Category: Civil Rights

By Angelo Haynes

At approximately 10:00 a.m., on Friday, Jan.23,  about a dozen individuals claiming to be a coalition of community activist groups from across San Diego County converged at the front office of Mayor Todd Gloria to protest his current SDPD policies regarding cooperation with Federal ICE officers. The chief concern expressed in a demand letter brought to the scene was an immediate clarification of SDPD policy and operational directives, including the requiring of the removal of face coverings during ICE operations.

The protestors then conducted a sit-in, a classic form of non-violent civil rights protest to get the attention of Gloria after repeated attempts to schedule a meeting. Nine  protestors occupied the waiting room space and the elevator bay of the 11th floor. Multiple staffers ranging from IT contractors strode through the scrum, while arriving for work in the morning.

Protest leader Bleu Wong of SD Bike Brigade was leading the protest and had indicated that she had been in contact with Todd Gloria’s office since last summer and had yet to have an actual conversation with the mayor regarding this issue. In response to the mayor’s office’s lack of communication, this collection of activists mobilized and showed up at his office with a list of demands printed on plastic polymer board signage.

There’ a new rule in America: ICE agents are now allowed to execute American citizens with impunity — and the federal government will lie about it and cover it all up.

That’s what happened this weekend in Minneapolis when unidentified agents shot and murdered Alex Pretti, a 37-year old ICU nurse, as he was trying to come to the aid of a woman being pushed by ICE men.

All the videos that have been viewed by Americans since the shooting clearly show he was holding a camera or phone filming agents, when he was pushed violently, then tackled by a half dozen ICE agents. During the scuffle, an agent can be seen removing a gun from Pretti, which he was not brandishing and who had a legal right to own and carry at the time.

By JW August – Special to the OB Rag

The San Diego region, which has a history of birthing hate groups, most notably white supremacy organizations, has seen an increase in the number and the power of these groups locally – and there have been also increases seen across the country.

White nationalist groups aren’t just about the hatred of Black, Latino / Hispanic and Jews but they’re also about “remaking the country as an ethnostate, where citizenship is limited to whites,” Rachel Carroll Rivas of the Southern Poverty Law Center told Times of San Diego.

Rivas says the National Coalition For Men, now headquartered in San Diego, is “very much impacting young men who are joining this male supremacist movement with claims of what true masculinity is.” Researchers are finding that the anti-feminist appeal to young male voters, instrumental in Trump’s recent election, is helping recruit people to the male supremacist movement.

This recruitment and indoctrination of men by these types of extremist groups is expanding, not just locally but across the globe, Rivas says.

For more about these Men’s Rights Activists go to SPLC website .

The OB Rag also interviewed criminologist and civil rights attorney Brian Levin who provided  information on the hate trends from 2025, when President Donald Trump entered office. Levin is projecting we will be seeing a drop in reported hate crimes in San Diego and elsewhere.

By Sarah K. Burris / AlterNet / January 22, 2026 

Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday where he clarified some details that Republicans have tried to use as talking points against him.

Legal, analyst, reporters and commentators took to social media to attack the questioning of Smith.

“Republicans on House Judiciary don’t want answers from Jack Smith. They keep on interrupting him as he responds to their questions,” said legal analyst Katie Phang.

“Jack Smith reminds us that the cases against Trump were dismissed ‘without prejudice.’ Meaning they could be brought again,” legal analyst and podcast host Allison Gill, of @MuellerSheWrote pointed out.

National security analyst Marcy Wheeler cited Rep. “Hank Johnson still has it: While we’re deposing Marshall Miller (the guy who got Jack Smith hired) perhaps we can depose Donald Trump why he hired his personal lawyer to run DOJ.”

By Frances Vinall, Arelis R. Hernández and Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post / Jan. 22, 2026

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo instructs agents and officers that they can enter a person’s home to arrest them without a judicial warrant, a move that immigration lawyers and advocates say violates the Constitution.

The memo was included in a disclosure to senators by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal organization, based on information provided by two of their clients, government employees who are not named in the document. It requests that lawmakers investigate its claims. The memo was separately shared with The Washington Post and was first reported by the Associated Press.

Several people with direct knowledge confirmed the directive existed but said they did not know whether it was widely shared within the agency.

The policy was issued in May and has been carried out in places such as Texas, the disclosure alleges. The Post could not independently confirm where it has been put into practice.

