Greensite… on development and heritage trees… Steinbruner… small rerun, back next week… Hayes… Avian Enlightenment… Patton… Thinking like the lions… Matlock… a judicial coup…age of the taker…rubber stamp… Eagan… Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover … Webmistress serves you… The Moth. Quotes on… “June”
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Dateline: June 4, 2025
SWEDISH PASTRIES IN BEN LOMOND. And I’m not the one baking them, Susan Ortmeyer is! I was very excited to find out that there’s a Swedish bakeshop called Fika Bakeshop in Ben Lomond. It’s a small home business, and you can order the goodies from their website, and/or attend one of the popups. In the month of June, there are things happening on Thursdays and Saturdays – see the website for the schedule! I managed to get my hands on the last few pieces available on the Saturday we moved in to the new house. The kardemummabulle (cardamom bun) I had was amazing… it tasted like home! I’d say that’s a sign 🙂
Do go check it out, and tell Susan I sent you! She’s having afternoon fika on the deck on Saturday, June 7 from 1-3pm.
~Webmistress
POKER FACE. Peacock. Series (7.8 IMDb) 
Poker Face is one of those shows I always meant to watch… and didn’t. Until now.
Starring Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll, Orange is the New Black) at her most raspy and sardonic, she plays Charlie Cale—a woman with an uncanny, almost supernatural ability to tell when someone is lying. After calling out the shady son of a Vegas mobster (who promptly offs himself), she ends up on the run, wandering the backroads of America like a Gen Z Columbo in denim.
The series, created by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion, and yes, The Last Jedi), wears its love of ’70s detective shows on its sleeve—from the “mystery-first” format (you see the crime, then watch Charlie unravel it) to the delightfully retro opening credits, complete with roman numerals production date, drop shadows, and that plain, dead-serious typeface that screams 1976 CBS drama hour.
It’s part The Fugitive, part Incredible Hulk, and all charm—with a healthy dose of dry humor, shaggy-dog clues, and Lyonne’s lovable weirdness gluing it all together. She’s not a cop, not a PI, and not trying to be either—she just knows when you’re full of it, and can’t help but get involved.
If you miss the days when TV detectives had weird tics, old cars, and zero respect for protocol, Poker Face is your new weekend binge. Second season just dropped on Peacock. Worth a Watch.
~Sarge
SNOW WHITE. In theatres. Movie (1.7 IMDb) 
I’m not one of those people who worships at the altar of Disney. I’ve been watching their films for over 50 years, so my ambivalence isn’t from lack of exposure. I genuinely enjoy many of their movies; The Jungle Book was a childhood favorite (though I’m still salty that Mowgli ditched the jungle for a girl…).
That said, changes to Snow White don’t bother me. Disney has been rewriting traditional tales since day one! Remember the stepsisters slicing off toes and heels to fit in the glass slipper in the original story of Cinderella? Yeah, that didn’t make the cut.
The music? Pleasant enough, but nothing that stuck with me. The dwarves (yes, Tolkien says that’s the plural) veer into uncanny valley territory… not stylized enough to feel intentional, but not realistic enough to work. Visually odd.
Otherwise, it’s Snow White. Rachel Zegler gives a solid, competent performance—and no, I’m not bothered that she’s Colombian and Polish. If she can sing, act, and dance, we’re good.
Overall? It’s a “meh” from me. Harmless, and musical fans will probably have a good time. Worth a watch if that’s your thing. (the 1.7 on IMDB is likely heavily skewed by anti-woke snowflakes sitting at the their keyboard, listing multiple negative votes. Adaptions always reflect the world they come from. Deal with it.)
~Sarge
SINNERS. In theatres. Movie. (8.1 IMDb)
Sweat, dust, and sweet, sweet blues pour through this story of twin brothers returning from WWI—veterans-turned-mob-enforcers in Chicago—who head back to their Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint. It’s part roadhouse, part sanctuary for the Black community, and it becomes the stage for the rise (and fall) of “Preacher Boy” Moore, a young blues guitarist with something close to magic in his fingers.
There’s a stunning musical stretch in the middle where the film lets the music breathe—past, present, and future all moving together, dancing in time. It’s pure poetry.
And then… there are vampires.
Honestly, the movie would’ve been stronger without them. They don’t matter until the third act, and when they show up, it’s like a genre switch that crashes the vibe. The first two-thirds are rich and immersive. The final third? Not bad exactly, but it turns the film into something less interesting than it started out as.
Michael B. Jordan does solid double duty as the twins, Smoke and Stack, and newcomer Miles Caton is fantastic as Preacher Boy. You believe every note he plays.
So I’m torn. I can wholeheartedly recommend the first two-thirds. The final act? I can tolerate it—but I wouldn’t push it on anyone else. Taster’s choice.
~Sarge
LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS. Netflix. Series (8.4 IMDb) 
This show first dropped in 2019. I ignored it. Then two more seasons came and went — I still didn’t watch. But when I heard a fourth season was finally on the way, I figured it was time to see what the fuss was about.
Now I get it.
And so should you.
It’s an anthology, so technically you can jump in anywhere. But honestly? Start from the beginning. There’s so much to see here, and the clunker-to-gem ratio is shockingly low. Nearly every segment hits—hard.
