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Union-Tribune lays off journalists
Whaddaya mean, fossil? He's younger than I am.— February 15, 2017 4:08 p.m.
Union-Tribune lays off journalists
So Jeff is "lightening" the staff at the Light News again. With all the positions that have been lost there, it amazes me that they can turn out the miserable, shrunken thing at all. I'd guess that the preprint advertisers, especially the Sunday users, are having more to do with keeping it afloat than anything else. But all the legions of former readers who now don't see any kind of ad, either in the paper or delivered along with it, how much longer will those advertisers use it as a delivery medium? Rather than ask who has been laid off, ask who still works there. (It can't be all that many people; soon it will be fewer still.) It is so amusing to see the Readers Rep, one Adrian Vore, explain the controversy "raging" at the paper and in the subscriber base. Some want to continue to cover the Chargers just as always--which was 'way too heavily, and fawned constantly. Others, he says, want to just treat them like any other NFL team as far as coverage. They figure that since the team left town, it isn't "theirs" any more, and they want to move on. (But what will they move on to? More Padres? Likely, but how much more can they do? Other pro teams? Uh, what other pro teams? And so it goes.)— February 14, 2017 4:39 p.m.
Alleged Oceanside gang members indicted
But, but, but, we are told that Oceanside is now cleaner than a hound's tooth! Are you insinuating that it still has some dirty spots? Oh, say it ain't so Joe! One recent Oceanside motel that was busted was an aged former Travelodge that stands just at the north end of the old highway bridge to the west of I-5. That one was "taken down" maybe two years ago; it was a classic "Patel motel", in that when the arrests were made the owner (or was it manager?) was named Patel. Shortly thereafter it was looking spruced up, with its sign proclaiming that it was under new management and that the rooms were renovated, and included a free breakfast. But at that time, and even now, it has no national chain affiliation. The two you mention probably don't include that one.— February 12, 2017 10:38 p.m.
South Bay water cost to drop (and then rise)
Strange world isn't it? Two cities fighting about which one "gets" to treat sewage, rather than which one is stuck with the task. And now sewage is a resource, I must assume.— February 12, 2017 11:34 a.m.
Alleged Oceanside gang members indicted
Hard to say. I've never owned stock in a US, or foreign for that matter, auto manufacturer, and don't intend to. If I owned Ford, I'd probably be looking at selling it now, during a boom period of sales.— February 11, 2017 7:44 p.m.
Alleged Oceanside gang members indicted
Way back when, Ivana was touted as a very vibrant and savvy personality. But soon, she was out, out, out, and Marla was in. Somehow (maybe 'cause I don't read People magazine) I didn't know she was gone. This wife is a marvelously good piece of "arm candy." She may be a very good person, but cannot be understood until we understand Trump himself. His saga of three wives may parallel the story of the "Three wives of Henry II", as in Henry Ford II. I can't fully repeat, in that this is a public newspaper, a comment I recall about those three wives, except to say that the first one was "class", the second one "crass", and the third one . . .— February 11, 2017 6:01 p.m.
Longtime local business closes on Newport Avenue
The quote of the years spent running the store as "amazing" is typical of the new use of that adjective. Just what was "amazing" isn't clear; neither is the definition of it. From the travails reported, I'd guess it was amazingly bad, amazingly frustrating, and ultimately amazingly intolerable. No business should have to put up with those daily outrages in a city that calls itself "America's Finest." Oh, good ol' OB has always been tolerant, funky, and hang-loose, but that doesn't excuse how far it has fallen into being a cesspool of human wretchedness. If the city of SD is to ever claim to be something close to first world, spots like OB need to be cleaned up, and kept cleaned up. Sheesh!— February 11, 2017 5:52 p.m.
Tronc to Union-Tribune: attrit now!
Just like some pseudo-newspaperman to use a fancy and obscure term like "attrit" when he could have said "shrink." We first began to hear of attrition being used widely when, in the late 70's, some major employers began to make big staffing cutbacks. One that I recall was United Airlines when it announced that is was cutting 10,000 (!) workers from its staff, and stating that much would come from attrition. (How, I asked, could an airline have ten thousand excess employees and stay in business; how would it keep its planes flying after cutting that many workers? Well, if you've dealt with those airlines in recent years, you know that they are chronically short-staffed when it comes to check-in personnel, agents reachable by telephone, and keeping the planes clean. Something had to give.) Roger Hedgecock was an interesting study. He actually started out as a sort of liberal young politician, although his party was the GOP. That was possible back when non-partisan local offices actually were, sort of, not driven by state or national party affiliations. Roger, when he was elected a county supervisor, actually was the "bete noir" of the county bureaucracy, in that he actually asked the CAO and department heads hard questions, and had the temerity to criticize them publicly. Oh, the entrenched types in county employ hated him! But later on the lure of a more visible office, that of mayor, beckoned and his ambition had no bounds. He could have used that as a stepping stone to the governorship or US Senate, had his venality not tripped him up.— February 11, 2017 9:06 a.m.
Alleged Oceanside gang members indicted
This is very interesting in that all the names are other-than-Hispanic. In Oceanside, the usual gangs are Hispanic, such as Center City and Posole, or Samoan. So, I'd guess the operations of the Crips are not just the usual punk street gang sort of thing. But I would like to know more about the two "national brand hotels" referenced. One might assume they are low-end motels, not anything at all fancy. And the city does have Motel 6, along with Rodeway Inn, but no Econo Lodge. (Those are the lowest-end national brands I can think of.) Then again, maybe some of the better, newer hotels in town have been compromised and turned into hotbeds of illicit activity.— February 11, 2017 8:48 a.m.
Do not bend the knee to the NFL
It isn't obvious to everyone, but Super Bowl and Super bowl Sunday are a secular holiday. It took far less than a half-century to enshrine that football game as a high-power observance that rivals other such holidays, such as Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Washington's Birthday. Did I say it rivals them? No, actually it outshines them, in that it carries a certain degree of sacredness they don't have. And so it came to pass that the game and its day became an occasion for feasting (i.e. indulging in beer, wine and mixed cocktails) and certain ritual foods such as guacamole and chips, ribs, brats, and a team-themed cake. Instead of some sort of sacrifice to the gods, overindulgence and either rejoicing (by the winners) or anguish (by the losers) were the order of the day. And so it is today, and in the future, amen. Garrett needs to learn his popular culture, and bow down to its symbols. Talk of how the Russian composer will outlast the NFL and its day in winter is just subversive. Sounds as if he's one of those Russian-loving Trump supporters.— February 10, 2017 8:40 p.m.