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Filner ends pot dispensary crackdown; U.S. Attorney Duffy yet to respond
Traditionally, the carcass on Goldsmith's head is considered to be that of a ferret.— January 13, 2013 3:23 a.m.
Seau suffered from disease caused by hits
More evidence of professional sports' negative effects on the USA. Yet our high schools and colleges still celebrate athletics over scholarship. This is criminal. The owners of the teams, who regularly bilk cities out of hundreds of millions of tax dollars, should be forced to account for the damage they do to their employees. Nobody can simultaneously claim to be a football fan and a moral human being. If you enjoy violent blood sports you cannot call yourself "Christian". Yet there is no sport that is more closely associated with Christianity than football... Disgusting. My son will NEVER play football or any other violent contact sport. Any father who would encourage his son to play football deserves to be kicked in the head until he develops CTE.— January 13, 2013 3:06 a.m.
San Diego’s Qualcomm is the fifth-largest user of H-1B talent
Don, I admit I've been part of this ugly process too many times. I'm brought in to interview the creative engineer, and shortly thereafter the engineer is replaced. Most recently this happened at KIT Digital, where I documented the technology created by the Cologne and Stockholm teams because the management decided to get rid of the "too expensive" engineers. KIT Digital was a giant investment fraud. The CEO, Kaliel Tuzman, of "startup.com" infamy, lied to investors, employees, and the media...so much so that his monthly "All Hands" broadcasts were dubbed "All Hand Jobs" by the employees. I told you about this confidentially at the time, Don, but since there was no San Diego angle you didn't want to write about it. Now the SEC is investigating, and law firms are jockeying to be the principle plaintiffs. http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/12/18/video-ma… KIT was quite keen on moving as many jobs as possible to low cost locations, getting rid of expensive American and Western European talent. I would like to see the managers go to jail for their actions, destroying legitimate companies and looting them...but I'm confident they'll get a slap on the wrist at most. Frankly, the investors who lost money deserve to have been defrauded...this was such an obvious scam, they must have known better and chose to put in money anyway.— January 13, 2013 2:37 a.m.
San Diego’s Qualcomm is the fifth-largest user of H-1B talent
1. A creative and highly skilled engineer creates something innovative. 2. A new manager/owner comes along, decides that this engineer earns "too much". 3. The engineer is forced to document exactly how the technology works. 4. A low-skilled engineer is brought in to learn the technology. 5. The creative and highly skilled engineer is fired. A few years later the company is sold because it's fallen behind. The managers get golden parachutes, and the remaining employees get the shaft.— January 9, 2013 9:14 p.m.
Billboard image of Bonnie Dumanis defaced
I'm afraid the vandals didn't practice truth in advertising...otherwise they'd have shown Bonnie Dumanis as completely toothless. Dumanis has a shameful record of ignoring political corruption in San Diego, but wants to crack down on Workers Compensation fraud? Toothless...and blind.— December 9, 2012 3:24 a.m.
You will get hoodwinked on San Diego stadium costs
Re: "Fibber" Fabiani Would one of the lawyers here advise me on a point of law? If a hypothetical citizen of San Diego were to hypothetically knock out some of Fabiani's hypothetical teeth (for all I know he wears dentures) would that citizen be entitled to present a self-defense/defense of property argument to the court? After all, it is well known that Fabiani has deliberately deceived the public on a number of occassions in the past, from helping Clinton claim he never had sex with "that woman", or Lance Armstrong say he was clean as a whistle, or the Chargers declare that the stadium is a good deal for San Diego and that the team is working in good faith. We know this man is a liar. Full stop. No argument from anyone on the planet that this many lies like a rug... So preventing him from performing his frauds on the public, even temporarily by knocking out some of his hypothetical teeth, would not be a crime...it would be self-defense. The hypothetical protector of San Diego would prevent Fabiani from engaging in conspiracy, extortion, and outright theft of public funds. So, hypothetically, the person who knocks Fabiani's front teeth out would be entitled to a commendation... Any lawyers care to explain how this theory might fare before a San Diego judge? :-) (No, Dumanis, don't send investigators after me for "terroristic threats"...this is obviously satire, protected free speech, and I have no intention or ability to carry out any acts, nor do I encourage anyone else to do so. Compare what the Chargers encouraged its fans to say to Henderson before you call me out for incitement or threats...besides, a toothless Fabiani would be poetic justice...hypothetically speaking...while a toothless D.A. who prosecutes shoplifters more vigorously than political corruption is just injustice)— December 9, 2012 3:18 a.m.
