San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Norma Hernandez: ‘Getting our Community Educated’

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The 1970s were a period of unrest in San Diego’s Barrio. Norma was taking Chicano Studies at San Diego State and meeting with MEChA. Norma adds that Chicano Studies had a lot of theory but they did not always have the opportunity to practice what they had learned. This changed rather quickly as she started picketing the National City Police Station about police brutality and the Safeway stores as part of the grape boycott.

This was also a time of student walk outs that began with the “blowouts” in East Los Angeles in 1968. These walk outs were precipitated by inferior and discriminatory education in public schools with a high percentage of Latino children. Student walk outs soon followed in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Billionaire Blowhard Books Convention Center

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UPDATED: Saturday 10:45 am

Several Protests Planned for May 27th Trump Rally

The Donald has scheduled an appearance at the San Diego Convention Center on Friday, May 27th at 2pm. Email invitations to sign up for tickets went out to supporters on Thursday afternoon and quickly made their way onto local social media.

Here’s what we know: At least two groups have stated intentions to protest in and outside the rally. Hundreds of people signed up on Facebook event pages to protest within hours of the word getting out. The San Diego Police Department and the County Sheriff conducted training exercises in preparation for Trump’s appearance outside Qualcomm stadium on Thursday.

Recent events featuring the presumptive GOP nominee in California have led to raucous protests in nearby areas. In recent weeks, Trump’s security team has seen some success in deterring disruptions inside venues where he is speaking, working closely with local law enforcement agencies to identify and turn away people at the points of entry.   [Read more…]

Bernie To Visit National City …

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… San Ysidro’s Alcohol Ban, and Chula Vista’s Novo Brazil Brewing Co. Takes Home Bronze

Bernie Sanders is coming to National City. He’s scheduled to speak Saturday, May 21, at Kimball Park. The event is free, open to the public and will be first-come, first-served. The Times of San Diego has an online RSVP form.

It’s not the first time a presidential candidate has visited National City. Mayor Ron Morrison wrote on his Facebook account: “Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders will be holding a public rally in National City’s Kimball Park this Saturday evening. In 1992 then Gov. Bill Clinton held a rally in Kimball Park and in 1968 Bobby Kennedy held a rally at South Bay Plaza. In the Center of it All!”   [Read more…]

White Women Are Dying Prematurely

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As America’s white underclass copes with the problems that have long burdened black America, the conversation around poverty is changing.

By Kali Holloway / AlterNet

Some of the consequences of white America’s opiate epidemic—a topic that has been widely explored by media outlets and social scientists—are still coming to light. Opioid use and addiction have exploded in predominantly white communities around the country, and 90 percent of new heroin users over the last decade are white.

The vast majority of those users—75 percent—first used prescription painkillers, which are prescribed to African-Americans and Hispanics with far less frequency, thanks to racial biases in medicine. Among the overwhelmingly white majority of new heroin users, the number of women doubled. That fact has specific implications for white women, particularly those of the rural working class, that come down to life and death.   [Read more…]

The Age of Precarious: 6 in 10 Americans Living on the Financial Edge

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“The more we learn about the balance sheets of Americans, it becomes quite alarming.”

By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams

An unexpected medical bill or a dip in the stock market would be all it took to send two-thirds of Americans into financial distress, according to a new poll that finds lingering lack of confidence in the U.S. economy.

Despite reports of falling unemployment, growing wages, and rising consumer confidence, a full 57 percent of respondents to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey describe the national economy as poor. Only 22 percent of people say the economy has mostly or completely recovered from the Great Recession.   [Read more…]

Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton Making San Diego Stops

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Will Hillary Be Burned in Effigy?

California as the setting for the final scene in the dramatic contests between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders got a boost yesterday as both campaigns scheduled events for this weekend in San Diego. Tensions between the two candidates’ supporters have risen in recent days as the primary season draws to a close.

Sanders supporters are planning rallies at Kimball Park in National City on Saturday and Rancho Buena Vista High School Stadium in Vista on Sunday. People will be admitted to Kimbal Park starting at 4:30pm, with candidate’s speech scheduled for 7pm. Attendees to the Vista event will be admitted from 11am, with Sanders taking the stage at 2pm.

