Tune into Friendly Fire a Voice For Veterans tonight to hear three Veteran’s For Peace members discuss the immigration crisis and the devastating impacts it’s having on our communities and families. Featuring US Army veteran Zahid Chaundry and his wife “courage changes the odds” Mellisa speaking about her new book on their fight for justice. Also joining in the conversation is James L. Brown, ll, a former US Marine and founder of Black Deported Veterans of America, who has for years worked to bring attention to the plight of deported veterans
WOMEN’S RADIO HOUR with Patricia Law Wed 5pm, Sat Noon, Sun 6pm
MARTHA SULLIVAN ON ANIMAL CRUELTY AND ANIMAL ADVOCACY AND WHAT YOU CAN DO
Patricia is in conversation with Martha Sullivan about how we think of animals both domestically and in the wild compared to how we think of our pets or even how we think of our favorite people in, for instance, sports. Their in-depth discussion includes our taking for granted the use of animals as entertainment while ignoring the abuse of animals in order to perform, how they are bred for performance, treated behind the scenes, how they are discarded when no longer able to perform and more. Martha and Patricia talk about the plight of animals at marine parks, horse-racing and rodeos. This eye-opening discussion also gives you information on what you can do to protect animals from abuse.
Martha Sullivan worked for the CA Public Utilities Commission from 1979-98, and spent the last several years there managing the CPUC’s environmental review process under the CA Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and in concert with Federal agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). After moving to San Diego County in 2001, Martha has been a grassroots community organizer, including co-founding the Coalition to Decommission San Onofre in 2012 (representing Women Occupy San Diego), and being on the CDSO Intervenor Team at the CPUC in 2013-14. As a member of Women Occupy San Diego, she helped to pass a Ballot Measure in 2020 for an independent Commission on Police Practices. Martha has also been an advocate for San Diegans experiencing homelessness, and has sheltered over 3 dozen herself since 2009, with 3 of these her housemates since 2020. Martha co-organizes Kill Racing Not Horses to educate the public on the cruelty of the horseracing industry and to support the end of live horse racing
A conversation about law, advocacy, and redemption with attorney Courtney JordanCourtney Jordan (Cherokee) is an attorney who built her expertise of federal Indian Law and tribal law serving in some of the highest levels of her profession. She is a former Assistant United States Attorney. She was also an Assistant Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation, and a Tribal Liaison for the State of Oklahoma. Her career was turned upside down after she was convicted of criminal charges and had her law license suspended following a hit-and-run and police chase in 2022. Her dogged advocacy for her own case exposed an undiagnosed medical condition even she was not aware of. After pleading guilty and serving her sentence, she was successful in having her license to practice reinstated. She founded her own law firm and has built a significant social media community breaking down complex legal cases into common-sense concepts. In this encore show, Jordan joins us for a conversation about her rise and fall and rise again in a demanding profession.
Robt O’Sullivan Schleith has hosted the monthly open reading for the Escondido Arts Partnership Art Gallery (Escondidoarts.org) since 2007 and publishes the annual Summation ekphrastic anthology, now in its eighteenth year; he serves as a regional editor of the San Diego Poetry Annual (sandiegopoetryannual.com, and has served as a poetry judge for the annual Eric Hoffer Prize since 2021. He previously published the ‘Drift Wood Highway’ series of poetry anthologies from 1999 through 2002, and is the (retired in 2003) founder of the San Diego Poetry Slam.
In addition to the SDPA, his work has appeared in Sun Runner Magazine, Dan River Press, Northwoods Press, Northern Virginia Review, Encinitas Quarterly and the City Works anthology (San Diego City College), as well as on a number of online sites like Poetry Super Highway.
He publishes under his mother’s maiden name O’Sullivan.
With Mike Aguirre and Co-host Arthur Aguirre LIVE Saturday at 11am
STEPHEN SKOWRONEK
Author of The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience. The book asks: “how adaptable is the American Constitution?” and “why, after a long history of adaptations, have we had such a hard time accommodating a fully inclusive polity in a stable and responsive set of governing arrangements?”
