OB Rag

By Jake Johnson / Common Dreams

As California lawmakers prepared on Wednesday for a key committee vote (it passed) on their state’s net neutrality bill — which, in its current form, would restore the protections repealed by the FCC in December — the Santa Clara County Fire Department accused the telecom giant Verizon of dramatically cutting its data speed as [the department] recently fought the largest recorded wildfire in California’s history.

After Verizon admitted that it slowed the fire department’s data — a despised practice known as throttling —

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There’s just too many questions being raised about the newly-formed Sunset Cliffs Merchants Association and a so-called “Street Fair” they are organizing.

On this past Wednesday, Aug. 22, the OB Rag published a post about the group and the street fair supposedly calendared for September 1 – a week away – using a report in the online The Beacon by Judi Curry and using the group’s facebook page.

But over the last two days there’s been some pushback mainly in the form of comments and questions to the article, private comments made at Wed’s OB Town Council meeting, and more concerns raised after some quick digging by locals.

By Egberto Willies / Daily Kos

America needs a paradigm shift when it comes to how it deals with products that affect our moods, psyche, and our overall well-being. We must do so based on data instead of ideology, and deprogramming many will be difficult. But marijuana must be completely decriminalized.

Houston cannabis activist Ashley Miller appeared on Politics Done Right to bring awareness to many issues about marijuana, aka weed, aka cannabis. Her first goal was to dispel the notion that there are any valid reasons why marijuana is illegal. Second, she hoped to activate Americans both locally and throughout the country. As one listens to all the arguments and discourse about marijuana, there can only be one conclusion: the product should not be illegal.

By Stephanie Corkran / SanDiego350

Brown’s Last Chance is a campaign demanding Governor Jerry Brown halt the development of unsustainable, polluting, fossil fuel infrastructure and begin an immediate phase-out of fossil fuels in California.

If he’s unwilling to do so, a multitude of organizations (environmental, health, justice, community, consumer) are prepared to protest the upcoming Global Climate Action Summit.

At their monthly public meeting last night – Wed., August 22 – the Ocean Beach Town Council opened up the floor for presentations from a handful of local groups as part of the board’s “What’s Happening Around Town” forum.

Over fifty souls sat in the sweltering Masonic Center downstairs hall as presentations were given by Denny Knox of the OB Mainstreet Association, by Andrea Schlageter of the OB Planning Board, and by a member of San Diego Bicycle Coalition on an upcoming “CiclOBias” in Ocean Beach.

By Jake Johnson / Common Dreams

Amid a news cycle dominated by the day-to-day chaos, antics, and scandals of the Trump presidency, new government numbers released on Thursday offered a grim reminder that the humanitarian travesty sparked by President Donald Trump’s inhumane family separation policy is still ongoing, despite the fact that it has faded into the background of corporate news coverage.

By Gilbert Field / Veterans for Peace

Local veterans, friends and supporters from the San Diego Veterans For Peace are in their third year of a five year educational outreach encouraging the public to stay home and not attend the annual Miramar Air Show.

Veterans believe that the Miramar Air Show glorifies war with an exciting show of speed, power and noise. It celebrates the skills and machinery that exist to kill, maim and destroy. The show is very dangerous …. 10% of all Blue Angel pilots have been killed in shows or accidents.

By Annie Lane / San Diego Free Press

In a reassuring victory for assault victims everywhere, convicted rapist Brock Turner lost his appeal for another trial recently after his attorney, Eric S. Multhaup, argued that his client only sought to have “outercourse” with the former Stanford student he is convicted of assaulting — not intercourse.

For anyone wondering what that means, you’re not alone. The three-panel judges were at a loss as well.

“I absolutely don’t understand what you are talking about,” Justice Franklin D. Elia told Multhaup on August 8, according to Mercury News.

It’s already being called “Terrible Tuesday” – August 21, 2018 – the day the Trump presidency was body slammed with the simultaneous guilty plea to 8 felony counts by Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, and the jury finding Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign manager, guilty of 8 felony counts – and then the indictment of Representative Duncan Hunter – the second congressman to endorse Trump, on campaign crimes.

It was a bad day for Trump.

Yet, it was a good day for the country.

Seen this morning on the OB Pier – Wednesday, August 22 – another sign from the Resister Sisters of Ocean Beach.

Their motto is:

Airbnb hired firm under investigation for signature fraud to run its San Diego petition drive

A coalition of coastal town councils and community groups is warning residents of Ocean Beach, Point Loma and other neighborhoods to be leery of pro-Airbnb petition gatherers who are trying to overturn the recently-enacted ordinance on short term vacation rentals.

The aggressive signature-gatherers are using deception, outright misrepresentations and other tactics in order to woo people to sign their petition.

This is the warning from the San Diego Community Working Group, an umbrella organization that includes the San Diego Coalition of Town Councils