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Re: News Ticker, January 19: Spanoss Sweetheart Chargers Park Deal

Good riddance to the Chargers and to Spanos. The NFL and Spanos do not pay taxes on any profit they make. Yet, he expected us tax-paying citizens to fund his stadium. Mr. Spanos, have you driven on any of San Diegos pot-holed roads lately?

Dont forget to shut the light off when you leave.

Re: News Ticker: SDG&E Again Asks for 2007 Fire Cost Reimbursement

Ouch. We SDG&E ratepayers have learned of the monopolistic companys plan to once again stick it to us (see smart meters). SDG&E is hoping we ratepayers will pay $1.67 monthly for six years to cover the companys costs of the terrible 2007 fires. Unconscionable and unfair.

The costs were indeed tremendous, but shouldnt they more properly be borne by the companys owners, i.e. the stockholders, including the board of directors? Its as if the owner of a rental property expected payment by the renter for expenses incurred, such as a new water heater or a new roof. Lower dividends and reduced salaries are the proper sources for the fires cost.

Re: Neighborhood News: No Affordable Housing in Tavara Ridge

This article is terrible. If I was Julie Stalmer I would take my name off of it!

Apparently the editors/publisher have decided to run with the affordable housing narrative. Am I the only one who noticed that the developer decided to forgo the increased density allowance and opted to pay an additional fee to leave out affordable housing units?

Mini mansions, WTF? Did you actually check the square footage of average new homes and the remodeled homes in Clairemont? Zillow is a hell of a research assistant.

Anybody asking the City Housing Commission just what they have accomplished with the millions and millions of taxpayer dollars they have siphoned out of the local economy?

How about those millions that the SDUSD got for selling this (and other properties) are we seeing dramatic improvements in school sites and student outcomes? Why is Horizon School having such a hard time finding a suitable site to lease?

The Reader has lost a huge amount of cred, in my opinion!

Im calling about the News Ticker item regarding the gas protests in Mexico. Im really glad the Reader got this in the news. This is a really big story. Its affecting thousands and thousands of Americans who live in Mexico, many of whom got stuck without any gas for awhile.

Its a nationwide protest, including three border shutdowns, one on Sunday, January 15. Whats very interesting about this protest, as big as it is, is that there dont seem to be any reports coming in about police violence against these protestors.

Now, Ive worked as a journalist in Mexico and I do know that the Mexican papers would be likely report it. Theyre always happy to put violent episodes on the front of the newspaper. But theres nothing coming in from social media either. It seems these protestors are being permitted to go ahead and protest as peacefully as possible. Theres been a few small incidents, but mainly, for a nationwide protest of this size, no news is coming out about violence against the protestors.

I would compare this to the situation in North Dakota thats been taking place for the last six months where they militarized police action against the Native Americans water protectors, as well as many other regular Americans who went up to the Standing Rock location in the early weeks of December. These protestors have been really brutalized by the police and the local Morton County Sheriffs Department. Theyve been sprayed with water hoses at freezing temperatures, hit with rubber bullets (one lady almost lost an eye), hit with concussion grenades (one lady almost had her arm blown off), attack dogs, mace, tear gas, tasers, you name it.

Were supposed to be living in a free country, and we tend to look at Mexico as a third-world country. Its kind of hard to understand why, when a protest breaks out in our own country particularly this situation in North Dakota why these protestors are brutalized by the police. But not in Mexico. None of this happens to protestors in Mexico.

There was recently a protest in El Cajon over a young black man being shot by police. They were peacefully praying at the site of the shooting, and the San Diego police declared that they were conducting an unlawful assembly and they were forced to leave. This also happened at the June Trump rally were they declared it an unlawful assembly as well.

We need to look at our First Amendment rights and whats happening in this country. Its a shame that Mexico has to set the example for us about protecting free speech.

See original here:
Our First Amendment rights - San Diego Reader

Democrats exercised their First Amendment rights through the boycotting of Donald Trumps inauguration this past week. Sixty-six Democrats publicly spoke out against Donald Trumps comments describing Representative John Lewis as a man of no action.

