California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition calling for an investigation into raids targeting Latino voting rights organizers in Texas. Photo: P360P
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multi-state coalition in a letter calling on the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) to open an investigation into recent raids by the Texas Attorney General's Office targeting Latino voting rights organizers, candidates for public office, and community volunteers.
The above, to determine whether these raids constitute violations of civil rights, including the right to vote.
Under the pretext of monitoring unfounded claims of voter fraud, the Texas Attorney General's Office raided the homes of Latino candidates and voting rights organizers and seized property from the homes of elderly volunteers.
Bonta said these raids targeting minority voters, weeks before early voting, hurt all Americans by causing confusion, sowing fear and suppressing turnout.
The letter requests the US DOJ's Civil Rights Division to investigate the Texas raids to determine whether they constitute civil rights violations.
“Using fear and baseless accusations to attack people of color is unacceptable and un-American,” Bonta said.
“I am committed to defending the civil rights of all Americans, particularly as it relates to the fundamental right to vote. Our democracy is stronger when everyone participates, and they must be able to do so free from fear and intimidation. My office is prepared to protect the rights of all voters,” she added.
The letter stresses that there is very little actual evidence of voter fraud anywhere in the United States and notes that the raids are “just the latest iteration of a long-standing pattern of using baseless allegations of voter fraud to intimidate voters of color.”
The letter also notes that the Texas raids took place as the country is currently “awash with attempts to set the stage for false claims that the upcoming election is fraudulent.”
Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New York, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
Former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will appear at a fundraising event in San Mateo County. Photo: Gage Skidmore. Wikimedia commons
Former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will appear at a private fundraising event in Woodside on Friday in San Mateo County.
The pricey evening reception ranges from $500,000 per couple to $150,000 per person for big donors, and photo opportunities cost between $35,000 and $70,000, depending on the invitation.
Regular attendees will pay between $3,300 and $10,000 to participate.
According to the San Mateo County Republican Party, a We The People California rally will coincide with Trump's fundraiser. It will begin at 9 a.m. and attendees are asked to meet at El Camino Park, 155 El Camino Real in Palo Alto.
Groups like Moms for America will walk through the area and then join the “Trump Train” to Woodside to welcome the former president’s motorcade.
San Mateo County proclaimed the National Hispanic Heritage Month with the purpose of celebrating the cultural diversity of this community, and within this framework it was established September 17 is National Voter Registration Day, which seeks to provide local voters with timely information and get them involved in the election process.
The proclamations they made during the Council meeting, where an urgent call was made for people to pre-register for the elections before the elections, said sociologist Anna Lee Mraz during the radio program Hecho en California in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
As part of this proclamation, Yahaira Ortega, equity policy manager at Thrive Alliance, commented that it is very important that people register to be informed of what is happening or else they will not be able to vote.
“I was very excited because this is already being talked about at the local level. I am very excited that they want people from other towns to have important information about the electoral processes,” said Yahaira Ortega.
In the second proclamation it was designated that from September 15 to October 15 be the National Hispanic Heritage Month Locally, this is an important fact, since 40 percent of the population of San Mateo County is Latino, said Anna Lee Mraz.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
The Casa Círculo Cultural organization was founded in 2009 to address the lack of cultural events and programs in Spanish. As part of its contribution to the Hispanic community, last year they held their Day of the Dead event with Mayan culture as its main theme. The event was attended by the supervisor for District 2 of San Mateo County, Noelia Corzo, who recognized the value of remembering Latin roots in these celebrations.
The two proclamations are relevant because, on the one hand, there is the registry of flyers that must be available to everyone and the Hispanic Heritage Month that seeks to recognize the importance of the Latino population, “making the invisible visible, a time to reflect on our roots and our history,” said Mraz.
These proclamations recognized two organizations that have been contributing to the San Mateo County community in both areas for years: El Concilio, a community organization committed to increasing education, employment, and access to quality of life services for underserved communities in San Mateo County, and Casa Círculo Cultural, which has been working for and with county residents for 15 years.
