Blog Archives

April 3 – 9, 2024

Highlights this week:

Bratton…the latest…Greensite on West Cliff Drive… Steinbruner…back next week…. Hayes… the Monterey Pine… Patton…billionaires battle… Matlock…Kennedy and Shanahan and hawking bibles for Easter… Eagan…Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover. Webmistress…Colin Mochrie Quotes….”Comebacks”

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Downtown, 1957 We had some proper snow when this photo was taken! This is the intersection of Water, Mission, and Pacific, which (as you know) looks nothing like this today. And I’m not talking about the absence of snow on the ground…

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.
Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE April 3, 2024

 LETS SEE…WHERE WAS I? Folks have been more than kind in wondering where and how and what I’ve been  doing for the last 10 or was it 11 weeks. I took a fall in my kitchen the first week of January and spent 4 days in Dominican with knee and severe walking problems. After Dominican they took me to Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola on Wharf road. I must say that Pacific Coast is far better than the other rehab place Santa Cruz Post Acute on Capitola road.  I did time there too a few years ago.

So, after being off my feet for so many weeks and almost totally out of touch with everything and everybody that’s happening, I have few relevant opinions to write about. Well, there’s the major setback, i.e. loss, on Measure M which goes a long way to prove how Santa Cruz has changed and will continue to become more like Palo Alto financially and politically. And even movies are much more difficult to critique with this extended, enforced “vacation”. I’m not sure at the moment just how many more words and events and opinions I can come up with week after week…so do watch this space…and we’ll enjoy it together.

By-Passing City Council on West Cliff Drive Decision

It’s no secret that city management staff and their stable of consultants are gung-ho on turning West Cliff Drive into a one-way, money-making recreational playground. Over the past ten months the community has witnessed an unprecedented promotional campaign from $250 an hour consulting firm Farallon Strategies. Their recently published 50 Year Community Vision states: “With the Council providing direction in May 23, the city built on previous engagement and began additional outreach to develop the 50-year Community Vision. Between June 2023 and February 2024, the City engaged approximately 1,780 touch points through in person and virtual meetings (480 people), surveys (200 people) and public opinion research (1,100 people).”

Not too shabby an expenditure of money and staff time for a vision.

The following entry (emphasis added) on page 13 of the 33-page document grabbed my attention. The consultants write: To prioritize pedestrian and bicycle access, the City will transition from two-way vehicle traffic along West Cliff Drive to one-way westbound vehicle traffic.” No, “maybe” or “depending on council approval.” Just, “will”.

That level of certainty is surprising given that the City Council has not yet voted on this issue. At the City Council meeting of May 23rd. 2023, by unanimous vote, the City Council’s direction to staff regarding West Cliff contained no such policy decision on turning two-way into one-way. Check the minutes for that meeting. After that meeting, traffic management staff were quoted in Santa Cruz Local saying there were no plans for conversion to one-way after the council meeting and that “conversion to one-way traffic would require years of community engagement due to West Cliff Drive’s key role in traffic patterns across the entire Lower Westside.” There have been no further council votes on this issue since the May 2023 meeting.

In what universe do staff make policy and just by-pass elected officials?

How to explain that a member of Save the Waves Coalition, a non-profit with an economic interest in West Cliff and a Memorandum of Understanding with the City, knew two weeks ago that the 50-Year Community Vision item would be on the April 9th City Council agenda when this council hearing date has only today, April 1st. been made public?

Those who favor turning West Cliff Drive into a one-way street are predominantly those who live elsewhere: who apparently could care less how such a drastic change in traffic routing will impact the lives of those who live in the neighborhoods near West Cliff Drive. No concern for children’s safety when they encounter formerly quiet streets turned into cut-throughs as speeding traffic tries to get back to wherever they want to go. No thought to kids riding bikes across Delaware which is sketchy now and will become a hazard zone if eastbound traffic is diverted to that artery. The “traffic control measures” solution mentioned in the Vision is worthy of a Monty Python sketch.

To those who point out that 48% of people in the consultant-selected map of “impacted-neighbors” voted “yes” for one-way, I’d point out that 47% voted “no” and that the map was poorly, or perhaps carefully selected to include streets that will experience little impact.

