, Brother!’” in reference to Trump’s focus on new infrastructure.

Then this week, we discovered that the administration of Brown’s so-called “Brother,” Donald Trump, has granted requests from Brown’s regulators to exempt three aquifers near the Fruitvale, Round Mountain and Tejon oilfields in California’s Kern County from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.   [Read more…]

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