Category: Military

By Marc Elias / Democracy Docket / July 27, 2026

Election Day is less than 100 days away.

Donald Trump is deeply unpopular. The Republican Party has little to show for its time in power. Prices are up, and the economy is stagnant. We are at war in the Middle East.

The GOP is not acting like a party trying to persuade voters to support its candidates — because it isn’t. Instead, the Republican Party’s entire strategy boils down to this:

1. Change the rules and misuse government resources to make it harder for Democratic voters to cast ballots.
2. Control and manipulate voter registration databases to disqualify enough Democrats from voting.
3. If all else fails, make false claims of fraud as an excuse to subvert the results.

Meeting Organized by Several Local Planning Groups

A number of local community planning groups have organized what they’re calling a “Town Hall” to discuss and debate several key development projects facing this area of San Diego: The Peninsula Community Planning Board, the Uptown Community Planning Group, Old Town Community Planning group and Protect Pt Loma Community Association are co-sponsoring this event. (Interesting that the OB Planning Board is not included.) The issues:

• NAVWAR redevelopment project
• Midway Rising for the sports arena area
• Senate Bill 958 aiming to pave the way for Midway Rising

It’s all happening:

Tuesday, July 28th, 2026
6pm – 7:30pm
Pt Loma Library
3701 Voltaire Street
San Diego, CA 92107

Organizers say they will have a brief presentation on the background and serious consequences if the Midway Rising and NAVWAR projects are approved.  Then they will open up the forum to public comment and discussion.  This meeting will be recorded, and they say they will send this to each of the Assembly members who sit on the Appropriations Committee the first week of August.

Eighteen US service members have died so far in Trump’s war with Iran and 420 have been wounded. These mounting casualties come with escalating attacks and strikes by both sides. Iran declares it is fighting a “full-scale war.” And Trump threatens to intensify bombings for every American killed. Bridges and ports are struck. The price of oil shot up as did gasoline of course, and stocks fell. (Closing on 300 points Monday.)

The big question as the conflict looks to inflame the whole Middle East region is whether negotiations between the two sides are continuing or not, and if not, is there a chance they can continue?

The US has just bombed Iran for the 9th day / night in a row in a dramatic shift in the four and half month old war after weeks of a so-called cease fire under the Memorandum of Understanding. Iran has retaliated — not in striking U.S. targets but in going after countries that host US military personnel and facilities, like Jordan and Bahrain and other Gulf allies for the U.S. Some sources report that diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing.

The Guardian reports:

Iranian media reported strikes around Tabriz, believed to hold underground missile bases, as well as Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant. The US military said it had struck “military command centers, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks”.

Say his name: Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero.

The second murder of an innocent man — this one in Biddeford, Maine — in one week by ICE agents — throws the entire nation in an uproar. These murders are sanctioned by our government, are performed on our watch and … we are responsible. It’s on us, the rest of America.

From CNN on July 15:

A simple memorial of flowers and candles has gone up near the spot on a Maine street where Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero’s partner fell to her knees and his 3-year-old daughter cried after he was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Monday.

Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old food delivery driver from Colombia, died Monday in the historic Atlantic coast city of Biddeford, where neighbors remembered him as a good man and hard worker.

“Immigrants make Biddeford great,” read a sign at the makeshift memorial.

It was the second fatal shooting by a federal officer within a week, leading Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make a major reversal and direct officers to largely suspend vehicle stops until further notice, according to a source familiar with the guidance.

An ICE officer fired his weapon “fearing for public safety” as Durán Guerrero, in a vehicle, “attempted to flee the scene,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its first official statement nearly 12 hours after the shooting. He was not the target of the enforcement operation.

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Linda Vista may not always be the first San Diego neighborhood that comes to mind when people think about local history, but its story is deeply connected to the growth and transformation of the city itself.

Located on a mesa overlooking Mission Valley, the neighborhood was born out of necessity during World War II, when San Diego was rapidly becoming one of the nation’s most important defense and aviation centers.

What began as a federal housing project for wartime workers eventually grew into a diverse community with its own identity, traditions, and history.
The name Linda Vista, which means “pretty view” in Spanish, dates back to the late 1800s. But the Linda Vista we know today began taking shape in 1941, when the federal government purchased land to build housing for thousands of workers arriving in San Diego to support the war effort.

At the time, companies such as Consolidated Aircraft were expanding rapidly, producing aircraft needed by the military. Workers poured into the city, creating an urgent need for housing. The answer was Linda Vista, one of the largest wartime housing projects in the United States.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo lived in Houston for 35 Years, Built Homes for Others; Videos and Witnesses Contradict ICE Narrative of Murder

PBS  / July 10, 2026

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who lived in the U.S. for decades, as the homebuilder drove his construction crew to a Houston job site.

His death set off protests in Texas’ largest city and calls from Democrats and Salgado Araujo ‘s family for an independent investigation. The shooting on Tuesday in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood is at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said federal officers were looking for someone else when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo’s vehicle. DHS said Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and that an officer opened fire in self-defense.

Salgado Araujo’s family said he was very close to obtaining legal status in the U.S. after living in the country for 35 years, and that he knew what to do if approached by ICE officers. Ronaldo Salgado, his son, said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were going to steal his tools.

Here’s what we know about Salgado Araujo’s shooting.

By Quinta Jurecic / The Atlantic / July 6, 2026

Nearly six months have passed since federal officers shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis. No one has been arrested, the Trump administration has provided no reason to believe that any serious investigation is taking place, and federal officials continue to stonewall state and local investigators in Minnesota.

