San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Bob Dorn: Rest in Power!

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Last week, on November 28, Bob Dorn’s wife Deborah sent a brief email to the SDFP editors:

Very sad news….Bob had severe heart attack… basically cardiac arrest after a wonderful evening at a jam where he played with friends…..he passed today in a place he loved .Didn’t suffer at all….so sorry to tell you guys this way.
Love
Deborah

The news blindsided the SDFP editors who have been winding down our beloved publication, with all the emotions that engenders in each one of us. Bob’s death feels like a particularly incomprehensible blow, yet another grievous loss. We had imagined that our community would remain vital and connected after we ceased publishing, and then Deborah’s email informed us that our community had been diminished. Just like that.

Updated Jan. 5, 2019: to include memorial service info   [Read more…]

Democracy Unchained: How to Win the Future

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Last week in this space, I discussed how the new research on the stealth power of America’s oligarchical class continues to be a central obstacle to thoroughgoing democracy in the United States. In that piece, I cited the work Page, Seawright, and Lacombe as well as Nancy MacLean’s work outlining how the right has managed over the last several decades to build a powerful, deeply undemocratic political network aimed at putting “democracy in chains.”

With that in mind, it was with great interest that I read MacLean’s post-election commentary in the Guardian, where she observed:

Republican party elected officials acted under pressure from the network of arch-right billionaires and multimillionaires built by the libertarian zealot Charles Koch over the last decade. Koch opposes nearly all of the policies won through collective action on the part of citizens over the past century, from graduated income taxes to workers’ rights, social security and Medicare, anti-discrimination laws, and environmental regulations.

By focusing on the states, Koch-allied strategists and the elected officials with whom they worked achieved a tightening chokehold on America’s political system. And they nearly got away with it – until some on the left proved they could learn from being outfoxed.   [Read more…]

Why Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ Should Be the Democratic Woman

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By Sher Watts Spooner / Daily Kos

Each December, Time magazine announces its Person of the Year. It’s the individual (or group) who, “for better or for worse,” as the magazine puts it, had the greatest influence on the events of the year. This year, it should be no contest. The greatest influence in America this year came from Democratic women.

Time has been choosing the year’s major person of influence since 1927, when aviator Charles Lindbergh graced the magazine’s cover for the first time. It was usually a Man of the Year (Wallis Simpson broke through in 1936 as the Woman of the Year because of her romance with British King Edward VIII, prompting his abdication). In 1999, the magazine realized it had better get with the times and designated the achievement as Person of the Year.

Displaying his typical (yet undeserved) over-the-top egotism, Donald Trump announced that “I can’t imagine” anyone other than himself as Time’s Person of the Year. Timeusually picks the winner of a presidential election as Person of the Year, so he got the call in 2016, as did Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and other presidents before him.
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George H.W. Bush and the Imagined Moderate Republicanism of 1989

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By Erik Loomis / Lawyers, Guns & Money

We are going to see a lot of liberal lament for Bush now that he is gone. Heck, we even see that for his terrible son now that Trump is president.

But let’s not forget that Bush Sr was part and parcel of the move of the Republican Party to the right. His actions were not as extreme as that of his son or Trump, but they helped pave the way for what is today an undemocratic party flirting with fascism.

I don’t find Bush a despicable or contemptuous figure, but there’s a lot unsavory aspects to the man and his policies that need to be remembered as so many liberals long for the Republican Party where Lee Atwater could race bait Bush into the White House.   [Read more…]

Pelosi Lawyer Who Beat Bush White House Dishes On Trump Subpoena Plan | Video Worth Watching

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From the MSNBC website:

The Trump administration could refuse to comply with Democrats who attempt to investigate issues like Trump’s ties to Russia, or corruption in the White House in 2019. Former Counsel to Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Bush administration, Irvin Nathan, who was also the first House Counsel to take a White House to court over an administration subpoena, won his case. He joins Ari Melber exclusively to discuss how Democrats can subpoena top White House aides if they refuse to comply with subpoenas. Nathan also reveals Pelosi is already considering candidates for the Counsel role, and hopes the court battle begins “very quickly”.

