San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

International Women’s Day: A Google Doodle, 79 Cents on the Dollar and a Dollop of Socialist History

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We should all be thankful that retailing moguls haven’t been able to figure out a way to make International Women’s Day a sales event.

In San Diego, a mid-day downtown (7th & B) demonstration heralded the struggles of Immigrant Women around the world, calling out poverty, abuse and exploitation in the janitorial workforce.

Today we’ll take a look around the media world to see what is happening with regard to women on March 8, 2016…UPDATED, plus there is coverage of today’s demonstration.   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: February 2016 – Tornadoes Devastate South, West Sets Heat Records

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At least seven people died when more than 50 tornadoes swept across parts of the south and eastern United States in late February. The extreme weather destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the closure of schools and government offices. At least four people died in Virginia, including a two-year-old boy. One witness said that the destruction in the small town of Waverly was “completely devastating.” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. Scientists have linked an increase in the intensity and deadliness of tornadoes to climate change.   [Read more…]

America Lost One of its Finest First Ladies…in 2011

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By Brett Warnke

I have perfect faith in my husband. But I’m always glad to see him enjoy a pretty girl. And when he stops looking, then I’m going to begin to worry…And he doesn’t have time for outside entertainment. Because I keep him busy.

No, these honest words were not uttered by the recently departed Nancy Davis Reagan. They’re Betty Ford’s.

Mrs. Ford was one of America’s most sincere, independent, and admirable first ladies. At a time of change for women she stood as a proud Republican but one who spoke openly about her own therapy with her psychiatrist, when the social stigma of such a practice could easily kill a career in mid-century America. But Mrs. Ford would not be quiet. She favored a woman’s control over her reproductive cycle, acknowledged the new reality of sex before marriage, and supported the Equal Rights Amendment. She danced, laughed loudly, and smiled broadly through interviews about how smoking a joint was just a part of life. She had a rather chivalrous husband who, despite being an athlete and probably the most physically fit President to hold the office, took a tumble to keep his wife upright. (Could you imagine if he had let her tumble instead?)   [Read more…]

Restaurant Review: Jimmy Carter’s Café

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It seems that this birthday has been going on forever. But this time the tables were turned, because I went out with Nancy and Stewart to celebrate MY birthday, and they found out that I was taking them out to celebrate THEIR birthday. Doesn’t matter, because we celebrated finding a great restaurant with an extensive menu and fair prices.

I remember many years ago eating at Jimmy Carter’s on Washington St. I was unaware that they had moved to the Fifth Ave. address. It was a pleasant surprise to see that this brightly decorated restaurant was still open to the public.   [Read more…]

Homeless Evicted in San Diego as Major El Niño Storm Approaches

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UPDATE: Advocates to attend Tuesday City Council meeting…  “wearing trash bags to signify the only protection from the elements the city has left to hundreds of human beings who spent Monday night huddled under the overpasses in East Village. Our message: Stop treating human beings like garbage!”

You have to wonder what they were thinking in city hall. On Monday morning the police department conducted a sweep of sidewalk homeless encampments as a major winter storm bore down on San Diego.   [Read more…]

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime for Corporate Welfare?

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Political consultant Jason Roe is making the rounds of local media, hemming and hawing over whether there will be a campaign opposing San Diego’s long-delayed opportunity to vote on a modest increase in minimum wage.

KPBS and Voice of San Diego have provided platforms for this passive-aggressive approach to class warfare and you can be sure the original thinkers at the local broadcast media won’t be far behind.

In between crying the blues about probable lack of funding for a defense of corporate welfare (minimum wage jobs require government assistance for employees to survive), Roe’s letting loose with the usual misinformation designed to confuse voters.   [Read more…]

A New American Majority in San Diego?

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Last week I had the pleasure of going to see a talk at Alliance San Diego by Steve Phillips, author of Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority. The central point that Phillips makes is that, at present, we already have a new American majority of 51% of the electorate comprised of progressive people of color and like-minded whites.

