independent online community journalism

Seriously, what? Issa nominated Trump for Nobel Prize

Folks, you can’t make up this stuff: Former accused car thief who was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, Rep. Darryl Issa, (R-Bonsall???) said March 4 that he had “nominated President Donald Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.” For real? “Not since Ronald Reagan has an American president better represented the national resolve of peace through strength or the fundamental…



Why daylight saving time is unhealthy

As people in the U.S. prepare to turn their clocks ahead at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 8, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time. About a third of Americans say they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. An overwhelming 63% to 16% majority…


Phyllis Weisman Blackman of Greenwich Dies at 92

Phyllis Bernstein Weisman Blackman died peacefully of natural causes at her longtime Greenwich, Conn., home on Feb. 8. She was 92. The daughter of Bernard “Bunny” and Ethel Bernstein, whose family owned National Silver Industries and F.B. Rogers Silver Co., known for consumer and specialty silver-plated tableware and hollowware, Phyllis grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and attended The Dalton School. She left school…


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:…


‘One Battle After Another,’ one SD scene after another

If Hollywood, and film award season beginning with the Golden Globes Sunday night, needed reminding that San Diego exists south of the Studio Zone and north of the border, it’s about to get a pleasant nudge. “One Battle After Another,” the new Warner Bros. picture written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, opened recently—and it doesn’t merely visit San Diego. It…


Novartis invites Carlsbad to $23 billion investment push

Carlsbad just joined the very small club of places where science quietly does something important while everyone else is arguing on cable news. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has opened a new 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Carlsbad, built not for vitamin gummies or mood-enhancing seltzer but for cancer drugs that come with an expiration date measured in hours. Not days. Not weeks. Hours. Like milk,…


Cal Food4All advocates ask Newsom for more food aid

On Friday, January 9, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his January budget proposal for fiscal year 2026-27. The proposed budget maintains the planned expansion of the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to all income-eligible Californians, ages 55 years or older, regardless of their immigration status. The Food4All coalition appreciates seeing a continued commitment to providing food benefits to Californians ages 55 and older, regardless of immigration…


Escondido Creek Conservancy adds Elfin Forest acreage

Hundreds of acres of land in North San Diego County are now protected in perpetuity by The Escondido Creek Conservancy (Conservancy) following the recent acquisition of two key properties: the White-Atterbury property, extending from Harmony Grove into San Marcos and Elfin Forest. These acquisitions represent critical components of the Conservancy’s Connecting Conservation Corridors Campaign, which aims to link fragmented native habitats so wildlife can survive…


How Jan. 6 ran straight through San Diego County

The Trump-inspired Jan. 6 Capitol riot did not start in Washington. It started in places that look a lot like San Diego County—suburban streets, online message boards, small protest circles, group texts, and social-media feeds that steadily hardened into belief. When the crowd breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, San Diego did not watch from the sidelines. Residents here packed bags, booked flights,…