Cable Mergers and The Media 6

Everything Will Be Alright Episode 9: Project Censored

Project Censored is a Journalist Education Project from Arizona State University.
In the 'realm of concision' we can't have complex thoughts. Sober dialog and discourse is impossible with people who are incapable of listening due to brain damage. Deep focus is gone, and this will reach a crisis in the next generation. Citizen journalists need to develop trust among communities. Eliminate anonymity by speaking face to face, so that social consequences are imposed upon those who lack critical thinking and compassion. Fear is not a bad thing, courage is not the absence of fear, it is the acceptance of fear and the will to move forward.

iNewsSource nails it again on KPBS: Mayoral Candidate Finances (before the election)

inewssource.org

Sources:

1. state salaries posted online
2. glassdoor.com
3. most recently filed tax return
4. Tax returns
5. Faulconer’s 2012 Statement of Economic Interests
6. Faulconer's 2007 financial disclosure form 
7. Public records
8. Alvarez says he has no other sources of income, and his most recent economic disclosure form lists no investments
9. San Diego CityBeat reported an old roster from the yacht club lists Faulconer as the owner of a 19-foot powerboat named Everlasting Moon, 2008 Jeep Commander Hemi and 2003 Mercedes E320, house at 3330 Quimby Street in Point Loma.

How We Did It

• To determine if either candidate owned property in San Diego County, we started with theAssessor/Recorder’s Grantor-Grantee index. This website enables the public to search for property records by name and retrieve document numbers.
• Unfortunately, it doesn’t include information on the location of properties, mortgage amounts, or any other details. For all of that, we had to spend many hours in the San Diego County Assessor’s Office at 1600 Pacific Highway in San Diego.
• Trust deeds refer to loans on property--whether it’s a first, second or third mortgage, a line of credit or a refinance. There were also reconveyances, which usually mean a loan was paid off by the homeowners or another bank purchased it as part of a refinance. Lastly, there were records showing the couple had transferred the property between themselves and Faulconer’s trusts.
• With each home’s parcel number, which is listed on their trust deeds, we also found property details using SANDAG’s interactive maps.
• To see if the candidates or their spouses were currently listed on the boards of directors or as highest paid employees of nonprofit organizations, we used a new tool at CitizenAudit.org, which enables the public to search the most recent annual reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. There were no matches.
• To find possible connections to publicly traded companies, such as positions on boards of directors, we used the Security and Exchange Commission’s full text search. It contains records filed during the past four years. We did not find any reference to either candidate or their wives, though the search for Alvarez was more tricky since his name is so common. The California Secretary of State also offers a similar records search online, and it also provided no matches.
• Since both candidates are currently on the City Council, they must file financial disclosure forms known as Form 700s. We reviewed these forms, which are available online at theCalifornia Fair Political Practices Commission.
• The most recent disclosure for Alvarez showed his wife earned between $10,000 and $100,000 working for Nativity Prep Academy in 2011. She is not listed as one of the highest paid employees on the nonprofit group’s tax filings, which we searched using the websiteGuideStar.com.
• Faulconer’s 2012 disclosure form showed he had up to $10,000 in stock invested in San Diego-based ImageWear Systems Inc., which has federal contracts and a partnership with a local defense contractor. Faulconer also reported his wife’s business, Restaurant Events Inc., an event planning company in downtown San Diego, brought in between $100,001 and $1 million in 2012.
• We searched for both candidates and their spouses in San Diego County Superior Court Records, which are available online.
• We also sent questionnaires to Faulconer and Alvarez asking them for the information printed here. We verified the information that was publicly available.

Kevin Faulconer Thugs steal David Alvarez Signs in dead of night

http://youtu.be/kUh-M_hsr3I

6:39 AM, Saturday, January 25th, 2014

At dawn, I was on my way to the Morena/Linda Vista Trolley Station to catch a ride to class, when I hear the screeching of tires and a honking car. I look across the intersection to see a white pick-up truck has driven, illegally, across the bike path and median separator, and parked with one wheel on the sidewalk. The honking car was following it through the intersection, and had to break hard, because, as the truck slowed, they nearly collided.

