Month: February 2025

By Josh Meyer / USA TODAY / Tue, February 4, 2025

Democratic lawmakers and government watchdog groups are pledging to fight back against Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government’s payment system, which they say may be the biggest privacy and security breach in American history.

“If we were watching this happen in Venezuela or Malawi and we saw a billionaire seize the money supply and the checkbook of the government, we would call it a coup,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative economic policy group and a former Senate senior economic policy advisor.

Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, is an unpaid advisor to President Donald Trump. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been tasked with finding ways to cut spending and regulations.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, said that Musk sent young DOGE computer programmers into the Treasury Department’s headquarters, where they allegedly strong-armed civil service workers to gain full access to the system that cuts checks for all congressionally authorized government payments.

Reports emerged over the weekend that Musk’s DOGE operatives were at Treasury, going through the payment systems and that they had effectively ousted the top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, after he refused to grant access to Musk’s emissaries.

And they ultimately pressured Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “turn the keys over” to them, said Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

SanDiego7 – City News Service / Feb. 3, 2025

The San Diego City Council voted Monday [Feb. 3] to adopt an ordinance intended to prevent developers from converting homes deemed as affordable to market rate or luxury housing units.

The Affordable Housing Preservation Ordinance will expand state laws to preserve deed-restricted affordable housing for very-low, low- and moderate-rate housing by requiring owners to issue a notice when they intend to sell housing fitting those parameters — regardless of any expiration date on such affordability.

By David Helvarg

The U.S. Coast Guard is the only Armed Service not located within the Department of Defense.

That’s why the incoming Trump administration was able to have its acting head of DHS fire Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan on Trump’s second day in office. It was an effective shot across the bow for bringing the Pentagon brass to heel given that even a President can’t fire the heads of the other Armed Services, only have his new Secretary of Defense, former Fox News co-host Pete Hegseth reassign or court-martial them.

Expect a number of reassignments and likely court-martials of Pentagon leadership under Hegseth. He’s already promised to get rid of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown plus, “any General, Admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke shit has got to go.”

President Trump, faced with pushback from both Mexico and Canada, blinked — and folded on his threatened tariffs. At least temporarily. For 30 days.

At the 11th hour, both Mexico and Canada made small concessions and Trump shelved his 25% tariffs on the countries. The 10% tariff on China went into effect today, Feb. 4.

American businesses along the border breathed a sigh of relief — as they – and American consumers — were to be mostly affected by the immediate rise in prices.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum made a small concession and pledged to send 10,000 national guard members to its northern border. Mexico  has long stationed troops at the border so this was not a new thing.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin also made some slight concessions, one of which was to fortify its border with the U.S.

By Alexandra Mendoza, Roxana Popescu and Caleb Lunetta / The San Diego Union-Tribune / February 3, 2025

Several San Diego County business owners closed their doors for the day, kids stayed home from school and protesters rallied on street corners, including one group that briefly marched onto Interstate 5, as part of “A Day Without Immigrants” Monday.

Social media posts called for people to stay home from school and work and to refrain from shopping in solidarity with the movement that seeks to highlight the contributions of immigrant communities and push back against President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations. Cities across the country, from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C., to Chicago, participated Monday.

From CNN / Feb. 3, 2025

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday [Jan. 31] in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California.

Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.

As they say, “One person’s shack is another’s beautiful historic beach cottage.”

And yesterday, Monday, Feb.3,  a wonderful beach cottage was demolished in less than an hour at 4962 Saratoga Avenue.

A local neighbor was upset and contacted the District 2 City Council office and the planning department. They confirmed that no demolition permit was issued. Plus, there was no notification to neighbors on the impending development or demolition.

Hundreds of mostly young protesters swarmed downtown San Diego on Sunday, Feb. 2, protesting Trump’s immigration policies and raids by ICE. After converging on the Convention Center, the crowd set off on a huge loop through downtown, taking over streets with their march, many waving Mexican flags and signs of protest. I saw a few American flags and a good number of half-American, half-Mexican flags.

San Diego police accommodated the demonstrators, corralling off streets as they went. It appeared to be a non-permitted event — yet it was very festive.

The marchers returned to the area near the Convention Center — now several thousands. Vehicles bearing flags followed the demonstration — and besides chants, yells and the blare of horns, the event was entirely peaceful.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum put their planned tariffs on hold Monday for a month to give time for further negotiations, and Mexico said it planned to deploy 10,000 members of its national guard to address drug trafficking.

Trump’s tariffs against Canada and China were still slated to go into effect Tuesday, Feb. 4th, but uncertainty remained about the durability of any deals and whether the tariffs were a harbinger of a broader trade war, as Trump has promised more import taxes to come.

The U.S. and Mexican leaders announced the pause after what Trump described on social media as a “very friendly conversation,” and he said he looked forward to the upcoming talks.

As a condition ahead of the talks, Sheinbaum laid out changes in border policies, and Trump confirmed Mexico’s deployment of troops.

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings February 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd.
Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine:
February Events for Enero Zapatista

February  ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties Know Your Rights training series!
February 3rd Monday 6 pm – 7:30 pm Spring Valley Gun Violence Reduction

February 5th Wednesday 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm Borders Fellow Panel

February 7th Friday  5 pm – 9 pm San Diego Vegan Night Market

At its meeting on Tuesday, January 28, the Community Planners Committee (CPC) voted 23 to 3 in favor of writing a formal recommendation to the City of San Diego calling for an emergency moratorium on all infill construction projects in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ) that more than double dwelling unit density until comprehensive risk assessments and mitigation measures are completed.

The proposal was prepared and presented by Paul Coogan, Chair of the Normal Heights Community Planning Group and Secretary of the Community Planners Committee. He also serves as Secretary of Normal Heights for Smart Growth.

The CPC’s decision was influenced by growing concerns over the increasing threat of wildfires in urban areas, citing recent devastating fires such as the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Fires, which illustrate the extreme danger of wildfires spreading in densely populated communities. The committee also considered the vulnerabilities of San Diego’s aging infrastructure, limited evacuation routes, and a significant funding gap in fire prevention resources.

Sale of French Gourmet reportedly in the works– Reality check for those thinking decision was made on high-rise

For those who thought the fate of the Vela project – aka Turquoise Tower – aka Pencil Tower — already had been decided, think again.

Michel Malecot, the long-time owner of the French Gourmet, told reps from the group Neighbors for a Better California on Thursday, Jan.30 that a check for $6.5 million was being wired to him to complete the sale of his property to Kalonymus, the developer that is proposing to build a 23-story skyscraper on the Turquoise Street site.