Articles by Special to The Grapevine

Hunter banned by new House GOP rules

New proposed House GOP rules being voted on this week mandate that if a Republican lawmaker gets indicted “for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years imprisonment may be imposed” they have to step down from their committee assignment or their leadership posting. Those rules were written specifically for Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, and as a result of the messy…


San Diego County 2018 Election Results

Local San Diego County election results are complete. More commentary to follow this evening. Visit these links to see the results: https://www.sdvote.com/content/rov/en/elections/results.html https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/california-house-district-50   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-california-elections.html https://apnews.com/apf-politics? ************************************************************************************************* BEHIND SCENES, CA50 TURNOUT DRIVEN BY PROGRESSIVE PACs An unprecedented campaign by independent progressive groups to oust Rep. Duncan Hunter in CA50 has boosted the candidacy of Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar through an aggressive voter outreach drive. The San…


Climate change and wildfires, is there a link?

Once again, the summer of 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere has brought us an epidemic of major wildfires. These burn forests, houses and other structures, displace thousands of people and animals, and cause major disruptions in people’s lives. The huge burden of simply firefighting has become a year-round task costing billions of dollars, let alone the cost of the destruction. The smoke veil can extend…


California’s ‘jungle primary’ sets up polarized governor’s race for November

Voters who took part in California’s innovative and anti-party “jungle” primary on June 5 delivered a typical and predictably partisan result in the governor’s race. They sent Democratic Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom as the heavy favorite into a November contest against Republican businessman John Cox, who now lists his residence as Rancho Santa Fe. With the liberal Newsom positioning himself as a Bay Area Bernie…


Golden State’s crazy, cheezy dreams

It’s World Cheese Day, don’t you know… Gold rush opportunists, hippie goat ladies, Latino newcomers: California entrepreneurs dream of cheese: The idea for Humboldt Fog goat’s milk cheese first came to Mary Keehn in a dream. She fell asleep on an airplane and awoke with a vivid picture in her mind of how the cheese looked. And then she set out to realize her vision –…


Abed: Wrong on immigration, wrong period

Escondido mayor Sam Abed is running for re-election as a Donald Trump Republican with his main issue, apparently, the desire to keep immigrants in a constant state of fear. This election presents a clear contrast between myself and Abed who has been running his mouth all over the county against so-called “sanctuary cities.” This supposed outrage is a ploy, a distraction from the real work…


ACLU: Deportation fear stymies crime tips

The American Civil Liberties Union released a report today that shows fear of deportation is stopping immigrants from reporting crimes and participating in court proceedings. The report, “Freezing Out Justice: How Immigration Arrests at Courthouses Are Undermining the Justice System,” is based on data from a national survey of law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, and others, conducted jointly by the ACLU and the National Immigrant…


Cal court gig economy ruling not that broad

A recent California Supreme Court ruling is being hailed as a “game changer” for the gig economy. That’s because the court adopted a more streamlined test for deciding whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. Gig economy companies, like Uber and Lyft, overwhelmingly classify their workers as independent contractors. As a result, they don’t comply with basic employment laws, like minimum wage…


AARP membership practices under fire

In its newsletters and magazines, in congressional testimony and on its website, AARP warns seniors about deceptive direct mail and other dubious marketing come-ons as part of its mission to protect members from financial abuses. But the huge advocacy group’s own aggressive efforts to coax seniors to join or renew their memberships also have drawn a burst of criticism this year. Angry members say AARP’s…


California plays defense under Trump

On March 13, President Donald Trump inspected towering border wall prototypes at the U.S.-Mexico border during the two-day trip to California – his first to the Golden State since the November 2016 election. Surely he did not expect a warm welcome. Not only did Trump lose the state by more than 4 million votes, but his trip comes hard on the heelsof a lawsuit filed…