The Casa Círculo Cultural organization was founded in 2009 to address the lack of cultural events and programs in Spanish. As part of its contribution to the Hispanic community, they held their Day of the Dead event last year, which had Mayan culture as its main theme.
Knockout in the second presidential debate in the United States. Blow after blow, Kamala Harris He knocked down Donald Trump, a contender who, although widely followed, could not stand up to the truths and answers that his Democratic opponent showed at every opportunity.
In a sober business suit, perfect for the occasion, and with unflappable confidence, Kamala Harris entered the room prepared for this debate at the National Constitution Center, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event began at 6:00 p.m. (San Francisco time) with Kamala heading over to where Donald Trump was to greet him. A clear sign that there was no fear.
Again and again, from the beginning, Harris put Trump on the ropes, who became increasingly angry and sought to hit Kamala at any cost, who, smiling and at times serious, responded and made it clear that the vast majority of what Donald had said was “fake news.”
It was 90 minutes of back-and-forth, and while it gave Harris the race, it might not have much influence on voters' decisions.
Round 1 “Economy”
Kamala Harris noted that 16 Nobel laureates have said Trump's plan would increase inflation and push the country into a recession.
According to Politifact, this is mostly true, with the group of economists noting: “We believe a second Trump term would have a negative impact on America’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S. domestic economy.”
Harris added that Trump wants a “20 percent tax on everyday goods” that would cost families “about $4,000 more a year.”
Trump has proposed a universal tariff of “10-20 percent” on all U.S. imports, from cars and electronics to wine, food products and many other goods. He has also proposed a 60 percent tariff on imports from China.
Independent economists say the proposed import tariffs would undoubtedly result in higher prices for American consumers overall. But the precise financial impact on families is difficult to predict, and estimates vary widely — from $1,700 in additional annual costs per household to nearly $4,000, according to the study. Trump has not called for any tax increases on American families.
Trump said: “We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in the history of our nation.”
While that is not true, it was high. At the beginning of Joseph Biden's presidency, the annual inflation rate peaked at around 9 percent (June 2022), but it is not the highest ever reached, as in different periods it has reached a maximum of 14.5 percent.
The inflation rate for July 2024 is 2.9 percent annually, the lowest in three years.
Round 2 “Migration”
Harris claimed Trump “killed” the bill that would have secured the border, and that’s true.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a $20 billion plan to substantially bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
This bill would have added hundreds of Border Patrol and ICE agents and asylum officers; funded construction of a new border wall; expanded detention centers; ended “catch and release”; closed the border entirely when illegal crossings surge; and increased the level of asylum applications.
The influential Border Patrol union, which had previously backed Trump, publicly backed the bill. But hours after the draft legislation was released on Feb. 5, Trump urged his party to oppose the bill, even though many Republicans have spent years pushing for some of the security measures included in the deal.
In a badly delivered jab, Trump claimed that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Ohio.
“In Springfield, Ohio, they are eating the dogs, the people who came here, they are eating the cats. They are eating, they are eating the pets of the people who live there,” the Republican said during the debate.
A spokesperson for Springfield, Ohio, told ABC News that there have been “no credible reports or specific allegations of pets being harmed, injured or mistreated by individuals in the immigrant community.”
According to the Springfield News-Sun, the Springfield Police Department has not received any reports of stolen and eaten pets. The city even created a Web page which refutes some claims.
Trump noted that “millions and millions of people…come into our country every single month. I think it’s 21 million people.” False.
During the Biden administration, immigration officials have encountered immigrants illegally crossing the U.S. border about 10 million times. However, encounters are not the same as admissions. Encounters represent events, so a person trying to cross the border twice counts as two encounters. Also, not everyone they encounter is allowed into the country.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that about 4 million encounters have resulted in removals or deportations.
“Crime in Venezuela… has gone down a lot because they have taken their criminals off the streets and handed them over to her [Harris] to bring into our country,” Trump said.