While the call to separate bicyclists from walkers and give bicyclists their own lane by removing a lane of traffic has appeal, take a moment to think about the reality. The photograph above of West Cliff Drive is not an unusual sight on a sunny weekday or even mornings on a weekend. While the path does indeed get crowded at certain times and certain days this tends to slow down the bicyclists. Don’t imagine that future bicyclists will stay in their new dedicated lane which will be further away from the ocean vista. If this Vision goes ahead and is promoted, there is nothing stopping bicyclists using the current path as well as their dedicated lane. Enforcement? You’ve got to be kidding! With a steady stream of bicyclists, try to get across from the Field to the ocean. Car drivers often stop to let a pedestrian cross the road. Bicyclists rarely stop even at stop signs let alone for a pedestrian.

That one sentence in the Vision, the declarative, “will transition from two-way traffic to one way” without approval of the city council is a chilling indicator of where the power lies. If you don’t protest now because it aligns with what you want to happen, wait until it doesn’t.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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Becky will be back!

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes. She ran again in 2020 on a slightly bigger shoestring and got 1/3 of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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Monterey Pine – Año Nuevo Stand Status

Our local endangered pine, the Monterey Pine, experienced a catastrophic fire in 2020 – how is it doing?

Everyone living around the Monterey Bay should be proud of conserving this picturesque pine. This tree frames the Bay: it has stands both on the Monterey Peninsula and from Año Nuevo south to Davenport. It is quite beautiful and interesting: commonly draped with long strands of lichen, often having curious, wind-swept shapes, adorned by shiny, dark green needles, and festooned with rotund cones that open with a ‘pop!’ on hot days. Monterey Pine forests host orchids, cavity-nesting birds like the Western bluebird, and sprout a plethora of edible fungi, such as porcini. For the utilitarians among us, this species is the most planted tree in the world – highly valued for its fast-growing wood, managed plantations helping to save endangered rainforests as people demand more and more wood. You can read more in-depth about this species at a previous essay I wrote linked here and on my website greyhayes.net.

When I recently mentioned the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire to a stranger, and they replied how sad it was to see the destroyed forest near Waddell Creek, I realized that the burned-up Monterey Pine forest along Highway 1 is the experience millions of people have of our recent wildfire and this pine. There’s a story there that could be compelling.

Deeper History

To understand the effects of the CZU Lightning Complex Fire on the stand of Año Nuevo Monterey Pine forest, it is important to think about the history those trees tell. In deep time, when this part of the world was moister, those pines migrated from northeastern Mexico up the California coast. The Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada rose up and cut off the weather that brought summer rains, but these pines survived along the coast where the winters were rainy, the summers cooler, and there was fog. During the Little Ice Age of ~15,000 years ago, so much water froze in the polar icecaps that the ocean retreated a ways offshore and a lot lower. Out there where it is now 200′ underwater, humans camped in meadows surrounded by Monterey Pine forest patches ringing the entire Monterey Bay. Then it got warmer and drier, the ocean rose, and people retreated upslope, burning the landscape often to manage for food, fuel, wildlife, safety…and for so many more reasons we wish we knew. Only the Monterey Pines in the wettest foggiest, coolest part of the Bay survived. Even there, the pines just barely hung on. Around 1900, after a hundred years of fire prohibition, ranchers and loggers returned fire to the landscape in a frequent and probably catastrophic way. In early photographs, there were no pines visible along Highway 1 at Waddell Creek. Then, in the 1980’s, people brought an invasive Monterey Pine pathogen to California and the trees died in droves. Meanwhile, humans had succeeded at suppressing fires, and there were no fires in that pine forest from1948-2020; in the absence of fire, the forest spread a lot. And, year after year, tons of dead fuel was piling up: with the drying climate, little decomposed in that forest for 70 years.

A Tinder Box

In August 2020, when a part of a hurricane spun north from Baja across much of California, millions of acres were set ablaze by lightning. Although on superficial consideration this seemed a ‘natural’ event – on deeper examination, the fire that erupted across the Santa Cruz Mountains was a human-caused disaster. Climate change and a legacy of poor land management decisions combined to make that fire ‘jump’ from a few small fires to a fast-moving, landscape-eating conflagration. The Monterey Pines were surrounded by a redwood forest that had been clear cut and hotly torched in the early 1900’s, then burned again in 1948. Where once huge redwood trees had cast deep shade, there were stands of fairy rings of relatively tiny trees, thick underbrush, and piles of decades of dead vegetation – including redwood branches that famously resist decay. In the Monterey Pine stand itself, trees that had succumbed to the recent plague were standing or freshly fallen all around the few surviving trees, which were potentially resistant to the disease.