Former President Bill Clinton will be appearing at a for a rally (time and location still TBA, but word is that it’s at Southwestern College) on Saturday morning and then at a private fundraiser at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe at 1:30 p.m.     [Read more…]

The Pot Wars 2016: The End to Marijuana Prohibition in California Is Near

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The war on marijuana continues even at mid-point of 2016 – the year that California voters will end the marijuana prohibition in the state. While California voters get set to vote to legalize the recreational use of pot, there are good signs and bad signs around the state as the Pot Wars continue.

Right now, a majority of Californians favor legalization.

The folks who have been organizing the more successful of the legalize recreational marijuana initiatives have gathered more than 600,000 signatures, far exceeding the 350,000 needed. It’s a certainty that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act will be on California’s November ballot. This is the initiative that has support from California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and billionaire Facebook co-founder Sean Parker. And many marijuana policy reform groups also support it.

So, what does it do?   [Read more…]

UC San Diego Faculty Call on Regents to Divest UC Funds from Fossil Fuels

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Academic Senate votes in support of divestment resolution

UC San Diego Academic Senate

UC San Diego’s Academic Senate announced the passage of a resolution calling on the UC Regents to divest the University of California’s investment portfolio of stocks in companies whose primary business concerns the extraction and sale of fossil fuels. According to its 1868 charter, governance of the University is shared between the Regents and the Academic Senate. The vote by tenure-track faculty and academic leadership took place electronically over a two week period ending May 11.

The resolution recognizes the threat of global warming and UCSD’s pioneering contribution to climate science. It also acknowledges the risk to the UC endowment and pension funds from the prospect of falling fossil fuel stocks.   [Read more…]

One Death is Too Many – It’s Time for Immediate Safety Improvements to 54th Street

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Will these improvements be included in San Diego’s FY’17 budget?

By Anastasia Brewster / City Heights Community Development Corporation
[Originally posted November 7, 2015]

In October of 2015, fifteen-year-old Crawford student Jonathan Cortez was tragically killed in a hit and run crash on 54th Street just south of Lea Street, where I live with my young family. The news that a teenager died along the same route where I regularly bike with my 7- and 9-year olds to their school hit too close to home, eliciting a parent’s worst fear. My heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends who survive Jonathan.

Local residents have long been concerned with the safety of this section of 54th Street. Vehicle crashes regularly occur at the intersection of 54th Street and University Ave, and the free right turns at this intersection expose pedestrians to unnecessary risk when crossing the street. The bike lanes along 54th Street are not continuous, and in fact none exist where Jonathan was hit, nor do sidewalks. These deficits create an unsafe environment – they limit our viable choices on how we move through our community.   [Read more…]

‘Bathroom Bills’ Don’t Help Women at All

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Instead of bullying transgender people, here are a few laws that could actually make women safer.

By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

The time has come for me to play my Woman Card.

A male Republican politician in my state of Wisconsin has introduced a “bathroom bill” like the one passed in North Carolina, which requires transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at birth.

He says it’s to “protect women and children.”

Oh, knight in shining armor, thank you for trying to protect me and my fellow women. But I fear you misunderstand the real issues women have in restrooms.   [Read more…]

Progressive San Diego Voter Guide for June 2016 Primary

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Over the past few months the San Diego Free Press has reported on the candidates and causes central to the June 2016 primary elections. We have combined our research and analyses with information from public sources to create a progressive voter guide for electoral contests appearing on ballots in the San Diego region.

This guide includes links to candidate websites, symbols indicating endorsements and a short overview of contests, along with links to our reporting.

We take elections seriously around here. Our views are informed by years of activism for causes big and small. Founded in 2012, as an all-volunteer, non-commercial website promoting progressive views and grassroots news, the San Diego Free Press draws upon the legacy of the alternative press in advocating for economic justice, and against the social constraints limiting life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people.   [Read more…]

Local San Diego Anti-Trump Emergency Response Network Forms

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The “Love Trumps Hate Solidarity Network” Commits to Counter-Protest at Trump’s San Diego Rally

Frank Gormlie / OB Rag

Two-dozen San Diegans met at the Joyce Beers Community Center in Hillcrest last night, May 16th, and formed the skeleton of a local anti-Trump emergency response network.

So, once it’s announced that the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee is coming to town, a coalition has already began organizing a counter-protest. The same if Trump waits to visit San Diego until after he is nominated, San Diegans are getting ready now.   [Read more…]

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