Conspiracy nuts want you to be very afraid. Credit: Pixabay Saturday’s Antifa apocalypse won’t be televised… …mostly because no such thing is happening. It’s phony, ginned up, and publicized by the usual suspects in conspiracy circles. Those unfortunate enough to be exposed to Faux News and other fearmongering outlets have heard a lot in recent […]
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Mel Freilicher’s American Cream: Rewriting the Radical Past to Redeem the Future
Longtime San Diego resident, writer, educator, and activist Mel Freilicher was the editor of the regional literary journal Crawl Out Your Window for 15 years and taught at San Diego State and in UCSD’s literature department for several decades. In addition to this, Mel has published in a wide range of publications and anthologies including two chapbooks on Standing Stone Press and Obscure Publications.
His last two books on San Diego City Works Press, “The Unmaking of Americans: 7 Lives” and “The Encyclopedia of Rebels” engage radical American history in a way that brings together serious fiction, history, fantasy, memoir, humor, and political commentary in the service of excavating some of the lost stories of the American left and countercultures.
With “American Cream,” Freilicher gives us yet another unique window into the past as a way to cope with the dark present. As writer Stephen Paul Martin explains, “Within the nimble universe of Frelicher’s language, we see these people as we’ve never seen them—as people. But also as subversive signifiers in an unprecedented aesthetic design.” [Read more…]
White [House] Supremacy: As the Nation Mourns, Trump Scorns
People gathered in roughly 700 locations around the U.S. over the weekend in response to violence in Charlottesville instigated by right wing extremists on August 12. Activist Heather Heyer died, and 19 others were injured in an act of terrorism perpetrated by a young Nazi sympathizer. Virginia State troopers H. Jay Cullen and Berke Bates died in a helicopter crash as the day came to a close.
The “Unite the Right” rally brought traditional white supremacist groups and militant members of the so-called alt-right together for what they hoped would be a clarion call to the darkest side of the American psyche. Years of dog whistles from the highest echelons of politics promoting fear of the ‘other’ paid off on Saturday, as advocates of hatred openly displayed their wares.
The President of the United States refused his staff’s entreaties to issue a statement directly condemning the far right, instead choosing to deflect blame using the “many sides” misdirect. [Read more…]
Courage and Camaraderie During the Reign of Terror: Moxie Theatre Produces ‘The Revolutionists’
When historical women gather on stage—like Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls—their creativity, wittiness, and diversity transform into dynamic energy. The Moxie Theatre production of Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists, directed by Jennifer Eve Thorn, exemplifies that transformation.
Set in Paris in 1793 at the beginning of the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), The Revolutionists portrays four women who played different roles in the French Revolution. The central figure is writer Olympe de Gouges, who championed equal rights for women in the French Republic and wrote plays and pamphlets as well as giving speeches including the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. [Read more…]
Weathering Storms
A hawk flies on gentle breezes outside my window, crowing away, perhaps seeking its prey or a mate, all unfolding on one of those “Reasons Why I Live in San Diego” kind of days: so lovely and warm, giving an appearance that, when it comes to weather, all is well with the world.
Then I think of the other day when my son and I ducked into the theater at the Reuben H. Fleet Museum to see “Extreme Weather,” an IMAX movie that took us on a breathtaking 360-degree tour of scenes that remind us that, climate-wise, we earthlings are in deep ca-ca.
All is definitely not well. We’ve jabbed and danced around and clowned, burning coal and oil and natural gas and bulldozed and chopped down our rain forests, backing Mother Nature up against the ropes, leaving her no choice but to come off those ropes and huff and puff and blow us and our houses down! [Read more…]
“I’m Voting Today” Shouldn’t Be a Provocative Statement
“What a difference this is. Just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election, and just give it to Trump, right? What are we even having it for?”–Donald J Trump, October 27, 2016
Right after I hit “publish” on this column, I’m headed to the post office to mail my ballot.
It will be filled out all the way through to the best of my ability because down-ballot races are important. It will have two stamps because we have a lot to vote on. It will be signed because it won’t count otherwise. It will be filled in with a pen, rather than a marker, so the ink doesn’t bleed thru and invalidate a vote. And it will be mailed in time to be included in the first election night results.
