OB Rag

Straight Up With a Twist

By Edwin Decker

Dear Ed, With restaurants only offering take-out, I’ve wanted to do my part in helping them, so I’m often getting food from establishments I love. While I’ve always considered myself a great tipper, I have never been someone that tipped the person at Starbucks with a tip jar. To me, they’re a cashier, not a waiter. . . My logic is . . .I’m already spending money on the food, and the inconvenience of taking it home and not enjoying the ambiance of their restaurant . . .

A brand new, declassified intelligence assessment has come out about how Russian President Putin tried to influence the 2020 election in favor of Trump.

And part of the Kremlin campaign of disinformation that was pro-Trump and anti-Biden, was the use of un-named American “media conduits to launder their narratives to US officials and audiences,” states the report by the National Intelligence Council.

And specifically, as part of the campaign efforts, “they also made contact with established U.S. media figures and helped produce a documentary that aired on a U.S. television network in late January 2020.” Who do you think aired that propaganda? None other than the San Diego-based cable channel

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, San Diego County is back in the Red, tier that is! And San Diego area schools have been given the green light to reopen.

Dr. Wilma Wooten on Tuesday announced that San Diego County has attained a case rate low enough to rejoin the red tier Wednesday, March 17.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

In a biweekly COVID-19 update to the Board of Supervisors, the county’s public health officer foreshadowed the contents of the state’s weekly tier report, listing the score at 6.8 cases per 100,000 residents.

By Judi Curry

When you think of SeaWorld what do you think of? Shamu? Orcas? Dolphins? Seals? Sharks? Fish? What was the reason that Sea World started in the first place?

Let me give you some history:

“SeaWorld® opened its gates for the first time in 1964, founded by George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris and David DeMott. Originally planned as an underwater restaurant, the concept grew into a marine zoological park on 21 acres along the shore of Mission Bay in San Diego. With an initial investment of $1.5 million, 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and two saltwater aquariums, SeaWorld drew more than 400,000 visitors its first year.

Election of Mike Allman to San Dieguito Union High School Board Achieves MAGA Majority

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / March 15, 2021

One of America’s wealthiest public school districts typifies the damage MAGA Republicans are doing to public schools.

San Diego County’s San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) serves just over 13,000 students in five middle schools and five high schools. With former Republican congressional candidate Mike Allman’s narrow school board victory, a MAGA coalition has achieved a 3 to 2 majority.

This election result advances using school reopening as a political wedge issue. Normally nonpartisan school board elections have been turned into partisan political battle grounds.

By Colleen O’Connor

Campbell or Newsom: Which One Reaches “Escape Velocity?” Make an educated guess. Based on what the public facing information thus far, consider these points.

The Recall initiative against Governor Newsom has already gathered the necessary, probably verifiable signatures, to require a special election; over two million.

The Recall initiative against Councilmember Campbell is just getting started, so the signature gathering numbers are as yet unknown.

Just as an aside, the volunteer effort is stronger against Campbell than Newsom and necessarily so. Factor in that professional, paid signature gathering, now costs $7.50 per valid entry. The statewide Republican war chest helped pay for, and deliver, the professional results to recall Newsom.

The OB Rag has followed the tragic saga of Elizabeth Sullivan, a 31-year old Point Loma Navy spouse, who disappeared in mid-October, 2014. Nearly two years after she vanished, her body was found off Point Loma and Liberty Station, in San Diego Bay.

Four years after her disappearance, her husband, Matthew Sullivan, was arrested in 2018 at his home in Delaware and extradited to San Diego on murder charges.

In 2020, Matt Sullivan was convicted of of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Elizabeth. On Friday, March 12, this year, he was sentenced to 16 years to life in state prison.

Here are some details – some new – about the case

by Ernie McCray

One day
Rapper Mellow,
known for his
smooth flow
was kicking it in his studio,
free stylin’,
spittin’ lyrics
‘bout
nigga this
and nigga that
and bitches and hos
and who
had more
riches and fame,

By Judi Curry

What I am about ready to write about is only my experience with trying to help the environment. Others may not have had the same experience and I want to say, again, that this is only my opinion and experience.

In August of 2018, I decided that I wanted to put solar on my roof. I thought it would help the environment; it would lessen my enormous electric bills; and with the offers of “no pay” it was too good to turn down.

I checked with my accountant, and she told me that I would be able to take a write-off on my taxes every year. So, I had it installed.

Editordude: Eric DuVall, president of the OB Historical Society, has written another OB history piece, published today in the OB – Point Loma Monthly.

By Eric DuVall / March 15, 2021

The blustery breezes of March have always blown some added anticipation and excitement into the hearts of Ocean Beach children. In fact, all true Obcecians feel the same way, for we know that those March gusts portend the arrival of kite season! And in the kite capital of the country, that is no small thing.

So return with us now to a time not so long ago — those simpler days of, say, the 1980s, an era before entertainment and experiences had become “virtual” and when the Kite Parade still proceeded proudly down the middle of Newport Avenue.