I tried hiking off trail through that forest in 1995 – and I am experienced at getting through the most intractable terrain in many places of the planet – and this was easily the most painful and difficult area I have ever tried traversing. My eyes sought a means forward without avail, and so I resorted to hiking by feel, my feet repeatedly encountering failing footing over and over such that I crashed downwards 4-8′ through breaking small limbs, only to have to climb back up through this cribwork to keep going. My clothes were badly torn and my shins bleeding when I finally emerged.

From human-caused clear cutting to fire suppression, to introduced pathogens, the Año Nuevo Monterey Pine Forest was set up to burn terribly when lightning struck in 2020.

Serotinous Cones, Evolution, and Seed Longevity

How will evolution play out? The Monterey Pine plague that started in the 1980’s, ‘pine pitch canker’ had survivors, and those were probably resistant to the introduced pathogen. Monterey Pine has somewhat serotinous cones: cones that are closed until they get hot and open. Differently than the few other stands of the species, the Año Nuevo Monterey Pines have particularly serotinous cones. When fire torches through pines with such cones, the cones open, spreading seeds on the fire wind or, where fire is less intense, releasing seeds to the immediate vicinity. The question scientists are asking is: how did the fire affect the evolution of Monterey Pines…were the majority of the cones that released seeds in the fire from disease-resistant parents? In other words, were the cones on the trees that succumbed to the plague dead when the fire hit, or were their viable seeds in cones hanging on dead limbs or in piles on the forest floor? In either case, the 2020 wildfire influenced evolution in two ways: selecting for more serotinous cones and providing a chance for a new generation of more disease resistant trees.

A New Generation

This spring is the first time one can travel on a public road and witness the regeneration of Monterey Pines. You can spot them from Highway 1 or along the northern stretch of Swanton Road: thousands of 4′ tall perky, youthful Monterey Pine seedlings, waving their whole bodies in the breeze, needles shining in the sun. In some areas, those seedlings will soon grow into a widely-spaced forest, towering over a sea of shrubs or creating a pine savannah; in other areas, they will grow so thickly as to shade out anything in the understory. In most places, those young trees will grow up among the skeletons of their ancestors, the bones of which are an existential threat to the survival of their progeny. Fire will return; with climate change it will be more frequent and more severe. All the flames need is a drought, and drought will come. When drought returns, the thick brush and trees will die back creating even more fuel. An increasingly unstable climate will create more hurricanes; dies are cast and the chances of some of those lightning-rich storms peeling off across California is increasing.

Who Cares?

Following this winter, we have a reprieve from drought once again. Monterey Pine seedlings are bolting skywards with the deep moisture. Grasses and shrubs likewise proliferate. The tens-of-thousands of pine trees killed but not consumed by the fire are snapping off in the high winds, piling up on the ground but not quickly decaying. This is the tinder for the next fire: who cares?

If anticipated climate change is real, we will lose natural Monterey Pine forests, home to so much and an important genetic resource for global timber production. Question: what happens when pine pitch canker reaches foreign plantations? Answer: we hope we can turn to the original source of the trees, the Año Nuevo stand of Monterey Pines for resistant seedlings. Those trees are several years from making their first cones: what happens if there is a fire before they can do that?

Who is managing for the survival of the Año Nuevo stand of Monterey Pines? There are very few landowners with that burden. State Parks and BLM are the two conservation lands management agencies with clear responsibility to manage for the species. It is not clear that they are doing anything. Meanwhile, private landowners spend their own money clearing fuel for their own safety: as a consequence, they are reducing fire risk for the new Monterey Pine seedlings. Interesting!

What to Do?

Besides writing State Parks or BLM and asking that they plan for the survival of Monterey Pines, you can at least become more familiar with this magical habitat at its peak beauty. Visit Jack’s Peak County Park or Point Lobos State Natural Reserve as soon as you can. The native iris and huckleberry in the understory are beautiful right now and the rain-moistened lichens and mosses on the old pine boughs are splendid.

