Public Policy

Plastic ocean pollution and climate change

Although burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming, fossil fuels could also be driving climate change via a completely different mechanism involving ocean plastic debris and tiny, bioluminescent fish living hundreds of meters beneath the ocean’s surface. Lanternfish (aka myctophids) are only a few inches long typically but so ubiquitous that they account for over half the ocean’s total fish-mass. They are…


After tax cuts derailed the ‘California dream,’ is the state getting back on track?

In 1978, the year I graduated from college with a degree in economics, most voters in my state chose to turn their backs on the “California dream.” Not unlike the American dream, California’s iteration focused on the limitless possibilities awaiting anyone who moved to the state. It was the state’s basic philosophic footing, a social compact that connected generations, geographies and economic classes in a common destiny….


Collective action will solve climate crisis

I fancy myself an environmentalist.  I recycle, backyard compost, have rooftop solar, rarely use AC or heat, drive a hybrid, don’t have a lawn and eat vegetarian. Yet the truth is I am as responsible for climate change as the next guy. Here’s why. Doing those things makes me feel good about myself, but they don’t move the world measurably closer to solving the climate…


Post-Paris Climate Accord: What’s next?

The City of Escondido should do what 46 other local jurisdictions across the country have done, pass a resolution telling Congress to step up and lead the rest of the world in addressing the crisis of global climate change — Sarah Mosko Although President Donald Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, this is no time for the 70 percent of…


Issa: Get off the roof, support free speech

It’s time for Congressman Darrell Issa to come down from the roof and support the First Amendment. Our First Amendment freedoms ensure that anger and political disagreement don’t fester into violence. — Edward Sifuentes On May 30, Rep. Darrell Issa’s San Diego County constituents saw a different side of the nine-term member of Congress. Angry at peaceful protesters outside his district office building in Vista,…


Turn Duncan Hunter over, he’s done

Step off Duncan Hunter, time to resign… You know the Monopoly card everybody dreads:  “Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.” Hello, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50th District). Looks like you got served. Hunter wasn’t playing with Monopoly money, unfortunately, but with $62,000 — that we know of now, it definitely was more — of campaign donor money illegally used for…


Duncan Duane Hunter town hall (annotated)

This is an annotated version of Duncan Duane Hunter’s March 11 town hall keyed to Bethany Amborn’s video posted on Facebook. It’s not a complete transcript — but it’s close — done in academic transcript form using oral history techniques. Commentary is indicated by italics within brackets. Other breaks in the transcript, but pertaining to the town hall verbiage, is indicated in parenthesis. Approximate time…


Issa press spokesman Calvin Moore blows back on concept of ‘federal holiday’

Welcome to journalistic transparency. Here’s what goes on when it comes to the new Trump Republican Party dealing with information. Over two dozen 49th Congressional District voters went to Rep. Darrell Issa’s Vista office on Friday, Jan. 20 to deliver a letter protesting Donald Trump’s installation. While Issa staffers were at the office, they refused to open the locked door to accept the letter. Although Issa…


SD County farmers: Let them grow pot

For local jurisdictions, cannabis farming can generate significant new tax revenues, create jobs and help reverse course for the region’s declining agricultural sector. In the weeks and months ahead, county and local officials will be taking steps to implement medical and recreational marijuana regulations, including cannabis farming. The local farmers I’ve talked to think the time is ripe. In the last 16 months, the state…


Practical Guide Resisting the Trump Agenda

While the incoming Trump administration is a national disgrace and disaster, unique opportunity exists in California’s 49th and 50th congressional districts represented by the notorious Darryl Issa and Duncan Hunter Jr. respectively. Secretary Robert Reich has re-posted the grass roots battle plan for resisting the Trump agenda, two of whose leading advocates are the infamous Issa and Hunter. Those wishing to form groups for the…