Unlike most anthologies that reuse the same look and crew across episodes, Love, Death + Robots is a true anthology. Every short is handled by a different animation team, each with its own distinct style. Some look like high-end video game cutscenes. Others are pure painterly dreamscapes. Some mix live action and animation. There’s hand-drawn 2D, hyperreal 3D, and everything in between. There’s a Red Hot Chili Peppers video, done entirely as marionettes.
As the title suggests, every segment centers on love, death, robots—or some mix of the three. What you get ranges wildly: dark comedy, cosmic philosophy, dystopian morality tales, sci-fi speculation, brutal war stories, existential horror, and moments of real beauty. It’s a refreshing, unapologetic mix of graphic violence, sex, and nudity (there is a difference) —sometimes all at once, sometimes none at all. I reiterate: sometimes none at all. Some just go for a vibe, or something sweet, or funny.
And yes, there’s equal-opportunity nudity. If you’re cool with boobs but squirm at male parts waving about (or vice versa), maybe keep the skip button handy.
Think of it as a more mature, mostly less juvenile Heavy Metal — or Black Mirror – with no censors and a better visual imagination.
Very much worth a watch.
~Sarge
THE MINECRAFT MOVIE. In theatres. Movie (5.9 IMDb) 
Okay, so here’s the deal: I’ve played Minecraft before, so I am familar enough to know the mechanics of its universe, but equally, not SO in love with it that I’m going to freak about any cinematic storytelling compromises. Also, aside from studying film in college, I worked for 15+ years in visual effects for film and tv, as a compositor (I took the cg and the live action and mushed them together, added some blood and dust and blur and film grain etc so that it looked like one image).
This film was an actual disaster. OK cast. Meh story. But the choices made while bringing it all together were BAFFLING. I’ve seen films where janky effects and weird dialoge were a CHOICE – I get it, it can be fun. However, there is no rhyme or reason to the uneven storytelling and effects. In some scenes, the animation does not include mouth movement, and yet later, that same character CAN move their mouth. Some scenes have totally passable blue/green screen extraction, others have completely visible wires and it looks like the crudest animatic. And that’s very much what the film feels like: an animatic. An animatic is a pre-visualization version of a film that may or may not have effects, or rough acting shot to just show what is supposed to happen here – in some cases it’s literally just voices over a series of drawings. What should have been a modestly entertaining b-grade “Jumanji” (real people in a video-game world) instead comes across as Jack Black and friends improv brainstorming, then handing it off to someone’s 15 year old YouTuber nephew to assemble and do … something … with the effects.
NOT worth a watch. Not a “so bad it’s good”, but a “so bad, why am I watching this?”. DO NOT let your kids watch it and have it become their favorite film, because you will end up wanting to strangle them.
I stuck it out for you.
You’re welcome.
~Sarge
DEATH OF A UNICORN. Prime TV. Movie (6.1 IMDb)
Thank you, Alex Scharfman, for opening people’s eyes to the truth: unicorns were never sweet, cuddly ponies — they’re magical beasts; basically angry horses with a murder stick on their foreheads.
Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega star as a father-daughter duo who find themselves in way over their heads after accidentally running over a unicorn. Between the vengeful parents of the mythical creature and the greedy interests of Rudd’s pharma overlords (played with relish by Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni, and Will Poulter, as the Leopolds), chaos — and carnage — ensue.
A literal “eat the rich” horror/comedy, this film is sharp, absurd, and unapologetically dark. Rudd and Ortega have great chemistry, and the Leopolds are delightfully despicable.
Not for the squeamish, but absolutely worth a watch.
~Sarge
MINDHUNTER. Netflix. Series. (8.6 IMDb)
Not a new one – just happened to watch it again, and thought it relevant for locals. Mindhunter, a docucrama based on the non-fiction account of FBI Special Agent John Douglas (renamed Holden Ford in the show) and his trials and tribulations to get the FBI to accept the concept of a “serial killer” back in ’77, and the idea that they could be profiled. Pursuant of this is a recreated serial killer fan-service list including Manson, Berkowitz, and particularly relevant for locals, Big Ed Kemper (for those tuning in late, Ed “The CoEd Killer” Kemper was the best known contributor to Santa Cruz being “affectionately” dubbed “Murder Capital of the World” back in the early ’70s). The show recreates the time and lifestyle of the time remarkably well, and the uneasy partnership of straight-laced Holt McCallany and earnest Jonathan Groff as the leads is well cast. Definitely worth a watch.
~Sarge
THE RESIDENCE. Netflix. Series. (7.8 IMDb)
I’m happy to see the return of the cozy mystery – Knives Out, Death and Other Details, and even Only Murders in the Building. Sure, Hallmark churns out an endless stream of formulaic/hygienic perky upper middle class “professional women” who solve mysteries while hygienically engaging in romance with some square jawed cop/firefighter/architect, but they lack any sort of charm or character. The Residence gives us Cordelia Cupp (Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba): an acclaimed detective, and stout birder, who finds herself wader deep in drama and intrigue surrounding a murder in the White House. Giving absolutely zero f***s about titles and position, she pursues the truth through a cast of notables: Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Lee, Bronson Pinchot, Molly Griggs, and even Al Franken, reprising his role as a Senator. Might have been a few episodes too long, but worth the wait. Definite watch.