Grey Hayes is a fervent speaker for all things wild, and his occupations have included land stewardship with UC Natural Reserves, large-scale monitoring and strategic planning with The Nature Conservancy, professional education with the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and teaching undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz. Visit his website at: www.greyhayes.net

Email Grey at coastalprairie@aol.com

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TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024

#86 / Billionaires Battle

Presumably, you recognize the guy on the left (Elon Musk). The guy on the right is Mark Cuban. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, February 5, 2024, Cuban is “battling” with Musk by way of traded insults on X (formerly known as Twitter). Maybe The Journal will let nonsubscribers read the article; I don’t know. Here is a brief introduction to the conflict described:

Tired of watching Elon Musk attack the principles behind workplace diversity, the billionaire Mark Cuban joined the fray to defend what is known as DEI.

The two have spent the past month trading jabs on Musk’s X, a social-media platform that has long been full of unfiltered emotions and angry mobs ready to pounce. Their tenors differed greatly: Musk seemed more like a schoolyard bully, Cuban an earnest high-school debater.

I am not, really, all that interested in documenting or commenting upon any “battle of the billionaires,” and that includes the Musk-Cuban debate on DEI principles (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Cuban is defending them. Musk is doing the opposite. The debate on DEI is an important one, but here is the statement by Cuban that I thought was most worth noting:

“Twitter isn’t real life …” 

Online locations are never “real life.” Amazingly, many of us seem to act like the opposite is the truth. As anyone who has read my earlier blog posting (Where Are You?) will know, I think we are putting the “real world” in peril, by investing our attention, energy, and effort into interactions in what one corporation would like us to call the “metaverse.”

I care a lot about “politics” (particularly in the way I define it, as another name for “self-government”), and “politics,” for me, certainly includes efforts to reduce and eliminate income inequality, and to reclaim our power from the billionaires. I believe we live, most immediately, in a “political world” – a “real” world that we create, ourselves, by our individual and collective action.

Putting our time, effort, and money into “Twitter,” or into any of the other myriad locations we can find in the “metaverse,” is to squander our ability to realize our genuine opportunities, and to avoid genuine dangers.

What about that Musk v. Cuban battle? Cuban is right in what he says, when he tells us that “Twitter isn’t real life.”

Cuban is not, however, apparently acting on his own observation. He is “battling” Musk on Twitter, and since that isn’t “real life” he seems to be wasting his time – or, alternatively, he isn’t really serious.

Let’s listen to Cuban, and do what he “says,” instead of following the example of what he is actually doing. Let’s not make the same mistake Cuban is making, thinking that trading words on some social media platform (mainly “gotchas” and “insults”)  is going to achieve the changes we need to make.

Changes are needed, and we need to make those changes in “real life.”

Check the weather map. There’s not that much time left!

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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Dateline March 18, 2024

NUCLEAR CODES AND RAGIN’ BEDLAM IN THE PIT OF FIRE

‘Ragin’ Cajun’ James Carville is still undoubtedly dodging the slings and arrows of Democratic Party honchos, and women in particular. In a recent not-politically correct interview with New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd, the freewheeling, outspoken Democratic strategist declared that “preachy females” are driving some men from the Democratic side who feel they aren’t being acknowledged by the feminine, ‘woke’ messaging. Carville feels the condescension is telling men “Don’t drink beer, watch football, or eat hamburgers…but eat your peas.” He takes offense that “party elites” are putting too much emphasis on the power of women, in particular women of color, in deciding election outcomes…“well, 48% of voters are males…where’s the consideration?” He has concern about the electorate pointing to President Biden’s age and the low approval ratings, but he has nothing but praise for the incumbent, saying, “He is tenacious, has had a real life, and doesn’t have an iota of elitism. When I look at these polling numbers, it’s like walking in on your grandma naked. You can’t get that image out of your mind.” Carville is noted for his marriage to the Republican assistant and consultant to President George W. Bush and VP Dick CheneyMary Matalin, who founded Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint of Simon and Schuster. Matalin is currently on the syndicated radio show, Both Sides Now with Huffington and Matalin, aired on 120 stations each weekend. A couple of preachy women, without question.

