Author: Staff

Trump Calls Reports of Bad Conditions on Board Carrier “Fake News”

On Monday, August 17, members of San Diego’s congressional delegation expressed their view that an independent investigation into the monthslong deployment of the locally based USS Abraham Lincoln is warranted given all the reports of deplorable conditions and a few suicide attempts on board the carrier. The sailors and marines on board are serving on the longest consecutive stretch at sea without a port call in modern U.S. military history.

U.S. Congressmembers Scott Peters, Juan Vargas, Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs — all Democrats — asked in a letter that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General to “undertake an independent review of the processes, rationale, and decisions surrounding the extended deployment” of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the strike group it is leading. The local congressional members were joined by California U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.

The U-T reported that the carrier — “based out of Naval Air Station North Island, and Carrier Strike Group 3 have been deployed for more than 240 days and at sea for more than 200.”

By Michael Angelo

On day one of the second Trump administration, a flurry of executive orders were signed reshaping immigration enforcement in the country by declaring a national emergency at the southern border, redirecting military funds for border enforcement, and restricting asylum access to anyone engaged in a so-called invasion of the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was also directed to immediately and aggressively escalate operations and surge arrests by establishing high daily quotas which management would be held accountable for missing (increasing the likelihood of non-criminal arrests).

Just shy of 600 days later, we can see the direct and harrowing results of these actions. A recent ACLU research report titled Agents of Chaos and Cruelty documents the widespread violation of civil rights being committed by ICE agents during the second Trump administration’s first year. Across eight states, the report found more than 400 of the over 1,200 ICE incidents examined involved misconduct by agents. The report also emphasizes no one was off limits, and found dozens of instances of agents detaining U.S. citizens, asylumsees, and people with disabilities.

Agents were also reported to have “targeted, used force and intimidation against, and arrested” legal/ community observers, protesters, journalists, elected officials and their staff, and even members of the clergy. This cruelty has resulted in the killing of at least seven people during enforcement operations including 23 year-old Colombian immigrant and father Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, whose car was allegedly rammed by agents before he was fatally shot through the windshield a little over a month ago, and 37 year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, who was shot multiple times and killed by ICE agents back in January.

At the end of May, the Rag published an article titled ICE Capades in San Diego, compiling actions taken by ICE in recent months to explore how the agency has been conducting itself in America’s Finest City. Here is an update on recent events and articles involving ICE in San Diego:

Chaotic scene unfolds around Federal Agents in City Heights

A third rescue has occurred off Sunset Cliffs, the third within the last three weeks.

On Sunday, August 9, San Diego Fire-Rescue lifeguards rescued a person apparently injured while jumping into the ocean from the Arch, a popular jumping spot near Osprey Street. The incident was reported around 7:30 p.m.

Firefighters, medics and lifeguards responded to the area after lifeguards were told a man who had jumped into the water below had injured himself and needed to be pulled from the water. They used a low-angle rope rescue system to move the injured man to flat ground. He was then carried out to the top of the cliff and taken to a hospital with injuries believed not to be life-threatening.

Safe Harbor Marina

By Angelo Haynes

On a balmy, calm August afternoon, budding sailors-to-be, met with an energetic and fatherly sea captain, to “learn the ropes” of sailing. That captain is Robert Capita, the current head coach of the UCSD sailing team and President and CEO of Project Bluewater Racing  (PBWR – or simply “the Project) — an environmental non-profit in San Diego that aims to connect a new generation with the water through competitive sailing, education, marine science and environmental activism.

The Project’s mission statement is to “cultivate the next generation of offshore sailboat racers as the sole non-profit in San Diego providing adults access to offshore sailing education and training while upholding the values of environmental stewardship.”

In addition to instruction on sailing, the Project integrates marine technology to perform a critical environmental monitoring role, using data loggers, hydrophones and Lagrangian drifters to study the flow of the ocean’s currents.

PBWR’s unique vessel allows them to monitor what they refer to as nontraditional places — shallow areas of San Diego’s near shore environment and restricted waterways inaccessible to larger, motor-powered vessels. In this way PBWR fills in valuable gaps in oceanographic data painting a better picture of San Diego’s nearshore environment for scientists.

