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America, Got Fascism?

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By Frank Gormlie / OB Rag

Okay, America – are we ready for fascism?

As the presidential campaign season degenerated into racist and xenophobic diatribes by the Republican front runner, with those images of Trump supporters pledging their loyalty to him in Hitleresque salutes, after that scene in Chicago when the Trump rally was cancelled, triggering skirmishes between Trump supporters and demonstrators, it seems everybody is forming an opinion of whether Donald Trump is a fascist, comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini, and other dictators.
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We Need More Patient Escorts Because ‘Our Body Is Still A Battleground’

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By Krizia Puig

Every Saturday, a big group of mixed people gathers there to protect the women who go to the clinic. The Catholic protesters who harass the women use red shirts that say “Life Guard” while the other group uses yellow shirts that identify us as patient escorts. Each group is strategically waiting in specific spots of the parking lot and when a car arrives, the actual battle begins.   [Read more…]

Activists Move Closer to Getting Needed Police Reforms on Ballot

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City Council Committee to Hear Ballot Proposal, Recommendation to Charter Review Committee Urged

By Women Occupy San Diego

On Wednesday, March 23rd Women Occupy San Diego will present its community-backed Ballot Proposal to make the Citizens Review Board on Police Practices (CRB)more independent and transparent to the San Diego City Council’s Public Safety & Liveable Neighborhoods (PSLN) Committee. We will do so on behalf of 25 civic organizations who have endorsed a Charter Amendment for the November 2016 ballot.
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Joe Wilder: Gentleman of Jazz

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Joe Wilder was not only a magnificent trumpet player but a gentleman according to all who knew him. I had the privilege of presenting him and saxophonist Marshal Royal along with a local rhythm section composed of Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson and Roy McCurdy at the Lyceum Theatre in 1990 under the auspices of the San Diego Jazz Society. A CD was made of the performance which, unfortunately, is out of print. Joe helped to break down racial barriers on Broadway, radio, television and in classical music.

Wilder’s sense of propriety was legendary. When Wilder was in Lionel Hampton’s orchestra in the early 1940s, fellow band members used to offer him a $10 bill if he would simply utter one four-letter word. Wilder never collected! A soft-spoken and stately man, he never appeared in public without a tie. He was a non-smoker and non-drinker. He was as impeccable in his playing as he was in his personal life. Classically trained, he had to face the reality that no African-Americans were being hired for symphony jobs in the 1930s and 40s. After auditions for symphony jobs, they were told, “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”   [Read more…]

Angry White Men on My Mind

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I keep hearing that Donald Trump is appealing to angry white men and I say, of course he is. He’s an angry white man. Who else is he going to appeal to?

Truth is, though, a lot of those angry white men should be angry with themselves for supporting and voting for people who mean them absolutely no good, politicians who do nothing to better their lives. People who, in actuality, do all they can to see that the president doesn’t help them either.

But, anyway, those aren’t the angry white men this writing is about. It’s those out-and-out racist angry white men I see on TV at Trump’s rallies who’ve captured my attention. I’ve spent a month short of 78 years dealing with angry white men like them and they make me jumpy, to say the least.   [Read more…]

Maria Garcia Inducted into San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame

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Recognized for writing the people’s history

Five San Diego County women were inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame on Sunday March 6 at the Joe and Vi Jacobs Center. Maria Garcia, Evonne Seron Schulze, Sally Wong Avery, Elizabeth Lou and Christine Kehoe were recognized for their lifetime work and achievements and hailed as role models.

Each of these dynamic women has left an indelible mark on our civic life, making it more inclusive and vibrant. Each of these dynamic women also exemplifies a unique voice and story. For Maria Garcia, her story is history—she was inducted into the Hall of Fame as Historian.   [Read more…]

What Has Influenced Your Feminist Perspective?

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By Krizia Puig

My feminism goes beyond gender. It is about demolishing the oppressive present structures of power through intellectual and activist work, because everything that is socially constructed can be socially deconstructed. My feminism is about believing in utopias.

My Feminism is about believing in the right of owning and defining our bodies. My Feminism is being against the normalization, the serialization, of human beings. It is about being conscious about the fact that “everyone’s body is a battleground.” My Feminism is thinking that any sort of discrimination because of human variable body features is an abomination.   [Read more…]

Hedge Fund Billionaire Paul Singer Makes Argentina Cry For Itself

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Argentina is the latest country to suffer at the hands of US vultures. Paul Singer of the Elliott Management hedge fund will reap a huge sum based on his purchase of Argentinian bonds in 2001. His firm has about 300 employees, yet it has managed to force Argentina, a nation of 41 million people, to its knees.

Hedge funds like Singer’s play a big part in the financialization of the global economy, making money off of money with no productive labor involved. They are making the inequality gap between the wealthy, the 1%, and the rest of us, the 99%, even bigger. Singer’s money will be deposited into the account of one of his subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, a tax-free jurisdiction, which means he will pay no US taxes on his windfall.   [Read more…]

San Diego Latino Film Festival: Excellent Offerings from Mexico and Beyond

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By Mukul Khurana

It didn’t rain on the first day of the San Diego Latino Film Festival (now in its 23rd year). It did, however, rain heavily and briefly on the second day, as forecasted. That didn’t affect attendance on either of the initial two days. Maybe word got around after 23 years that SDLFF 2016 was in town at Fashion Valley AMC again. Maybe the rain caused people to seek shelter…

On the first day, Tiempos Felices (Mexico, 80 min. 2015) turned out to be the first surprise of many.   [Read more…]

Hugh Thompson, An American Hero

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By Jack Doxey

March 16th, 2016 marks the 48th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre that occurred in Vietnam. To say that it was a sad day in the history of our country is a gross understatement. Our United States military systematically slaughtered over 500 Vietnamese women, children, infants and old men in the tiny village of My Lai.

Our country’s attention span is short; and revisiting old wounds can be painful. The result is that this event has been shoved into the “dust bin” of history.

Never the less, I beseech our government and every American citizen to not forget but instead “learn” from the events that unfolded 48 years ago in the tiny village of My Lai.   [Read more…]

Carlsbad City Hall No Place For Apologies

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By Richard Riehl

Mayor Matt Hall called for peace in the city at the Carlsbad City Council’s March 8 meeting, days after Measure A was defeated. After enduring a verbal waterboarding of criticism by seven speakers who asked him to apologize for his role in dividing the city, he concluded the meeting with a promise:

“If an apology is what it takes to bring us all back together I will say that 1,000 times. I realize there was a difference in this and I realize the passion for what you believe in. But right now I think the best thing for us is to come back together. That’s what separates Carlsbad from any other city in North County. It’s allowed us to go through a lot of different issues where there were differences. But at the end of the day we came back together and were willing to work together. And that would be my commitment to you.”

I guess he wasn’t ready to begin those 1,000 apologies just yet. But after someone yelled from the audience to remind him, he relented. “I apologize to you, Greg. Looking at you, I clearly apologize, if that’s what it takes to bring us back together, I apologize.”   [Read more…]

International Women’s Day: A Google Doodle, 79 Cents on the Dollar and a Dollop of Socialist History

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We should all be thankful that retailing moguls haven’t been able to figure out a way to make International Women’s Day a sales event.

In San Diego, a mid-day downtown (7th & B) demonstration heralded the struggles of Immigrant Women around the world, calling out poverty, abuse and exploitation in the janitorial workforce.

Today we’ll take a look around the media world to see what is happening with regard to women on March 8, 2016…UPDATED, plus there is coverage of today’s demonstration.   [Read more…]

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