The driver parks, then exits his truck, walks over to a telephone poll, and tears off an 8' X 4' David Alvarez for Mayor sign. When I realized what he was doing, I pulled out my cell phone, as quickly as I could, to video record. Then the driver stashed the sign in the bed of his truck, jumped in, and drove away, back over the median, off the bike lane, and East, onto Friars Rd. As he drove away, I saw him pull into the second parking lot at the Mission Valley YMCA, so I followed him hoping to get better pictures of his license plate. 

When I confronted the driver, he was reluctant to talk to me, as you can see from the video. He had multiple 8' X 4' Alvarez for Mayor signs in the bed of this truck, along with a few Alvarez yard signs. He was a member of the Mission Valley YMCA and was obviously unhappy to see me. The license plate number of his late-model, white, Ford F150, Truck is 69567L1. The unmarked truck looked like a City fleet vehicle, or a contractor's truck. I wish I could run the plates, and find out who this creep works for? 

The driver wouldn't give me his name, but he immediately started dialing his cell phone, and a SECOND white F150 truck pulled up and parked a few spaces away, and THAT driver started filming ME! Who are these guys? They are traveling around before dawn, in groups, stealing David Alvarez for Mayor signs?

They were obviously coordinated, and they were both middle aged, white men, with time to go sign hunting before dawn on a Saturday. They were willing to steal signs right in front of the Northern Area Police District HQ, across from a San Diego Police Station! This is creepy. Kevin Faulconer must be desperate. 

I later called the Police to report the crime, and they told me that only DAVID ALVAREZ himself could press charges, since he was the actual victim of the crime. This is a sick twist in the law. Kevin Faulconer can hire these thugs to steal Alvarez signs all night long and no one can do anything about it! 

Please, help me make this video viral in San Diego. If you know someone who can run the plate number, or who can identify the man (he's a member of the Mission Valley YMCA) report it to the David Alvarez for Mayor campaign office, so he can press charges. I'm willing to be a witness and testify in court. 

Who does this? Faulkner already has the money of the business developers, and he will stoop to this level to beat young David Alvarez? If this is the kind of "leadership" that Kevin Faulkner will bring to the Mayor's Office, then we are doomed. When the privileged, rich, business Republican is so insecure that the gets his friends to steal his opponents signs, in the dead of night, then you know he has deeper issues, dirty issues.

INewsSource.org gets serious about exposing the tools to expose political corruption

In this GREAT report from "INewsSource.org" they tell us just how to research a news report and find out who is responsible for corrupting our democracy.
http://inewsource.org/unravel-san-diego-campaign-finance-scandal/

From the above FBI complaint identify the Foreign National, the PAC and the Candidate.:

1. Around May 2012, Ernesto Encinas and the unnamed “Foreign National” created a PAC (Political Action Committee). 2. Encinas invested $3,000 into this PAC and the Foreign National invested $100,000 “through a United States-based shell corporation. 3. ”This PAC spent $114,000 in favor of “Candidate 1, a candidate for the office of mayor of San Diego during the 2012 primary election cycle. 4. "Between May 20 and May 31, 2012, the PAC spent approximately $86,000 on mailers and related services. 

Use: City Clerk’s website, Wysk.com, the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer, an online tool for tracking money in politics.

San Diego Media Pros

The local chapter meeting of "Media Communication Association - International" ( http://www.mca-i.org ), SAN DIEGO MEDIA PROS ( http://www.sdmediapros.org ), covering Constant Contact email administration.

Join MCA-International and attend the local meetings in San Diego.

The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.

Enacted on July 4, 1966, and taking effect one year later, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records (or portions of them) are protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. A FOIA request can be made for any agency record. Before sending a request to a federal agency, you should determine which agency is likely to have the records you are seeking. Each agency’s website will contain information about the type of records that agency maintains.

Open Government 

FOIA is an integral part of creating an open and transparent government. On his first full day in office, President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government calling for unprecedented openness and transparency in government and declaring “Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.”