In an NBC interview one week before Trumps inauguration, Lewis described the 45th president as not legitimate and attributed Russian hacking of the election to Clintons loss. After hearing this interview, Trump took to the Twittersphere to voice his own opinion on the matter.

Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk-no action or results. Sad! the president tweeted in response. It is the last line here which mobilized Democrats to boycott the inauguration.

Democrats took to Twitter themselves using #StandWithJohnLewis to announce their plans to sit out the inauguration.

Lewis played a key role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Also known as the youngest member of the Big Six, whose members included the esteemed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis coordinated the Mississippi Freedom Summer campaign to register African American voters in the South.

Democrats were outraged by Trumps attempt to discredit such an integral figure in the civil rights movement and community. For this reason and other concerns about the legitimacy of the Trump presidency, many Democratic members of Congress boycotted the inauguration, including Texas Representatives Lloyd Doggett and Joaquin Castro.

Outspoken Final Thoughts reporter Tomi Lahren ridiculed the protest as a crybaby moment awarding Democrats not in attendance with her less-than-coveted Snowflake trophy. Republicans believe this demonstration inhibits the peaceful transition of power.

Just as Lahren used her freedom of speech to call out these whiners, Democrats demonstrated their First Amendment right with last Fridays boycott.

The Democrats are not infringing upon anything that is not granted to anyone under the First Amendment of the Constitution to every other citizen of the United States. Congress shall make no lawprohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, Framers of the Constitution specifically wrote this after escaping the heavily repressive government of the British Empire.

Members of the Democratic party saw this demonstration as an opportunity to stand up for one of their own. Regardless of what your political stance is, the notion is to protect those who are for you. Democrats defended a respected civil rights leader. Many of those who boycotted the event participated with the intention of supporting John Lewis and his statement against the soon-to-be inaugurated Trump.

Just as Lahren voiced her opinions to her large audience, Democrats have the right to visibly indicate their displeasure with the status of the next administration with Trump at the helm. Democrats and Republicans are both equal under the clauses of the Constitution, which translates to both parties having an unalienable right to demonstrate how they feel with the current affairs.

Trump is not your traditional politician.

This outsider status attracted many of the electorate, his platform resonated with them. In the 2016 election, it appealed to many people to have someone who has not been a politician his entire life. The American people rejected the status-quo in favor of a man with no political experience. This metaphoric draining of the swamp comes with certain risks to the establishment as a whole.

The Democrats have shown their form of protest and the Republicans have also shown theirs. Democrats have decided to stand behind one of their leaders just as Republicans have decided to stand behind theirs. Perhaps before another staunch Republican such as Tomi Lahren gives out these satirical awards, a moment of self-reflection is necessary.

See more here:
Inauguration attendance: First Amendment rights and fights - The ... - UTSA The Paisano

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- People in the Jewish community are reacting negatively to the man spotted wearing a swastika on his arm.

They are saying the symbol itself could be hate speech. The man seen on UF campus said he is exercising his first amendment right.

"Nazi's are an extremely organized, focused, distinguished organization that saved the world," said Michael Dewitz, who was spotted riding his bike through Gainesville wearing the homemade armband with a swastika on it.

"The swastika is to invoke fear, to invoke hate, it's the symbol of the Nazi's. Students are scared, people are scared," said Rabbi Goldman at UF's Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student Center. "How could you not be concerned?"

Dewitz said he did it as a social experiment. "It was partially performance art, just to see people's reaction, like a social study of some sort, a sociological study."

Dewitz also questions whether the Holocaust happened. "Disinformation was huge in World War II, so how can we know that any of that stuff can be verified? You don't know that your grandparents were necessarily in a concentration camp and if the Nazi's were evil how can they remember being in one because they're not dead. Actually all that genetic nonsense, and Aryan stuff. That's ridiculous. That's disinformation," Dewitz said.

Gainesville Police said they cannot do anything about it because Dewitz has not committed a crime, but Rabbi Goldman thinks this could escalate into something further. "God forbid that this shouldn't trigger an actual incident of violence or anything else," he said.

