Month: September 2021

by Ernie McCray

Recently the UT asked readers to react to where we were on 9/11 and wanted to know what went through our minds that day, and how that changed our view of the world.

I had no response because 9/11 didn’t change my view of the world as much as it validated how I see the world.

My first thought after seeing the second plane crashing into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was “Oh! Oh! The Pentagon is going to do something real crazy in retaliation for this!” That assumption was based on a lifetime of observing our country when it’s pissed.

By Dave Rice / San Diego Reader / September 8, 2021

Sefton Place is a tiny cul-de-sac tucked into the hills of Point Loma, home to perhaps a half-dozen residences and accessible only by making several turns off any road significant enough to be considered a major thoroughfare. You could live in the neighborhood for a decade or more, walking several miles a day up and down the winding streets, without ever knowing it exists. I did just that, and don’t remember ever encountering it.

By Geoff Page

The OB Pier, parking in OB’s beach lots, and outdoor dining – that resulted from COVID – were the main issues taken up at the OB Planning Board’s monthly meeting, September 7, 2021. All pretty serious matters for OB.

Pier – There was a lengthy discussion of the pier mostly focused on a pot of money amounting to $8.4 million coming from Sacramento.

By Rachel Treisman / NPR / September 8, 2021

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is again under fire for his state’s restrictive new abortion law, after falsely claiming it does not force victims of rape or incest to give birth even though it prohibits abortions at about six weeks — which is before many people even know they’re pregnant.

From Ballotpedia updated: September 8, 2021

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was retained in a recall election on September 14, 2021. Based on unofficial results with all precincts partially reporting, 63.9% of voters voted to retain Newsom and 36.1% voted to recall. To see the results of the replacement candidate question, click here. Results will be certified by October 22.[1]

By Luke Winkie / New York Times / September 3, 2021

My girlfriend and I wasted no time this spring. As soon as the Moderna vaccination fever left our bodies in May, we gleefully quadruple-booked every empty weekend left on the calendar. The itinerary swelled beyond precedent. Weddings, birthdays, family reunions and no-occasion rooftop hangs gridlocked into one another, evoking a logistical crisis every evening.

I chilled in the cheap seats at Citi Field, sucked in the stale air at the Alamo Drafthouse and drove to both northern and southern Vermont in the span of three weeks. The world was in bloom, and both of us were desperate to witness it firsthand. In retrospect, maybe we should’ve been more aware of the precarity. Only fools underestimate Covid

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future.

By Sarah Mosko / Times of San Diego / September 4, 2021

If you live in Orange or San Diego County, hopefully you’re aware that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future. If you live on planet earth, you’re wise to be tracking domestic and foreign moves to increase reliance on nuclear energy.

Increases in population density must also consider infrastructure, such as sewer limitations, traffic conditions and water supply.

By Annalisa Berta / San Diego Union-Tribune OpEd / Aug. 31, 2021

Single-family zoning — made popular more than 100 years ago — is challenging, and few would dispute that a thriving city must address the housing needs of all of its residents. Yet cities differ demographically and in how they approach building homes. Like many cities in California, San Diego has a housing shortage that has contributed to skyrocketing rents and home prices. But its response is making matters worse.

At issue is San Diego’s adoption of its accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance

Public Service Report

By Matt Hoffman / KPBS / Tuesday, September 7, 2021

One of the region’s largest health care providers is reporting a single-day COVID-19 death record, nearly all among people who were unvaccinated.

“From last Thursday until (Tuesday) morning we’ve had 21 deaths — the highest was on Saturday with 6 deaths,” said Scripps Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ghazala Sharieff. “That is just, I can’t even describe what that feels like knowing that these are all preventable deaths. 92% of our patients are unvaccinated and we didn’t have to be here again.”

From Aug. 1 to Sept 7, there were 70 COVID-19 deaths at Scripps and 67 were those unvaccinated.

As of Tuesday, the hospital system is seeing 162 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with 51 in the intensive care unit (ICU), Sharieff said.

By Mat Wahlstrom

Labor Day is the only holiday on our calendar dedicated to celebrate the worker; yet it is those on the lower wage end that most likely had to work yesterday. For these people, it was turned into just another Monday, likely without extra pay to compensate, with maybe a “thank you for your service” at the checkout.

While this disconnect between official recognition versus actually getting a paid day off is still clear, it’s important to examine how the imperatives of capital similarly warp our understanding where the idea of something is proposed as a substitute for the thing itself. When in place of public benefits, we are asked to use our imagination and accept empty gestures instead.

by Ernie McCray

As the dental surgeon prepared me for a procedure, a mellow rendition of “What a Wonderful World” played in the background.

On a violin. What a nice sound.

When I awoke the music kept playing in my mind. Evoking memories of Louie, the great Mr. Armstrong, Satchmo, singing this song, capturing so much beauty with lines about “trees of green” and “red roses” and “skies of blue and clouds of white” and “bright blessed days” and “dark sacred nights” and “the colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky.”

As Maria drove us home, I basked in the mood Louie had me in with his images of loveliness.

And I remembered, too, lyrics in the song that spoke to the beauty inherent in human beings, “friends shaking hands saying, ‘How do you do?’”

By Colleen O’Connor

It could happen. It might happen. Odds are increasing that it will happen.

What began as a Republican “double down” big bet is looking like a “big wave” wipeout.

The Republicans’ strategy of recalling Governor Newsom (amid COVID, fires, homelessness, drought, and MAGA-Trumpian grievances among voters), seemed clever. Even at a cost of taxpayers of $276 million.

The reasoning was sound. It was a gamble with a back-up plan. Even if the recall campaign failed to oust Newsom, the attack ads would be ugly enough to weaken him for a possible defeat in his 2022 re-election fight.