~Sarge
STAR TREK: SECTION 31. Paramount+. Movie. (3.8 IMDb) 
I know I’m late to the table for this, but we decided to finally sit down and watch Star Trek: Section 31. Empress Georgiou (the mirror-universe evil counterpart of heroic Capt. Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery) is pressed back into service with Section 31 – the black-ops division of Starfleet – for essentially a caper “mission”. Things go wrong, and she and a band of misfit specialists have to make it right. Michelle Yeoh is wonderful, as she always is. What she’s given to work with is tepid at best. I’m not a toxic fan – I’ve liked a lot of Trek related stuff that people kvetch about, but I do recognize when they miss the mark. Not just “doesn’t feel like Star Trek”, but feels like a fairly average caper film. No brilliant gotcha moments, no delicious red herrings. Just bland. Which is hard to do with Michelle Yeoh! It doesn’t quite make me feel like I was robbed of an hour and a half, but I was not really entertained. Highlight for the geek crowd: a Cheronian waiter. Watch only for a completionist compulsion.
~Sarge
NO OTHER LAND. In theaters. Movie (8.3 IMDb)
Academy Award-winning documentary, No Other Land, highlights the impact of political conflicts on everyday people. Co-directed by Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, the film follows them in the forced displacement of the small settlement of Masafer Yatta by Israeli forces. The view we get, from the “street” as it were, brings home the workaday world that is being unceremoniously wiped out by forces beyond shame or consequence. It makes it difficult to maintain an objective view of chess pieces being neatly moved around a board – it’s hard and personal, and as foreign as it should feel, hitting you right in the hometown. After winning the award, another co-director, Hamdan Ballal, was arrested and detained by Israeli authorities. The academy’s reaction: a tepid equivalent of “there are good people on both sides”. Definitely requires a watch.
~Sarge
June 2, 2025
The speed with which our small town is being torn apart and reconstructed with generic high-rise tenements is breathtaking. And not in the good sense of that word. The ink had barely dried on the council vote for the Downtown Expansion Project with its accompanying Downtown Density Bonus when an online community meeting on Wednesday June 4th at 6pm was announced for a new, eight-story mixed-use project at the site of the current Ace Hardware on Laurel and Front Streets, within the Downtown Expansion zone. It seems the developers are taking advantage of the Downtown Density Bonus that allows them to avoid providing any onsite “affordable” units if the building height is capped at 85 feet. Any “affordable” units can be built by the developer elsewhere or avoided entirely by the developer paying an in lieu fee to the city. Perhaps at the online meeting we will learn where the less affluent will live.
A description of the project suggests the developers are out of sync with what most current residents of Santa Cruz like about their town. The developers write,
With its important location, this project is poised to become a unique landmark and a visual statement to the Santa Cruz urban context. The design seamlessly integrates into the urban setting, offering a bold, metropolitan aesthetic, while maintaining a harmonious relationship with the heritage, character and urban vibe of Santa Cruz.
Their building is hardly unique. From the submitted rendering it looks identical to the new Anton building across the street. I’m not sure how you can simultaneously offer a bold, metropolitan aesthetic and maintain a harmonious relationship with the heritage of Santa Cruz. These are just empty words. Language debased in the service of profit.
Another new development project will be heard this week (or was heard when you read this) at the Planning Commission on Thursday June 5. This one is proposed for a location behind the Clocktower and is a Workbench project. The zoned maximum height at this location is 35 feet. The proposed project is 91 feet. The difference between those two numbers is a measure of the loss of local control over land use decisions with the state calling the shots.
Given the yawning chasm between the zoned height that reflects the will of the community and the state-imposed height that tramples all over it, you would expect that every effort would be made to preserve what little control is left. This raises the issue of the two Coast Redwoods which are on the project site. As you can see from the consulting arborist’s photo above, the two heritage trees are next to the sidewalk. They are described by the arborist as follows:
The pair of redwoods have a nearly identical size, growth habit, and form. Tree T7, (44″), and T8, (40″), are both vigorous trees with dense foliar canopies, and normal amounts of new growth. The trunks show good taper for stability and appear stable.
In order to cut down a heritage tree, city law requires specific criteria to be met. Either the health of the tree warrants removal, or the tree has or is likely to have an adverse effect on the structural integrity of a building, or a construction project design cannot be altered to accommodate existing heritage trees (emphasis added).
Given that the first two criteria don’t apply to these healthy, sound, coast redwoods which are not impacting any structure, the last criterion is the one that needs attention. The trees are next to the sidewalk which makes them good candidates for preservation. However, there are no entries anywhere that suggest a request was made by the city for the developer to provide alternative designs to accommodate the trees. There is no entry where the developer explains why this design and this design alone is necessary and why it cannot be altered. All parties involved, city planning staff, consulting arborist and city arborist have simply rolled over and accepted without any rationale that the design cannot be altered to accommodate the two trees. They came to that conclusion themselves, by just accepting the Workbench design given to them. No questions asked.
