San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Floppy’s New Wheels

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By South OB Girl / OB Rag

Over the years you may have seen the Welsh corgi Floppy at the side of his owner, Steve Mallory, who is the owner of Mallory Furniture on Newport Ave.

Recently you may have seen 16-year old Floppy in his new “ride.” A shopping cart which was abandoned in Mallory’s parking lot, with no markings of Vons or Ralphs or any business name. After asking police officers if using the cart would be okay – Mallory has transformed the cart into a portable bed to take Floppy out on strolls. As quite tragically, Floppy now suffers from a genetic disorder, canine degenerative myelopathy.   [Read more…]

Explaining the Cult of Trump

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By David Dillard-Wright / AlterNet

When researchers show experimental subjects a photo or phrase that reminds them of terrorism, war or death, this triggering actually changes voting preferences and political opinions among the study participants, as confirmed in several experiments going back to the early 1970s. Specifically, research subjects preferred authoritarian figures over more knowledgeable or skilled politicians when they had previously been primed with visual or verbal cues (photos of bombings say, or World Trade Center or 9/11) related to violence or threat, whether the politicians were real-life political figures or invented ones. Solomon and his colleagues apply terror management theory in a forthcoming chapter in a book explaining the Trump election.   [Read more…]

One Person, One Vote: Time to Eliminate Electoral College

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Yesterday, December 19, electors cast their votes in the Electoral College against a backdrop of protests across the country, including here in San Diego. For the second time in some of our memories, the winner of the popular vote lost the Electoral College vote.

Democrats howled after Al Gore’s loss in 2000 and agreed that something must be done about the Electoral College. All of the sound and fury ultimately signified nothing–here we (Democrats) are again.

A useful thought experiment is to imagine what would have happened if Trump had won the popular vote and not the Electoral College. Do you seriously think that we would be hearing about anything except how the election was stolen from Trump?   [Read more…]

Whatever Trump Is, It’s Genuine

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By Michael-Leonard Creditor

No, I don’t like it. But that’s just because what’s occurring in the new administration is against my politics and social outlook. Nor do I agree with it. This is a wrong thing to do from the get-go, but you’ll hafta read all the way through to see why I think so. But I think I can shed some light on what Trump is doing.

Some pundits and commentators are saying that Trump is basically playing us all; just showing what he can “get away with.” This takes him from merely being a con-man (Trump U., Trump steaks, etc.) to being a swindler who would co-opt the federal government. And, this line of thought portrays Trump as tipping his hand by making outlandish appointments before he even takes the Oath of Office.

I think that is absurd. I think he simply and genuinely wants to make government work like a business model; business is the only model he knows.   [Read more…]

Why Privatizers Look Forward to 2017

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By Donald Cohen / Capital & Main

“We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks.”

That’s what Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist and cofounder of the website Breitbart, said a few weeks ago about Trump’s plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure.

That pretty much fits with what we know so far. Trump wants to “invest” $1 trillion in fixing and building roads, bridges, water pipes and other infrastructure. But by “invest” he means using massive tax breaks to convince private investors to spend the money.

As Michelle Chen at The Nation writes, “The goal isn’t fixing bridges so much as fixing the corporate tax codes to promote privatization and unregulated construction with virtually no public input.”

  [Read more…]

US Spy Leaders Won’t Brief Electors Even as Majority Want Vote Delay

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New poll shows majority public support for delaying Electoral College vote on Monday

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams

Amid a nationwide protest effort aimed at convincing members of the Electoral College to reject Donald Trump and serious concerns about alleged interference in the U.S. election by Russia’s government, a new poll out Sunday reveals majority support for delaying Monday’s scheduled vote until electors are given an official intelligence briefing on the matter.

According to a YouGov poll conducted on behalf of the advocacy group Avaaz, 52% percent of respondents either “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” that Monday’s “vote should be delayed until the Electors can be briefed about the allegations of Russian hacking.”   [Read more…]

Progressive Stocking Stuffers for the Impending Trump Era

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A Handful of the Most  Important and Interesting Books of 2016

If you just can’t bring yourself to give up on the sordid consumer frenzy and go all in for a Buy Nothing Christmas, then perhaps getting your loved ones a few good books to help them navigate the dark near-future is the next best thing.

Here is my annual list of a handful of some of the most instructive stand-out books of 2016:   [Read more…]

News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma: Mid-December 2016

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OB Boy Uses Savings from Lemonade Stand to Buy Backpacks for Homeless

A community has rallied around one little boy’s “Pay it Forward” project to create backpacks to distribute to the homeless of San Diego. Seven-year-old Dylan Rodrigues of Ocean Beach saved $120 he earned from putting up a lemonade stand to buy backpacks to fill with necessities like sack lunches, socks, scarves and band-aids. “I wanted them to not starve,” he said. The word got out that Dylan was on a mission to help people this holiday season and his project has now grown. Dozens of people have donated money and items to Dylan.   [Read more…]

The City Without Souls: San Francisco Excludes One Group

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You might think San Francisco is a vast liberal hub that welcomes a plethora of diverse people who co-exist peacefully. However, I’m here to report that San Francisco excludes one group from its city limits: the deceased.

As an alternative, San Francisco stiffs can reside two miles away in The City of Souls, also known as Colma. Yes, proponents for the lush environment of Colma say there’s something here for everybody. They point to the Italian cemetery, Japanese, Serbian, Jewish, Nonsectarian, and even a pet cemetery. But are the deceased really content within the rows and rows of regimented headstones? And what about the conformity of living in a city that has 2 million deceased, but only about 2,000 living residents?   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Dec 11-17

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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, and sourced writers on: Comrade Trump, the shady start to new City Council, homelessness, upcoming inauguration protests, Trump trolling Mitt, local labor opposing DAPL, Rosalia Salinas, a cabinet of deplorables, Standing Rock and lots of other grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

Rosalia Salinas: Bilingual Education Advocate, Educator, Leader

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San Diego Unified had what was then called a leadership list for future administrators. Thinking she would be able to have more influence if she became an administrator, Rosalia applied. While being interviewed by an assistant superintendent, she was told she didn’t qualify for the leadership list because she did not have experience north of Interstate 8. Rosalia took the moment to explain that she had no desire to be in an assignment north of 8 and that she thought those teachers north of 8 should have south of 8 teaching experience.

The assistant superintendent also explained that the second reason she could not be considered for the leadership list was that she had participated in a one-day teacher strike. She then informed him that she had no intention of applying for the leadership list.   [Read more…]

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