Currently, the Project is collaborating with the Deheyn Lab at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where the water samples their DK46 boat, named Maasai, collects water samples that are being used to generate data on concentrations of microplastics and microfibers in San Diego Bay.

By Michael Hernandez

You probably know there are programs out there intercepting electronic data to harvest global emails, chats, and browsing histories. And there are governments and agencies collecting our metadata for information including the durations of our calls, communication time stamps, and precise geolocation records. There are facial recognition networks scanning anyone and everyone in public spaces, transit hubs, and protests to match faces against immense biometric databases.

In our world — one that is increasingly resembling the totalitarian superstate of Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984 — these are just a few of the tools being used in the modern day to spy on everyday Americans. Among them in the mass-surveillance toolbox are Automatic License Plate Readers, or ALPRs. ALPRs are cameras set up along roadways, traffic lights, or mounted on police cars that capture images of license plates in real-time, convert them into text and run the images against vehicle databases to find a match.

One of the major providers of ALPR technology is Flock Safety, an American public safety tech and private-police surveillance company.

Founded in 2017 by three alumni from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a stated mission of “shaping the future of safety”, Flock began as a side-project which saw the three co-founders build their first video surveillance cameras by hand around one of the trio’s dining room tables. The trio allegedly began to focus on the project after a Dekalb County detective told one of them their product had assisted police in solving a home break-in. Then that member supposedly called the other two co-founders and told them it was time to quit their jobs.

As of 2026 Flock Safety ALPRs are reportedly being used by over 5,000 law enforcement agencies in 6,000 communities across the U.S. It is estimated flock safety cameras scan more than 20 billion cars nationwide every month. According to Flock itself, roughly 10 percent of reported crimes in the country are solved using their technology, amounting to more than  a purported 700,000 crimes a year.

Flock Safety’s network is made up of cameras, image recognition, and AI machine learning which then shares information with police departments. While advocates tout the technology as an important tool for law enforcement, ALPRs have drawn a heavy amount of backlash from the public, elected officials, and civil liberty groups citing privacy concerns.

By Jillian Butler

Residents of Mariner’s Cove Apartments in eastern Ocean Beach say years of deferred maintenance have left some affordable housing units with mold, deteriorating cabinetry, broken stairways and other unresolved problems, raising concerns about whether tenants in subsidized units are receiving the same level of maintenance as market-rate residents.

As the cost of living soars, many people turn to government programs in order to find a place to live. Being the ninth most expensive city in America, San Diego is no exception to this. In fact, there are approximately 80,300 people in San Diego County living in government subsidized housing. However, some landlords give preferential treatment to those not in subsidized housing, creating two separate classes of people.

Several sources have reached out to the OB Rag, citing negligence towards those in rent controlled units at the Mariner’s Cove Apartment complex. Issues range from mold to the landlord illegally painting over fire lanes.

Mariner’s Cove is a two story apartment complex with 500 units. Of those 500 units, 300 are considered “affordable”, with 100 being low income. Many such residents are elderly, have disabilities, or both.

One resident I spoke with recounts:

“For years, I have expressed serious concerns regarding the lack of ventilation and potential mold in my unit, as well as the deteriorating plywood and peeling veneer in my kitchen. These issues pose legitimate safety and health risks rather than cosmetic concerns. Although management acknowledges the poor bathroom ventilation and has previously patched a water-damaged wall, they have refused to test for mold. Furthermore, the deteriorating wood in my kitchen cabinets sheds debris onto my dishes every time the drawers are opened.

This is the first of a series of November election “fun facts”.

The Port of San Diego has officially named a beach at Spanish Landing “Kumeyaay Beach,” acknowledging and responding to years of efforts by local Kumeyaay tribespeople to do such.

At a July 14th meeting of San Diego Port’s Board of Commissioners, the beach’s renaming was approved.

Before the vote on the renaming, Jessie Pinto, an elder of the Kumeyaay Nation, spoke:

“The name, ‘Kumeyaay Beach,’ is more than a sign. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the first people of the land, to tell a more complete story of San Diego. The visitors who see this may ask, ‘Who are the Kumeyaays?’ The simple question opens the door to education, understanding and respect.”