The two healthy heritage, liquid ambars on the library, housing, garage Lot 4 site were given the same disinterested, can’t be bothered, nothing of importance here treatment by city staff and ultimately by city council majority. Those two stately trees could have been saved with a slight project design change but will meet the chainsaw within the next few weeks. And they wonder why the community has lost trust.
| 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. |
It makes good sense to hold off approving new utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities in California until the State Fire Codes are updated this year, and will include new safety requirements for BESS facilities. But Santa Cruz County and many others like it that are being wooed by the big money behind the outrageously hazardous lithium battery technology industry are being pressured to move fast…at the expense of long-term disasters the likes of Vistra’s Battery Fire in Moss Landing this year.
However, AB 434, (Carl DeMaio) and AB 303 (Dawn Addis) make sense in pushing back with a temporary moratorium on new BESS until new State Fire Codes are adopted, and to claw back local jurisdictional discretion over these facilities, while requiring 3,200′ setbacks from schools, residential zones, medical facilities and sensitive environmental areas.
Please write elected representatives and ask that they support AB 303 and AB 434 because they would actually make a difference. The problem with Senator Laird’s SB38 is that it only adds on more rules that companies simply ignore…with no consequence. Such is the case with Vistra at Moss Landing.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis
Assemblymember Gail Pellerin
Assemblymember and Speaker Robert Rivas
Finally, write and ask the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to send letters of support of these two bills: <BoardofSupervisors@santacruzcountyca.gov>
WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC HEARING ON SOMETHING YOU CARE ABOUT AND ASK QUESTIONS.
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK BY DOING JUST ONE THING.
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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 |
There are many reasons to develop a deeper relationship with nature and one of the most popular gateways is through birds.
The Bird Curious vs. The Curiously Bird Furious
I understand that there is a faction of our culture which will never be converted into bird lovers or even bird-friendly people. Some may have a general and quite vocal disdain for nature; we all know some of those characters – they sure think they’re funny, don’t they? Others just don’t care or even have phobias of nature. Some may enjoy some aspects of nature but are satisfied with simple, misguided (and again normally vocal), and generalized classification of birds: “tweety birds,” “hawks and eagles,” “trash birds” (crows, ravens, pigeons, and gulls), and “ducks.” I’ve had that classification system proudly explained to me by various people across the USA’s broad geography. This latter group of people may have a few stories about trash birds or hawks but are quickly bored by conversation that lingers long on this subject.
And then there are those many people who are bird curious to varying degrees. Approximately 1 in 3 people aged 16 and older in the US are self-declared bird watchers. That percentage is predicted to continue rising through 2030, surpassing 40% of the nation’s population. Despite their sometimes vocal detractors, these people’s avian interests are not just normal and healthy but also broadly beneficial in many ways.
Birds For Health
Focusing on nature, including birds, has many health benefits. Focusing on birds can put you in a meditative state, leaving behind anxious thoughts and worries. Aldous Huxley’s final novel “Island” presents a semi-autobiographical story about bird songs helping people become more aware of their surroundings, becoming more present and less self-absorbed. The more modern writer Jon Young’s book “What the Robin Knows” presents more direct evidence of the health benefits of birdwatching, including helping overcome anxiety, attention deficit disorder, etc. Mr. Young’s personal teaching has helped many people gain access to these benefits. Beyond birding bringing us better health, birds can also make us safer. Jon Young points out that Apache trackers used bird behavior to alert them to human activities occurring up to a mile away. We have all heard that birds somehow can alert us to impending earthquakes.
Service Birds
Birds also provide for our welfare through the services they provide. In the US’s forests, birds provide $1.4 billion worth of pest control per year. In European apple orchards, birds have been shown to reduce pest damage by 50% (citations for the prior two sentences here). Raptors help control vertebrate pests, such as disease-vectoring rodents. Vultures clean up dead animals, including roadkill. Birds also disperse seeds, helping regenerate areas after wildfire, assisting plant species to survive by migrating in response to climate change.
We The…Bird Helpers
There are many things we can do to help birds, which will further help our own selves. I divide these helpful activities into 1) things we can do at our own homes and with our habits, and 2) what we can do as civic members of a democratic society.
Whether we rent or own, we can better share our homes so that birds benefit. The most common home sharing techniques include providing food or water for birds. While bird food can impact one’s expense accounts, providing water is more affordable. In either case, for net bird benefit one must maintain clean feeding or water areas so as not to spread disease between birds. For those fortunate enough to have an ability to plant areas around one’s home, transitioning those areas into native plant habitat that includes some plants that make seeds, fruit, or flowers for bird food can help make feeding birds more sustainable. Those native plants also will support insect populations that feed the many species of insectivorous birds. We can also help deter birds from dying when they fly into our windows by using paint pens to draw eighth-inch wide, white, vertical lines 4″ apart. Covering windows at night, or just altogether turning off lights during migration helps migratory birds better navigate.
Other near-home bird-friendly behavior includes being careful not to feed the wrong things to the wrong birds. Pet food as well as uncontained trash or compost attracts corvids (crows, ravens, jays), whose numbers increase unnaturally and consequently decrease songbird populations by eating their eggs or babies. Speaking of pets, outdoor housecats are notoriously terrible for birds, killing 2 billion birds each year in the US alone. Keeping cats indoors or in catios is an excellent idea not only for birds but also for cat safety as coyotes increasingly pose a strong risk to beloved pets.