Pundits are theorizing which major party presidential campaign will be hurt most by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. since he has now chosen Nicole Shanahan as his third-party  running mate. Shanahan is an unknown, but her selection will now allow Kennedy to be placed on the ballot in those states that require a complete ticket for ballot access. There will be much legal maneuvering and signature-gathering in other states to qualify for the ballot, a time-consuming and expensive process, but Shanahan’s wealth will undoubtedly be a factor as they go forward. She has spent extravagantly on Kennedy’s campaign already, footing the bill for the much-criticized Super Bowl ad that used JFK’s imagery from the 1960 presidential campaign. So far, only the states of UtahNew Hampshire and Hawaii will have RFK, Jr. on their ballots, and the 15,000 signatures he collected in Nevada may be for nought, since he didn’t have a VP candidate’s name on the filing document…back to square one according to the Nevada secretary of state. This doesn’t seem to show the sort of diligence and efficiency needed in a presidential administration, and Aldous J. Pennyfarthing asks, “How will he navigate his inevitable first-term measles crisis if he can’t even get his ballot signatures right? You can’t mix the measles kids with the polio kids…It would be medieval medical malpractice. And bedlam. Let’s not forget bedlam.”

St. Patrick’s Day saw the beginning of Biden’s counteroffensive with a photo-op picturing dozens of the Kennedy clan with the president to show their support. RFKJr. has downplayed his family’s passionate support for Joe Biden, saying that only a small percentage of his kin think he’s an irresponsible threat to democracy and the health of every last human being on the planet, according to Pennyfarthing. In an interview with Chris Cuomo, Kennedy claimed the photo showed only a small percentage of the family, and they are smiling only because they got to visit the White House, a visit facilitated by him he added, taking credit where none is warranted.

Running mate Shanahan is an East Bay philanthropist and patent attorney, described by Kennedy as a “brilliant scientist” and a “fierce warrior mom,” and his choice was made, in part, for her ability to “identify abuses in our government,” saying she has been “battle-tested” and “overcame every daunting obstacle” to achieve “the American dream.” One of her ‘obstacles’ was her five-year marriage to Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, reportedly severed after her affair with Elon Musk, but which left her with a hefty portfolio of investments, now benefitting Kennedy’s ailing campaign for the foreseeable future. Not to be discounted is the MAGA-backed bankrolling of the campaign for Trump’s advantage. Super PACClear Choice, is attempting to expose ties to Trumpism, including videos of Kennedy saying he’s “proud” that Trump “likes” him, while showing his advocacy of conspiracy theories, his opposition to vaccines, and a history of anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-Semitic remarks. Matt Bennett, of public affairs group Third Way, says, “RFK, Jr. and Nicole Shanahan have only one chance of seeing the inside of the Oval Office: if Trump wins and invites them in to say ‘thank you.'”

Chris Devine, co-author of the book ‘Do Running Mates Matter?’ said the choice of Shanahan “is not a pick that bodes well for his campaign. This was an opportunity for him to demonstrate that he could pull together an experienced team with broad appeal, and he hasn’t done that.” Democrats worry that Shanahan will attract some voters because she is a young 38 years old, and a bi-racial woman. She is described as having vague, eccentric political ideas, having bounced from support of Marianne Williamson to Pete Buttigieg to Joe Biden in 2020, and initially criticized Kennedy when he announced his candidacy. She once told The New York Times“I do think that the increase of vaccine-related injuries is very alarming, and I do think we need to understand the screening mechanisms.” Aldous J. Pennyfarthing is eagerly awaiting word on whether Nicole Shanahan has all her shots.

The big news splash of Easter Week was provided by Mr. Trump when he launched an ad campaign for his newest grift…selling Bibles! Even though his dorky Truth Social going public netted him close to $4B…on paper, at least…he keeps coming up with goofy marketing ideas. His Bible is unique, in that it features Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem, ‘God Bless the USA,’ plus copies of the US Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence…and as Hunter writes on Daily Kos, if YOUR Bible doesn’t have those attributes, “you’re probably going straight to Hell, because Jesus isn’t going to put up with it.” This Christian Nationalist-themed book goes for $60 and includes a special note emphasizing that “GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Ventures LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates.” It’s a bit shady but it doesn’t say that Trump is NOT getting a portions of the proceeds, but using his name, likeness and image is never free for anyone. Hunter says, “You could give this guy all the money in the world, and he’d still be staring into the camera, droning out a Krusty the Clown-level endorsement of a Trump-branded steak, or bottled water or godawful shoes.” The ballyhooed “handwritten” chorus of Greenwood’s hit song may be written in Sharpie, so beware!