The problem we face, Phillips argues, is that we are failing to mobilize that majority because many in the consultant class and the upper reaches of the Democratic Party don’t believe the numbers and/or are stuck in an old pattern of chasing after the elusive “swing voter” typically identified as white who could be persuaded to vote for a Republican or a Democrat.   [Read more…]

Carlsbad City Council “Very Unfamiliar” with Lagoon Mall Review Process

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Three days after the San Diego Registrar of Voters announced the defeat of Carlsbad’s Measure A, Mayor Matt Hall was interviewed on KUSI. When asked how he and the city Council would deal with the fallout over an issue that had been unanimously approved by the Council before the people said no and called for a public vote, here was his reply:

“The city council, our role, is to process projects. And obviously there’s more than one way to process a project. We’re very knowledgeable about the CEQA way of doing things (the California Environmental Quality Act). Mr. Caruso chose to use the 9212 Report, which the city is very unfamiliar with. So part of the difficulty was trying to work our way through a 9212 Report and get clear understanding. Most of the people I’ve talked to leading up to this, that was their biggest concern, that there was this sidestep of CEQA. And I think that’s one of the things we really need to look at. And I know, from my personal belief, that anybody coming forward that want to use a 9212 Report I would say, (long pause, nervous chuckle) not my idea…”
  [Read more…]

It’s Not Smart Growth… It’s Called Avoiding a Housing Crisis

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By Howard M. Blackson III / San Diego UrbDeZine

California’s Bay Area housing disaster tells Southern Californians that our housing crisis will only get worse and doing nothing is both an irrational and irresponsible response. We are faced with deciding to have more neighbors or pay more taxes as we desperately need money to fix our city’s crumbling infrastructure. The conundrum is that we despise taxes and the mere mention of ‘density’ polarizes any discussion into either demands for no new growth or building tall towers.   [Read more…]

Looking Back at the Week: Feb 28-Mar 5

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This week’s edition of Looking Back at the Week features articles, commentaries, columns, and other work by San Diego Free Press regulars, irregulars, columnists, cartoonists, at-large contributors, and sourced writers on: #StandWithLincoln, foot shooting SD Dems, Trumpaggedon, standing with PP, drug corps screwing Americans, the people’s victory in Carlsbad, and lots of other inspiring (and sometimes depressing), grassroots news & progressive views from San Diego’s friendly, neighborhood, all volunteer, slightly funky, community news site.   [Read more…]

The Day Ocean Beach Became an Armed Police State

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Editor’s Note: The following was originally published February 22, 2009, and just about every year we repost it to remind the different generations of today’s OBceans of some of the rich history that makes up the fabric of Ocean Beach, whether one likes it or not. Here’s the history lesson, with only the number of years edited.

On February 22, 1974 — 42 years ago — all hell broke loose in Ocean Beach. And for many of the ’70s generation, this day will always live on in their memory as a day of infamy – the day the world came crashing down on our little seaside community.

It was the day that Pete Mahone, a politicized ex-convict and member of OB’s anti-Vietnam war community, tried to commit suicide by cop. It was also the breaking point in police-community relations, relations that had been simmering for years.   [Read more…]

A Survey the DNC Doesn’t Want to Read

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I got one of those faux political surveys from the Democratic National Committee in the mail recently, the one my now-deceased mother-in-law used to receive because we listed her address as our own after she fell into Alzheimers years ago. The surveys continued to arrive at our address, perhaps four times a year, until this time my name showed up on the envelope.

The introductory letter from the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, addressed me as a party leader — odd because I’m registered as “no party preference” — but I suppose that means Wasserman Schultz sees me as a California leftie and dropped the survey on me in hopes I can be attracted to Hillary.

This is the same Wasserman Schultz who opposes enlightened mariuana laws. She’s just announced she’s sponsoring a House bill that would handcuff the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Elizabeth Warren fought hard and long to establish this new federal agency, as it attempts to protect the working poor against confiscatory interest rates on payday loans.   [Read more…]

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