Human Habits
A habit you can cultivate outside of your home is awareness of your impact on birds when you visit parks. Off leash dogs on beaches or in parks disrupt bird feeding and nesting. Recreation in natural areas is disturbing to all wildlife, including birds. I just witnessed a robin being killed by a Cooper’s hawk because it was distracted by a passing human. Shoreline recreation disrupts wading birds from their foraging. People trampling dunes and bird nests in dunes has driven the snowy plover towards extinction. Poor visitor use planning in parks globally is one of the top 10 biggest threats to species, including birds, globally: parks around the Monterey Bay are no exception with not a single park staff person having been trained in co-management of recreation and conservation. There is no monitoring of the impacts of recreation on bird species to inform improved park management.
Avian Advocate Citizens
This last point suggests that there are things we can do as citizens, by our engagement in conservation. Of course, we should always cast our votes for politicians who care about the environment and have concrete proposals for advancing conservation. And, we should talk about those choices with everyone in our networks. We need to let our representatives know that we value conservation of birds. And, for instance right now, when the California legislature considers a budget which further impacts the already too-stretched California Department of Fish and Wildlife, we should all be protesting to our representatives. Question: which of your representatives understand bird conservation and take direct measures to advance that cause?
Resources for Bird Lovers
Finally, I want to provide resources in case you want to take your bird curiosity to the next level. Think about joining a bird conservation and education group like the Audubon Society or the Santa Cruz Bird Club. These groups might link you up to epic birding experiences like:
- tours of the nationally recognized birding hotspot called the Elkhorn Slough or
- out onto the ocean for pelagic bird watching or
- up to the Delta at Statten Island for the fall gathering of thousands of cranes, snow geese, etc.
At this moment of extreme danger for wildlife conservation in general, think about sending funding to the Center for Biological Diversity, the nation’s foremost conservation organization in securing broad-reaching species protections. And last, you might take some time to review a recording about local birds I co-produced with Storey La Montagne for the Rural Bonny Doon Association, at this link.
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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 |
Monday, June 2, 2025
A guest essay in The New York Times gave me something to think about. The essay was by Carl Safina, who is an American ecologist. Safina’s books and other writings focus on our human relationship with the natural world. The title of Safina’s essay was, “To Take On Trump, Think Like a Lion.” To read Safina’s essay, just click the link (The Times’ paywall protections permitting, of course).
While I am always happy, personally, to read about various ways that concerned citizens might be able to “take on Trump,” my attention was actually captured not by Safina’s political suggestions, but rather by his description of the behavior of a pride of lions, who were out to grab dinner by way of hunting down, and then eating, a zebra or two:
One late afternoon long ago at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, I was with a group of birders when we located a pride of sleeping lions. As evening approached, they yawned big-fanged yawns and slowly roused. About 10 in total, scarred veterans and prime young hunters.
It was time for them to hunt. But first they licked one another, pressed bodies and indulged in much face rubbing. They reaffirmed: “Yes, we are together. We remain as one.” Only then did they set off.
Their tawny bodies flowed up into the tall golden grass along the ridge of a low hill. One sat; the others kept walking. Ten yards on, another sat while the others walked. And so on until the ridge was lined with a hidden picket fence of hungry lions all attentively gazing onto a plain where a herd of unsuspecting zebras grazed. Then one, who’d remained standing, poured herself downhill. Her job was to spook the zebras into running uphill, directly into her veteran sisters and their spry younger hunters.
Rubbing noses does not catch a zebra. But only after the lions rubbed noses and reaffirmed a shared identity were the zebras in any danger. Those lions showed me that a sense of community is a prerequisite for coordinated strategy. They did not succeed in that hunt. But they would try again. Failure, these lions had learned, is necessary for success (emphasis added).
Now, finding out that lions operate on the basis that “we’re in this together,” gave me a great deal of satisfaction. That, of course, is exactly what I say about how our system of self-government is designed to work. I also liked hearing about those friendly “face rubs,” and the other behavior that indicated that a deep personal friendship underlay the lions’ efforts to survive, and to thrive. Again, my “find some friends” admonition is really based on my understanding that this kind of friend relationship is what we need, too, to succeed in accomplishing almost anything.
Lions, it appears, are not the exemplars of “individualism” that many, probably, think they are. Lions operate, and are ultimately successful, only on the basis of their collective action, founded on friendship, and expressed through their action in small groups. If I am getting Safina’s message right (and I think I am), a better title for his essay might emphasize the “collective” nature of what lions do, and not imply that it’s the individual lion that plays the most important role.
In other words, I’d suggest a new title for Safina’s essay: “To Take On Trump, Think Like The Lions.” Emphasizing joint and collective efforts, not individual efforts, is how to steer us towards political success: (1) Find some friends; (2) Create a group: (3) Act. To be clear, steps (1) and (2) could come in reverse order. It’s that idea of getting together with others, who are united in friendship, that establishes the basis for successful political (and other action).
As I say, I really liked what Safna said. Think Like The Lions.
We are in this together, friends! Hear US roar!!
