San Diego Free Press

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Progressive Voter Guide for County of San Diego Elected Offices, June 2018 – When We Vote, We Win

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Today: Judicial Offices, Assessor/Recorder/Clerk, Sheriff, District Attorney, Board of Supervisors, Community College Board, SD Unified School Board, & SD County Board of Education.

The San Diego Free Press and OB Rag are pleased to present our 2018 Primary Election Progressive Voter Guide. As usual, we tried not to let perfect be the enemy of good in our decision making. This year we’re breaking it into parts to make it more digestible.

Upcoming: Thursday-City of San Diego, Friday-Statewide Offices & Legislative Seats, Monday-Federal Offices, plus Ballot Measures, Tuesday:Cheat Sheet Voter Guide (All Contests)   [Read more…]

North County’s McClellan-Palomar Airport 2018 – 2038 Master Plan Environmental Impact Review

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Has the San Diego Water Board Provided the County Helpful Comments?

In January 2018, the County unpacked its 2018 – 2038 McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport Master Plan (PMP). Also, its sister Programmatic EIR (PEIR). The San Diego Water Board (SDWB) commented, but inadequately.

The PMP Purpose

The Board of Supervisors has a simple but complex question before it: Should county by 2038 spend $112 million to move and lengthen the Palomar 4900-foot runway by 800 feet to annually handle 30% fewer aircraft than county handled before?   [Read more…]

Los Angeles Chooses a Billionaire Privatizer for Superintendent of Schools

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Eli Broad and friends have picked his wealthy business partner, Austin Beutner, to lead LA schools. Their kindred spirit from San Francisco, Reed Hastings, is chipping in for the cause as are Fisher, Walton, Bloomberg and several other billionaires. The selection of Beutner signals another existential crisis for America’s second largest public school district.

In May of 2017, these pro-privatization forces bankrolled a successful destroy public education (DPE) take-over of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). For the first time ever, a pro-charter school voting bloc is in control.

On April 16, Howard Blume reporting for the Los Angeles Times said, “Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles.” However, the selection has been surprisingly stalled.   [Read more…]

How Russian Trolls Weaponized Your Social Media Feed | Video Worth Watching

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Vox’s Danush Parvaneh pulls together recent reporting on how Russian trolls weaponized social media and interviews Darrell West of the Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution to present a picture of the dynamics of the disinformation campaign.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Lies About the Border Migrant Caravan Won’t Stop Asylum Seekers

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The border crossing between San Ysidro and Tijuana is the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s efforts to demonize migrants and refugees.

Not everybody buying this bluster, thankfully. People on both sides of the border have been working to meet the needs of the migrants, and volunteers are delivering blankets, water, food and other necessities on a regular basis. Baby wipes, diapers, blankets, and tents are still needed.

The President, who apparently learned about a convoy working its way through Mexico from an item broadcast on Fox and Friends, has consistently mischaracterized the group as an organized attempt to enter the country illegally.     [Read more…]

Migrants Seeking Asylum Arrive At U.S.-Mexico Border | Video Worth Watching

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MSNBC reports that: Over 100 Central American migrants are seeking asylum from violence, hoping to cross into the United States following a grueling journey. The Trump administration has ordered homeland security officials to prevent their entry. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports from the scene in Tijuana, Mexico.   [Read more…]

Campaign Cash Reports Reveal Status of City & County Primary Races

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Today we’ll walk through the latest financial reports for San Diego City and County races. Republicans have rounded up large amounts of cash, hoping to protect their incumbents on the City Council. Democrats are hoping to pick up some spots in County contests.

Things are about to get nasty with the emergence of two Independent Expenditure outfits representative of a split in organized labor which itself is illustrative of divisions in what some call the “professional left.”

Reports filed with the San Diego City Clerk and the County Registrar of Voters reveal how candidates are faring with campaign contributions. Today’s report includes the grand total of monies raised for 2017 and 2018 through April 21.   [Read more…]

Last Days in Ocean Beach: Living on the Border Between Dread and Wonder

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Last Days in Ocean Beach is an effort to capture the mood of deep unease and uncertainty that permeates our era and informs the thinking of many writers, artists, and intellectuals, even if they are not quite saying it out loud.  It was written before the election of Donald Trump, but it is clear that his election only underlines the chasm between the cartoon reality driving much of our social, cultural, and political discourse and the unrelentingly grim truth that we are killing the world whether many of us want to admit it or not.  

As Bill McKibben put it, “physics doesn’t care about political realities,” like who won the election.  There may be a hegemonic political reality that refuses to recognize where we are, but the reality of physics and scientifically documented mass extinction proceed nonetheless.  Someday soon, we will be unable to deny it. At present, however, many of us, particularly in a place like San Diego where, as the banal tourist slogan puts it, “Happy Happens,” are satisfied to keep having a beach party at the end of the world.  Thus, the strange disconnect between the perpetual marketing of our local “paradise” and the looming threats that may eventually destroy it could not be greater than they are here in San Diego.   [Read more…]

Should Councilman Scott Sherman Recuse Himself from Decisions on Short Term Vacation Rentals?

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Sherman’s Family Owns 33 Rental Units in or Near Ocean Beach

There’s just something sketchy going on about San Diego Councilman Scott Sherman, the allegations that he has a conflict of interest in decisions concerning regulations for short-term vacation rentals (STVRs), and the lack of any genuine investigation by the San Diego Ethics Commission.

And the issue whether Sherman should recuse himself from any decisions about STVRs just won’t go away. Plus there are allegations he or his family own lots of rentals in Ocean Beach.   [Read more…]

Looking for Home | National Poetry Month

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By Carol Buckley

People are places wandering by,
nonchalantly Copenhagen or Mars.
Some are undiscovered but known.
You are soft and holy,
a landscape of peonies and violets;
I am a salty beach straddled by
two continents:
Doubt and Self-doubt.   [Read more…]

SanDiego350 Educates Southwest High School Students on Urgency of Climate Action

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SanDiego350’s Presentation Team has been busy spreading the word about climate change throughout communities in the San Diego area. Team volunteers Beverly Harju, Ron Schneider, and Nancy Cottingham spent April 11 with students in Michelle Roberts’ Biology classes at Southwest High School. Michelle is a SanDiego350 member and is dedicated to teaching the next generation about the serious issues facing our planet and the concrete steps they can take toward building solutions.   [Read more…]

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