There is no evidence that Venezuela is doing this. Crime levels have decreased in the country, but experts say this is due to the state of the economy, and the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence said there is no money to steal.
"Crime is falling in Venezuela because of a reduction in opportunities to commit crimes: bank robberies are disappearing because there is no money to steal; kidnappings are falling because there is no cash to pay ransoms," the organisation told BBC Verify.
Round 3 “abortion”
As if all this were not enough, Donald Trump has entered into a difficult and intricate area: abortion in the United States.
Linsey Davis, the moderator of this debate, said to Donald Trump: “Vice President Harris says that women should not trust you on the issue of abortion because you have changed your position so many times. So why should they trust you?”
Trump did not hesitate to respond: “The previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who is doing an excellent job, but the previous governor said that ‘the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with it. ’ In other words, ‘we will execute the baby. ’”
The former president took out of context what former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who is also a physician, said in a 2019 statement to radio station WTOP, where he said, verbatim, “When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother, obviously, and with the consent of doctors, more than one doctor, by the way, and they are done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that is not viable.”
During the debate, Trump accused the Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States, Tim Walz, of defending that “abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” adding “(Walz) says that execution after birth is fine [but] it is execution, not abortion anymore, because the baby has been born. And that does not seem right to me.”
Trump’s accusations are baseless, as there is no evidence that Walz has publicly advocated “ninth-month abortion,” while The Washington Post also claimed that Walz has made no such statements, while the moderator stated on air that “there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after birth.”
ABC itself has published the same clarification on its website, stressing that “infanticide is illegal in all 50 states,” making it clear that Trump’s claims are unfounded.
What is certain is that, during this election campaign, the Republican leader has said that he would leave the limits on access to abortion to the decision of each state. This is already happening in the United States after the Supreme Court overturned in 2022 the historic Roe vs Wade ruling of 1973, which recognized for the first time the constitutional right of women to abortion without restrictions during the first trimester of pregnancy.
The 90-minute debate undoubtedly provided Trump with an opportunity to expand on his lies, both on climate change, elections, war, foreign relations, medical aid and even his assassination attempt.
It remains to be seen whether these two contenders for the US presidency will have another debate. What is certain is that, once again, voters were left wanting to know more about the plans of both for the next 4 years if they win the elections, and how this will help the inhabitants of the American union.
Following the retirement of Redwood City Fire Chief Ray Iverson, the city is currently searching for his successor. Credit: Redwood City Fire Department
After a distinguished 33-year career in the fire service profession, Redwood City Fire Chief Ray Iverson announced his retirement on August 8, prompting the city to search for his successor, who is expected to begin his duties in December of this year.
The city will begin an open hiring process this fall with the intent of naming a new fire chief before Iverson retires, and has hired Teri Black and Company, a leading public sector executive recruiting firm, to conduct the search.
However, not everything will be left to the decision of this firm, as the city council wants to listen to the community and learn from its residents about the experience and necessary characteristics that the next fire chief must have.
As part of the selection process, City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz is seeking community input on the experience and characteristics needed in the next fire chief.
Community members can provide information in a variety of ways.
Through a community survey, which is available online or in paper form by visiting any of the City's facilities, including the Downtown Library (1044 Middlefield Road), the Schaberg Branch Library (2140 Euclid Avenue), and the Redwood Shores Branch Library (399 Marine Parkway).
As well as the Veterans Memorial Senior Center (1455 Madison Avenue), the Community Activities Building (1400 Roosevelt Avenue) and the Fair Oaks Community Center (2600 Middlefield Road). The survey is available in English and Spanish.
Interested parties can also provide feedback at the City Hall booth during Fiestas Patrias on September 15 at 3:00 p.m. at Courthouse Square (2200 Broadway Street, Redwood City).
The APPI community can make a difference in the upcoming elections, as many voters will be participating in their first elections.
Listen to this note:
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing constituency in the United States. More than 15 million of them will be eligible to vote on November 5, many of them for the first time, so this segment of the population could make a difference, yet little is said about their needs.
