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 Mike Allen

June 30, 2024 (Santee) -- The Santee City Council has unanimously approved an initiative to raise the sales tax charged within the city by a half cent for improved fire protection, including two new stations and firefighters.

The measure, which would increase the tax on items sold in the city from 7.75 to 8.25 percent, will expire in 15 years if passed by a a simple majority of Santee voters in November. Called the Santee Emergency Safety Protection Ordinance, the initiative was championed by the Santee Firefighters Association, which collected some 3,800 valid signatures from city residents to qualify for the ballot.

The Council voted this week to place it on the ballot and forego a detailed report on how the funds would be spent.

By Mike Allen

June 21, 2024 (Santee) -- At the end of Santee Councilwoman Laura Koval’s District 3 town hall on June 18, she opened it up to questions, but there were no takers. Perhaps that’s a sign of satisfaction about the direction the all -Republican City Council has steered Santee over the past decade, or maybe it’s a lack of interest among residents.

She then tried to coax the assembly of about 30 people, mostly city staffers, and got this: “Tell us a fun Padres story.”

The former director of ticket sales for the Padres obliged, telling a story involving the team’s first World Series and the late Raiders defensive star Lyle Alzado. But she wasn’t challenged about any of the decisions she and her colleagues in the City Council have made in the past several years.

By Miriam Raftery

East County News Service

June 3, 2024 (El Cajon) -- The City of El Cajon’s special sales tax measure (Prop J) is set to expire, and voters may soon be asked whether to approve extending the half-cent sales tax in the future.  The city invites residents to four town halls (June 13,15,18 and 20) to learn about the services provided through the half-cent sales tax and what services may have to be cut if the funding source is not continued.

Each Town Hall will include an interactive budgeting activity that will provide vital feedback to City leaders.

Below are the town hall meetings scheduled:

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: C-Span video screenshot of Trump speaking to reporters after the verdicts.

May 30, 2024 (New York, NY) -- A New York state jury has found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony criminal counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments to a porn star in order to influence the 2016 election. The former President and presumptive nominee will face sentencing at a July 11 hearing, where a judge could sentence him to prison. The hearing is just days before the Republican National Convention.

Trump, released pending the sentencing hearing, held a press conference after the unanimous verdict was read. He denounced the trial as "rigged" and a "disgrace," then said voters deliver the "real verdict" during the November 5 election.

“The geographic shifts in populations of people experiencing homelessness to East and South County communities demonstrates the effect of the City of San Diego camping ban.”—Paul Downey, CEO, Serving Seniors

By Miriam Raftery

May 24, 2024 (San Diego’s East County)—The 2024 Point-in-Time Homeless Count reveals some significant changes for East County. East County’s total homeless population dropped by 28% overall from  January 2023 to January 2024, from 1,703 to 1,232.  That’s in sharp contrast to the county overall, which had  the number of homeless people increase by 3% to a total of 10,605,

However, some East County communities had sharp rises, notably in communities closest to San Diego, which recently enacted a ban on encampments:

• La Mesa’s total homelessness rose 86%, with a 47.2% rise in unsheltered;
• Lemon Grove’s unsheltered homeless numbers rose 85%

The sharp spikes in La Mesa and Lemon Grove may be due to  the city of San Diego’s ban on homeless encampments, suggests Paul Downey, Chief Executive Officer of Serving Seniors, a nonprofit helping low-income adults age 60 and up.

By Miriam Raftery

May 3, 2024 (Washington D.C.) -- In April arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court,  former President Donald Trump’s lawyers argues that presidents should be immune from prosecution for any official acts done while they are in office,  unless the president is impeached and convicted by Congress.  But Trump attorney David Sauer’s argument, if accepted by the high court, would grant a president dictatorial powers even for violent acts committed for personal gain—by his own admission in arguments before the high court.

Liberal justices pushed back on that disturbing proposition.  Justice Elena Kagan pressed Sauer on whether ordering a military coup or selling nuclear secrets to a foreign power would be considered official acts that would prevent criminal prosecution of a president, and Sauer said such acts should be protected by presidential immunity.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor grilled Sauer on whether ordering execution of a political rival would be considered an official act. Sauer replied, “We could well see that as an official act.” Hear recording of this exchange.