OB Rag

OB Rag and Save San Diego Neighborhoods Sponsor Rally in Heart of Airbnb Empire

There’s a noon time protest rally against short term vacation rentals in Ocean Beach on Saturday, November 25th.

Sponsored by the OB Rag and Save San Diego Neighborhoods, the rally will begin at the corner of Voltaire Street and Abbott – right in the heart of Airbnb’s OB Empire.

By Ernie McCray

Folks say to you, when you’ve lost a child: “I can’t imagine your pain.”

And they’ve got something there because the pain wrestling my emotions to the ground is unimaginable. Losing a child is in a category all by itself. It’s surreal.

I looked for a photo to go with the mood I’m in and I saw one that matched just how I am feeling, how I seem to be trudging through a burnt out forest on an LSD trip gone horribly awry with bees stinging the very fabric of my soul. I’m reeling from the very thought that my daughter Debbie’s death was against the natural order of things: she was supposed to some day mourn me — not the other way around.

Today, November 22nd, is the 54th anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

And for weeks now, the government has been releasing large batches of long-secret JFK assassination records – but it’s been mainly hype as the documents lack any substantive content and “at least two-thirds of the never-seen JFK files that were supposed to be released — some 2,538 records — remain secret”, states a report from AlterNet.

Here are the 3 Big Lies repeated by Matthews:

1. The Warren Commission was right.
2. Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy.
3. And Oswald did it alone.

Just the opposite is actually true.

There will be a Thanksgiving dinner at the Parish Hall at Sacred Heart of Ocean Beach at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The church is located at 4776 Saratoga Ave, San Diego, CA 92107. All are welcome.

The very first official Thanksgiving holiday wasn’t until November 26, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln announced that the nation would celebrate Thanksgiving on that day during a speech on October 3rd that year, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at the July Battle of Gettysburg.

(Editor’s Note: Judi wrote the following 3 days ago.)

I have thought about writing this article for some time; probably since I began writing my book “Liar Liar”. Perhaps it is because I am very depressed today because it is the birthday of my granddaughter who would have been 30 years old if she hadn’t had an untimely demise.

Or perhaps it is because last night I met a couple that met on line, married, and seem very happy with each other. I know that my editor-dude met his lady on-line and they seem very happy with each other. None-the-less, whatever the reason, here it is.

Let me give you two very recent episodes.

Both legal actions by San Diego’s City Attorney and law suits face restaurants that add a surcharge to their patrons’ bills.

On October 11th, City Attorney Mara Elliott filed a civil enforcement action against Mission Bay’s Barefoot Bar & Grill for failing to disclose its surcharge and then adding it to menus in extremely small print, she alleged.

By Mary Carreon / OCWeekly / November 21, 2017

Nearly 80 people gathered in Laguna Beach on Saturday to protest Southern California Edison’s (SCE) plan to bury 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste at San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente. According to Public Watchdogs, SCE has supposedly obtained a permit from the California Coastal Commission that not only authorizes them to bury the deadly waste, but also permits them to store it in thin-walled canisters 20-feet below the surface and 108-feet from the high tide mark. SCE is expected to dump the waste in mid-December.

This is a big problem for many reasons.

There’s lots to make one upset or angry these days, from Trump and his Russia collusion, to nuclear show-downs, to the national catharsis on sexual harassment, to global warming, all the way to Mayor Faulconer building a $2 million restroom for tourists but none for the homeless …

But one thing that’s making OBceans upset right now is the wholesale turning over of apartments and new condos into vacation rentals. OB is losing needed housing stock and affordable rental units for residents to mini-hotels and weekend party houses for vacationers.

And it’s happening right before our eyes!

Fire and Disturbances With Neighbors Over Weekend Culminate in Crack-Down

Today Monday, after a rocky weekend at the infamous Ebers – Greene Street project – during which both fire and police department units were called – the City of San Diego has taken over the property and begun a clean-up of the site and a securing of the skeleton of the two-story building.

One of the things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving is the fact that I am fortunate enough to teach Henry David Thoreau every fall, particularly this 200th year since the great American author’s birth.

Most of my students at City College have lived, worked, and struggled more than your average college student and, consequently, Thoreau’s call to avoid a life of “quiet desperation” speaks to them more profoundly than it might to other students from different circumstances.

Simply put, they are in a college English class reading literature because they have chosen to be there. Running against the grain of all the siren calls for a more market-based education driven by efficiency and expediency, many of my students have decided that what moves them most is to read and think and to live a life they hope will be more meaningful because of it.

By Joaquin Antique

Being an occasional column featuring sights and sounds from Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

Observed:

When the bars close at 2 AM and the locals stagger home, about half the out of town partiers drive past my old home on the 4900 block of West Point Loma, headed back to where ever.

Brent Beltrán is one of the seven editors of the San Diego Free Press – the online partner of the OB Rag. Well, this week, San Diego CityBeat named Brent as one of their top 20 San Diegans for 2017. We’re very proud of Brent and certainly agree that it’s time he received some public accolades.

Here is what CityBeat writer Torrey Bailey said about Brent:

Who is he? He’s the vice chair of the Barrio Logan Community Planning Group and sits on the Environmental Health Coalition board of directors. Oh, and he’s on the editorial board of the San Diego Free Press as well.

Why did we pick him?