OB Rag

by Ernie McCray

I dined
at a rather nice café
the other day
where a host,
in this lovely place,
in a very friendly way,
led me
and my twin daughters
and my oldest grandson
and his wife
and their three sons,
to an outdoor table,

Disillusioned by the Vietnam War, he leaked a top-secret history of the conflict, leading to a landmark Supreme Court case

By Harrison Smith and Patricia Sullivan / Washington Post – Reader Supported News / June 19, 2023

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the voluminous, top-secret history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers, a disclosure that led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling on press freedoms and enraged the Nixon administration,

For the first time ever, Juneteenth — Monday, June 19th — is being recognized by the city of San Diego as a paid holiday for city employees. Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and freedom for African Americans, and is now a federal holiday.

by Ernie McCray

An ex-president
getting a portion
of his due
through an indictment
and now an arraignment
that are about as overdue
as a book checked out of the library
in 1892,
makes me want to dance a jig,
bad back and all.
And the claim
that the charges against him,
amongst other things,
have been
a witch-hunt, from the get-go,
makes me want to chuckle

A brand new farmers market opened on June 4th in the Point Loma High School parking lot. The new weekly Sunday bazaar offers everything from fresh fruits and homemade goods to delicious food vendors.

Plus it has accommodations for parents and is a fund-raiser for a non-profit, Devoted to Youth, whose mission is to support local families.

Organizers Mariana Panzica and Brady Farmer say the Point Loma Farmer’s Market offers some unique accommodations for parents or other caretakers of a child, including areas designated for nursing and kids enrichment.

The main press in San Diego has come up with of list of the ten top and most popular beaches in San Diego County. And wouldn’t ya know it, Ocean Beach made the list.

Here’s the U-T’s colorful list — and here is what they say about OB:

Filled with local artists, surfers and dogs, Ocean Beach is known for having heart. The neighborhood isn’t afraid to be quirky and fully embrace its unofficial slogan: “Keep O.B. weird.”

By Donna Frye / San Diego Union-Tribune OP-ED/ June 9, 2023

Father’s Day reminds me of a lot of things, but some of the most memorable are the surprises my father brought into our daily lives. No matter their size, they were always special and appreciated.

When I was growing up in the late ’50s and early ’60s in Clairemont, Dad and Mom would take me and my brothers to the beach all the time. We would chase the waves and swim in the ocean. We hunted in the tide pools for sea creatures, and we found lots of tiny fish, starfish and crabs. We also looked for shells.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for a well-known and veteran Ocean Beach motorcycle ride who was seriously injured in a collision on June 6.

As the Beacon reports,

Ian Hughes was riding southbound on Catalina Boulevard just after 2 p.m. on the 6th when a Mercedes Benz, driving northbound, made a left turn onto Talbot Street directly into his path, the resulting impact completely destroying the front of the vehicle.

From the looks of things, the metropolis called San Diego deserves watching, deserves monitoring. Here are some recent developments deserving note.

* Noise Can Take Years Off Your Life
* LA Rams and Denver Nuggets Owner, Stan Kroenke, Becomes the “Main Man” at Midway Rising
* San Diego County Second Most Expensive Region in Nation — Local Seniors Feel It
* San Diego Rents Hit Record High
* One Local Point Loma Beach Makes “Honor Roll” and One Makes “Beach Bummer” List in Heal the Bay’s Annual Report Card
* San Diego’s new foam ban is going smoothly so far — partly because there’s so little enforcement
* Drones, cameras, trackers: San Diego police disclose list of tech tools used for surveillance, investigations
* U-T Editorial Board : San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, City Council must fix their flawed ban on homeless camps ASAP

Dear Friends!   Our first book sale in 2 years!!  Life is starting to feel like it is returning to normal!

Can you can help with the book sale?  We need:

by Ernie McCray

Pondering
some of what’s going on
in the nation
and the world,
I was in a low-grade funk
and then
I turned my TV on
to two talking heads
on ESPN
who were going on and on
about who was
the G.O.A.T.,
the greatest to ever play
in the NBA,