Dewitz said he was the victim of assault. "Everyone was filming me like it was illegal to have free speech. I was being yelled at, called names, criticized, and I wasn't doing anything to these people cause I was part of the experiment," he said.

Rabbi Goldman said he is advising his students not to engage people like Dewitz, who was surprised to see so much backlash in the community. Dewitz said he is not sure if he will do something like this again.

See original here:
Man spotted wearing swastika defends 1st Amendment - WCJB

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday responded to the Womens March on Washington, saying President Trump respects Americans rights to protest and freedom of speech.

I think he has a healthy respect for the First Amendment, Spicer told reporters. This is what makes our country so beautiful is that on one day you can inaugurate a president. On the next day, people can occupy the same space to protest something.

On Saturday, the day after Trump was sworn into office, an estimated 500,000 people attendeda march on the National Mall and around Washington, D.C., to protest the new administration and advocate for womens issues.

Hes also cognizant to the fact that a lot of these people were there to protest an issue of concern to them and not against anything, Spicer said.

I think the president shared Debbie Dingells views: that there were people who came to the Mall like they do all the time.

When asked how the president can reach out to protesters and unite the country, Spicer said Trump would be able to accomplish that through action and success.

I think he reaches out to them on the way he started the night he won the election, the way he did on Inauguration Day that sends a message that hes fighting for them, Spicer said.

But more importantly, the presidents going to show through action and success that hes fighting for them and every American.

Read more:
Spicer on protests: Trump has 'healthy respect for the First Amendment' - The Hill

More than half a million people, including hundreds from Lancaster County, took part Saturday in the Womens March on Washington. Millions more participated in so-called sister marches across the United States including here in Lancaster city and in some 80 countries around the world. The marches were spurred by concerns over how President Donald Trumps agenda might impact women.

We will leave to others the arguments over whether the Womens March on Washington and the sister marches were necessary, inclusive or productive.

Will this be a one-time thing or, with the march organizers promise of action over 100 days, the beginning of a movement a kind of tea party for progressives in the age of Trump?

Whether you marched here or in the nations capital, whether you were appalled or thrilled by the marches, we invite your thoughts on these questions via letters to the editor.

For now, a couple of things seem to us to be clear.

The marches were a vivid reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a country in which the very first amendment to the Constitution enshrined freedom of speech and the freedom to peaceably assemble.

You may have disagreed with the content of that speech and the reasons for those assemblies, but thats another great thing about America: Were allowed to hold different opinions and to express them.

Its not always easy to live with one another when were noisily expressing different points of view. But the Founding Fathers deemed freedom of expression to be essential. Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech, Benjamin Franklin wrote.

Another thing seems clear today: Aside from Madonna and her expletive-laced remarks (did anyone expect anything else from the desperately seeking headlines singer?), the marches were well-organized and incredibly well-attended.

Just as Trumps election held a message for Democratic leaders, Saturdays marches held a message for Republican leaders, Trump included. Democrats, Republicans, theyd all do well to listen.

The larger-than-anticipated marches might have led to mayhem, but there were no arrests made in connection with the D.C. march. Or in Los Angeles, where more than half a million people marched. Or in New York City, where some 400,000 marched. Or in Lancaster city, where hundreds of people packed the northeast quadrant of Penn Square.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich penned the line, Well-behaved women seldom make history, but Saturdays marches were nothing if not well-behaved.

Maybe it was because women were in charge (that also worked out pretty well for the Trump presidential campaign). Maybe it was because the police kept the riot gear stowed. Maybe it was because there were a great many mothers and grandmothers in attendance, and who steps out of line when theyre around? Were just glad the marches were peaceful.

At both the inauguration Friday and the Womens March on Washington on Saturday, people stacked trash as near as possible to the full trash cans, making the job of the cleanup crew easier, National Park Service spokespeople told news organizations.

So, even in this divided country of ours, it appears that both Trump supporters and feminist marchers have neatness in common.

Its not much, but its something.

Go here to see the original:
Agree or disagree with the women marchers' cause, but the First Amendment is a great thing - LancasterOnline