OB Rag

By Don Stanziano

Where we live and our quality of life is important to all of us. The diverse communities of San Diego offer something for everyone. And our diverse LGBTQ community is no different. We’re not monolithic in where and how we choose to live. Some of us want to live in the middle of the action in Hillcrest while others prefer a quiet street in Azalea Park or near Morley Field.

Our community, once concentrated in Hillcrest, has expanded throughout the region, and especially across mid-city and we have played an important and significant role in the continued success and vibrancy of these communities.

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / August 17, 2021

Score one for Rachel Maddow — again.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said a San Diego federal judge was right to throw out a $10 million defamation suit against MSNBC’s top-rated host. The opinion of a three-judge panel was posted three weeks after hearing arguments in a virtual hearing based in Pasadena.

A lawyer for owners of San Diego-based One America News argued July 27 that Maddow should face trial for calling OAN “literally … paid Russian propaganda” in a 3 1/2-minute segment two years earlier.

Go inside for link to Zoom teleconference

The Widder Says “a Mistake Is Being Done”

By Judi Curry

There is so much unrest going on in the world today – Afghanistan, Haiti, climate, refugee’s, fires, drought. The one I would like to focus on for a moment is the Recall of Governor Newsom.

Today I received a door hanging that was hard to miss: Shaped like a stop sign; white lettering on a red background, and the words “VOTE NO!” in yellow on one side; on the other side was more of the same in Spanish as well as English. For some reason the whole thing really bothered me.

First of all I want to say that I support the Governor. I think that he did a fantastic job during the first Covid pandemic, and has continued to do a great job in masking, closing indoor facilities, etc.

“I stand squarely behind my decision,”President Joe Biden said Monday. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

Biden said the collapse of the 20-year American military involvement in Afghanistan proved he was correct to end the U.S. mission, arguing that the Taliban’s takeover of the country vindicated his decision to bring home the U.S. troops stationed there. …

In making this statement and defending his decision, Biden stood up to the US war machine, the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about.

The current debacle involving the Ocean Beach Town Council continues to churn. There’s been another resignation from the Board. Isaac Darby resigned last week.

With Darby’s resignation, that means two of the ten Board members who signed a letter to then president Mark Winkie asking him to resign, have since resigned themselves. One Board member resigned without signing the letter.

And with all these resignations – there have been a total of five over the last couple of months – there are only ten current members on the Board and there are now five open seats. What remains of the Board is in reality a rump group, having caused the ouster of four members. One-third of the Board has departed.

By Ken Stone / Times of San Diego / August 15, 2021

When the owners of San Diego-based One America News sued Rachel Maddow for defamation, they scoffed at the liberal TV host’s First Amendment rights. OAN lost, and was ordered to pay Maddow’s lawyers $247,000.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. Herring Networks, the OAN parent, will plead constitutional free-speech protections to stave off a $1.6 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.

Another loss could spell bankruptcy. Unlike the six words Maddow uttered in a single 3 1/2-minute MSNBC segment — that OAN “really literally is paid Russian propaganda” —

Editordude: A case that we’ve followed for years of an unjustified fatal shooting by a San Diego police officer has reached some level of resolution. Fridoon Nehad was shot to death near midnight on April 30, 2015 by officer Neal Browder in the Midway. Nehad’s family filed a lawsuit which the city just settled for $3 million. Here is the U-T report.

By Greg Moran / San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 13, 2021

A civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was shot to death by a San Diego police officer in a Midway District alley in 2015 has ended with a multimillion-dollar settlement, marking a conclusion to one of the city’s most controversial police shootings. The family of Fridoon Nehad, who was 42 when he was shot by Officer Neal Browder

Washington’s War in Afghanistan Is Over. What Happens Now?

President Biden was right to withdraw US troops. But we should have no illusion that this will end the war for Afghans.

By Phyllis Bennis / The Nation / August 16, 2021
We don’t know yet what the consequences

US Retreats as Taliban Take Kabul

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams / August 15, 2021

Nearly two full decades of lies and wishful thinking from U.S. generals,

There ‘Will Never Be’ a US Military Solution in Afghanistan: Rep. Barbara Lee

By Andrea Germanos / Common Dreams / August 16, 2021

Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee—who cast the sole vote

By Colleen O’Connor

Part 4 of “What’s Up with the Mayor’s Get It Done?”

Starting with the “Good.” Rain, thunder, and lightning introduced some much-needed good news and good memories.

Nearly a quarter inch of rain at San Diego’s airport. That broke the all- time record for the day. Rolling thunder, missing since childhood accompanied by that wonderful sheet lightening once used to count the miles from light to thunder. Remember one-one thousand, two-one thousand. A once reliable yardstick for the approaching storm.

By Judi Curry

I attended a social gathering of twelve women the other night and more than two came up to me and asked me why I hadn’t written anything lately. Basically I answered that I was so fed up with what is going on around me that I am trying not to let the social fabric of today get in my way.

Of course we all know that is impossible; every time you walk out of your house you can’t help but wonder if you are putting yourself at risk.

There are two things happening – or not happening – that have my dander up this week. The first one has to do with those people that refuse to get a Covid vaccine. People very, very dear to me refuse to get it.