San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

2016 Primary Election Results and Analysis

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It ain’t over ‘till it’s over. But it’s mostly over in San Diego. Most of the ballots for the June 2016 primary election have been tallied. The remaining 285,000 ballots uncounted as of Wednesday morning are provisional and late arriving mail-in ballots. A few close races may change, but if history is any guide, what you see in the way of results the day after the election is what you get.

A multi-year campaign for an increase in the local minimum wage came to a close as voters overwhelmingly approved City Proposition I. For me personally, and for tens of thousands of San Diego workers, the last item on the ballot was the most important one.

Kevin Faulconer will be San Diego’s Mayor for the next four years, Barbara Bry did well in City Council District One, Mara Elliot defied conventional wisdom by clinching a runoff spot in the race for City Attorney, and Democrats gave Hillary Clinton a strong show of support, locally and statewide.   [Read more…]

Term Limits on November Ballot for National City

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By Mona Rios

The city of National City, where I serve on the City Council, is the second oldest city in the County, surpassed by the City of San Diego by a mere six months. However, in the last 50 years we have only had four mayors, while San Diego has had 14.

Because of this lack of turnover in the Mayor’s office, in 2004 the voters of National City approved Proposition T by an overwhelming vote of 70%, which enacted mayoral term limits by capping at three the number of consecutive mayoral terms one can serve. Today there is a stealth campaign underway to repeal those term limits so that the current mayor, Ron Morrison, can perpetuate himself in office.   [Read more…]

Direct Action Journal: The Wound of Perpetual Guilt

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If fear is the mind killer, guilt is the heart killer. Experiencing guilt creates a wound. The wound is healed when the behavior producing the guilt is rectified. The scar that forms over the wound serves as a reminder to guide future behavior.

Living in a state of perpetual guilt, however, prevents the wound from ever healing. The wound festers. The guilt swells until it becomes an infection of empathy. The infected person devotes all her energy to coping with the constant pain of guilt. She spends all her time hunched over the wound, seeking to alleviate the pain. Focused on the wound like this, she cannot look beyond herself. A cycle develops. The guilt grows and becomes ever more painful. The pain strangles the infected’s capacity for empathy. Eventually, the infected loses her ability to act from a genuine concern for others and only acts to avoid the pain of more guilt.   [Read more…]

Recall Petition for Judge of Stanford Rapist

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By Leslie Saltillo / Daily Kos

After writing a gripping account of her experience as a rape victim, and then reading that statement to her rapist in court on Thursday, 23-year-old “Emily Doe” in California may see more justice upcoming. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky who sentenced her rapist, Brock Allen Turner, to a mere 6-month jail term for three counts of rape/sexual assault — is now up for recall.   [Read more…]

Circus Collective of San Diego

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By Mukul Khurana

It is important that we nurture and encourage the next generation of artists. The Circus Collective of San Diego pools just that kind of talent (the next generation kind…). Their stated mission is to “blur the lines between circus and theater.” Given their background, that means that the physicality of the circus will prevail over the emotionality of theater, right? How does a circus troupe merge acrobatics, juggling, contortion, and aerial arts with the hyper theatricality of a “noir performance?” Can it be done successfully?

Initially, the set design of Circustantial Evidence: The Crimson Canary was on the sparse side. The music telegraphed a clear message—it was a mystery—a “whodunit…” This is a good time to give credit to the excellent musicians in the piece. Gina Granier (Piano), Aaron Pratts (Trumpet), and David Bramley (Drums/Guitar) gave a consistently great performance. They underlined the mood of the acts perfectly. The cast assembled at the base of a pole. We got a sampling of circus acts to come. And then, the sets were assembled. The dialogue and set up pointed to a noir mystery.   [Read more…]

Clinton Has the Delegates (Maybe), Sanders Has the Future

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Freedom of the Press Doesn’t Mean You’ll Like What Gets Said

On Monday afternoon, the Associated Press concluded, based on their research, that Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Other media outlets quickly followed with similar stories.

She’ll be referred to as the “presumptive nominee” henceforth, and this conclusion has some Bernie Sanders supporters seeing red.

No, this isn’t about some evil conspiracy to suppress voter turnout. No, the press shouldn’t have waited on the story until June 8th… Or June 15th…or until after the convention. Some want to protest the coverage.   [Read more…]

Honoring “The Greatest!”

