Rosey's Diary & Newsy Things: Driverless Waymo To Bring Chaos To SD Streets | Street Junk Vendors Return in Full Force | SD Closes Beach Bathrooms | SD to Emerald Hills: Whoopsie!

SeaWorld Beluga Up-Close Interaction (Taken 8.25.25)

The longer I make this post, the longer we're still being told that Mitch McConnell is still alive. What a fucking farce. I'm not much of a history buff and don't know a whole lot of world history and dynamics, so maybe this is hyperbolic, but it just feels like never in the history of the world has an entire country (and thereby the world) been gaslit so hard by our own government. In the day and age where EVERYTHING is on camera/video, SHOW US THE MAN or shut the fuck up. 

We also got to enjoy soccer, yet hate-watch FIFA and the corrupt ass-kissing organization, which literally has an office in T Tower in NYC, over the past few weeks. There is some sweet justice in Spain winning the Cup, since they have very publicly butted heads with TFG over the Israel-Palestine situation. 

So yeah, it's been a couple too-hot weeks in San Diego and I've had to buy camisoles for pajamas, but I guess it's par for the course, as I think of Comic-Cons past and remember several times when it was excessively hot, with the local news racing downtown to interview Stormtroopers and other Cos-players to ask about the weather and surviving the week. As I mentioned before, I did not renew my standing as Press for Comic-Con, which means I might have some slight FOMO this week, but my inbox is grateful not to have the additional dozens of emails every day for the past several weeks. I might try to go down and shoot all the pop-ups and such as I did last year, as I found it really enjoyable to do in the middle of the night. We'll see how I do with actual work and listings before I commit. 

In the meantime, stay cool and safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. May Mitch and Lindsey be toasting smores over their eternal hellfire that they deserve. 

