We had the Candidates Forum last Saturday, the No Camps Statewide action on Monday, and a highly attended Ridgecrest City Council meeting with public comment on Flock and the Data Center on Wednesday.
If you were unable to join us at the Candidates Forum, you can listen to the speeches on our YouTube page.
Data Center Opposition
Permits are under review for the RB Inyokern Data Center. Reports will be released mid-May and the subject will be on the agenda for the June 3rd Ridgecrest City Council meeting. The goal for the meeting would be for the City of Ridgecrest to take a stance and write a strongly worded letter.
The decision for the Data Center’s approval will be made at the county level. It will be important that this is a county wide effort to put a stop to Data Centers being opened up in our area and impacting our health, energy, and water bills. And once one gets approved, it opens up the floodgates for the rest of the county.
The group, Taxpayers for Accountability of our Groundwater, has hosted a few meetings at John’s Pizza regarding the groundwater issues and one of the topics was the Data Center. Their mission is mainly against the Pipeline and to elect a new city council to oppose it. Like Flock, both liberals and conservatives are against the Data Center for different reasons. We need to come together as a community on this topic and make all the points against the Data Center known.
To learn more about the issue, here’s a link to a Fact vs Fiction slidedeck on Data Centers.
Please write to our local representatives to oppose the Data Center. Our elected officials and county officials need to know people are against this topic.
- CEC Project Manager: STEPsiting@energy.ca.gov
- Kern County Planning: planning@kerncounty.com
- Kern County Supervisor Phillip Peters: district1@kerncounty.com
- State Senator Shannon Grove (SD-12): senator.grove@senate.ca.gov
- Ridgecrest City Council : citycouncil@ridgecrest-ca.gov
- Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority: akeigwin@rgs.ca.gov
No Camps California: Cal-City
Newsom’s press team had the gall to post on social media cheering that the ICE detention center in Florida closed down, but has allowed 8 to open up in his own state. I normally don’t comment on people’s posts, but the hypocrisy was too much to ignore. As Californians, we might feel comfortable that our elected officials will take care of the Democratic values. But it is this comfort that makes us complacent and less motivated to take action.
It may feel like our country is being led by clowns who don’t know what they’re doing. That they’re just creating chaos and we don’t need to take them seriously. But the fact is they are creating real harm. The reality surrounding the ICE detention centers in California is a stark reality.
I know it’s hard just surviving, and the rational thing would be to block out everything else and focus on your own family. But we can’t look away. Not when people of all ages, from toddlers to grandparents, are suffering and dying in cages. Study from the Kaiser Family Foundation (formally Kaiser Permanente) found that 46 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office in his 2nd term.
This winter, people detained in Cal-City were denied blankets and were punished for putting socks on their hands when they were cold. The conditions are purposefully bad to try and force people to self deport and say goodbye to their families. 80% of people being detained have no criminal record and yet, they are being treated as though they do. They are made to wear orange jumpsuits, share a prison cell, are denied healthcare, made to live in fear of their rights being taken away and of physical harm. We need to stop pretending that things will be alright without doing any work to make things happen.
Please write to our representatives to support the SB995 bill that would require health inspections of Detention Centers just like any other business.
You can donate to help detainees in Cal-City and Kern through KWESI, checks can be made and mailed to: KWESI, PO Box 822, Bakersfield, CA 93302. Your donation goes towards people being able to get food from the canteens inside the detention centers. The food served at Cal-City has been reported to have a foul odor as if it is spoiled and there has been mold on the bread.
The Gubernatorial Election
The governor’s race is a tough one with too many candidates that want the glory in fixing California. In our jungle primary system, the top 2 candidates in the primary will be on the ballot in November. Not the top for each party. For a while there was a possibility that 2 Republicans would be on the ballot in November, but things have changed since the surfacing of the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell and the debates hosted. When looking at all the polls together, currently there will be a close race between Steve Hilton (R), Xavier Becerra (D), Chad Bianco (R), and Tom Steyer (D).
As the debates press on, the polls will change and more candidates will hopefully drop out within the next couple weeks. After candidates drop, their supporters may gravitate towards someone other than the top runner which changes the distribution. Keep an eye on the polls at: https://ca-gov-polls.vercel.app/
Wait until the last possible chance you have to either drop off your ballot at your precinct’s polling place or at an official ballot drop box (Superior Court, Ballot Drop Box, 132 E Coso Ave.) There’s been talk that Trump may try to interfere with the post office, so be aware that there are these two other options.
In the News, ICE:
- Axios: Study finds ICE hurts US born workers
- The Guardian: Afghans who assisted US forces to be sent to the DRC
- IBT: People pepper sprayed in Detention Centers
- HuffPost: Watchdog Office For Immigration Detention Abuses Closes:
- CalMatters: Another ICE detention center opens in California
- CBS News: Woman continues to be detained even after case dismissal