San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

America’s Wealthy Are Even Wealthier And Have A New Name: Point-Seveners

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America has 45,000 citizens worth more than $50 million.

By Steven Rosenfeld/ Alternet

The old cliché is true. The rich are getting richer. And there’s a new name for the upward transfer of wealth and richest people in America and worldwide—now called the “point-seven percent”—according to The Wall Street Journal,which, in its typical cheerleading way, boasts that Americans rule the top of the wealth pyramid.

“Forget the 1 percent—the statistic that 1 percent of people in the U.S. hold 40 percent of the wealth” brags Jason Bellini on a WSJ video report. “It became a rallying cry during the Occupy Wall Street movement. Now there’s a new number to consider: 0.7 percent. Globally, 0.7 percent of the people control 41 percent of the world’s wealth. Who are the 0.7 percent?”   [Read more…]

Tío Emilio and the Secrets of the Ancestors: Chapter 23 — Dealing with the Gang

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“If you focus on your fears and create thoughts in your mind about a bad outcome, and if because of your fears you send emotional energy to this imagined outcome, by definition you are creating it.” Don Emilio

By Richard Juarez

“Hey bro’, how ya been?” Tomás came up to me at my hall locker at school.

“Hey, Tomás. I’m doing pretty good. Busy as hell, and trying to keep up, but things are going good. What’s going on with you?”

“Oh, same ol’ same ol’. Not much different happening. But …” he paused, “there’s a lot of folks wondering about you. I don’t know if anyone has told you yet, but the guys have been talking about you and Tony leaving your homies.”   [Read more…]

UC Davis Pepper Spray Cop Awarded $38,000 in Workers Comp

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Lt. John Pike is being paid handsomely for spraying peaceful protesters in the face.

By Rod Bastanmehr / Alternet

The former University of California Davis police lieutenant who was caught on video brutally pepper-spraying a line of peaceful protestors in 2011 during the Occupy protests was awarded a sum of $38,000 in workman’s compensation in a settlement with the university last week.

Former Lt. John Pike, 40, is reported to have suffered depression and anxiety after a video of his November 18, 2011 confrontation with Occupy Davis protestors went viral. The video sparked outrage across the country and became the clearest symbol of police brutality against the Occupy movement. Soon after the video spread, Pike claims that he and his family began regularly receiving death threats.   [Read more…]

Jack-o-Lanterns Illuminate the Luxury in Our Lives

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Did you ever consider yourself lucky because you can carve a pumpkin instead of eating it?

By   / OtherWords

Every time I see a jack-o-lantern, I remember a conversation with my friend Kate Chumo. I met her in her home country of Kenya. We were talking about a favorite Kenyan food called uji, a fermented millet porridge.

“Do you know what we do with millet in the U.S.?” I asked. “We sell it as bird seed and feed it to birds.”

“That reminds me of what you do with pumpkins at Halloween,” she replied.

Has it ever occurred to you that we grow piles of pumpkins, which are a food, carve faces in them, and throw them away? We also produce mounds of millet, a nutritious grain that people can and do eat, and feed it to the birds.   [Read more…]

Claim on ‘Attacks Thwarted’ by NSA Spreads Despite Lack of Evidence

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By Justin Elliott and Theodoric Meyer / ProPublica

Two weeks after Edward Snowden’s first revelations about sweeping government surveillance, President Obama shot back. “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, in some cases, threats here in Germany,” Obama said during a visit to Berlin in June. “So lives have been saved.”

In the months since, intelligence officials, media outlets, and members of Congress from both parties all repeated versions of the claim that NSA surveillance has stopped more than 50 terrorist attacks. The figure has become a key talking point in the debate around the spying programs.   [Read more…]

Virtual Mayor Forum- Part 3: The Building Permit Process is a Hot Mess and Plans for the Planning Department

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Welcome to Day 3 of the SDFP Virtual Mayoral Forum. (See Day 1, Asking about managed competition, here , Day 2, Looking back on the Plaza de Panama controversy, here.)

With input from our many contributors, editors put together a series of eight questions we felt were unique, not too open ended and not trite. We’re publishing one response from the candidates per day (Monday-Friday) so readers can see the verbatim responses side by side.

Today’s topic is about what has gone wrong with the permit process and a bonus question about the city’s recently reconstituted Planning Department.  SDFP editor Anna Daniels put together an introduction to the issue so readers can see our thinking behind asking the question.   [Read more…]

RECALL? Legislators Lorena Gonzalez, Ben Hueso, Other Latinos Targeted by ‘Free California’ Group

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By Doug Porter

Emboldened by recent recall efforts in Colorado, ex-Minuteman types have joined with guns rights advocates to form Free California, a “grassroots” organization targeting elected Latino officials in the state legislature.