There are people out there who don’t want me (and you) to cast a ballot… Nihilists who say ‘elections don’t matter’ from behind the screen in their self-imposed intellectual prisons. Scornful sore losers, sure their petulant protest will bring about the collapse of the system. And the alt-right types who would destroy representative Democracy in favor of strong man rule. [Read more…]
With No Contest in 4 Council Races, District 9 Matters
What was supposed to be an epic, high-dollar struggle for the partisan upper hand on the San Diego City Council never came to pass. Odd-numbered districts elect representatives in 2016, and Republicans were hoping to gain a majority on the theoretically non-partisan body.
Of the five City Council districts having primary contests in June, only one will have a meaningful contest for the general election. In three (3,5,& 7) of those districts, there won’t even be a choice on the November ballot.
The city’s rules, giving an automatic win to any candidate with more than 50% of the vote in the first outing, are up for reconsideration via Measure K, which would allow the top two primary finishers to compete in November.
Today we’ll look at what’s left of the City Council contests. [Read more…]
Why Do People Hate the Homeless?
They’ll say it’s the smell of excrement. Or the public intoxication. Or the aggressive panhandling. Or the intrusion on their public or private space.
People hate what they don’t understand. Lots of people translate their repulsion in hate.
Homeless people on the street are a stark reminder of the failure that could be lurking around the next corner in life. And in order to get along in life the rest of us have to deny the possibility of becoming one of ‘them.’
All homeless people apparently lived great lives until they somehow fucked it up and ended up homeless. And “we” are better than that. Or so we think. [Read more…]
Democracy in Action at City Council Rules Committee
On Wednesday, June 15, 2016, there was a well attended meeting of the Rules Committee of the San Diego City Council. Many diverse topics were covered, some at exhaustive lengths. The meeting lasted over three hours with a dozen or more speakers pleading their causes. Most were asking the Rules Committee to take their issues to the full City Council and have them vote to put them on the November ballot.
There was a discussion of the nature of the voting system. The way it is right now someone running for office who gets 50% of the vote plus one in the June primary is considered elected. Any less than that and there is a run-off on the November ballot between the top two vote getters. Jeff Marston of the Independent Voter Project maintained that, since more voters vote in the November election than in the primary, all final votes should be in that election in which more voters would have a say. A new voter Marissa Gomez, 19, favored that approach. [Read more…]
Voting Problems Plague High-Stakes Primary Day in New York
Some precincts opened two hours later than they were supposed to, while some would-be voters’ names couldn’t be found on registration lists
By Deirdre Fulton / CommonDreams
Amid charges of voting machine mishaps and names purged from voter rolls, New Yorkers cast their ballots Tuesday in high-stakes Democratic and Republican primaries—those who were able to, at least.
The results in New York’s closed primary could define the rest of the race, putting the Empire State in the rare campaign spotlight. [Read more…]
America, Got Fascism?
By Frank Gormlie / OB Rag
Okay, America – are we ready for fascism?
As the presidential campaign season degenerated into racist and xenophobic diatribes by the Republican front runner, with those images of Trump supporters pledging their loyalty to him in Hitleresque salutes, after that scene in Chicago when the Trump rally was cancelled, triggering skirmishes between Trump supporters and demonstrators, it seems everybody is forming an opinion of whether Donald Trump is a fascist, comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini, and other dictators.
[Read more…]
A Surprise Candidate for City Council in District 1
The future makeup of San Diego’s city council took an interesting turn yesterday as Bruce Lightner declared his intention to run for the District 1 seat being vacated by termed-out Sheri Lightner, who just happens to be his wife.
Sheri Lightener is a Democrat, who at times has been willing to play nice with Republicans on the council. Bruce Lightner is a Republican, who has an adversarial history with Ray Ellis, the other GOP candidate in the race along with others in the party hierarchy. In short, he’s a wild card.
Prior to this announcement the contest for D1 was shaping up to be the battle for partisan control of the council. When Joe LaCava dropped out of the race in January, Democrat Barbara Bry was left with a one-on-one contest headed into the June primary, which historically has brought out more right-leaning voters. Republican Ellis was raising and spending more money. [Read more…]
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