San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

Oakland is California’s Destroy Public Education Petri Dish

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These are interesting times in Oakland, California. The public-school system is again teetering on the edge of financial collapse. The Destroy Public Education (DPE) movement has succeeded in privatizing more than a quarter of the district and has fomented financial turmoil. Concurrently, a dynamic young woman, Kyla Johnson-Trammell, has been selected as the new Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). On that news, Oakland Magazine’s headline blared, “Finally Some Stability.”

Mike Hutchinson, an education activist from Oakland, told Capital & Main that districts like OUSD are being used as a kind of policy Petri dish by charter supporters. It is how they are refining takeover strategies outlined for Los Angeles by the Broad charter expansion plan.   [Read more…]

Breast Cancer and Screening Info Removed from Government’s Women’s Health Website

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By Jen Hayden / Daily Kos

A variety of important information about breast cancer and breast cancer screenings has gone missing from the Department of Health and Human Services women’s health website. The Sunlight Foundation tracks changes to government sites and they published a report on the now-vanished information. 

The “Breast Cancer” website and related pages were removed from within the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) website. While content about mammogram breast cancer screening remains, informational pages and factsheets about the disease, including symptoms, treatment, risk factors, and public no- or low-cost cancer screening programs, have been entirely removed and are no longer found elsewhere on the OWH site. Among the material removed is information about provisions of the Affordable Care Act that require coverage of no-cost breast cancer screenings for certain women, as well as links to a free cancer screening program administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The office did not proactively announce or explain the removals.   [Read more…]

‘They Feed They Lion’ by Philip Levine | National Poetry Month

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The Poet as Witness

During the 1950’s Philip Levine was working in Detroit auto plants and writing poetry. In an interview at that time in Detroit Magazine he described how he found his compelling subject material. “I saw that the people that I was working with…were voiceless in a way. In terms of the literature of the United States they weren’t being heard. Nobody was speaking for them. And as young people will, you know, I took this foolish vow that I would speak for them and that’s what my life would be. …I just hope that I have the strength to carry it all the way through.”

They Feed They Lion was written in 1968, when Levine returned to Detroit following the race riots of 1967. It is one of his finest poems, reflecting the degree to which he found “the strength to carry it all the way through.” The poem is merciless in its judgements and propelled by the rhythmic insistence of the language itself.   [Read more…]

Oklahoma Teacher Vents About Classroom Conditions to Reporter | Video Worth Watching

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During MSNBC’s coverage of the Oklahoma teachers’ walkout, reporter Mariana Atencio interviewed teacher Ray Sanders. He gave an impassioned recounting of some of the classroom deficiencies that he is forced to contend with.

And in recognition of Poetry Month, here’s a bonus. This little gem from poet Taylor Mali —”What Teachers Make”— was presented in the 2000 National Poetry Slam in Providence, RI.   [Read more…]

Immigration Advocates Say Yes to California Values in Escondido As Trump Pumps Up His Base

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On Wednesday, the Escondido City Council is expected to vote on joining the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block the California Values Act and other state laws protecting immigrants.

The ACLU and immigration rights activists will hold a 3pm press conference, followed by an Indivisible-supported rally supporting the state law and the region’s immigrant community, which was recently targeted by ICE raids that arrested more than 100 residents.

The San Diego County Supervisors will meet in closed session on April 17 to join the lawsuit. The only event at the County building related to this vote at this point is in support of the Trump administration’s stance, organized by the Border Patriots, the same group of we’re-not-racists who’ve been targeting Chicano Park in recent months.   [Read more…]

Paper Bag | National Poetry Month

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By Igor Goldkind

I am a paper bag, I am.
I’m not the smart one,
I’m not the successful one
I’m not the tall one who always won and
Then died.
I am a paper bag.
I’m only as good as what I can carry.

I am a paper bag,
I’m not plastic, not I.   [Read more…]

When is Local TV Not Really Local? Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ‘Must Run’ Content | Video Worth Watching

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When is local TV not really local? According to reporting by ThinkProgress, Sinclair Broadcast Group provides its stations with content that each station is required to run as part of its local news programming. The content is referred to as ‘must run’ material. The stations do not identify the programming as having been provided by their corporate owner and thus this material appears to be from the local station itself. Deadspin recently posted a video that dramatically showcased this practice. How does this shady policy shape public perception? Here’s John Oliver in a segment from late last year after Sinclair had announced its plan to acquire Tribune Media. He expertly and hilariously points out the deceptive nature and pernicious consequences of this practice.   [Read more…]

Meet the 16 Candidates Racing to Replace Darrell Issa | 49th Congressional District Election Snapshot

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Not long ago the Big Fear was no Democrats would make it past the primary to the general election. There was some serious infighting going on, and only late-entrant Christina Prejean was willing to take one for the team in the 49th Congressional District, leaving four candidates ready to go the distance.

A disaster was in the making; a general election amid a Blue Wave and two Republicans to chose from. Certainly, things couldn’t get much worse.

Then the Republicans stepped up and said, “Hold my beer.”   [Read more…]

Back to the Spring Rituals of Baseball

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Baseball is back, and, as I do every year—no matter how bad the Padres are—I enjoy re-immersing myself in the game.  And, as opposed to our president who argues in this ridiculous interview that talent comes strictly from innate ability and is made manifest on the Social Darwinist proving ground of sport, I know that it’s all about focus and work.  Perhaps the most important thing of all is failure that leads to more focus and work and honing one’s craft.

You alone with the thing itself.

On the diamond this cliché holds true: even the best players fail most of the time, sometimes quite badly.  You strike out, commit an error, miss a sign, fail to hit the right spot with your pitch.   [Read more…]

What Poems Do | National Poetry Month

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By Sonia Gutiérrez

Let me tell you what poems do.
With letters hanging
from their chipped beaks
and sharp talons,
poems with their immense wings
fly over tempestuous oceans,
where an eye of a hurricane
awaits them—swallows
and spits them out.

Because some poems,
I must confess,
are difficult to chew.   [Read more…]

An Open Letter to the Bellwether State | Dear Ohio, Part 4

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Dear Ohio,

This is my fourth letter to you, my sister state, for we are all sons and daughters of this democracy, however embattled it now may be. And it must be remembered that in modern times, no presidential candidate has reached the White House without Ohio’s blessing. So I come to you once again, with a heavy heart, to see if those among you who care so deeply for our country, can still embrace the notion that all of us belong.

There was 10-year-old boy I met one day in my work as a lawyer for low-income families. His mother brought him to me because he was deeply depressed. Two thoughts bumped about in my mind when I made his acquaintance. The first was that I had never met a boy of 10 who was deeply depressed. The second was that it seemed odd a mother should seek help for a depressed child from a lawyer.

The boy was a beautiful, brown-skinned, big-eyed, dark-haired youngster whose eyes followed closely the adult conversation. He sat uncomfortably in the chair across from my desk, while his mother described the problem.  He was facing charges in juvenile court for loitering and non-attendance at school. He didn’t want to get up in the morning, didn’t want to walk to the bus, couldn’t get through the school day, wasn’t interested in anything.   [Read more…]

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