OB Rag

By David Helvarg / Daily Kos / April 22, 2024

The rightwing Heritage Foundation has written “Project 2025,” a plan for what it hopes will be a second Trump administration.  The plan calls for rapidly expanding fossil fuel emissions and includes a chapter on opening up the Department of Interior’s lands to mineral mining and oil drilling written by Wise Use veteran, William Perry Pendley.

30 years ago, I wrote a widely-read book, ‘The War Against the Greens,’ describing how a “populist” backlash against environmental laws and violence against grassroots activists was ginned up by western public lands corporations seeking to defend their federal subsidies in mining, logging and cattle grazing.

By Gary Robbins / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 20, 2024

A decision by Point Loma Nazarene University to limit the screening of a documentary about the Bible and homosexuality has angered students who say the move was disrespectful to the gay community and is having a chilling effect on free speech and academic inquiry.

The outcry is the latest in a series of controversies that have strained relations between the small, private Christian school above Sunset Cliffs and members and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community.

by Crystal Niebla /inewsource / April 24, 2024

Nearly two years after the city of San Diego changed longstanding policy to begin requiring community planning groups to pay for appeals, the groups’ leaders say the $1,000 fee has proven to be a barrier to fight against projects they oppose.

The appeals process allows anyone to challenge approved projects if they believe there are factual errors, new information, unsupported findings or conflicts with a city plan or rule.

Student Host Group Forced to Show Film at Much Smaller Venue

By Charis Johnston / LomaBeat.com / April 1, 2024

Voices of Love (VOL), a Point Loma Nazarene University student group that provides community for LGBTQIA+ students, had been told by their faculty and staff advisors that they followed the guidelines to host an all-campus showing of the film “1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture,” which discusses an alleged mistranslation responsible for the Christian condemnation of homosexuality.

Despite the event initially being approved by Jake Gilbertson, dean of students and faculty advisor to VOL, it was canceled by Mary Paul, vice president of PLNU’s Office of Student Life and Formation (SLAF) and Gilbertson, on April 1.

By Kate Callen

When I felt stuck in a fractured romance just after college, a wise friend told me: If you walk out now, tomorrow is a new day. If you stay, tomorrow is the same day.
I want tomorrow to be a new day. That’s why I’m breaking up with Cox Communications.

Doomed affairs often languish until one final transgression breaks the glass. For legions of Cox customers in San Diego, that break may have come with the wholesale dumping of Cox email accounts into unwanted Yahoo email accounts.

by Marisa Kendall / Cal-Matters /April 18, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court is about to hear the biggest case about homelessness in decades, and it seems like everyone in California has an opinion. At issue: whether and under what conditions cities can fine or arrest people for camping in public spaces. The ruling will have nationwide implications for how local leaders manage homeless encampments.

By Jeff McDonald / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 16, 2024

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria acknowledged in a public filing last week that he repeatedly violated the law by not reporting a series of contributions made to charities by outside donors at his behest.

According to the San Diego Ethics Commission, Gloria failed to properly report 10 separate contributions he solicited from private contributors —

By Joely Proudfit / San Diego Union-Tribune OpEd / April 18, 2024 

Earth Day serves as a poignant reminder of our collective responsibility to the planet. In San Diego, where the beauty and biodiversity of our environment are as integral to our identity as the cityscape itself, this day provides an opportunity not just for celebration, but for deep reflection and learning — especially from the Native communities who have inhabited these lands for millennia.

The Kumeyaay, Payómkawichum, Kuupangaxwichem, Ipai peoples, along with other indigenous groups

By Katy Jae Waldman

San Diego is a beacon of equality, progress, and acceptance that makes it unlike anywhere else in the world. It is a vibrant and lively place with a diverse and powerful
community. San Diego takes care of its people, and we are proud of it. But unfortunately, the people that keep us clothed, fed, and caffeinated are suffering at the hands of their employers.

Amidst their rapid growth, it has become clear that Better Buzz Coffee is no exception to this. It seems that their pitch decks and investor meetings left out how their wageworkers were to share the spoils of their achievement. Their profits are soaring, but their workers are hurting.

By Amita Sharma / KPBS / April 18, 2024

Scan the crowd-sourced Historical Marker Database’s 375 entries for San Diego County and you’ll see a lot about Spanish colonial, early American settler and U.S. military pasts.