Source

Articles by Source

Source has written 4043 articles for the OB Rag!

San Diego’s Homeless Tied to Nearly 13% of All Fire Dispatch Calls

January 17, 2020 by Source

by Mary Plummer / inewsource / January 17, 2020

Fire incident calls tied to homelessness are on the rise in San Diego. Last year, they made up nearly 13% of all fire-related calls. “We’re addressing it as best we can,” said Assistant Fire Chief Chris Webber, who added that the growing homeless problem is “no secret.”

While the number of all fire calls has fluctuated over the past five years, fire calls that mentioned the homeless have steadily increased.

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Book Review: “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo

January 17, 2020 by Source

By Halle Zander / Aspen Daily News / Jan. 17, 2020

While taking one of my first vacations in sunny San Diego, I popped into the corner bookstore in Ocean Beach [ed: Run for Cover bookstore] to pick out my next “Beach Read,” which apparently is its own genre now. In an effort to read more books by authors different from myself, I picked up “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo, a black, British woman with seven brothers and sisters.

The book follows 12 characters, 11 of which are women of color, in their journeys toward something elusive, be it a sense of purpose or the acceptance of a long lost family member. Evaristo sets the tone in her first chapter by exposing the life of the socially conscious, non-monogamous, anti-establishment playwright, Amma. Each of the following characters, I believe, serves as a response to Amma’s unique set of values.

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When Tiki Invaded San Diego – by OB Historical Society, Thurs., Jan.16

January 16, 2020 by Source

The Ocean Beach Historical Society Presents: When Tiki Invaded San Diego by Diane Kane, PhD, at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B., onThursday, Jan. 16, at 7 pm.

Join the OBHS for a lighthearted romp through the immediate post-war period to explore how the allure of the South Seas became synonymous with San Diego.

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Surfrider’s Beach Cleanup Report for San Diego County 2019

January 15, 2020 by Source

From Surfrider / Coastkeeper Report

The Surfrider Foundation San Diego County and San Diego Coastkeeper partner each year to host volunteer-powered beach cleanups across San Diego County in order to address the issue of trash on our beaches and in our oceans. In addition to hosting approximately six of these community events per month, both organizations host special cleanup events and empower individuals to host their own.

In 2019, our beach cleanups empowered 11,895 volunteers to remove 16,534 pounds of trash from our coastline. Additionally, they collected data on 237,452 separate pieces of trash.

This report, based on data from 196 separate cleanup events, provides a detailed picture of the waste we found on our beaches this year. Top items found include cigarette butts, EPS foam (i.e. styrofoam) fragments, and common single-use plastics such as food wrappers, bags, bottle caps and straws. No area is immune to trash, but certain areas are hot spots for our efforts; in particular, Mission Bay and Fiesta Island.

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4th Annual Women’s March in San Diego – Sat., Jan.18

January 15, 2020 by Source

4th Annual Women’s March – San Diego
Saturday, January 18, 2020
10:00 AM 2:00 PM
Waterfront Park (West Side)

From WMSD:

Our marchers continue to make a difference.

2020 Elections…a critical time, and Women’s March San Diego marchers are seen, heard, and powerful!

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Pranksters Paste Donald Trump Jr. Recruitment Posters in Front of Armed Forces Career Center

January 14, 2020 by Source

In an Instagram caption, the two wrote, “We put up some #honestsigns at the Army Recruitment Center. Hopefully we aren’t going to war, but if we did, we know one guy who won’t enlist.”

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San Diego Bans Marijuana Billboards Within 1,000 Feet of Children Gathering Locations

January 14, 2020 by Source

by Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / January 13, 2020

The San Diego City Council Monday approved a ban on marijuana billboards within 1,000 feet of a school, playground, public park, day care center or youth center.

The council voted 9-0 in support of the changes championed by Councilman Chris Cate after hearing from community members, most of them in favor.

Cate said the changes were necessary because state law applied to legitimate cannabis businesses advertising on billboards and is enforceable only by state officials, and not applicable to illegal cannabis businesses.

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It’s Time of ‘Imagine the Unimaginable’

January 14, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

I once taught an upper-division seminar at UC Riverside titled “Strategies of Defense in the Nuclear Age.” The prompt for designing such a course was the simplistic, but serious responses of many undergraduates whenever I asked. “How would you solve this crisis?”

Lots of contemporary crises were available then—just as they are today. The students’ frequent answer: “Nuke ‘em.”