The Bible rollout was timed for Easter, though buyers will have a four to six week wait due to “high order volume.” Public responses have called the Trump endorsement “sacrilege,” “heresy,” and “borderline offensive” while citing lessons from the Bible that suggest taking advantage of people’s faith for money should be condemned. Originally, the ‘GBTUSA’ Bible was published in 2021, with HarperCollins passing on the chance to be publisher. EliteSource Pro, is the current marketing company, which has yet to comment. The media was quick to jump on this rollout: on The Tonight ShowJimmy Fallon joked that Trump’s Bible venture is like former VP Pence trying to sell the erotic novel, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey;‘ MSNBC’S Nicolle Wallace said, “This is also a fraud. I mean, if he were selling waterbeds or condoms, fine.” Wallace then pulled up a 2015 clip in which Trump refused to name a verse from his “favorite book,” and claimed that he liked the Old and New Testaments “probably equal.” Wallace’s guest commentator, Democratic strategist, Basil Smikle, questioned how in one breath the Bible could be Trump’s favorite book and in another, he’s keeping “speeches of Adolf Hitler on his bedside.” “Probably equal!” Wallace declares.

Smikle observes that this Bible hawking “mimics the behavior of a televangelist,” and those in his political base are funding his lifestyle…not sending him to the White House, but to the golf course. Trump’s niece, Mary, tweeted that, “He’s never prayed in his life…if that were a real Bible, it would burst into a ball of flame.” Joy Behar of The View commented, “The last time he was on his knees, he was picking up a french fry.” Saturday Night Live’s cold open, with James Austin Johnson playing Trump, noted, “It’s Easter…the time of year when I compare myself to Jesus Christ. That’s just the thing I do now and people seem to be okay with it. I’m gonna keep doing it. And if you think that this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling Bibles. Well, I’m selling Bibles, this beautiful Bible made from 100% Bible.” Johnson ended the bit with the Lord’s Prayer: “Our father who are in heaven. Hallowed, beep, beep, beep, bing, bing, bing bong, trespass, daily bread…” SNL’s Weekend Update co-anchor, Colin Jost, commented, “This Bible is mostly the same, but Trump’s version ends with Jesus’ disciples storming Jerusalem to overturn the results of the crucifixion.” Jost made note that Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA’ lyrics were included, “And, I assume, God’s letter of resignation.” And, The Borowitz Report divulges that the first printing of Trump’s Bible hit a snag when it was found to include stolen nuclear codes, the error appearing in the book of Genesis, where Noah starts shouting random numbers for no reason as he loads animals into the ark. Borowitz reports, “Trump is furious that he has to take the nuclear codes out of the Bible…it’s the only part he’s read.”

Dale Matlock, a Santa Cruz County resident since 1968, is the former owner of The Print Gallery, a screenprinting establishment. He is an adherent of The George Vermosky school of journalism, and a follower of too many news shows, newspapers, and political publications, and a some-time resident of Moloka’i, Hawaii, U.S.A., serving on the Board of Directors of Kepuhi Beach Resort. Email: cornerspot14@yahoo.com
 

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. View classic inner-view ideas and thoughts with Subconscious Comics a few flips down.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Deep Cover” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

“Comebacks”

“Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away!”
~Aretha Franklin

“By making a comeback, I’m changing the attitude of people toward me. If I’d known that people would react so enthusiastically, I’d have done it years ago.”
~Mark Spitz

“I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.”
~Billie Holiday

“Making a comeback is one of the most difficult things to do with dignity.”
~Greg Lake

“Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years, rocking my peers, putting suckers in fear…”
~L.L. Cool J

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I love me some Colin Mochrie! He is beyond hilarious. It’s 2 am and I’m looking for a video to use, and I can’t help myself but laugh out loud.


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
Cell phone: 831 212-3273
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com
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