• SAN DIEGO LOCALS:
• Pacific Beach leaders want to close a stretch of Ocean Boulevard to car traffic - Times of San Diego (7.14.26)
• After months of prep, Waymo nearly ready to launch driverless service in San Diego - Times of San Diego (7.8.26)
• Driverless rideshare company Waymo to soon begin autonomous rides in San Diego - kpbs (7.8.26)
• I HATE THIS SO MUCH. I HATE THESE FUCKING THINGS. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THE BODEGA CAT KILLED BY THEM. FUCK THIS AND FUCK OUR CITY FOR APPROVING THIS. As a lifelong San Diego County resident and the 15 year partner with someone from the Bay Area, I often resent the comparisons made between a 7-square mile City and our region. I hate that when these vehicles will be needed most - in an emergency, when events happen that may cause traffic, or during peak travel/tourist seasons- seems to be when they are most prone to batteries dying, noise from overnight charging, or just wreaking havoc on neighborhoods. I do not hate EVs, but I fucking hate municipalities being bought and sold by these corporations that get away with being called "tech companies" to avoid liability from being what they actually are...transportation services. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. I hate this fucking timeline.  
• San Diego Is 2026’s 6th Best City for Recreation – WalletHub Study (7.13.26)
• SAN DIEGO REGIONAL POLITICS:
• City of San Diego, SDPD pause street vendor enforcement amid legal challenges - kpbs (7.7.26)
• Mission Bay bathrooms are now scarcer - Axios San Diego (7.6.26)
• Neighbors lose half-century fight to save Emerald Hills green space for a park - kpbs (7.8.26)
• County Releases Auditor’s Report with Assessment of Contract Management Practices - County News Center (7.13.26)
• CALIFORNIA NEWS: 
• ‘California Dream’? Inside the Golden State’s booth at the Great American State Fair - Times of San Diego (7.8.26)
• ZOO GOSS:
• Wild Bat Found at Safari Park Tests Positive for Rabies - County News Center (7.15.26)
• First-of-its-Kind Surgery Performed on Western Lowland Gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. UC San Diego Health surgeons and wildlife health experts at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park team up to perform the world's first reported mastoidectomy on a gorilla. - SDZWA Press Room (7.12.26)
• Rare echidna 'twins' hatch at San Diego Zoo Safari Park - UPI (7.16.26)
• SEA WORLD GOSS:
• For many months, I've been watching to see what Canada would do with the abandoned animals of Marineland and had hopes that they would eventually end up in the US. This week, finally, transport has begun. SeaWorld San Diego has been names as one of the receiving aquariums, but no new belugas yet. But it's looking good, now that the first of the animals have begun to be transported. 
• 'Emergency rescue' of Marineland's beluga whales to U.S. aquariums has begun. 6 whales being flown Monday out of Toronto from Niagara Falls, Ont., park. - CBC (7.20.26) 
• SeaWorld one new home in Canada’s plan to move whales, dolphins from closed-down park - AP/Times of San Diego (6.4.26)
• No resort yet, but SeaWorld’s 40-year plan lives on in updated blueprint - Beach & Bay Press/Times of San Diego (7.8.26)
• SeaWorld needs to phase out its fireworks shows, say San Diego planning commissioners. A long overdue update of SeaWorld's master plan received a warm reception from planning commissioners, but not so with the park's plans to stage up to 60 fireworks shows a year. - San Diego Union-Tribune [Behind Paywall] (7.16.26)
• TRANS RIGHTS & GUN FIGHTS: 
• California colleges reveal their military weapons stockade after CalMatters investigation - kpbs/CalMatters (7.8.26)
• POLITICS:
• Economic, Consumer Cost, and Pollution Impacts of Federal Energy Policy Changes. Modeling shows federal policy changes since January 2025 will increase energy prices, slow economic growth and job creation, increase air pollution and healthcare costs, and worsen grid reliability. -Energy Innovation (7.8.26)
• OTHER READING:
• We’re entering a “shitting on the floor at concerts” epidemic. After Olivia Rodrigo revealed that she’s often smelled her fans’ feces at the barricade of her shows, musicians like Noah Kahan are coming forward with horror stories of their own fans’ incontinence. - Paste (6.29.26)
• Curfews, Drones, and Criminal Charges: Cities Differ on Approaches to ‘Teen Takeovers’. Experts say race and class factor heavily in perceptions of these gatherings, which are fueled by social media and can involve thousands. The Marshall Project (7.18.26)
• INTERNATIONAL NEWS: 
• State Department Launches Campaign to Dismantle International Criminal Court’s Threat to American Sovereignty - State Dept (7.13.26)
• Straight talk about Hormuz - Popular Information (7.14.26)
• US GOVERNMENT DESTRUCTION:
• TFG:
• Damage Out of Control: Soccer, NATO, and Mount Rushmore - Dan Rather & Team Steady (7.6.26)
• TFG quietly clears the road for Musk’s robotaxis - Oligarch Watch (7.15.26)
• DOGE:
• Musk demanded proof people died from USAID cuts. He got it — and lost it. - Judd Legum/Oligarch Watch (7.3.26)
• ICE/CBP/DHS:
• “Help Me. They Shot Me!” Immigration enforcement was flying under the radar until Tuesday - Dan Rather & Team Steady (7.9.26)
• Houston Democrats demand feds release footage of ICE agent fatally shooting migrant. Four members of Congress demand that ICE and Homeland Security release evidence supporting its claims that an ICE agent shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in self-defense. - The Texas Tribune (7.9.26)
• Maine - Civil Discourse/Joyce Vance (7.14.26)
• How I explained what I witnessed ICE doing in Bozeman to my daughters - News From The States (7.9.26)
• Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero were killed by ICE - ACLU (7.16.26)
• SUPREME COURT: 
• The Last Monday At SCOTUS - Joyce Vance from Civil Discourse (6.29.26)
• Supreme Court ruling on asylum case has roots in San Diego - kpbs (6.29.26)
• Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship on constitutional grounds - npr (6.30.26)
• A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification. ProPublica conducted a new analysis that shows the court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in largely unsigned orders with little to no explanation. - ProPublica (7.1.26)
• SCOTUS justices open books. As the Supreme Court handed down its last rulings of the term, the justices’ annual financial disclosure forms revealed their side hustles and earnings. - Closing Arguments by Courthouse News (7.3.26)
• COVID-19/AVIAN FLU/HEALTH/WELLNESS:
• DISEASES TO WATCH:
• West Nile virus found in mosquitoes in San Carlos area, county urges caution - City News Service (7.6.26)
• County Health Officials Report First Locally Acquired Chagas Case - County News Center (7.6.26)
• CRAZY SHIT FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION (HHS | FDA | CDC | NIH | ETC):
• CDC Says Cyclosporiasis Outbreaks in Multiple States May Be Linked — Michigan officials are looking into lettuce as a possible source - MedPage (7.14.26)