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I’ve been thinking about my man, Muhammad Ali, off and on, feeling sad that he’s gone. But as a contemporary of mine (he was four years younger than me) he’ll never be forgotten by me because he has meant the world to me.

When I first heard about him he had just fought his way to a gold medal as the Light Heavy Weight Boxing Champion in 1960 at the Olympic Games in Rome.

I had just graduated from Arizona with a degree in P.E. and all kinds of basketball scoring records. So he and I were two young black men, athletes, standing tall and all. Who knew, though, that he would take being a sports figure to levels that were, up to then, unseen.   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: May 2016 – Canada Burns, India’s Extreme Heat Record, US Tornadoes

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Too Hot to Go Outside

By John Lawrence

A city in western India set an all-time heat record of 123.8 degrees F in May. Authorities issued a severe heat wave alert which means that people can expect temperatures of 117 degrees F or more. In addition, drought is affecting much of the country. The heat will probably not let up until the monsoon rains come sometime in June.

The prolonged heat wave has already killed hundreds and destroyed crops in more than 13 states. Hundreds of small farmers have reportedly killed themselves, and tens of thousands have been forced to abandon their lands and live in squalor in urban slums in order to eke out a living.   [Read more…]

Citizen Activists Spawn Carlsbad’s Political Revolution

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While outsiders Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump attack insider politics at the national level, a rapidly growing number of local citizen activists, who Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall once claimed were controlled by outside agitators, have launched a political revolution of their own. It began on August 25, 2015, when the City Council ignored the objections of an overflow crowd of residents calling for a special election to decide whether a billionaire L.A. developer would be entrusted with the future of the city’s pristine Agua Hedionda Lagoon for the next 30 years.

The Council had three choices that evening. They could put off their decision for thirty days to seek citizen input, they could call a special election, or they could approve the project. They voted unanimously to approve it. Outraged opponents gathered enough signatures to overrule the council’s decision and put the matter up for a vote. Measure A, supporting the council’s decision to allow the developer to build a shopping mall at the lagoon, was easily defeated, thanks to an army of volunteer political activists.   [Read more…]

Will They Vote? It’s Put Up or Shut Up Time for Sanders Supporters

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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was in San Diego on Sunday, speaking at a rally in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium. About four thousand people attended the event, which featured music and other progressive speakers.

Sanders told the crowd “our message is the future of America,” contrasting the small donor base of his campaign with the PACs and corporate executives supporting former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. When his speech came to the presumptive GOP nominee, he said that Trump would not be elected “Because, in the year 2016, the American people will not accept a bigoted president.”

Was Sunday’s rally part of a sprint to the finish line for the Democratic insurgent’s campaign? Or was it, as mass media outlets have been suggesting, a farewell tour? Tuesday, June 7th, we’ll find out.   [Read more…]

Good Things Progressives Can Do Down-Ballot

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Some Good Things Progressives Can Do Down Ballot

While most of the attention is on the Presidential race this primary season, there are still some important things progressive voters can weigh in on down ballot here in San Diego on June 7th that will do some good.     [Read more…]

DA Bonnie Dumanis Loses Another Marijuana Case

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Medical Marijuana Patient Dad Found Not Guilty of Child Endangerment

By Terrie Best / San Diego Americans for Safe Access

Almost a year ago this week San Diego police officers stormed past medical cannabis patient Micah Wojnowski’s organic vegetable farm in Golden Hill and into the home he shared with his teenage son and a couple of roommates.  The police entered the urban home with guns drawn on a tip from a confidential informant. They did not find what they were looking for but decided not to accept defeat. Instead, they searched Micah’s house and garage and set a stage to paint Micah as a child abuser because he is a medical cannabis patient, an industry expert and a parent.

Bonnie Dumanis took 37-year-old Micah to trial but a jury of 12, including one San Diego County sheriff put an end to her charade Friday afternoon. The five women and seven men panel deliberated for about nine hours and returned not guilty verdicts on manufacturing concentrated cannabis and felony child endangerment charges.  The eight hours were due to the fact they had deadlocked over a lesser-included misdemeanor offense with two jurors holding out to convict. After the reading of the not guilty verdicts and some discussion, the prosecutor moved to dismiss the misdemeanor charge.  Micah was free to go off and continue being a good dad to his son and an asset to his community.   [Read more…]

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