These nonchalant remarks about the devastating power of a nuclear weapon caused me to add a whole section of actual film footage about the human as well as environmental consequences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Trump Threatens War Crimes Against Iran. Congress Must Stop Him.

January 9, 2020 by Source

By Marjorie Cohn

Trump has already committed the crime of aggression against Iran, and he is now threatening to commit a war crime if he carries through on his January 4 promise to target Iran’s cultural sites. The United States has violated the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on the use of military force. This is the time to raise our voices and demand that our congressional representatives put a halt to Trump’s illegal war-making.

It should be clear to any legal analyst that Donald Trump’s catastrophic decision to order the illegal assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and Iraqi senior military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis constituted the crime of aggression and violated both the United Nations Charter and the U.S. War Powers Resolution.

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Springboard West Music Festival Returns to Ocean Beach – Will Highlight Aspiring Musicians – Jan. 9-11

January 8, 2020 by Source

From Springboard West:

The Springboard West Music Festival is returning to Ocean Beach this week – January 9 through January 11 – and it’s all about providing aspiring musicians the opportunity to pitch their music to industry professionals plus it brings music lovers an event in what feels like a grassroots “American Idol” or South by Southwest.

The conference begins on January 9 with a two-day Band Bootcamp — an opportunity for emerging artists from all over the U.S. to take the stage and showcase their talents in front of veterans and professionals in the music industry — followed by intimate, VIP unplugged performances.

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Another Mystery Book Where ‘Hero’ Lives in Ocean Beach

January 7, 2020 by Source

It looks like Ocean Beach is becoming famous for being the hometown of “heroes” and protagonists in mystery novels these days. Forget “Almost Famous”, forget “Terriers”, for we have author G.M. Ford‘s mystery Heavy on the Dead. It’s hero, Leo Waterman, lives in OB – as does Ford.

And now we have another mystery thriller, The Fourth Rising by Martin Hill where “The hero of The Fourth Rising, Peter Brandt is a war-scarred freelance journalist living in San Diego’s Ocean Beach.”

Hill, a former journalist and military analyst, is the author of seven novels and one book on military history.

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‘Kochland’ – the Secret History of the Koch Family – Is Timely Look into Corporate Capitalism

January 7, 2020 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

This may be the finest book thus far in the twenty-first century. Kochland; The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America is the second book by former agribusiness reporter for the Associated Press, Christopher Leonard.
Kochland is uniquely special. It is an economic history of America since 1967 that shows the deep changes in our economy that have given rise to a new kind of capitalism. Kochland is told through the lens of Koch Industries whose “annual revenue is larger than that of Facebook, Goldman Sachs, and US Steel combined.”

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Urge SeaWorld to Send Orcas to Sea Sanctuaries and End Its Use of Animals

January 7, 2020 by Source

From PETA:

It’s been years since the release of the documentary Blackfish—whose “star,” Tilikum, died after 33 years in a concrete tank — but orcas at SeaWorld are still swimming in endless circles and breaking their teeth by gnawing in frustration on the concrete corners and metal bars of their cramped tanks.

Other dolphins are still being impregnated, sometimes forcibly after being drugged, and 140 of them are packed into just seven tanks. Trainers use them as surfboards, riding on their backs and standing on their faces in cruel and demeaning circus-style shows. Facing mounting criticism, SeaWorld ended its sordid orca-breeding program — but this does nothing for the 20 orcas and hundreds of other dolphins, whales, and other animals who are suffering in the company’s tanks right now.

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Join Surfrider at Ocean Beach Rally, Press Conference and Clean-Up for a Zero Waste Calif. – Sat., Jan.4

January 3, 2020 by Source

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Impeachment’s New Fable : ‘The Maestro and The Tuba Man’

December 27, 2019 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego / Dec. 26, 2019

‘Tis the season for good tidings and cheer — even in politics.

Time for those bedtime stories, but first, forget the usual classics: Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol , or even Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, which feels like politics present.

Enter a new Christmas classic—The Maestro and the Tuba Man. Imagine. The symphony orchestra has tuned up.

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The State of the Amazon Puts Planet at ‘Tipping Point’

December 26, 2019 by Source

By Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis / Washington Post / Dec. 20, 2019

Deforestation and other fast-moving changes in the Amazon threaten to turn parts of the rainforest into savanna, devastate wildlife and release billions of tons carbon into the atmosphere, two renowned experts warned Friday.

