OB Rag

From Indivisible San Diego

The only way we get to the truth on Russia, save health care, save the environment, save Planned Parenthood, civil rights, women’s rights, stop the wall, protect immigrants is to #FlipCongress2018!

The Republican National Committee 2017 Spring Meeting will be held at the Hotel del Coronado May 10 – 13. Join Indivisible for a peaceful protest to let the GOP know that we simply can’t wait to vote them out of office in the 2018 mid-term elections. Participants will spell out “2018” on the beach near the hotel for an aerial photo.

By Dave Rice

How well can one eat for less than $5 a day? My family is about to find out.

According to the latest available statistics, 285,000 people in San Diego County receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Once referred to as “food stamps,” here the government food assistance program goes under the moniker CalFresh.

By Frank Gormlie

A firestorm of unprecedented proportions has been unleashed. With the FBI Director James Comey firing, Trump has threatened the rule of law in this country and has moved to undermine any Constitutional accountability that his administration has to face.

This is the very first time in our history that an American president has fired an FBI director while the director was investigating the president.

Trump Firing of FBI Director Comey Sets Off Calls for Independent Investigator of Russia-Trump Connections

Echos of Watergate. May 9th, 2017 will go down in American history, much like Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre”.

It’s all over the news. In the middle of a FBI investigation into Trump’s connections with Russia, Trump fires the man at the head of that investigation. It is a constitutional crisis in which the rule of law in America is now at question.

Are Owners of the Millionaire-Dollar Condos Driving Development of Saratoga Park?

By Geoff Page

There was a story in the OB Rag on Thursday May 4, “Concerns About Plans for Saratoga Park: Loss of Green Space and View Corridor” by a man named Scott.

He was expressing serious concerns about the children’s play area at what is called Saratoga Park. Scott began his piece by admitting he had not been able to attend one of the workshops on the park. Well, I did attend the last one about two weeks ago and I too definitely wanted to say something about it but was not able to until now. I am not in favor of this thing and there were a number of people at this workshop who were also against it.

In Act of Defiance, Kasparian Forms New Labor Group

Voice of San Diego reports:

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of national labor unions, ordered the removal of leaders of the local San Diego Imperial-Counties Labor Council on Monday [May 8] and put it under a receivership. The move prompted several local unions, including two of the largest, to leave the Labor Council and announce the formation of a new entity, the San Diego Working Families Council.

The dramatic moves follow months of turmoil in the local labor movement following allegations of sexual harassment against Mickey Kasparian, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135 and now ousted leader of the Labor Council. …

By South OB Girl

Despite the rain, protesters gathered Sunday afternoon, May 7th, to protest the current conditions at Dusty Rhodes Dog Park.

Their message was clear: they would like to see green grass (and not brown), and they would like to see the rampant gopher holes taken care of and weeds removed. Dusty Rhodes Dog Park is a City park, and locals would like to see it treated as such.

By Jim Miller

Last week will live in infamy as the time when the American House of Representatives consciously voted to take away health care from millions of Americans, potentially threatening the lives of countless numbers of our family members, friends, and neighbors. It was also the week when May Day rallies happened across the country, including here in San Diego.

At San Diego City College, my friend and colleague, Christy Ball, delivered the following speech that tells the story of the very Americans who are now at great risk, and it shares the anger that more and more Americans are feeling at the cruelty of the current regime. For my column, then, I yield my soapbox to her.

“It is possible to be in debt, to be lovelorn, and to be racist. They are not mutually exclusive.”

By Anna Daniels / San Diego Free Press

The recent shooting rampage at the La Jolla Crossroads apartment complex in University City left one person dead and seven persons wounded. This is indisputable.

We also know that the dead victim and wounded were all African Americans and the shooter, who was subsequently shot by the police, was white.

Local news coverage of the event has unsurprisingly focused on the possible motives for San Diego’s scene of American Carnage.

Times of San Diego

A rise in bacteria in San Diego’s beaches caused by urban runoff from this weekend’s storm prompted the Department of Environmental Health to issue an advisory Sunday, May 7th.

Swimmers, surfers and other beach goers were warned that levels of bacteria can rise significantly in ocean and bay waters, especially near storm drains, creeks, rivers and lagoons that discharge urban runoff.

By Tyson Siegele/

You can now switch to 50% renewable energy with no increase to your electricity bill. Or you can opt for 100% renewable energy, which only costs an additional 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s according to the latest prices from Arcadia Power, a nationwide clean energy supplier.

While roof mounted solar is the best way for an individual to help the planet and save money, that approach is not possible for everyone, including those of us who rent