San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

South Bay, San Diego November Elections 2016

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A breakdown of the measures, school board positions and City County seats in this upcoming election.

South Bay, do you know who’s running for office? What about your state and local measures? Your vote could effect your drinking water, your child’s education, your taxpayer dollars, your roads and more.

But here’s the problem: the number of state propositions & local measures is enormous this year. Just check out Doug Porter’s breakdown of the California State Propositions from his Starting Line. Then there are 35 measures related to San Diego County Doug has covered.

Some of us have full time jobs, kids, elderly parents, spouses, household responsibilities and much more. How do we get a handle on this year’s ballot? This week, my column is devoted to our South Bay measures and candidates.

The Democratic Party breaks things down with their endorsements here. Allison Sampite-Montecalvo at the San Diego Union Tribune also gives an overview this week of the South Bay City Council candidates. Here are some extra tidbits specific to the South Bay:   [Read more…]

Will Gov. Brown Do the Right Thing for Farmworkers?

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After two years and more than five thousand proposed laws, resolutions, and constitutional amendments, the current version of the California Legislature wrapped up its session in frenzied fashion. Wednesday, August 31st saw more than one hundred bills up for consideration. Now it’s up to the Governor to say yea or nay on legislation affecting all aspects of life in California.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-80), who successfully shepherded 19 of 20 bills through the legislature this year, is leaving nothing up to chance with her hard-fought victory on AB 1066, gradually phasing in standards for farmerworker overtime.

She’s started a petition drive for voters to let the Governor know they want this bill signed.   [Read more…]

Sunrise … Sunset

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“Let me help you tighten your helmet. Is the seat okay? Do you know how to shift the gears? Let’s stay on the sidewalk until you get the hang of your new bike ….”

Sound familiar? These could have been my words 25 years ago but they are not my words … they are my daughter’s as we get ready to take our first bike ride together on my new bike.

Helmets secured, we take off … my daughter in the lead so she can pick a safe route with little traffic.

  [Read more…]

Readers Write: Taking Exception to Clinton’s Exceptionalism Speech

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Yesterday, August 31, speaking to an audience at The American Legion convention taking place in Cincinnati, Hillary Clinton offered remarks about “American exceptionalism,” a statement she often uses, and one to which I am compelled to take exception.

A moment later, and what I found particularly disturbing, she explained her meaning of the term: “It means that we recognize America’s unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress”.
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Colin Kaepernick: An NFL Quarterback Was Just Added to My List of Social Heroes

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This is so deja vu, this state of affairs with Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49’ers quarterback who sat when one is “supposed to stand” in honor of The Star Spangled Banner that heralds a time when non-white people in our county were not seen as human beings.

I fully understand and appreciate this man’s stance although I stand whenever the anthem is played out of respect for those who get goose pimples in such moments. However, I bow out at singing about “bombs bursting in air” and “flags still being there” and the empty promises inherent in the braggadocio “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!” at the end of the song.

That aside, I can’t help but think back to the 68 Olympics, when the quest for “liberty and justice for all,” in a spirit of today’s “Black Lives Matter” movement was pursued like never before. My soul still fills with pride remembering the image of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the ceremony for handing out the gold and the silver and the bronze medals for the men’s 200, standing on their podiums with their heads bowed and their hands raised in the “Black Power!” salute.   [Read more…]

A Sneak Peek at the 2016 California Ballot Propositions

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There are seventeen propositions appearing on the November California ballot. The Secretary of State’s Official Voter Guide weighs in at 240 pages this year.

Today I’m going to give those propositions a quick once over. The San Diego Free Press will publish more detailed analyses in the coming weeks. And those of you fantasizing about an unbiased assessment can leave now to go chase unicorns elsewhere.

The conventional wisdom in pundit-land is so many ballot decisions will encourage weary voters to vote against everything. Fortunately, the people at Ballotpedia have researched this assumption, and it turns out to be mostly not true.   [Read more…]

Drugs: the Human Dilemma, Part 2

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Is there a balanced way to live so that chemicals released by the brain, which produce feelings of well being and happiness, can happen without addiction to drugs or exercise?

For some these endorphins seem to naturally produce ‘enough good feeling’ without their having to do anything more. For some the ‘happiness gene’ seems to be turned on at all times regardless of what happens in the events of their lives.

For others there is a deficiency that leads to a tendency for them to become alcoholics or drug addicts. A person’s natural energy level seems to have something to do with it. High energy people need to release that energy in non-sedentary pursuits or mitigate the effects of it like so-called ADHD with drugs.   [Read more…]

Black Breastfeeding Week 2016

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By South OB Girl / OB Rag

San Diego based photographer Vanessa Simmons has attracted quite a bit of attention nation wide with her “Normalize Breastfeeding Tour.” She has previously been featured in Vogue, The Huffington Post, and here at The OB Rag/San Diego Free Press.

Vanessa started Normalize Breastfeeding in 2014 – a project intended to bring awareness to breast-feeding through photography.

And August is National Breastfeeding Month (which many of us may not have known). And August 25 – 31st is Black Breastfeeding Week.   [Read more…]

Free Classes in San Diego

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One of the best kept secrets in San Diego is the free classes offered at San Diego Continuing Education. Under the umbrella of the San Diego Community College District, Continuing Education has six centers around town, including Cesar Chavez, ECC, Mid-City, CE Mesa, Miramar, North City and West City.

The largest English as a Second Language program in San Diego is offered at all the centers. Classes start at level 1, and some schools have beginning classes for both literate and non-literate students. The levels continue until level 7 which is the highest level.

Some of the ESL level 7 classes are Transition to College ESL courses in which students prepare to be successful in college. They learn about the college system in California and focus on improving their writing and oral presentation skills.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Black Outreach: Anything’s Better Than Zero

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A couple of weeks back, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump told a largely white audience in Michigan that he’d win 95% of the black vote during his 2020 re-election campaign.

He’s got his work cut out for him. Public Policy Polling released a preview of a new poll on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday night showing Donald Trump’s favorability rating among African-American voters at 0 percent. 97% of those polled knew for sure they didn’t care for him. 3% were undecided. And there’s the matter of winning the 2016 election.

Public Policy Polling skews liberal, so it’s best to take this result with a grain of salt. But this isn’t the first survey showing Trump doing extremely poorly with black voters.   [Read more…]

Kaepernick Challenges Americans to Reflect on What They Really Stand For

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By Peter Bloom / Common Dreams

The San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick shocked much of America last week by refusing to stand for the national anthem. In his own words,

“Ultimately it’s to bring awareness and make people realize what’s really going on in this country. There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust, people aren’t being held accountable for, and that’s something that needs to change. That’s something that — this country stands for freedom, liberty, justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now.”

His actions have resonated far beyond the sports page. They have spurred passionate reactions from supporters and detractors alike. No less than Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proclaimed “Maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try. It won’t happen.”   [Read more…]

Rising Costs of Living [With an Education] in California

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Tuition and fees for public colleges in the US rose 80 percent between 2000 and 2014 while American household income fell seven percent during the same period, according to recent data published by ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism outlet.

The data shows yearly tuition and public schools across the US rose $3,563 in adjusted 2014 dollars, and the median household income was $4,067 less in 2014 compared to 2000.

Using the online tool ProPublica provided, which allows users to obtain information specific to their state, we learn tuition and fees increased 162 percent in California, more than double the average. Students in California paid $5,327 more in 2014 than did an earlier generation of aspiring scholars back at the turn of the millennium. Those attending California colleges and universities paid $1,674 more in tuition and fees than the average American student in 2014.   [Read more…]

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