Ostensibly the recall petition drives are being organized in response to sweeping gun control measures recently signed by California Governor Jerry Brown. Legislators on their hit list include Sens. Norma Torres, D-Chino, and Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista; Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, and Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton; and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles.

The group says its targeting lawmakers in swing districts, especially those who were put into office in special elections.   [Read more…]

Why I Am Not Voting for Nathan Fletcher

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By Judi Curry

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet David Alvarez at a “meet and greet” party. Although I walked into the meeting as a Mike Aguirre supporter, I was very impressed with the way David talked to the crowd; answered all questions without hemming and hawing, and told us his plans when he becomes the Mayor of San Diego.  Although not ready to endorse him over Mike Aguirre, I couldn’t help but feel that a vote for Mike is a wasted vote, and possibly a vote for Faulconer, my current representative on the City Council.

I decided before I could truly make up my mind about the candidates, I would like to hear Nathan Fletcher speak.  I don’t mean in a debate where the answers are canned and fluffy; but in a similar setting as the “meet and greet” for Alvarez.   [Read more…]

Wordplay – Shardly Worthwhile

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By Bob Dorn

Every few months I stumble onto files tucked away in odd places recording wordplay I’ve recorded in the last few years. I started doing it when a name, or coined word or phrase seemed to define events well but wouldn’t work in the piece at hand, either because it didn’t quite fit the passage (and would have looked shoehorned in later), or because it was too light or mean and petty for the context, or because it was simply distracting.

Yeah, distracting. I don’t know who said this; it was a writer for sure: the first thing to cut from a piece is the best thing in it. Of course, that’s so that the rest doesn’t suffer the contrast. But can you afford to forget the debris?   [Read more…]

Getting to Know Lyric Better in Palm Springs

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By Ernie McCray

Man, I love that Lyric. My tenth grandchild. I recently spent a couple of fun days with him at our family’s Palm Springs getaway. As I got to know him better I couldn’t help but think of Nancy, his grandma, who over twenty years ago decided that we McRobs (combination of our last names, McCray and Robertson) needed a vacation spot, some where close where we could just get away from our everyday lives for a few days. Palm Springs came to be that place.

I was on board right-away except I didn’t understand the “time share” lingo but Nancy spoke the language well and she just put the papers in front of me and pointed to where I was to sign and we were in business. It turned out to be one of the nicest gifts we’ve ever bestowed on ourselves. It always signified to me, a school principal, that the summer was coming to an end and a new school year would soon begin. But I was always – after a week of swimming laps and having it “made in the shade,” literally, with my journal and my pen and whatever book I was involved in, not caring about the placement of prepositions – more than ready to engage kids in discussions of “What I Did This Summer,” more than ready to dive in and make learning as fun as I could get by with in “the system” and that, in and of itself, at times, was a whole lot of fun.   [Read more…]

Virtual Mayoral Forum- Part 2: Looking Back on the Plaza de Panama Controversy

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Welcome to Day 2 of the SDFP Virtual Mayoral Forum. (See Day 1, Asking about managed competition, here.)

With input from our many contributors, editors put together a series of eight questions we felt were unique, not too opened ended and not trite. We’re publishing one response from the candidates per day (Monday-Friday) so readers can see the verbatim responses side by side.

We emailed the questions to the addresses listed with the City Clerk’s office as contact points, knowing most of the minor candidates wouldn’t respond. What we didn’t count on were two of the big names (Fletcher & Faulconer) refusing to participate. We can only assume–and, believe me we’ve tried to get them involved– their non-response sends a message about their openness to the citizens in this city. You can decide what that message is. (We’ll still be glad to add responses and delete this paragraph. It’s not too late!)

The complete questionnaire can be found here.   [Read more…]

The Fish Stinks From the Head – Tales of Woe About San Diego’s MTS and NCTD Transit Authorities

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By Doug Porter

“The fish stinks from the head” is an old Turkish metaphor used to attribute poor leadership as the cause for dysfunctional enterprises.

News accounts from the past 24 hours about San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and the North County Transit District (NCTD) speak to seriously misplaced priorities, along with racism and sexism in both organizations.

In today’s UT-San Diego there is a story detailing how officials with the Metropolitan Transit System have declined to offer discounts for low income students. A pilot program, funded by both the school district and the City Council will now be cut by more than half.

Yesterday reporter Brad Racino at inewsource/KPBS broke a major story about sex and age bias in employment policies within the North County Transit District.    [Read more…]

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