You will get hoodwinked on San Diego stadium costs
Don, when looking at total cost to tax payers, does the research include police and paramedic overtime? Typically, professional sports events require extra cops and first responders. These assignments are highly sought after because they're cushy duty, and they are usually paid at overtime rates. Then there are the costs cities incur when the teams actually win...and riots break out, fans turn ugly and burn cars in the streets. What about lost productivity, especially in the host cities of big games? We know that other events are cancelled when Super Bowls come to town, so any "boost" is mere replacement...could we quantify the quality of those displaced events? Wouldn't a city benefit a lot more from the spending of a convention of neurologists than a stadium of football fans? Then we could get into the long term medical costs of former players...not only of professional sports, but the unpaid and often uninsured semi-professional football players at colleges and universities who are too often maimed for life. How far do the researchers go in counting the costs to everyone of professional football? Could we include wasted educational opportunities as hapless high schoolers are herded into auditoriums to cheer for jocks they despise? How many concussions were generated for this game? How many bullies nurtured, protected, privileged, pampered, and either turned into sociopaths or infantilized, and then turned loose on society to make their way after they are no longer useful to the sport? Not saying that professional and school-based football always leads to bad outcomes, but it sure does cost society a lot more than we ever acknowledge. Compared to any other pastime or entertainment (IN THEN END FOOTBALL IS JUST ENTERTAINMENT) there seems to be nothing comparable in its expense and waste.— December 9, 2012 2:55 a.m.
Fewer people than ever are reading newspapers; electronic media are not making up the difference.
I would extend this to include coverage in the news sections being biased whenever professional sports is the topic. Whether burying stories about player misconduct or hyping bogus benefits for public financing of stadiums, the news and editorial departments consistently do NOT report the truth. This is because as Visduh points out, the newspapers have heavy financial reliance on the sports pages...it's the main reason a lot of folks buy the paper. So if the local team doesn't get its way, the paper will not report fairly on the subject. Nowadays, we have so many sources for news that the local paper like the UT is irrelevant to serious people who aren't sports fans. It's near the bottom of the list for reading when so much quality material is available that contains actual news instead of fluff. Don, I would suggest that news consumption has remained constant...if you broaden your definition of news (isn't following your friends' activities online more practical and important a source of information for living than reading some biased sports-centric rag like the UT?). In proportion to how much more information is now available that is actually relevant to a younger person's life (which party to attend, rather than which party to vote for), consumption of irrelevant information must drop. There are only so many hours in a day. Popular culture (movies, TV, and yes sports heroes) has preached the irrelevance of civic participation for decades, while emphasizing the importance of time with friends and consumption of consumer goods. So that's what young people pay attention to...news about their friends, consumer goods, sports, and entertainment...politics and economics is for nerds like us. I have hopes the example of the Occupy movement, especially now as they help cleanup after Sandy, and younger folks will become increasingly aware of what's going on...but they will the first to tell you they don't read traditional newspapers because they are irrelevant or too biased.— November 17, 2012 3:34 a.m.
Tilted Kilt waitresses and other San Diego bar girls sound off
ATTN ADMIN: UI Change request 1. Move the "Next" and "Previous" buttons so they are at the bottom RIGHT (left is not where we expect to find them). 2. Increase the button's background color saturation (they're nearly transparent now) so we can see them more quickly. (The same settings as the "Post reply" button should be okay.) Thank you very much.— September 6, 2012 9:55 p.m.
The Erica Show
After my active duty, I did a reserve stint with Special Boat Unit 13 at NAB Coronado and had the pleasure of working with some SEALS. That was twenty odd years ago, and the culture must have changed dramatically in the intervening decades. This book would have been unthinkable, and resulted in severe punishment for the offenders.— September 6, 2012 12:23 a.m.