“This segment of the population has grown quite a bit, representing the margin of victory,” said Shekar Narasimhan, founder and president of the AAPI Victory Fund, speaking from the battleground state of Michigan, during a briefing held by Ethnic Media Services.
Narasimhan said that around 1.75 million people from the APPI community are eligible to vote and the total margin of victory of the voters in 2020 in the presidential elections in seven states was 385 thousand votes.
In 2020, she said, there was a virtual campaign and AAPI communities are among the most active on social media, but the community was not directly reached because the media is not channeled and there are low information barriers.
To present real needs, they approach people directly, speaking about migration, visa issues, public policies for the community, housing, health, and more.
“The action is important because it not only determines the future of who is in the White House, but the enthusiasm that comes from having someone whose mother was born in India, so has roots in India, in South Asia, is significant,” Narasimhan concluded.
Christine Chen, CEO of APIAVote, discussed some of the key findings from a survey of the Asian American voter, commenting that as of 2020, the number of car registrants is growing at a rate of 1.28 times that of the voting-age population of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders — in other words, those over the age of 18 and U.S. citizens.
In 2020, 21 percent of Asian American voters who turned out to vote were first-time voters, which was even higher in battleground states, where, for example, in Georgia, 26 percent of the vote was from the AAPI community.
Chen said that 90 percent of this community is still thinking about voting, in 2022, 73 percent of the community decided to vote early or by mail.
“We continue to see some shifts, but Democrats continue to gain ground among Asian American voters at 42 percent, 31 percent are independent voters, and now 22 percent identify as Republican. Now, when you take those who say they are independent, it actually drops to 19 percent, while 28 percent identify as Republican, the three largest ethnic communities,” Chen said.
Chinese, Indian and Japanese Americans are the top three ethnic communities, and 50 percent of this population has said they have never been contacted by Democrats.
Mohan Seshadri, executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance of Pennsylvania, said they have implemented a year-long voter outreach program, the largest in the country, that was successful in not only electing the governor and Senator Federman, but also winning the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the process and they are going to do the Asian American voter outreach program again this year.
“We’re going to knock on 500,000 doors in 22 languages, make 5 million phone calls, and send a million emails in the languages our community speaks with representation from our community leaders to meet every member of our community where they are and make sure they not only know how to vote in this critical election, but that they actually listen and fight for our communities,” Seshadri added.
He also assured that they will fight for the interests of the community and that voices will be heard in all areas of government and in all parts of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Tung Nguyen, president of PIVOT, The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization, explained that the Vietnamese American voting population has been the most conservative among AAPI communities.
In 2020 and 2022, they implemented a massive bilingual online advertising campaign in English and Vietnamese to persuade voters in swing states, which incorporated young Vietnamese American activists into bilingual online digital campaign organizations.
“We recently conducted some focus groups with these voters to understand where they are coming from. What we learned was that many young Vietnamese American voters are fully behind Harris, but some are abstaining mainly because of the situation in Gaza,” Nguyen said.
He said the goal is to reach every Vietnamese American voter online or through traditional Vietnamese media with English-language ads, many times, “we need to reach them where they are, whether in person or online, in the languages they speak and reach them with correct information on the issues they care about.”
Rina Shah, a Republican strategist who serves on the advisory board of the Renew Democracy Initiative, said that according to a 2024 Pew Research Center report, roughly 40 percent of Americans now consider themselves independents.
She noted that this is a community concerned about economic policies and educational equity, so she said both parties really need to engage more directly with these communities not just through targeted outreach, but also by specifically addressing their needs.
He added that in the 2020 election, many voters chose Biden for president but still supported Republican candidates for Congress.
In that regard, he noted that exit polls from that year show that approximately 9 percent of voters continue to support Republican candidates.