The memo, signed by Todd M. Lyons, acting director of ICE, gives the agency broad authority to enter homes to arrest immigrants. Officers are instructed that they can use a Form I-205 to force entry into a private residence. A Form I-205 is signed by an immigration enforcement official and authorizes an arrest following a final order of removal.

ICE OUT FOR GOOD — San Diego County Solidarity Actions & Nationwide Minnesota Day of Action

Friday, January 23, there are coordinated rallies and calls for boycotts across San Diego County as part of “ICE Out for Good”, aligned with the broader Minnesota Solidarity Day of Action opposing recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and demanding accountability, community safety, and human rights protection.

These local actions are connected to nationwide demonstrations and economic solidarity efforts responding to the federal ICE enforcement surge in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renée Good — an unarmed civilian killed by a federal ICE agent during heightened immigration enforcement activity earlier this month — which has sparked widespread protests and national outrage.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY ACTION SCHEDULE — JANUARY 23, 2026

There are more and more calls to invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment as Donald Trump’s poor mental state becomes more and more obvious. These calls have accelerated since Trump’s deranged statements and efforts to seize Greenland. The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of a president if certain substantive criteria are met.

As Josh Fiallo at the  Daily Beast on Jan. 20 reported

Trump, 79, posted 33 times in 45 minutes on Tuesday [Jan.20], claiming he “has done more for NATO” than anyone and sharing conspiracies about Dominion voting machines, non-existent voter fraud, and a clip of his 2017 Inaugural address, among other things.

The flood of posts, which come as he threatens to shatter relations with longstanding European allies by demanding that the United States seize Greenland from Denmark, immediately renewed calls for his removal from power.

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger asked on BlueSky, “Are we watching a real-time mental health crisis with Trump?” shortly after Trump’s mad barrage ended. “Seriously.” …

The last time the president confronted chatter about the 25th Amendment, it was in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6.

Here is text of message Trump sent to Norway’s leader:

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

By  Steve Benen/ MS Now / Jan. 20, 2026

It was a message that might as well have been written in crayon. A day after Donald Trump announced new tariffs on several European countries — economic penalties that would remain in place, he said, until his demands to acquire Greenland were met — the president sent a truly ridiculous message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, in which the Republican suggested part of his Greenland crusade is rooted in his failure to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

In fact, according to Trump, because Norway hurt his feelings by failing to give him an award he wanted but did not earn, he no longer feels “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

In a written statement, Støre said that he’s tried to explain to Trump “on several occasions” that the Norwegian government is not responsible for the decisions made by the independent Nobel Committee. The American president, however, continues to insist that Støre is lying, that the Norwegian government is secretly in charge of the honors, and that all of this has something to do w

Stop the development of the Turquoise Tower/Vela project in Pacific Beach

The Issue

The proposed Turquoise Tower/Vela project has raised significant concerns among the residents of Pacific Beach. Bird Rock, La Jolla and surrounding beach communities. Plans for this 23-story structure, at 970 Turquoise Street, pose multiple threats to the community’s well-being and local character.

Before any approvals are issued, the public deserves transparency and a fair opportunity to review the facts. We’re are asking the City of San Diego to publish the baseline calculations and assumptions being used to justify the project’s size and intensity and state in writing the approval path being used (ministerial vs. discretionary) and the basis for that decision. The city must not issue approvals until this information is public and the community has had a reasonable opportunity to review it.

Traffic congestion is a serious issue that this massive project will only make worse. The area is already challenged by heavy traffic and the addition of such a large development on a narrow two-lane road will bring more vehicles, leading to longer commutes, increased pollution, and a heightened risk of accidents.

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine / Jan. 16, 2026

CalAware Founder and open government champion Joseph Terrence “Terry” Francke died December 24 with his wife, Carolyn “Muffy” Francke at his side.

As cofounder and long-time general counsel of Californians Aware (CalAware), Francke fought for the rights of the public and press to access information, court actions and public meetings of government bodies.His legal advice led to numerous reforms across California, including interventions that led to improved public access at boards and agencies in San Diego and East County.

He also served as general counsel to the First Amendment Coalition and as legal counsel for the  California Newspaper Publishers Association, as well as a newspaper editor, school district information officer, and public affairs officer for the U.S. Marines.

JW August, a past CalAware president,  former investigative producer for NBC 7and senior producer for the investigative team at ABC 10 News, [and current writer for the Rag] praises Francke as a “warrior for the First Amendment,” as well as a friend and mentor who helped “smaller publications and bigger ones that may have run into a legal wall…Any reporter, any editor, any citizen could call him and get experienced help.”