OB Rag

Come inside to find all the No King events from across San Diego County. Volunteer-led events will help residents register, check their registration status, and make a plan to vote ahead of the November election

On Saturday, Oct. 17, volunteers across San Diego County and Temecula will hold 21 “No Kings: Vote Early” events, marking what organizers call the next phase of the “No Kings” movement: channeling the power communities have built over the past year directly into the ballot box.

No two communities are the same, and each location has designed its own event around its own neighborhood, from library walk-to-vote routes to mutual-aid donation drives, as part of a broader election-protection effort to help every eligible voter register, check their status, and make a plan to vote before the November election. The Oct. 17 events take place just two days before California’s Oct. 19 voter-registration deadline.

Events are scheduled in Alpine, Balboa Park, Borrego Springs, Carmel Valley, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Fallbrook, Julian, La Jolla, La Mesa, Mira Mesa, University City, Ocean Beach, Oceanside, Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista.

BACKGROUND 

Unlike past “No Kings” mobilizations, there is no single mass rally planned for Oct. 17 in downtown San Diego. The upcoming “No Kings: Vote Early” day is designed differently on purpose.

The following is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect that of the OB Rag.

It’s About County Measure A on the November 2026 Ballot

By Lu Rehling

My decision to vote NO on Measure A might have been easier to make if that single measure did not include three quite distinct types of changes to the San Diego County Charter, each with its own major long-term consequences. That bundling was the choice of the Supervisor who initiated the measure, Terra Lawson-Remer (the Board Chair), supported by her fellow Democrats on the Board, Monica Montgomery Steppe and Paloma Aguirre.

Their crucial decision to pass a bundled measure on to voters was pretty obviously political: A way to help the medicine of an unpopular extension of term limits go down by adding in a spoonful of sugar—promises about ethics oversight and increased accountability.

If those promises stood up to scrutiny, I might be casting a reluctant yes vote on Measure A, despite my mixed feelings about the term limits provision. However, we all know how political promises can go south once an election is over, so a closer look is in order.

Here are the THREE major provisions of Measure A:

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Before San Diego had satellites, cellphones, or the internet, the Navy was sending messages across the Pacific from a small wireless station high on Point Loma.

The station used a Massie-type spark transmitter — primitive by modern standards but part of a revolutionary technology that allowed ships and shore stations to communicate without wires. It was placed in service on May 12, 1906.

Getting the equipment to Point Loma was an undertaking. According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, the transmitter was unloaded at San Diego’s Santa Fe wharf and hauled up the peninsula by horse-drawn wagon. The journey took nine hours, and the equipment was installed in a small building overlooking the ocean.

The station initially used the call sign TM. It was later assigned NPL, a call sign that remains associated with the Navy’s San Diego radio operations.

The new station helped extend the Navy’s communications network along the West Coast. Wireless allowed operators to exchange messages with ships at sea, reaching far beyond the limits of ordinary wired communications.

By JW August / The SD Monitor

The work of a dozen artists, Black, white, Latino, can now be seen on large murals painted on underpasses along Imperial Avenue in San Diego.

The paintings speak to the history and the culture of the neighborhoods that surround them.

The new artwork is visible to anyone driving on the Imperial Avenue underpass at Interstate 15, or on the same street at the 19th Street underpass at Interstate 5.

Some 280,000 vehicles a week pass these two sections of Imperial, according to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Census Program.

A ribbon-cutting commemorating the murals was held Saturday at 37 20th Street and included live music and refreshments.

Four years in the making, the project was made possible when Caltrans approved $270,000 in funding that would go toward paying artists from the local community to create colorful and vibrant impressions of their communities.

By Staff

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the San Diego general public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Tuesday, October 13: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item 330: 2020 SeaWorld Master Plan Update

Why it matters: SeaWorld has a history of forceful expansion (and not paying its rent on time). Major projects on the horizon include a 300-room hotel, a special events center, and marina expansion. The Planning Commission has recommended the update with a caveat: Phase out the controversial fireworks show in the next five years.

We’re asking this outrageous question: could this month — October of 2026 — actually be the very last month of American democracy?

This is preposterous! How hyperbolic you yell back! What are you thinking!?

How could any intelligent American in our present day country even consider that after 250 years of democracy this particular month is the last one? This headline is just click-bait and whatever follows is really not worthy of my time and energy to even consider.

