Opinion
Opinion: My Puerto Rican friend regrets her vote. Do others too?
Each election year, I find myself casting my vote at the very last minute — in the final week before the deadline, I can be found scrambling around trying to get it squared away. I’m one of those people rushing to cast my vote in the final days of the election. It’s a habit I []
Opinion: Splitting San Diego Unified into two districts would help students
The unanimous decision in August by San Diego Unified School District board members to dismiss Superintendent Lamont Jackson, following an investigation by the district that substantiated allegations of misconduct, highlights the urgent challenges facing the district. Yet this action barely scratches the surface of the deeper issues at hand. Nearly half of the district’s students []
Why can’t U.S. agencies detect incoming panga boats?
How many undetected panga boat landings, with migrants aboard, are too many? The numbers seem to be multiplying, which makes me think there are wings of the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection that are failing to detect or intercept the migrant landings. America has lots of tax dollars and sophisticated know-how to put []
Turner would have brought much-need change as mayor
Re Larry Turner concedes San Diego mayoral race to Mayor Todd Gloria (Nov. 13): I share the disappointment of the hundreds of thousands of Larry Turner supporters who voted for integrity and accountability. As Mr. Turner rightly noted in his concession statement, “Nearly half of this city voted for change and my hope for San []
Did term limits make maintenance less of a priority in San Diego?
Re San Diego has put off $1 billion in routine building maintenance, audit says (Nov. 9): Infrastructure isn’t sexy and term limits reward sexy. Elected officials looking for the next rung up the ladder don’t generate headlines and contributions by being responsible managers. I had a friend who’d often ask how I thought Mayor Jerry []
Anthony Rendon holds up a nation infamous for ethnic cleansing as a model for California
Ethnic cleansing, civil rights abuses, failing economy. This is not the utopia Rendon thinks it is.
DOGE offers a golden opportunity to streamline the bloated federal government
The fireworks start soon. Much wow.
Despite their critical role in feeding the nation, farmworkers face harsh working conditions
Calling the U.S. farm workforce “critical” is an understatement. Agricultural workers’ labor feeds us. Yet their living and working conditions often do not reflect their immense contributions to society. They face a variety of challenges for at work — difficulties taking leave for sick days or family or personal obligations and harmful working conditions — []
Opinion: I wrote my way through trauma to gratitude. Here’s how.
In late November of last year, I awoke in the wee hours coughing up blood, so my wife had to drive me to the emergency room where I endured several invasive procedures and spent a week in the hospital. Even after my recovery, I never learned the cause of my malady. Perhaps, the medical team []
New law meant to make intersections safer is praised
Re Street look different? Ahead of state ban on parking near corners, San Diego paints thousands of curbs red (Nov. 8): I was overjoyed to read the front-page article on the new parking law for the curbs within 20 feet of an intersection. Pedestrians, bikes and autos have been endangered for years by having parked cars, []
Los Angeles County voters launch a ‘quiet revolution’
It got lost in the massive attention paid — with good reason — to Donald Trump’s triumphant return to the presidency, but a quiet revolution occurred in Los Angeles County. Its voters approved a ballot measure to completely overhaul how the huge county, whose 10 million residents are greater than the populations of all but 10 states, is []
Lawmakers must respond vigorously to climate threat
I voted, and along with integrity, honesty and evidence-based policy, climate change was a priority issue for me. 2024 was another in a series of hottest years measured. Disasters mount, social instability and mass migration follow. “Drill baby drill is not the answer. It is anachronistic, harmful sloganism. These companies are already heavily subsidized, have []
Opinion: Regardless of who holds office, making life worth living is our lifelong vocation
It’s November 2016, and I’m in Reykjavik, Iceland, watching the U.S. election results. My then-partner and I are cozied up in a small cottage, awaiting the outcome. As the night stretches into the early morning hours, we watch Donald Trump decisively win the election. Like millions of others, I felt a deep anxiety about what []
Mass deportations would be an ugly chapter for a nation that should have turned the page
It seems just about every American has an opinion about mass deportations. Its too bad most of those views are so uninformed. Ive been writing about immigration for 35 years, and I still havent figured it out. My take is complicated by the branches on my family tree. I dont have a single undocumented immigrant []
Police chases that put many at risk not worth it
Re Oversight board recommends SDPD pursuit policy changes (Nov. 7): Why in the world would a competent “protect and serve” (us) police chief oppose reducing police chases? It’s understandable that such chases are exciting for officers, but they are clearly dangerous to all of us. As a minimum, officers all over town should be instructed []
Supervisors’ share of blame in county jail deaths keeps growing
In 2019, after The San Diego Union-Tribunes Watchdog team first documented excessive deaths at the jails run by the San Diego County Sheriffs Department, the agency was dismissive. While the comprehensive report showed at least 140 jail deaths from 2009 to 2019 — an appalling mortality rate that was the highest among large counties in the state — Sheriff Bill Gore disputed nearly all the key findings. As new deaths kept being reported, however, Gore began offering lip-service promises of reforms. But a s
Opinion: My side lost the national election. But I still trust the results. Here’s why.
We are fortunate to live in a democracy that places the highest priority on conducting free and fair elections. According to a statement from the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the lead federal government agency for election infrastructure security, the day after the election, “Our election infrastructure has never been more secure []
Opinion: We can do better in some areas of voting. But our basics are strong.
America’s founders chose a democratic system for our newly formed country because they believed it to be the form of government most likely to protect the individual liberties which formed the ideological foundation for the new republic. Public confidence in that system is essential for it to continue to serve as the means by which []