Month: August 2020

By John Michael Williams

Fake News

Though it is a Donald Trump, thing, I must admit there is an element of truth in it. Given that the guy might be able to out-lie Goebbels, it is odd, in a way, that he would call attention to it. After all, what point is there in undercutting the credibility of the media you use to publish your message? A sheer display of madness? Yet, he has been unmatched in gathering publicity.

To be specific, though, about personally encountered ‘fake news’ I offer this report.

When a business advertises itself as a source of factual information to the point of slogans like, “News You Can Trust” and so forth, then I expect that business to provide facts. Should it be discovered that is not so, then confidence in the product drops because it isn’t actually news.

Not too long ago a local guy got the idea to have a parade of boats in San Diego Bay in support of Donald Trump,

Soni López-Chávez Pays Homage to Community Empowerment With A New Digital Art Series

By Roberto ‘Rob’ Camacho

For many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic has delivered an absolutely devastating blow to the creative and performing arts. In a profession already often filled with strife and hardship, even in the best of times, the pandemic and the subsequent economic shutdowns have been a daunting, almost seemingly insurmountable obstacle for many artists, musicians, and creators to overcome.

San Diego’s creative art scene, of course, has been no exception to this alarming trend. Especially Barrio Logan’s art and cultural district, whose residents, artists, and creatives have taken a disproportionate hit over the past several months.

by Ernie McCray

After writing a piece about how an old photo briefly took my mind off today’s troubles in the world I’ve found another that does the same. Very nicely.

This one was taken in 1996, catching me smiling and clowning at the 40th Reunion of the Class of ’56 of Tucson High – in a room full of 58-year-olds feverishly reminiscing about days gone by and about how fast those years have seemed to pass by.

The conversations were all over the place. There was, of course, the obligatory topic that every generation brings up about “The kids of today” and how we were better than them in our time.

The big questions of the night were “Who you like, Clinton or Dole?” and “What about that Michael Jordan and the Bulls, huh?”

I must have heard “So the Yankees are in the World Series again, what else is new?” a few times.

The Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach are back!

At a press conference on the grass at the foot of Newport Avenue today, government officials pledged County health rules will be enforced at the Wednesday drum circle. Dr. Joel Day, Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response and Recovery, told the crowd of some 50 people that he would personally be on the grass Wednesday along with the “team” of city and county personnel to ensure that crowds don’t gather after the OB Farmers Market.

Before the press conference began, at least one man ripped up the stakes holding the orange net fencing in place and pulled the entire thing down. It had just been installed hours earlier by a City Park and Rec crew. The crew reappeared after the conference and piled it all into a truck. None of the workers would answer this reporter’s questions about why they weren’t putting it back up or why they were hauling it away. The guy pulling it down was reportedly a traveler from out of town.

The OB Rag is almost half way to our Pandemic Summer Fundraiser goal of $2,000. In a little over 24 hours, we’ve closed in on $1,000 with the recent donations that came in today, Tuesday, August 11.

The stakes are high, the need is great.

We do this every year because we do have bills to pay – and obviously we’re not part of the mainstream media.

But we have been the online newspaper for Ocean Beach and Point Loma and now we’re in our 13th year. We’re funded primarily by our readers and supporters.

So, dear Reader, we’re asking you to go to the top of the home page and click on the PayPal logo and make a donation. Or you can donate to us the traditional way, by mailing it to us at our post office box (OB Rag, PO Box 7012, Ocean Beach, CA 92167).

Here are some more reasons to donate to the OB Rag – past victories and history:

By Colleen O’Connor

Seriously. The country needs real leadership, not photo ops from a full-time, “acting” President.

The economy is cratering. Businesses are shuttering. Malls are about to be scooped up as Amazon warehouses and millions are looking at evictions and possible homelessness.

And oh, yes, limited or non-existent health insurance.

Plus, COVID-19 is killing us. Over 5 million cases in the U.S. and over 160,000 deaths. Worldwide, the number is 20 million cases and counting, with deaths topping 740,000.

This is a global pandemic that promises to morph into something worse come fall with the flu season. Add the cold of winters driving most of the country indoors with risky ventilation. The virus is not “going away. Things just go away.” Leave “like a miracle.” Or “just disappear.”

We need someone to take charge.

Someone who can call world leaders “at 3 a.m.” and get an answer; be it Germany’s Chancellor Merkel, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Arden (who have corralled the virus), or every other world leader except possibly Russia’s President Putin.

By Geoff Page

One of the advantages of on-line community planning board meetings is that they are not constrained by the time requirements that owners of brick and mortar meeting facilities have set. The OB Planning Board meets in the OB Rec Center and has the room for a set period of time. As the three-hour OBPB meeting on August 5 demonstrated, the on-line venue easily allows for as long a meeting as needed.

Jen Campbell and Short-Term Vacation Rentals

The cause of the unusually long meeting was a discussion of short-term vacation rentals (STVRs). The discussion began with an appearance by District 2 council person, Jennifer Campbell. Appearing with Campbell was her chief of staff, Venus Molina, who did most of the heavy lifting. Campbell herself seems to have retreated to two talking points saying she wanted to create more housing for San Diegans and ensure that San Diegans have peace and tranquility in their neighborhoods. This was repeated several times.

What Campbell was referring to about creating more housing is a sleight of hand trick.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / August 9, 2020

In Overturning Brown, – as in the US Supreme Court case “Brown v Board of Education” – , Steve Suitts provides overwhelming evidence for the segregationist legacy of “school choice.” He shows that “Brown v Board” has been effectively gutted and “choice” proved to be the white supremacists’ most potent strategy to defeat it. In the 21st century, that same strategy is being wielded to maintain segregation while destroying the separation of church and state. (Note: In this article references to Overturning Brown given as Suitts page#.)

Defeating Brown

On May 17 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in the case of Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Chief Justice Earl Warren stated, “In the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” He added it is “inherently unequal” and plaintiffs were “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”

City and County officials are holding a press conference today, Tuesday, August 11, in Ocean Beach to “unveil future enforcement efforts to deter large crowds gatherings on Wednesday nights at Veteran’s Plaza.” They will be joined by OBceans Mark Winkie and Corey Bruins from the OB Town Council and Denny Knox of the OB Mainstreet Association.

The presser will be at 1 pm at the OB Veteran’s Plaza. Officials will include Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, Dr. Joel Day, Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response and Recovery, and Dr. Ankita Kadakia M.D., Chief/ Medical Director, County Public Health.

Sparked by large, irresponsible crowds at the Drum Circle after Wednesday’s Farmers Market

Our Summer Appeal for Donations During the Pandemic – Keep the Press Local and Free and Healthy

The OB Rag‘s Pandemic Summer Fundraiser starts today!

For the last couple of years, we’ve held two fundraisers a year, in the summer and in the fall. But because of the amount of donations during last fall, we’re only doing the the summer one.

This week our goal is to reach $2,000 in donations and contributions from our readers and supporters. Most of us know the stakes involved, as trump continues to call the press, “the enemy of the people” and levels charges of “fake news” at the news he cannot accept. But the folks of OB and Point Loma (and the rest of San Diego as well) continue to need the OB Rag more than ever. We do provide local OB news, a discussion platform that is better than a dozen facebook pages,

By Christina Maxouris / CNN / August 10, 2020

More than 97,000 children in the US tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report says.

The report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, said in those two weeks, there was a 40% increase in child cases across the states and cities that were studied.