Um, okay. If you’re still here, perhaps curiosity has forced you to remain. Or maybe you are looking for a laugh, or another example of TDS — Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Yet, there is a growing gnawing in your conscience. You have enough of an understanding of what’s going on in America to know that this is not normal, this whole Trump affair has taken all of us down a dark tunnel and maybe, just maybe there is a kernel of truth in this question — whether this Halloween month is our last one where democracy still exists. And whether it will still exist after the dust and dirt from the mid-terms settle. Can we even consider what this means?

How could a country with such an experiment in democracy begun by our founding fathers and mothers a quarter of a millennium ago — bogged down with slavery and the mass extinction of native peoples — tested by our bloodiest war ever, the Civil War, tossed about by world wars and the wars of imperialism, by recessions and depressions, floods, earthquakes and wildfires, now still standing by all the reforms of the 20th century, be currently and fatally challenged by the worst and most corrupt and authoritarian president in our history?

How could we be in this place? How could this have happened despite all of our better angels guiding us out of the promise and morass of our history?

But that’s the whole point! This is where we’re at.

Due to all the threats and actions taken by Trump and all his allies they have brought us here.

And just where is that exactly?

We’re on the precipice of the one of the most dangerous moments in modern American history.

Here is a short video by Charles Landon on the 2026 Oktoberfest held in Ocean Beach.
Come inside.

These photos were taken around 10 am on Saturday, October 10, by former OBcean Scott Kessler.

From Pt Loma & OB Democratic Club

Meet & Greet with Nicole Crosby Tuesday, October 13, 5:30pm
Join Gale and Jim Hill and get to know Nicole, candidate for District 2

Pt Loma & OB Dems clubmember Gale Hill and her husband, Jim, are hosting a meet and greet with District 2 City Council candidate Nicole Crosby on — Tuesday, October 13, at 5:30 PM

Gale & Jim have invited us to join them to meet Nicole, hear her perspective on the issues facing District 2 and San Diego, and join the conversation.

By Shelby Bremer / 7SanDiego / October 8, 2026 

ICE has launched a 45-day enforcement surge in California, according to a new report that says the crackdown began in San Diego, where community organizers say they’ve seen an uptick in agents on the streets.

The Washington Examiner reports the effort is called “Operation Safe California,” citing a source who said officers were “told to go after anybody,” including those without a criminal history.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security – which marked record-high monthly arrests multiple times this past summer – did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The unannounced nature of the enforcement effort seems to be a continuation of the marked shift under DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin away from very public displays like the operations that rolled into Minneapolis and other cities across the country.

Organizers in San Diego said Thursday they’ve already seen an increase in enforcement on the ground, spotting more agents in vehicles with out-of-state license plates, as well as near schools – including an incident with a student outside Hoover High School.

“There’s been a massive surge. We’re getting phone calls from all around the city,” said Mea Dominguez, who’s part of the City Heights Defense Committee, a group that coordinates mutual aid for families impacted by detention and documents the presence of ICE. She said City Heights has been particularly impacted, but they’re getting calls now “every 10 to 15 minutes” from all across the region.

by Nadia Lathan / Cal-Matters / October 7, 2026

Want to know who’s who in Republican politics? Look no further than the megadonors bankrolling California’s voter ID initiative.

Illinois billionaire packing supply magnate Richard Uihlein, who has poured tens of millions of dollars into conservative causes, has contributed $17 million to the campaign for Proposition 39, a GOP-backed ballot measure to require voters to show a driver’s license or other government ID to vote.

Uihlein’s involvement and that of other deep-pocketed Republican donors is a signal that conservatives view Prop. 39 as a test of support for future battleground states in the broader push by President Donald Trump to tighten voter restrictions.

Uihlein is joined by Airbnb co-founder and current White House official Joe Gebbia, who on Wednesday gave $8 million to the campaign. Southern California businessman Steven Bray is another top donor, having loaned the campaign more than $3 million and given $50,000 outright. The right-wing political group Reform California, tech entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan are also major donors. Combined, they have helped the campaign rake in more than $36 million —  $13 million more than their opponents a month from Election Day.

By Kate Callen

In the 24 hours since the Rag published “Bailey Backers Get Belligerent,” the story has received over 1,400 views and 13 comments.

That’s not unusual for a political article. What is unusual is that the Rag has been contacted by several readers with stories of being harassed because they posted on the Nextdoor forum.