“The precious Amazon is teetering on the edge of functional destruction and, with it, so are we,” Thomas Lovejoy of George Mason University and Carlos Nobre of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil,

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The Real Lesson of Afghanistan Is that Regime Change Does Not Work

December 26, 2019 by Source

A world in which war is normal and peace is out of reach is no more survivable or sustainable than a world where the atmosphere gets hotter every year.

By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies / Nation of Change / December 20, 2019

The trove of U.S. “Lessons Learned” documents on Afghanistan published by the Washington Post portrays, in excruciating detail, the anatomy of a failed policy, scandalously hidden from the public for 18 years. The “Lessons Learned” papers, however, are based on the premise that the U.S. and its allies will keep intervening militarily in other countries, and that they must, therefore, learn the lessons of Afghanistan to avoid making the same mistakes in future military occupations.

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More American Voters Than Ever Now Support Trump’s Conviction and Removal from Office – 55% of Those Polled

December 26, 2019 by Source

A new poll released on Christmas Day shows record-level support among U.S. voters for the ouster of President Donald Trump. Public support for Donald Trump’s removal from office is the highest it has ever been.

The daily tracking poll from Microsoft News published Wednesday, Dec. 25, asked respondents if they “support or oppose the Senate voting to remove President from office?” It found that while 55% of people support and only 40% oppose — a dramatic surge for those backing Trump’s ouster and a record for the poll that has been asking that same question since late September of this year.

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Jen Campbell’s Chronicles – ‘Ocean Beach Edition’

December 19, 2019 by Source

By Dr. Jen Campbell

Hello neighbors!

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was standing on stage at Golden Hall, being sworn in to be the next city councilmember for District 2.

It’s been a busy year and a whirlwind experience of listening, learning, and working to be the best representative for our beach and bay communities. I appreciate all your feedback as we work together to make places like Ocean Beach better than ever before. With that said, I’d like to point to a few accomplishments I hope OBecians will be proud of:

Funding for the OB Library Expansion – For years, the need to expand the Ocean Beach Library has been clear. That’s why, at my very first opportunity as a councilmember, I fought to include $500,000 in the city budget

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U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Protecting Homeless People

December 19, 2019 by Source

The US Supreme Court on Monday, Dec. 16, upheld protections for people who sleep or camp outdoors, after refusing to hear a case over whether cities could criminalize homelessness.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case leaves in place an appeals court ruling that says the Constitution does not allow cities to prosecute people for sleeping or camping outside unless the city provides shelter for every single unhoused person in their jurisdiction.

The legal decision comes as soaring rents and deepening economic inequality have led homelessness rates to soar in some U.S. cities.[Including San Diego which has the fourth largest population of people who are homeless in the country.]

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California Waters Are Acidifying Twice as Fast as Global Oceans

December 17, 2019 by Source

By Rosanna Xia / LA Times / Dec. 16, 2019

Waters off the California coast are acidifying twice as fast as the global average, scientists found, threatening major fisheries and sounding the alarm that the ocean can absorb only so much more of the world’s carbon emissions.

A new study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also made an unexpected connection between acidification and a climate cycle known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation — the same shifting forces that other scientists say have a played a big role in the higher and faster rates of sea level rise hitting California in recent years.

El Niño and La Niña cycles, researchers found, also add stress to these extreme changes in the ocean’s chemistry.

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Mayor Mayor on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?

December 16, 2019 by Source

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / Dec. 13, 2019

I know what you’re thinking: we’ve got plenty of time to make up our minds about who to choose to be San Diego’s next mayor. No rush, right? Wrong!

Let’s get the timing straight. The primary election is coming up sooner than you think—the date is March 3, 2020. Then the top two winners will face off in the November 3 general election.

Now, let’s get the candidates straight. The frontrunners for mayor are Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria — both are Democrats. Civic activist Tasha Williamson is also in the running– for some voters she represents a protest statement. There’s also Republican candidate Scott Sherman— he’s the disgruntled candidate who voices cynical disgust for city government

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OB Pier Re-Opens After Damaged Railing Fixed

December 16, 2019 by Source

The Ocean Beach Pier re-opened Sunday, Dec. 15, after it was closed for over two days due to high surf and damage to the pier. San Diego Lifeguards reported that a 20-foot section of railing midway on the pier was damaged by the pounding surf that prompted the closure starting Friday morning.