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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 |
The date’s just around the corner in case you need to mark your calendars — June 14, which is Trump’s birthday — plus the massive DC military parade he has scheduled in his own honor to mark his 79th year. Oh sure, it’s the 250th anniversary of the US Army but it won’t be about honoring the values that define that branch of service — it’s simply about glorifying The Man in the gold lamé uniform. Trump attempted a similar display in 2018, supposedly to honor Veteran’s Day, but forceful public backlash swamped that effort when cooler heads in the administration prevailed. Sunny Hostin on The View expressed his opinion against our Bone Spur Dictator, saying, “I don’t think people are going to be supportive of this…I think it’s a distasteful display for our armed services because they aren’t about pomp and circumstance. They’re about discipline, pride, service, things like that.” Co-host Whoopi Goldberg spoke against the frivolous, internationally provocative, waste of taxpayer money, adding, “Are you still taking my tax money? If you’re gonna take my tax money, throw my money towards the veterans, rehiring them, I don’t want to pay for your birthday party.” A display of military might to recognize a would-be king is a sure hallmark of an autocratic regime, not a democracy showing respect to those in uniform, where we stand up for the principles they defend, and their loyalty toward the Constitution, not to a narcissistic man-child who deserves total disdain.
Satirist Andy Borowitz wrote his ambitious scenario for the birthday parade: “Donald J Trump’s plan to hold a military parade on his birthday imploded on Thursday when he was unable to produce an authentic birth certificate. Though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the missing document as an ‘administrative error,’ the Joint Chiefs of Staff disagreed, stating, ‘Without a birth certificate, we have no evidence of when or where President Trump was born.’ Trump reportedly begged his wife, Melania, to swear under oath that he was born on June 14, but she refused, telling him, ‘You never remember my birthday.’ The birth certificate controversy drew strong reactions across the political spectrum, including former President Barack Obama, who exclaimed, ‘I knew it.'”
Press secretary Leavitt was given a new monicker last week, ‘Creepy Karoline,’ by a former Trump White House lawyer, when she accused the three judges on the Court of International Trade of “undermining the US on the world stage,” as the court dismissed Trump’s illegal tariff rulings. Lawyer Ty Cobb, on CNN, took a jab at “Creepy” and let fly at the president, calling him a “ranting wounded narcissist.” Congress has had the tariff power for almost fifty years, with the seated president being able to exercise that duty only in a national emergency, therefore the three-member court ruled unanimously that Trump had exceeded his authority in levying tariffs — the first to attempt this. This action, of course, riled the president and his MAGA team, sending “Creepy” to the briefing room to attack the “activist judges” who “railroaded sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations.” Cobb responded to the on/off tariff policies against random countries that the president has no clue about, by saying, “I don’t think “Creepy Karoline”, when she speaks…I don’t think anybody in America takes her seriously on a matter of substance. She is not learned by any imagination.” He also pointed out that one of the judges, conservative Tim Reif, is a Trump appointee, a highly regarded expert on trade law, who likely is respected by several on the Supreme Court, where the ruling may end up. Conservative activist Leonard Leo, formerly head of the Federalist Society, and a sugar-daddy to a couple of unnamed Supreme Court justices, was instrumental in recommending Reif and other judges who Trump appointed to their posts. But now, Leo is in Trump’s view, “a sleazebag, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America,” as he posted to Truth Social. Didn’t we try to tell him that very thing, many bribes ago? Trump had best watch his step, since Leo is also close with Supreme Court Justices Barrett, Gorsuch, and Cavanaugh, so his mouth, and his tiny typing fingers, will only make for a rockier path.
As Michael Tomasky writes in The New Republic, Trump was given a temporary win when a federal appeals court stayed the International Court of Trade’s decision regarding his illegal imposition of tariffs, a stay granted on an administrative basis only. Another Trump setback resulted when a federal judge ruled that Harvard University can continue admitting foreign students for now, in overruling yet another of the administration’s efforts to derail the university by forbidding foreign enrollees, a nakedly ideological, authoritarian attack. Tomasky says, “The administration is losing these cases for a simple reason: They’re breaking the damn law. They’re invoking old and obscure laws and insisting that they confer upon them the authority to do things they don’t have the authority to do. They’re trying to stretch other laws and regulations to suit their authoritarian purposes. In other words, these initiatives and the way the Trump administration is going about them — using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act as ostensible legal cover for obviously illegal deportations — are part of a larger plan…they’re all just smaller parts of a broader assault on the rule of law itself. They’re pieces of a puzzle, and the puzzle, once filled in, will show a Republican-dominated legislative branch that has willingly conceded most of its authority, a judicial branch that has been stripped of its own, and a unitary executive — King Donald — with all the power in his hands. So Stephen Miller is right, in a way. There is a judicial coup going on in this country. It’s just that it’s being waged by Trump, Miller, and their gang of rogues against the judges, not the other way around.”
