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Blogs, Books, Dean Weissmann presents, Featured May 1, 2026

Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 11: ‘Smash-up at Stinko’s’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/.) Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/) Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/     CHAPTER ELEVEN More fun at MacLand. Mr. Milty creates a large scowling face in the Stinko’s Copy Shop  window down Oak Street. Te face stops traffic and causes an uroar. Later, Tyger, Mac Armor’s, Nick Bowers,…

Breaking News, Featured, North County February 5, 2026

Doug Porter’s Guide to protests, actions, events, vigils

Here we are in year two of Trump II, and you’d have to be blind to say the administration hasn’t flooded the zone with Project 2025 schemes, would-be Presidential monuments, Racism, and lies like nobody’s ever seen before. From day one it’s been difficult for non-MAGA types to comprehend and react to the pace of administration actions. Broken down into their actual components, they include:…

WSA, the World Shoe Association trade show

Featured, Lifestyle/Society, Rancho Santa Fe February 4, 2026

Robynn Nussbaum and The Shoe Lounge

Robynn Nussbaum put her heart and soul into The Shoe Lounge. It was a small, yet elegant, haute couture footwear and accessory store she opened at Del Rayo Plaza across from Fairbanks Country Club. An avid tri-athlete and marathon runner with three young children and four step-children, the 44-year-old Rancho Santa Fe resident had a passion for shoes. She dreamed for years of opening an…

Featured, Sports, The World February 3, 2026

‘Lord of All Indoors’ soccer legend Steve Zungul lives quietly in Escondido retirement

Reclusive and sitting in a luxury home high above the San Pasqual Valley, the charismatic  “Lord of All Indoors” Steve Zungul continues to mystify and impress, albeit out of the public eye. He hasn’t spoken to anybody in the media for over a decade. His legendary indoor soccer career continues to do all the talking. Fans of the Croatian indoor soccer scoring machine, perhaps the…

Featured, Surprising and Strange January 31, 2026

Bill Murray ‘ghostbusted’ at Kit Carson Park?

“My friends were out at 1am smoking weed at Kit Carson Park in Escondido when they saw Bill Murray walking through the woods like a phantom.” — Jibby_von_HaHa on Imgur and Reddit Secret Pokemon Go character? Look-alike or hoax? Big Foot, abominable snowman and Hodgee the friendly Lake Hodges monster be damned, meet the latest myth to blow through Escondido town, the ghost of Bill Murray….

Editorial, Featured, Media, Opinion November 29, 2025

Welcome to Kevin Breslin’s Harmony Grove rabbit hole

Jimmy Breslin. That’s my lede. Jimmy Breslin. Or rather, AI Jimmy Breslin. Breslin was OK. Not a great writer, but an OK muckraker. So, sue my story tag, you’re it, Kevin Breslin, Jimmy’s apparent self-appointed nepo baby defender of the family jewels. I wasn’t a big Jimmy, and now Kevin, Breslin fan; and sometimes not a fan at all, but considered Jimmy Breslin part of…

Blogs, Books, Dean Weissmann presents, Featured November 29, 2025

Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 19: ‘Day at the Races’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN (The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/.) Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/) Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER NINETEEN Tyger, Sandy, Milty, and Armor’s spend the day at the New Orleans Fairgrounds, the third oldest horse racing track in America. Many insightful observations are made about the racing environment and the day ends with…

Editorial, Featured, Opinion, Politics, Public Policy October 31, 2025

Uninformed and malicious voters: Thanks for NOTHING

In the grand theater of nations, nothing matters now but the ruin we have invited upon ourselves. Neither the evident decay of reason nor the depths of ignorance; not the tempest of unbridled emotions nor the campaign built upon venom and folly; not even the absurdity of schemes so unworkable that only malice could defend them. None of it mattered. Behold the man: the candidate…

Featured, History, The World September 10, 2025

Local Escondido ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001 attack

Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attack. His major complaint in the years following concerned his inability to get correct, and affordable, treatment due to the costs involved, costs that Congress finally agreed to add funding to the 9/11 First Responders fund almost 18 years later. “Ironworkers worked every day,” Pursley said. “We went on 12-hour shifts…

Featured, Media, Surprising and Strange August 28, 2025

Rush Limbaugh, Ray Bong, and Katrina lies

Rush Limbaugh: We’re back on the air at WWL AM 870 in New Orleans today. They’re getting back to normal in the city, and WWL is resuming normal operations, so we’re back. Ray, great to have you with us. Ray Bong: Hello, Rush… Ray “Ray Bong” Davis of Lafitte is my only friend crazy enough to be able to talk himself past hell’s palace guards, and…