“At the end of the day, what I really want to leave everyone with is that if Republicans are not enthusiastic about their presidential options, but are still alive to the values of the party, they may continue to support Republican candidates for other offices,” concluded Rina Shah.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, of Nicaraguan and Mexican descent, officially inaugurated the new Sheriff's building on Monday, September 9. Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, of Nicaraguan and Mexican descent, officially inaugurated the building where the department's offices are centralized on Monday, September 9.
Located at 330 Bradford St. in Redwood City, the new sheriff's headquarters includes the Corpus dispatch as well as a dozen bureaus previously located in different locations around the county.
The new building is named after John Arrillaga Senior, the Silicon Valley real estate professional and philanthropist who died in 2022, whose foundation provided support and funding for its construction. Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P
The modern building is integrated into the Maguire Correctional Facility (the county jail) and was built on the site of the old prison, opposite the Hall of Justice, which until June housed the sheriff's offices.
The ceremony began at 10 a.m. with the raising of the American flag by Sheriff Christina Corpus' Honor Guard, who welcomed those present, after which Chaplain Delores Quigg blessed the facilities.
The ceremony began at 10 a.m. with the raising of the American flag by Sheriff Christina Corpus' Honor Guard, who welcomed those present, after which Chaplain Delores Quigg blessed the facilities. Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P
The sheriff, flanked by members of her staff, used a large pair of golden scissors to cut the ribbon in front of the main entrance to the new five-story building, which is named for John Arrillaga Senior, the Silicon Valley real estate professional and philanthropist who died in 2022 and whose foundation provided support and funding to help it be built.
The sheriff, flanked by members of her top brass, used a huge pair of golden scissors to cut the ribbon in front of the main entrance of the new five-story building. Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P
Corpus is the first female sheriff since San Mateo County and its police force were created in 1856.
In her speech, the sheriff recalled that her career began precisely there in 2002, when she joined the sheriff's office as a correctional officer at the county jail.
Corpus is the first female sheriff since both San Mateo County and its police force were created in 1856. Photo: Raul Ayrala P360PIn her speech, the sheriff recalled that her career began precisely there in 2002, when she joined the sheriff's office as a correctional officer at the county jail. Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P
She also mentioned that “it took 167 years for a woman to be elected sheriff, and the same amount of time for most of the divisions with direct contact with the community to be centralized under one roof.”
He said the new facilities would serve both to accommodate county citizens who need to complete paperwork in an appropriate environment, and to provide his office employees with a more modern and spacious workplace, which would result, he said, in well-being and better opportunities for career advancement.
According to the sheriff's office, the agency currently employs 800 law enforcement officers and civilian personnel whose mission is to provide police services to all cities in the county, Caltrain, SamTrans, the city of San Carlos and the towns of Woodside and Portola Valley, as well as investigative support to San Francisco International Airport.
Corpus also mentioned that “it took 167 years for a woman to be elected sheriff, and the same amount of time for most of the divisions with direct contact with the community to be centralized under one roof.” Photo: Raúl Ayrala P360P
The duties of the Sheriff's Office include protecting life and property, preserving the peace among citizens, enforcing the laws of the State of California and county ordinances, preventing crime, supporting positive youth development, apprehending criminals, supervising and caring for prisoners, coordinating emergency services, and providing security at courthouses, hospitals, and other county offices.
Following racist and hateful interruptions during public comment at open meetings across the Bay Area last year, the Redwood City Council changed its procedures to move comments online until further notice — a move that has had unintended negative consequences.
In light of this, this Monday, September 9, at 6:00 p.m., the Redwood City Council will consider updating the City Council's Activities and Communications Guide.
Families with children are often unable to attend city council meetings in person because they put their children to bed at meeting time, while many workers, especially those in the food industry, are busy, and elderly and/or disabled people have mobility issues or feel unsafe driving at night.
Despite this and the additional barriers to in-person participation, the City Council Governance Subcommittee does not recommend ending the suspension of virtual public comment.
The question is: Should the Council restore access to virtual public comment for families with children, working families, seniors, and people with disabilities?