The People for the American Way website says that Federal courts have been doing what they are supposed to do: interpreting the law, enforcing the Constitution, and acting as a check on presidential power — which isn’t going over well with Trump. A study for the month of May reveals rulings against the Trump administration stand at a 96% loss rate — 26 out of 27 cases, the rule of law in action! The opposition to administration positions came roughly equally from judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, exhibiting the extremes and the unlawfulness of the Trump agenda. Rather than adjusting course, the MAGA crowd in Congress are attempting to break the courts entirely as seen in the latest version of the House budget bill, by slipping in a provision to limit judges’ ability to hold administration officials in contempt when they violate court orders, a direct, calculated attack on judicial independence. Trump has even reposted someone’s suggestion that he release terrorists near the homes of Supreme Court justices who have ruled against him. Not merely rhetoric, but a coordinated attempt to delegitimize and intimidate any court that refuses to rubber stamp his pronouncements. He doesn’t want impartial legal minds — only legal enforcers, collaborators to advance his agenda and shield him from accountability. No guardians of justice needed for the gates!
NBC is reporting that National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard is asking for help from Trump’s staff and from former intel officials, about how to get the president’s attention directed towards weighty matters. He is well-known for delving into inconsequential subjects that grate on him, quick to criticize and insult others on trivia that shouldn’t concern the ‘leader’ of the free world, and to divert the attention of the electorate from the destructiveness of the administration. One insider admits that not only is Trump disinterested in the President’s Daily Brief — “he doesn’t read. He’s on broadcast all the time.” Gabbard wants to take steps to tailor the briefing, which is a written digital document with photos, to the presidents’s interests and habits, some suggesting that it look and feel like a Fox News broadcast! Should this plan be implemented, a Fox News producer would be brought in with a network personality’s presentation, which could include graphics, pictures, and maps, and animated features similar to a video game. And perhaps, a pacifier, bunny slippers, a Happy Meal, and a blankie?
With his time in Washington drawing to a close, Elon Musk played his incredibly pathetic victim card, by lashing out at President Trump’s attempt to make him the administration’s go-to-scapegoat, saying, “DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything.” As Musk told The Washington Post, “So, like, something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.” As if ketamine-cavorting on the stage with a chain saw is viewed as a completely normal, adult action, Elon? As asked on the odactionnews.com website, “If he really believed bankrolling Trump’s return to the White House would buy him the wannabe dictator’s loyalty, then perhaps he’s not nearly the genius he desperately wants us all to think he is?” This shift in the billionaire’s tone follows the backlash over the massive federal layoffs and firings, and a disastrous first quarter for Tesla sales, as he retreats from his West Wing post. Though Musk has seemingly exited as a DOGE honcho, he says he would like to modernize the broken computer systems within the federal government. In a CBS Sunday Morning interview, he told David Pogue he was disappointed in Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ which saw narrow approval in the House. He whined, “You know, I was like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not decrease it, and undermines the work the DOGE team is doing,” adding, “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.” No mention of his vanity project in SpaceX’s Starship rocket which blew up in flight on the third attempt to achieve orbit, showering the debris of Musk’s ego over the Caribbean — the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” termed “an improvement” to sate the US taxpayers whose wallets are being depleted.
As Dan Rather writes on his ‘Steady’ blog, “All the money in the world couldn’t rescue Elon Musk from Washington politics. The Beltway bunch made their decision: ‘Enough!’ they said. And just like that, Musk is relegated to the end of the receiving line. As Harry Truman once quipped of Washington, ‘If you want a friend, get a dog.'” Rather says that all that cash to help elect the president, yet the MAGA faithful can’t hide the most important numbers: approval ratings. Musk’s are terrible — worse than Trump’s, if you can believe that — and Musk’s stench is rubbing off on his former “first buddy.” During his four-month tenure, Musk quickly became one of the most disliked unelected officials ever, but the nail in his political coffin was hammered in earlier April after he had invested $20 million in the campaign to elect a Republican-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court judge who lost by double digits. MAGA will take his money, but now he’s a loser in Trump World who, as Rather says, “…is devoting his time and money to keeping his rockets in the air and his car business afloat.” Sure! With the $38 billion in US government funding toward his contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits, according to The Washington Post. Rather concludes with, “You’re welcome, Elon.”
Steve Schmidt continues his barrage on ‘The Warning’ against the MAGA regime, picking up Senator Elizabeth Warren’s phrase “orgy of corruption” to describe Trump’s Bitcoin dinner at his Virginia golf club a couple of weeks ago. Schmidt adds to her context by describing Trump as America’s Nero merged with Caligula, as King Donald expands his belief that he and his cronies have a license to break the law and steal. Business Insider reports: The official backers of Trump’s meme coin, $Trump, are hosting a gala at the president’s DC-area private golf club. The top 220 holders of the digital token were invited to join the president. On average they spent over $1 million on the coin to secure a seat according to NBC News, and the lucky ones spent $394 million on the coin, per research conducted by blockchain analytics company Nansen. Criticism from congressional Democrats and government ethics organizations clashed with White House defense spokesperson Anna Kelly who said, “The president is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself. President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.” Cost for each attendee varies, with each of the top seven spending more than $10 million and those spending less than $100,000 filling the 24 cheap seats. With his $20 million investment, Chinese billionaire Justin Sun, is the top holder of Trump’s meme coin, and he was “awarded” a Trump Golden Tourbillon watch by the president, valued at $100,000. Sun founded the cryptocurrency, Tron, and also has some investments in the Trump Crime Family’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial. Under President Biden, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Sun with fraud and market manipulation, but last February after his investing in WLF, the SEC miraculously asked the court to pause the lawsuit.
