Category: California

Amid all the crap that we as Americans are having to deal with coming out of the Trump administration, there is good news.

Local communities across the country along with some state and local officials are resisting attempts by President Donald Trump to house thousands of detained immigrants in their areas in converted warehouses, privately run facilities and county jails. These are immigrant prisons.

In red states, red counties and red towns and  cities, people are pushing back so hard that ICE officials are having troubles finding locations for their detention centers. In Texas, in Oklahoma, in Utah, in New Mexico, in Virginia, proposed ICE facilities are running into brick walls by grassroots resistance.

Why is this happening? MSNOW reports:

Federal officials have been scouting cities and counties across the U.S. for places to hold immigrants as they roll out a massive $45 billion expansion of detention facilities financed by Trump’s recent tax-cutting law.

The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota have amplified an already intense spotlight on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing scrutiny of its plans for new detention sites.

For instance, officials in Social Circle, Georgia, El Paso, Texas, and Roxbury Township, New Jersey, all have raised concerns about their locales being used and they all cite a lack of water and sewer capacity to transform warehouses into detention sites.

By David Helvarg / Golden State / Jan. 13–20, 2026

In November, the Trump administration released a map that alarmed a lot of Californians. It showed the waters off the entire 1,100-mile state coastline carved into potential “program areas” for new oil and gas drilling.

For 40 years, there’ve been no new oil lease sales in the state’s coastal waters, and Californians of all political stripes overwhelmingly – 72% according to a Public Policy Institute poll – hope it stays that way. When its legacy offshore wells run dry, the state  should be done with ocean drilling for good.

President Trump, of course, likes nothing better than to bait California, love-bomb the oil and gas industry, attack clean energy and overturn Biden-era actions (President Biden banned new drilling in the same federal waters Trump now wants to exploit). The latest Interior Department plan for six lease sales between 2027 and 2030 is one more White House jab at Golden State values.

But here’s the thing: It’s far, far from a done deal.

First a little  background.

By Jane Kim / 10NewsSanDiego / Jan. 11, 2026

California shoppers are adjusting to a new reality at checkout counters across the state as plastic bags have been officially banned since January 1.

The statewide prohibition, established under Senate Bill 1053, eliminates plastic bag options at grocery stores and retail locations, leaving customers with paper bags or their own reusable alternatives.

At Barons Market in Point Loma, the transition has been smooth according to both customers and staff. Customer Jim MacDonald said he typically brings his own bags but supports the environmental initiative.

By David Helvarg /  Op-Ed LA Times / Jan. 8, 2026

Recently, while sailing with friends on San Francisco Bay, I enjoyed the sight of harbor porpoises, cormorants, pelicans, seals and sea lions — and then the spouting plume and glistening back of a gray whale that gave me pause. Too many have been seen inside the bay recently.

California’s gray whales have been considered an environmental success story since the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and 1986’s global ban on commercial whaling. They’re also a major tourist attraction during their annual 12,000-mile round-trip migration between the Arctic and their breeding lagoons in Baja California. In late winter and early spring — when they head back north and are closest to the shoreline, with the moms protecting the calves — they can be viewed not only from whale-watching boats but also from promontories along the California coast including Point Loma in San Diego, Point Lobos in Monterey and Bodega Head and Shelter Cove in Northern California.

In 1972, there were some 10,000 gray whales in the population on the eastern side of the Pacific. Generations of whaling all but eliminated the western population — leaving only about 150 alive today off of East Asia and Russia. Over the four decades following passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the eastern whale numbers grew steadily to 27,000 by 2016, a hopeful story of protection leading to restoration. Then, unexpectedly over the last nine years, the eastern gray whale population has crashed, plummeting by more than half to 12,950, according to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lowest numbers since the 1970s.

Today’s changing ocean and Arctic ice conditions linked to fossil-fuel-fired climate change are putting this species again at risk of extinction.

Note: Author’s views do not necessarily reflect the views of the OB Rag.

By Lisa Mortensen

Our city and county governments are looking for any avenue available to obtain revenue to feed their over-sized staffing.  Rather than pop the staffing balloon, our elected officials would like to tap into our property taxes by placing initiatives on the ballot that would require only a 51% threshold to approve these measures into law that would threaten to uncontrollably increase our property taxes and jeopardize our Prop 13 protections.

Currently the county of San Diego wants to place a measure on the ballot that would increase the real estate sales transfer tax from 55 cents for every $500 in assessed property value to $30.55 for every $500.  This would basically burden both buyers and sellers to have to come up with this excessive additional transfer tax during a for-purchase transaction.

Let’s not forget the trash tax assessment that was placed on our property tax bill ($539 and rising in 2026-2027 tax bill) by just a 51% threshold.

