By Miriam Raftery

Photos: left: Melissa Taylor, in front of burned-out shell of her former mobilehome, right: new mobilehome

July 10, 2024 (El Cajon) – Last August, 65-year-old Melissa Taylor lost everything when a fire destroyed her mobile home in El Cajon, as ECM reported. Now, thanks to the generosity of donors who responded to her GoFundMe plea and a modest insurance settlement, she now has a new mobile home on the same site where she’s lived for 19 years. But she needs more help before she can move in.

“She has no air conditioning, or furnishings. She needs a washer and dryer," asl well as some other appliances to "make it livable,” says Kari Dodson, a long-time friend of Taylor’s. “She hasn’t been able to move in yet, so we are still keeping the donations link active.” You can donate here.

Kari Dodson, a friend of Taylor’s, told ECM our prior coverage helped bring in donations that enabled Taylor to replace her burned home,  “Thank you for your support and concern,” Dodson told ECM. “Your reporting does help the community immeasurably!”

July 8, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Biden tells congressional Democrats he is "firmly committed" to staying in 2024 race (CBS
• Supreme Court wipes out anti-corruption law that bars officials from taking gifts for past favors (Los Angeles Times)
• How might a rogue president use the US supreme court immunity ruling? (Guardian)
• New $72,000 migrant smuggling routes to the US start with charter flights (Reuters)
• Supreme Court strikes down Chevron, curtailing power of federal agencies (SCOTUS blog)
• Supreme Court upholds ban on domestic abusers owning guns (10 News)
• U.S. home prices have far outpaced paychecks. See what it looks like where you live (NPR)
• Supreme Court opioid case makes it harder to shield wealth in bankruptcy (Washington Post)
• Exclusive: US prosecutors recommend Justice Dept. criminally charge Boeing (Reuters)
• Rudy Giuliani disbarred in New York for efforts to subvert 2020 election (The Hill)
• The Supreme Court rules for Biden administration in a social media dispute with conservative states  (AP)
• Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans  (AP

WORLD

• French voters deliver a win for the left, a blow for Le Pen and a hung parliament (Reuters)
• Fire used as 'weapon of war' in Sudan as entire towns and villages burned to the ground (NBC)
• Britain’s Labour pulled off a thumping election victory with just 34% of the national vote (CNBC)
• Russia wages a scorched-earth war in Ukraine with retrofitted bombs and new airstrips (NPR)
• More than 550 hajj pilgrims die in Mecca as temperatures exceed 50C [125 F] (Guardian)
• Over 20 NATO allies to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense in 2024, says Stoltenberg (Reuters)
• Crossbow attacker wounds a police officer guarding Israel's embassy in Serbia before being shot dead (AP)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

July 8, 2024 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Why some doctors are recommending Apple Watches to manage health conditions (CBS)
• Palomar Health Medical Group's computer systems still down nearly 2 months after 'suspicious activities' (KPBS)
• US Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence ‘a Public Health Crisis’ (KFF Health News)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• AI could help spread false and misleading information on Holocaust, UNESCO report warns  (AP)   
• In 'Warming Up,' the sports world's newest opponent is climate change  (Science News)
• Hurricane Beryl Isn’t a Freak Storm—It’s the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted (Wired)

For  excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

East County News Service

July 8,2024 (San Diego's East County) -- Looking to network with businesspeople across East County?

Here are some opportunities coming up, hosted by local Chamber of Commerce groups.

Click links for costs and full details.

East County News Service

July 7, 2024 (Julian)—Banner Ranch invites you to try your luck at panning for gold just as prospectors did in the 1870s at Banner Creek.  On July 12., you can rent a gold panning kit for four hours (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. to  6 p.m.) and a glass tube container to take home any findings.

Banner City was founded in 1870 when Louis Redman tripped over gold quartz in a canyon 1500 feet below Julian.  He marked his gold find with an American flag, hence the town became known as Banner. Some claim the yield that year from Banner’s mines surpassed those of Julian’s gold prospecting.  Even today, there are over 150 placer claims in the area.

Update July 11:  Trump has recently said of Project 2025, "I have no idea who is behind it." However, CNN reports that at least 140 people who worked for Trump were involved in Project 2025's creation, including six of Trump's former cabinet secretaries,  his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his long-time advisory Steven Miller, and several attorneys who represented Trump in election inteference cases.  The project's top architects describe it as a blueprint for a second Trump administration.

By Miriam Raftery

Image: Spirit of '76, painting by A.M. Wilard depicts American Revolutionary War fought to win freedom from British tyranny

July 4, 2024 (San Diego) – Today, we celebrate our nation’s declaration of independence from Britain’s king in 1776. But ironically, America’s democracy is at risk, along with the liberties we cherish.  Constitutional experts warn that like several failed democracies, most notably Germany in the 1930s, the United States now faces the very real threat of becoming an autocracy,  or dictatorship.

The threat is two-fold: first, a document called Project 2025 is a blueprint for converting our democracy to an autocracy and the guidebook for a second Trump term of office. Second, a Supreme Court ruling this week effectively grants Trump, Biden, or any future president king-like authority to break the law without fear of prosecution for crimes.

Steven Levitsky, coauthor of the award-winning, bestselling book How Democracies Die states, “Democracies may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders—presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power. Some of these leaders dismantle democracy quickly, as Hitler did in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire in Germany. More often, though, democracies erode slowly, in barely visible steps.” He further warns, “This is how elected autocrats subvert democracy—packing and “weaponizing” the courts and other neutral agencies, buying off the media and the private sector (or bullying them into silence), and rewriting the rules of politics to tilt the playing field against opponents. The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s assassins use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.”

By Miriam Raftery

Photos, top left to bottom right:  Homeless people camped in Lemon Grove and their stories: Erika, a diabetic unable to drive; Christopher, a widower and carpenter seeking work; Elijah, who says his unemployment payments were stolen, Cardell, a nurse whose family died, and Kimberly, 78, who says she has lung cancer and a fractured skull; she has been sheltering in a rancid storm drain after her tent burned.

July 2, 2024 (Lemon Grove)-- Kimberly, 78, is frail, petite, and in desperate need. She  struggles to push a shopping cart laden with rumpled belongings on a scorching July afternoon. The elderly woman, her wrinkled skin tanned and leathery, coughs frequently. An edge of fear underlies her soft voice.

”I have lung cancer,” she says.  Kimberly tells us that she suffered a fall recently in a nearby parking lot. “I’ve got a fractured skull right now.”   “Nobody’s helping me,” she says sadly.

Kimberly is one of 293 homeless people in Lemon Grove who might be helped if the County approves funds to build 60-70 sleeping cabins in Lemon Grove at Troy and Sweetwater on land owned by Caltrans.  On July 18at 6 p.m. a public hearing on this issue at the Lemon Grove Community Center, 3146 School  Lane, Lemon Grove, Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe has announced.