“I recognize that a small group of individuals have abused the online public comment space with white supremacist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and transphobic comments. I reaffirm that there is no place for hate in Redwood City,” Councilmember Chris Sturken (District 2) told Peninsula 360 Press.
The official said neighboring cities have mandated that the topic, i.e., city business, be kept on topic during public comment, which has successfully kept virtual public comment as an option.
“When we cave to a small group of hateful people, we let them win. They want to silence us, which limits public participation. Please consider the opportunity to conduct virtual public comment in Redwood City and keep the community voice present and inclusive,” Sturken stressed.
To support the return of remote public comment, Councilmembers have called for in-person public comment this Monday, September 9 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, located at 1017 Middlefield Road, or by emailing publiccomment@redwoodcity.org before 5:00 p.m. this Monday.
The world is eager for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to crush Donald J. Trump at the polls and advance the keynesianism with which the Joe Biden administration opened, promising to prioritize the well-being of workers.
As if having a candidate wasn't enough felon, a showcase of imperial decadence, if Trump wins, the ethics and morals of Steven Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Miller, Elon Musk, Pieter Thiel and others who are betting on the coronation of Trump as king of the techno monarchy that, with a strong anchor in Silicon Valley, wants to continue with the privatization of everything, would burst onto the scene.
If the United States wants to get out of the hole and out of processes of cultural death and political collapse, it will have to impose regulations, end monopolies and make companies pay taxes, as Bernie Sanders says; otherwise, it will never be able to come close to the quality of life in some industrialized countries, nor will it eliminate the interventionism that has caused so much damage in the world.
Harris and Walz have offered to restore social mobility to the middle class and address the needs of workers, and have asked to wait to win in order to address the genocide in Palestine.
Women, youth, Black and Brown Power, and bourgeois, liberal and centre-left democratic forces feel represented by the platform, the quality of the arguments, and the know-how shown by Kamala Harris, her experience on the streets, in administration and with the people, which will allow her to demolish Trump in the debate, at the polls and in the exercise of government.
It would be a shift on par with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, which could turn the United States into something close to Scandinavia, as Michael Moore wants.
Discontent, the reading that Camilasbooks recommends this Saturday. One, where it says, more than one will feel identified with the situations that Beatriz Serrano, the author of this book, comments on, who tells us the story of Marisa.
When you have to be a responsible adult and start working, it is a big change in people's lives. Being in the working world has its pros and cons and there are times when you can't help but feel tired, have a kind of crisis and say that's enough, I don't want anything else.
That is what Camilasbooks recommends for this Saturday. One that, she says, more than one person will identify with the situations discussed by Beatriz Serrano, the author of this book, who tells us the story of Marisa, a woman in her thirties who lives anaesthetized by tranquilizers and YouTube videos to endure the routines and sorrows of her daily life in an advertising agency.
Marisa hates work. However, she can't leave it: she likes pretty things too much.
It all starts when the protagonist has a meeting that has been organized by the company where she works and where she will spend a weekend with her coworkers, which seems horrible to her and the truth is that it brings her quite a bit of anxiety before arriving at this event.
The story, Camilasbooks points out, is an x-ray of the crisis of any person who works and all the fears that can arise when one is starting out: loneliness, the need to create connections, the need to go out, to create moments that allow you to reconnect or recharge your energies so as not to throw everything out the window.
“That is what the book I am recommending to you today is about. It is a short novel full of humor and the truth is that it will make you have a very interesting and funny time, but it will also leave you with a feeling that will stay with you after finishing this story.”
“When you enter the world of work, you enter with many expectations, with a lot of energy, with the desire to take on the world, but things do not necessarily work out that way or stay that way over time, because when you enter the workforce, you experience a lot of changes, a readjustment in your daily life and, above all, also with the expectations that you have about the world in general.”
Without a doubt, this novel by Beatriz Serrano is one that will make you laugh and have a good time, as well as leaving you with a feeling of recognition.
If you want to know more about this book and others, don't miss Camilasbooks' reviews every Saturday on Península 360 Press.