Here’s a bunch of seemingly unrelated articles that have been sitting in my “in-basket” for a while — some for months. Yet, they deserve attention –so here they are:

It was supposed to be a California utopia. It turned into a ghost town.

By Tessa McLean, California Editor – SFGate / June 17, 2024

Just off the Pearblossom Highway, 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, six crumbling stone columns rise from patches of dusty brown weeds. Two of the wider set pillars contain capacious brick fireplaces, the blocks deteriorating inside. The foundation of a once-grand building stretches out into the flat plain, carpeted with shards of glass and rusty beer cans. At its northern end, a short staircase leads to nowhere.

From 1914 to 1918, an actual building stood here — a bustling gathering place for California’s most important utopian commune-turned-doomed desert experiment. When wandering the site today, close your eyes and you might be able to imagine happy residents dancing or talking politics on a cool California desert evening, the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.

The remains of a grand hotel and social hall are the only recognizable infrastructure left of the failed town, which is visible even from the highway — if you don’t blink. The foundations of other nearby buildings sink into the ground, faded blue and purple graffiti covering the splintering stone, the lettering disappearing into low concrete walls. From the middle of the ruins, trailers and warehouse structures under the power lines jolt you back to the modern day from any dreams of early 1900s life.

By City News Service – 7SanDiego / Dec. 10, 2025

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution Tuesday opposing oil drilling off the coast of Southern California, following the Trump administration’s plans to expand the practice.

Put forward in a board letter by Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, the resolution states that the board “opposes any new or expanded offshore oil and gas drilling, and deep seabed mining, and urges federal and state decision-makers to permanently prohibit offshore drilling and deep seabed mining in all U.S. waters, including the Pacific Ocean off California.”

The proposal also calls for Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton “to express the county’s support for (United States) House of Representatives Bill 2862, the Southern California Coast and Ocean Protection Act,” according to a board letter.

Shelton would coordinate with Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and Southern California counties on a “unified, regional response needed to keep new oil drilling out of our coastal waters and protect our San Diego communities and local economy.”

The board voted 4-1 in favor of the resolution, with Supervisor Joel Anderson opposing.

By Alexis Sterling   / Nation of Change / Dec.5, 2025

A new confrontation between the White House and blue states raises concerns about the political use of food assistance programs

The Trump administration is poised to block key federal funds tied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as part of an escalating dispute with Democratic-led states over data demands involving millions of low income households.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Dec. 2, that the Department of Agriculture would begin halting federal transfers next week for states that have not turned over detailed information on SNAP recipients. The move has triggered legal challenges, sharp criticism from lawmakers, and questions about whether the administration has the authority to interrupt a program that helps 42 million people afford food.

Rollins said on Tuesday that the administration had requested state data earlier this year to address what she called “rampant” fraud in the program.

San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer held a community meeting in Encinitas Thursday, Dec. 4, to urge the public to take a stand against the Trump administration’s plans to expand Califonia’s offshore drilling. She was joined by Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner. The meeting had been organized by the environmental groups California Coastal Protection Network, Oceana, Surfrider Foundation and Wildcoast.

The Thursday gathering followed the Nov. 20 announcement by the Trump administration that it will reopen ocean waters off the Pacific Coast to oil drilling leases, generating rapid opposition from California officials and environmentalists.

Lawson-Remer said she and others are united in defending the San Diego region, and told President Donald Trump and oil executives to “go pound sand.”

“We are not going to go backwards,” no matter how much Trump calls clean energy “a con job,” Lawson-Remer said during the meeting.

$283.7 million in tax revenue raised in the third quarter of 2025 alone

by: Chris Ponce / Fox5 San Diego / Dec 2, 2025

Legal cannabis sales in California brought $283.7 million in tax revenue in the third quarter of 2025, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) announced Tuesday.

Cannabis excise tax revenue funds childcare programs, youth substance abuse prevention, environmental recovery, medical research and more, according to CDTFA. Officials shared that more than $7 billion in cannabis tax revenue has been raised since 2018.

During the third quarter, July to September, this tax rate temporarily increased 19%. However, the tax rate returned to 15% following legislation signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

“We’re rolling back this cannabis tax hike so the legal market can continue to grow, consumers can access safe products, and our local communities see the benefits,” Newsom said in a news release.

Assembly Bill 564 stops a 25% tax increase on the cannabis industry, hoping to promote long-term success of the industry in California.

By PBS / Nov. 13, 2025

The Justice Department on Thursday sued to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week, joining a court battle that could help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026.

The complaint filed in California federal court targets the new congressional map pushed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to a similar Republican-led effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump. It sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Republican administration and the Democratic governor, who’s seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender.

“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an emailed statement. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment changing the congressional boundaries to give Democrats a shot at winning five seats now held by Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.