This inaction was predictable. The day after Good’s death, Vice President Vance insisted at a press conference that the agent who shot her would face no criminal charges. “That guy is protected by absolute immunity,” Vance told reporters. “He was doing his job.” Soon, Stephen Miller doubled down on the message, announcing “to all ICE officers” that “you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties.” Federal agents apparently received the message: The next day, an ICE agent fired a gun into a Minneapolis home, wounding a Venezuelan immigrant, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The week after that, Pretti was killed outside a doughnut shop. The Department of Homeland Security called him a “domestic terrorist” and said that the officers who shot him had acted in self-defense.

Typically, after a contentious killing by a law-enforcement officer, the Justice Department would launch a criminal civil-rights probe. Following George Floyd’s murder, for example, DOJ conducted an investigation alongside Minnesota law enforcement, and both federal and state prosecutors brought separate charges against the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. So far, though, the federal government has succeeded in protecting immigration officers from serious consequences for the violence of what DHS termed “Operation Metro Surge.”

By Patty Ducey-Brooks / Presidio Sentinel  / July 4, 2026

Five years ago, many of us from throughout the city of San Diego and county, made a decision to not support the major development of the NAVWAR site, which is on Pacific Highway in Old Town. It literally backs up to the most western part off Old Town San Diego.

Though over 5,000 people from throughout the county of San Diego signed a petition in opposition of the major development proposed for the site, which includes high rises for hotels and some housing, it has recently become a subject of town hall meetings by various community groups, including the Peninsula Community Planning Group.

No surprise to the citizens of San Diego, City Hall has been backing a massive high-rise development for NAVWAR. This would gridlock coast traffic and create a huge visual obstruction of the bay and ocean views for residents near the site. It would also change the character of Old Town San Diego, the “birthplace of the State of California”. Ironically and for obvious reasons, Old Town San Diego State Park is the most frequented state park in the state of California that doesn’t receive fair funding though it brings in the most revenue annually to benefit the state park system.

Previously, Save Our Access, a 501c3 nonprofit, favored having the Navy renovate NAVWAR with creation of an area river trail park on part of this public land, which could be used by all San Diegans for recreational purposes.

The Navy’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the reuse of the 70.5 acres NAVWAR sites in the Midway district was presented. The EIS’s “preferred alternative” was a NAVWAR high-rise commercial development consisting of 106 buildings stretched for half a mile along I-5 that reach up to 350-feet in the air. This plan included ten thousand new residential units for 14,000 residents.

 El Pueblo Viejo de San Diego: Hiding in Plain Sight, Part 5

By Alexander D. Bevil, California State Parks Historian II (Retired) / SOHO / July-August 2026

The following California State Landmarks (CHLs) reflect the years 1821 to 1847 when San Diego evolved from a military outpost to a Mexican pueblo.

CHL No. 74: Casa de Carrillo (see above)
Presidio comandante Francisco María Ruiz reportedly built this house next to his pear garden in 1810 for his cousin and fellow soldier Joaquín Carrillo and his large family. On April 15, 1829, Ruiz’s godchild Josefa Carrillo—with the help of her cousin Pio Pico, a caballero and future Mexican governor of California—eloped with ship captain Henry Delano Fitch to Chile. After her brother Ramón Carrillo sold the property, the large casa deteriorated, leaving only a single-room structure. Given landmark status on December 6, 1932, local businessman George Marston repurposed the building in 1931 as the Presidio Hills Golf Course’s clubhouse. He later deeded both the building and the course to the City of San Diego.

By John McNab

We rarely talk context of why the public coast is disappearing and high rises are sprouting up everywhere.  The below is a perspective on going from freeing animals to caging humans – San Diego’s shift in priorities

A black-and-white movie on TV in the early 60’s was about a boy who went to the zoo with his grandfather. Upon seeing the animals in cages, he broke down. Likely because he loved to spend time under the warm sun playing in the canyons with the lizard and birds. Seeing the zoo animals poorly treated broke his heart.

Upon getting home, he was still in tears. It was recommended he did something. So he started protesting at the zoo. The editor at the local paper thought the story was cute and ran a piece on the boy and his protest. It struck a nerve and suddenly citizens were up in arms. So the embarrassed zoo changed. The last scene, in Technicolor, was the front of the San Diego zoo.

Yet what could be a sequel to the story?

A mother had many errands to run so she dropped off her son with his grandfather. The son, full of energy, got on the grandfather’s nerves. “Why don’t you go outside and play?” The boy answered in tears, “there’s nowhere outside to play”.

Opening of Strait of Hormuz and End to Israel’s Attacks on Lebanon Parts of Murky Details

By Jason Burke / The Guardian / Mon 15 Jun 2026

A framework peace deal between the US and Iran has been reached, Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials have said, bringing the 15-week conflict to a tentative end and offering hope of relief for the Middle East and the world economy.

The secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, would end permanently from Monday night.

The precise terms of the deal remain unclear but in a statement posted to Truth Social on Sunday evening, the US president announced the opening of the strait of Hormuz as well as the removal of the US naval blockade. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” he wrote.

Trump later clarified that reopening the strait would depend on the signing of an initial memorandum of understanding on Friday, which Pakistan, acting as mediator, said would take place in Geneva.

Leaked drafts suggest the memorandum will trigger an immediate 60-day period of intensive technical talks, during which the most contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme, will be discussed. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, confirmed that negotiators would seek to reach a broader agreement that would include sanctions relief for Iran.

Eric Law, the chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, has just announced that Navy representatives will provide a briefing to the community on Navy plans for the redevelopment of the NAVWAR Old Town Campus.

The update will be at the Peninsula Community Planning Board monthly meeting on Thursday, June 18th, 2026 — 6PM at the Point Loma Hervey Library Community Room, 3701 Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107.

Law stated,  “The NAVWAR Old Town Campus (OTC) Revitalization program manager and the Navy Region Southwest Public Affairs Officer have confirmed that they will provide a briefing to the community on the OTC program ….”