Schmidt says, “Donald Trump is engorging himself like a locust. He is selling out America to a bevy of Arab and Chinese billionaires, while chaining America’s billionaires to his throne with leashes that let them partake in the taking — so long as they stay quiet and in line. The appeasement of Trump’s corruption and aggressions has become table stakes in the new American economy, where the free enterprise system is being replace by a gangster economy where the rule of law and transparency fade to black. There is economic misery ahead for the American people, and crazy Donald doesn’t care.” Schmidt points out the sad truth, writing that after over 120 days of chaos, incompetence, corruption, cruelty, betrayal and idiocies of unprecedented magnitude, MAGA and Trump remain more trusted than Democrats; nothing seems like it is on the level because nothing is — the great tragedy of 21st century America. “Donald Trump is a rotten man who leads a rotten movement that has assembled a rotten government that practices arson by day and malice by night. The simple truth of this moment is clear as day. We live in the age of the taker, and soon there won’t be much left to take,” he concludes.
Odactionnews.com reports that “the hallowed halls of Congress will soon have a new World’s Dumbest American Senator as Alabama knuckle dragger and man who once argued white nationalism isn’t actually racist at all really,” formally announced his plans to leave the upper chamber and run for governor of his state. Tommy Tuberville as a governor represents “one small step for a simpleton, one giant leap backwards for Alabamakind.” He declared on Fox News, “Today, I announce that I will be the future Governor of the great state of Alabama,” which was quickly followed by the launch of his campaign website. One complication he will have to overcome is his state of Florida residency, requiring that he move back home. Tuberville said, “I’ve still got eighteen months to go with President Trump to make America great again. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m going to help this country and help the great state of Alabama. I’m a football coach. I’m a leader. I’m a builder. I’m a recruiter and we’re going to grow Alabama.” A first-term senator, and a longtime college football coach for Auburn University, Tuberville remarked, “Either way, I’m looking at where I can help the people of Alabama the most. At the end of the day, a job’s a job. It’s like coaching — I always looked at the job as what does it need? Can you help fix it? Can you make it better? It’s a different level, with Trump sending more money and more power back to the states. It gives you a better advantage.” The dim-witted senator will be remembered for placing a hold on all 450 military promotions in 2023 over the Pentagon’s previous policy of allowing service members to be reimbursed for travel to receive abortion care following the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade. He finally relented after holding out for ten months due to political pressure from his own party, though nothing changed at the time in the Defense Department. The New Republic reminds us that he lied about his father getting five bronze stars in WW1, and tried to goad Trump into taking back the Panama Canal, as well as spreading vaccine misinformation in defense of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As Malcolm Ferguson writes, “The upcoming gubernatorial campaign is sure to provide more classic, alarmingly ignorant moments from Coach Tuberville.”
Talk about shameless, gaffe-ridden loyalty to Trump and the MAGA horde, Dan Rather says Senator Joni Ernst must have missed the memo from above that GOP lawmakers should avoid holding town hall meetings only to get taken down by the electorate who won’t bend to politicians trying to spin the unspinnable. Ernst likely thought a 7:30 a.m. scheduling would be too early for her constituents to show up, but that was only her first mistake. As she tried to explain the cuts to Medicaid from Trumps ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ one attendee yelled, “People will die!” The senator dismissed the declaration with, “Well, we are all going to die,” prompting a loud chorus of jeering. Trying to settle the crowd, her folksy, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, folks,” not only didn’t work, her original repudiation toward the audience member grew legs and spurred commentary across the country. The Des Moines Register, hardly a liberal publication, printed her “Well, we are all going to die,” quote as a large font, all-caps headline after her town hall. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said that her constituents would rather die in old age, instead of dying at 40, because losing health care risks an early death. Nathan Sage, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, said, “It was a jaw-dropping moment. How the hell can you say something like that? The crowd was already hot. She was there to answer questions and get out. It showed she doesn’t care about us.” Rather says it appears she just cares about Trump. She initially opposed the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, but eventually caved to the president’s pressure campaign; otherwise, she has been lockstep loyal to Trump — which is not playing well currently in deep-red Iowa.
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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. |
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.
June
“There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter. Billy Connolly And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days.”
~James Russell Lowell
“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”
~Aldo Leopold
“What do I miss about the UK? Sadly, almost nothing. Maybe the midnight sun, in June in the north. That’s all.”
~Lee Child
“There’s something I love about how stark the contrast is between January and June in Sweden.”
~Bill Skarsgard
“You always feel like your 18-year-old self in some sense. And that’s what walking through New York on a June evening feels like – you feel like it’s Friday, and you’re 17 years old.”
~John Darnielle
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I have been watching/listening to a LOT of The Moth lately. If you are not familiar, it is people telling stories. As they themselves more formally put it on their website, “The Moth is a nonprofit organization that celebrates the commonality and diversity of human experience through the art and craft of true, personal storytelling.” Go ahead and check them out! |
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(Gunilla Leavitt)