  [Read more…]

Punjabi Remake of Titanic Dance Song – Drowsy Maggie | Video Worth Watching

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From The Snakecharmer YouTube page:

When the foot tapping Irish dance party song from Titanic gets an unbelievable Punjabi revival. A multi cultural music video with Britain’s Castles, India’s streets, highland dancers, Bagpipes, Punjabi folk, bhangra dancers, Russian violinist and a crazy dhol player get together to showcase the amazing diversity in the world and how we all have something in common despite the distance and differences. Enjoy this brand new Celtic punjabi crossover with Bagpipes.

(h/t to my bro thebigbadbob)   [Read more…]

Nina Simone – I Think It’s Going to Rain Today | Video Worth Watching

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The recent weather had my beloved humming this tune. For us this has always been the Judy Collins cover, from her 1966 album “In My Life”, of this Randy Newman inspiration. But while searching for an online version I discovered a slew of other performers have been moved to interpret this work, including Nina Simone, another of our all-time favorite artists. This performance was somehow not yet included in our collection of her work, so I had to check it out. Listening to Nina’s rendition didn’t diminish the Judy Collins version and Nina’s performance stands alone in its own delivery and truth. If you’re unfamiliar with Nina or her version of this melancholy air, here’s your opportunity to enrich your musical repertoire.   [Read more…]

Visiting North Sentinel – An Island Untouched For 55,000 Years | More Video Worth Watching

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And here’s something for the weird and wonderful category. There are, indeed, still places on this planet that have little or no contact with the rest of the world. Here’s a brief look at the history of one of those places: North Sentinel Island. It has a reputation for being the “most dangerous” island in the world. After watching this video, you should get a sense of how it has earned that reputation. (h/t to Annie L.)   [Read more…]

A Very Mueller Christmas & A Happy Incoming Democratic House of Representatives

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Can you feel it? The pace of things in Washington DC is picking up. Just as the President was packing up for the G20 conference in Argentina, Special Counsel Robert Mueller let fly with his latest bombshell.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea for lying to Congress about an unsuccessful plan to build a luxury tower in Moscow is having a ripple effect, as additional details –like the offer of a $50 million penthouse to Vladimir Putin– trickle out.

Perhaps the most telling thing about President Trump’s situation is coming from the man himself. An unending stream of Tweets and remarks to the press proclaiming his innocence and attacking the investigation has a distinctly desperate sound to it.   [Read more…]

The Migrant Caravan Is Also About Climate Change

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By Todd Miller / YES! Magazine

Less than a mile south of the U.S.-Mexico border, in Sasabe, Mexico, a Guatemalan man named Giovanni (whose first name is used to protect his undocumented status) propped up his feet while an EMT applied antibiotic ointment to his feet in the shade of a cottonwood. Giovanni left his home country because of a catastrophic drought and was attempting to unite with his brothers who were already in Dallas.

After trying to cross the border into the Arizona desert, his feet were ravaged: discolored, covered in gashes and tender red blisters. One toenail had been ripped off. Across the arroyo, or dry wash, were about 30 more prospective border crossers, primarily Guatemalan, some awaiting a similar medical checkup, others stocking up on water and food.

It was July, and several days before in a 110-degree heat wave, he had crossed the border with a small group of about five other people from Guatemala. After 14 hours, they ran out of water. After 21 hours, Giovanni gave up and turned back alone. He had no water, no food, and quickly lost his orientation, but he made it back to Sasabe.   [Read more…]

A Climate Change Inspired Poem

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As a girl by herself wandering wantonly within the woods, I was kept company
By animal voices and ancient whispers from the tree canopy

When my bare feet touched warm soil, planted firmly on earth, I was so aware
I was never alone, I belonged to this mystic beauty, and happily had not a care

Yet by the time I was a young woman, ready to journey from my home
The animal voices, many were going quiet it was well known   [Read more…]

Deer Tracks | Geo-Poetic Spaces

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Last night’s rainwater
Fills the hoof prints of a deer
With her chestnut eyes   [Read more…]

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