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Welcome to the New Rehab of the North Chapel at Liberty Station

December 13, 2019 by Source

The old North Chapel at Liberty Station – the focus of much controversy over the last couple of years – will be newly rehabbed and will be revived into “a community gathering space” by its landlord, it was just announced.

The plans to revive North Chapel by 828 Venue Management Company received “federal review and approval by the California State Office of Historic Preservation and the National Park Service,” a press announcement states. Here’s more of a press statement:

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Reader Rant: ‘Okay, Boomer’ and the Dilution of Grit

December 13, 2019 by Source

By Rick Boyd

I see, “Okay Boomer.” written in social media as a sarcastic dismissal of anyone older than 20 – remarking about anything that bares an air of responsibility, or sense, or even in a shockingly revolutionary form of actual disagreement.

But “okay boomer” is the least of the concern. Words, now banned by the same generation for being insensitive or not politically correct are now flung freely at those of us who would dare express that opposing thought.

Threats come just as quickly but are as empty as their users abilities to back them up. To these social justice warriors who act as our jury and judge. Who scoff and roll their eyes at our words and actions then use the full weight of their followers to shame us for “bullying”, “racism”, or whatever other inappropriate definition chosen as a trigger word they can use to quickly label and dismiss the rest of us.

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San Diego to End All Facial Recognition Programs

December 13, 2019 by Source

Editordude: A group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, EFF, just announced that due to their efforts, San Diego will cease all face recognition programs being used by more than thirty agencies in San Diego County.

In an article posted December 11 by Dave Maass – who used to write for Voice of San Diego – the face recognition system will be suspended on January 1, 2020. Maass called the programs “one of the largest, longest running, and most controversial face recognition programs operated by local law enforcement in the United States.” This is so important, we have to run the full article:

By Dave Maass / Electronic Frontier Foundation

We just stopped one of the largest, longest running, and most controversial face recognition programs operated by local law enforcement in the United States.

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County Supervisor Abandons Effort to Make Developer-Friendly Updates to Official Description of Anti-Sprawl ‘SOS’ Ballot Measure

December 10, 2019 by Source

From SOS:

In a striking reversal, San Diego Supervisor Jim Desmond withdrew his last-minute proposal to change the ballot question for the Safeguard Our San Diego Countryside Initiative that will appear in the March 2020 election voter guide.

The decision to withdraw the proposed changes was announced at this morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Supervisor Desmond’s proposed amendments closely reflected the misleading messaging of the “No on SOS” campaign, which is funded primarily by the Building Industry Association, an advocacy organization for the building industry.

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Nativity Scene Has Jesus, Mary and Joseph as Refugee Family Separated in Cages

December 9, 2019 by Source

A Southern California church flipped the lights on its outdoor manger scene Saturday evening to reveal Jesus, Mary and Joseph as border detainees, each figure isolated in its own chain-link cage with a barbed-wire top.

The nativity display from Claremont United Methodist Church, a suburban congregation east of Los Angeles,

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AMAZON and UPS: A Failed Marriage

December 9, 2019 by Source

By Richard Riehl

It was a dark and stormy night at the Riehl’s a couple of weeks ago, when Karen told me her ancient computer keyboard had been misbehaving. I suspected it only needed dusting, but unable to find our compressed air canister, I ordered a new keyboard from Amazon. It arrived the next day.

A few days later, I ordered a four-pack of Falcon Dust Off Electronics Compressed Gas Dusters. Amazon wouldn’t sell me just one. Buying four online was easier than driving to the nearest CVS store to pick one up.

Judging by how seldom we use them, our four new keyboard dusters will last longer than both of us. I must have inherited my security issues from my father. At my age, Dad wore a belt, plus suspenders.

Two weeks after my order, Amazon notified me that my package could not be delivered. I was told to check with UPS to find out why.

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OB Town Council’s 2019 Holiday Food & Toy Drive Is On

December 9, 2019 by Source

It’s official! The Ocean Beach Town Council’s 2019 Holiday Food & Toy Drive began Monday, Dec. 9. Come on down to the Point Loma Masonic Center to donate items or lend a hand sorting and boxing food and gifts!The event continues through Dec. 12, and is held at the Masonic Center from 5:30 – 8 pm.

The Delivery Day is on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 9 am to 1 pm. Traditionally, 80 local and needy families receive the food and toys.

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