Members of the Kumeyaay Nation have long advocated for giving this beach a name, due to its cultural significance.

By Geoff Page

This is a Public Service Announcement – for anyone hiking in the Sunset Cliffs Park south of Ladera Street.

After 40 plus years of discounting stories of rattlesnakes in the park, I was completely shocked to find one in the middle of a well-traveled path on Friday, July 24th. There was no doubt what it was.

The photo above shows what it looked like when I turned a corner and saw what appeared to be a stick. This picture is not the actual snake. Had I been a member of the younger generation that reaches for their cell phone cameras immediately, I could have had a picture.

By Michael Hernandez

Though San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood has been around for over 76 years now, the story of Clairemont’s development goes back even further to the late 1940s, when local developers Carlos Tavares and Lou Burgener bought 1,000 acres of land formerly used for cattle grazing.

Located on a wind-swept mesa overlooking Mission Bay, Tavares, an engineer, and Burgener, a kingpin among builders, transformed the land into one of the country’s largest post-war housing tracts, originally dubbed “The Village Within A City”. According to a pamphlet by the San Diego non-profit “Save Our Heritage Organisation” Tavares’ wife, Claire, made a suggestion that the new development’s layout should match the terrain with winding roads and cul-de-sacs for the children to play in. The development was named “Clairemont” in her honor.

Since its development, Clairemont has grown to encompass over six thousand acres of land and is home to more than 81,000 residents, becoming so large that it can be subdivided into five distinct neighborhoods: North Clairemont, Bay Ho, Clairemont Mesa West, Clairemont Mesa East, and Bay Park. Here’s an overview on what each of these five Clairemont neighborhoods have to offer.

Disclaimer: While the distinction of the five neighborhoods are outlined in the Clairemont Community Plan, passed by the San Diego City Council in December of 2025, the neighborhood boundaries are not officially defined, but illustrated based on multiple factors including historical documents, property deeds, and resident’s perceptions.

North Clairemont

The North Clairemont neighborhood is located in the upper region of Clairemont, closer to University City, and is bordered by the San Clemente Canyon and both California State Route 52 and Interstate 805.

By Michael Hernandez
With all of the ongoing major neighborhood shifts taking place in Ocean Beach, from the plan to replace the 60-year old Ocean Beach Pier to the addition of time limits and overnight closing to coastal parking, it’s easy to let some other changes in OB and Point Loma slip through the cracks. Here’s a look at five local properties up for grabs which could spell change for the communities in the near future:

Ocean Beach Upholstery – 4838 Voltaire St 

The first of  the five properties going up for sale is the long-standing local specialty shop Ocean Beach Upholstery, located in the heart of Ocean Beach at 4838 Voltaire St. Just three blocks from the beach, OB Upholstery has occupied the property for almost 50 years where it has specialized in custom marine/ auto interiors, and the restoration and replacement of soft tops, classic car seats, and boat covers. The property is currently being marketed as an approximately 3,800 square foot retail storefront on a 5,000 square foot lot. A marketing brochure from investment management company, Colliers, notes the “tenant is on a month-to-month lease allowing for an owner-user or investor to raise rent substantially”. Listed for sale alongside the upholstery shop is the adjacent property at 4826 Voltaire St. Built in the 1920s, the three-bedroom two-bath single family residence is also currently inhabited by a tenant on a month-to-month lease.

If you walk down the south side of West Point Loma Blvd. between Abbott and Bacon Street you might notice a cute and charming new addition to the neighborhood that celebrates OB’s love for our four-legged residents.

With the words “Take a toy, leave a toy” written on the library door, fun artwork, and dog celebrating quotes, the Ocean Beach Dog Toy Library has been open since April 2026 and has quickly become wildly popular due to its location in a sweet spot between OB Dog Beach and OB’s many parks.

The Library, installed by Tracy Dezenzo (long-time community volunteer) and Bill Orvis (OB holiday tree Santa), celebrates OB’s vibrant dog-loving community and encourages sharing and reuse vs consumerism and waste. Instead of letting gently used or ignored tennis balls, squeaky toys, and other chewies wind up in the garbage, neighbors can now drop them off for other dogs to enjoy.