Stephen Skowronek is the Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political and Social Science at Yale University. In 2019, he served as the Wynant Visiting Professor at the Rothermere American Institute, Balliol College Oxford. He has also been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and he held the Chair in American Civilization at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His most recent book, The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience (2025), examines the democratization of the Constitution and the political and institutitonal difficulties encountered in adjusting a fully inclusive polity.
Skowronek’s reseach has focused on American national institutions and American political development. He has written extensively on the American presidency and the executive branch. His publications include Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive (with John Dearborn and Desmond King), The Policy State: An American Predicament (With Karen Orren), Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920 , The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton, The Search for American Political Development (with Karen Orren), and Presidential Leadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal (third edition 2020). Among other activities, he was co-founder of the journal Studies in American Political Development, which he co-edited between 1986 and 2007, and he provided the episode structure and thematic content for the PBS miniseries: The American President (Kunhardt Productions).
KNSJ’S COMMUNITY FIRST THURSDAY MEETING IS RESCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 AT THE PEACE RESOURCE CENTER IN SAN DIEGO, 7PM. PLENTY OF PARKING. MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR. LEARN ABOUT KNSJ AND OUR VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES RUNNING A RADIO STATION AND MUTIMEDIA PLATFORM IN SAN DIEGO, AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER.
California State Legislature Overriding the Rights and Votes of Local Voters
Guest Andrew Hollingworth
Patricia and Andrew are in conversation about how legislation can be passed at the state level in Sacramento overriding wishes of local residents. Their conversation includes discussion of California bills SB958 and SB344. Information is also provided on contacting your state representatives.
Bill on CA Governor’s desk would end jail for minor infractions Both houses of the California state legislature recently approved a bill to ban the practice of issuing bench warrants for minor infractions that are not jailable offenses. Comments from Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D – Long Beach), a co-author on the bill; and from Jhumpa Bhattacharya, (JOOM-puh BUH-tah-CHAR-ee-uh) co-founder and co-president of the Maven Collaborative, a nonprofit that works for economic justice.
A California bill aiming to stop the practice of jailing people for minor infractions is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Assembly Bill 2122 would prevent courts from issuing bench warrants for a failure to appear in court or pay a fine for a low-level traffic or civil offense.
Asm. Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, a co-author of the bill, said courts should rely on bank levies, wage garnishments or tax intercepts instead.
“It doesn’t make financial sense because arrests often cost taxpayers more to arrest somebody than what they actually owe. Taking someone into custody takes limited law enforcement personnel and resources away from the more serious cases,” Lowenthal explained.
The California Sheriff’s Department Association opposes the bill, arguing it would remove an important tool which encourages people to appear in court or pay their fines. The measure would apply to driving offenses such as a broken taillight or an illegal U-turn, or to civil infractions like sleeping on a public bench or fishing without a license.
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, cofounder and copresident of the economic justice nonprofit Maven Collaborative, which cosponsored the bill, said jailing people over minor offenses can unfairly cause them to lose their job and be unable to pay rent, destabilizing communities. Bhattacharya added poverty and over-policing in neighborhoods of color mean it is an issue of racial and economic justice.
“In San Francisco County, even though Black people make up just about 6% of the population, about 50% of those who are arrested for failure to appear were Black. In Los Angeles County, 90% of the thousands of folks that were arrested were Black or Latinx,” Bhattacharya pointed out.
The bill’s supporters said many people who fail to show up for a court date have trouble getting time off of work, have transportation issues or are afraid to encounter ICE agents. A dozen counties in California already forgo the use of bench warrants for minor infractions.
A Florida grand jury finds the DeSantis administration ‘misappropriated’ funds from Medicaid settlement, Texas lawmakers urged to address the rising cost of childcare, and anti-war groups decry a record $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request.
2026 Talks – August 31, 2026 Martin Luther King III commemorates the March on Washington, close polls are helping heat up New Hampshire’s Senate race and U.S. colleges brace for the loss of international students.
