Blog Archives

June 5 – 11, 2024

Highlights this week:

Bratton… New news… Greensite…on Good Friends and Lasting Legacies… Steinbruner says…smaill, important repeat…. Hayes…Right livelyhood…Patton…Let it be known… Matlock……Haikus, all for you, and 34 for 45…Eagan…Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover. Webmistress serves you…Bruce Bratton Day announcement… Quotes on….”Proclamation”

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1982 MUSICAL SAW FESTIVAL. One of the first Musical Saw Festivals. This was in the now shuttered Veterans Hall. Hidden in the photo are Tom Scribner, Faith Petric, Morgan Cowin, David Weiss (from the LA Philharmonic, in a tux!!) That’s Arlene Sutton at the piano and Herman Olson in the derby and vest plus many whose names I’ve forgotten. Yes, that’s me on the farthest right, leading the ensemble.

photo credit: Bruce Bratton’s personal photo collection.
Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

Dateline: June 4 – BRUCE BRATTON DAY!

Webmistress here, cutting in to let everyone know that June 4, 2024 is officially declared Bruce Bratton Day! Our intrepid leader has reached the venerable age of 90 years old(!), and Justin Cummings brought a proclamation to his birthday party on Sunday, June 2. Scroll down to my pick of the week to see video of the event. Click the image below for a larger version. Apologies for the reflections – it was in a frame on the gift table when we got the photo.

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Proclamation

HONORING BRUCE BRATTON

WHEREAS, Bruce Bratton, a native of Lockport, New York, moved to California at 18 because New York was hell on his mom’s arthritis; and

WHEREAS, at the young age of 20, Bruce entered the US Army’s K-9 Corps where he trained German Shepherds; and

WHEREAS, Bruce attended UC Berkeley and majored in Communications and Public Policy, and did student broadcasts for KPFA radio while writing for Cal’s Daily Californian; and

WHEREAS, being in Bezerkeley, he spent an afternoon discussing his LSD trip with writer, Aldous Huxley; and

WHEREAS, Bruce’s “Hot Damn String Band’ has performed for the likes of Bing Crosby, Jessica Mitford, Herb Caen, and more recently at Bookshop Santa Cruz; and

WHEREAS, after six years as a scientific illustrator, he went on to host radio shows on two popular Bay Area stations, KCBS and KGO; and

WHEREAS, Bruce has for practically every local and weekly newspaper in Santa Cruz: Good Times. Santa Cruz Sentinel, Independent, Express, The News, Santa Cruz Magazine, and Metro Santa Cruz; and

WHEREAS, as a journalist, Bruce has informed and mobilized the community on critical issues such as Lighthouse Field, the Beach Area Plan. UCSC growth, Highway 1 widening, numerous ballot measures aimed at checking the city’s growth-machine politics, and that annual political fiasco he soundly rejects: Girl Scout Cookies; and

WHEREAS, in the 1980’s Bruce also helped raise awareness on the inaccurate na of the Louden Nelson Center, which was accurately changed to LONDON NELSON Community Center through a community led effort in 2021.

THEREFORE, I, Justin Cummings, Santa Cruz County Third District Supervisor, commend and celebrate Bruce Bratton’s 90th birthday and his lifetime of achievements in writing truth to power ard do hereby proclaim June 4, 2024, as Bruce Bratton Day in the County of Santa Cruz.


Justin Cummings
May 31, 2024

So celebrate Bruce Bratton Day today! Email him and say happy birthday! As always, you can reach him at bratton@cruzio.com I hereby return the show to Bruce… 🙂

NEW NEWS SOURCE. I’ve been reading David Sirota’s emails for a long time . He’s the editor of The Lever and former advisor and speechwriter for Bernie Sanders. A few weeks ago he sent in this pitch for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. If it’s just half as good as he claims, we should all be subscribing.

Have you heard of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism? It’s a UK-based newsroom committed to exposing injustice and sparking change worldwide. For more than a decade, their investigations have had huge ripple effects across the globe. For example, their latest investigation revealed how snack giant PepsiCo (maker of Mountain Dew, Cheetos, and Gatorade) sourced palm oil from razed Indigenous land in Peru. This year they also uncovered how the surveillance technology used to repress dissent against Putin’s authoritarian regime is powered by unwitting gig workers in the Global South.

They do incredible and indispensable work, so I’m reaching out to recommend that you sign up for their free weekly newsletterUncovered. You’ll get their latest exposés from talented and passionate reporters.

Independent media is strongest when we support one another. So I’ll continue to recommend great publications like The Bureau of Investigative Journalism that you should be reading!

Rock the boat.
David Sirota

ERIC. Netflix series (7.01IMDB). *** Now we get to see/hear Benedict Cumberbatch do an American accent. He’s part of the 1980’s New York City startup of PBS’s Sesame Street in its most innovative Jim Hensen period. It’s partly funny, but it’s about the father son relationship that Cumberbatch has with his son. They hit on the race issue, plus the gay life, and even the homeless scene. It has a corny ending but it’s still worth watching.

ATLAS. Netflix movie (5.6 IMDB)  * Just about another future earth after some kind of huge attack. This one stars (loosely) Jennifer Lopez and she’s terrible in this Hollywood 28 years after some horrible attack flop. Plenty of bots working with humans which seems to be nearly impossible. It’s even truer after you watch Dune part 2. Don’t bother.

MAESTRO IN BLUENetflix series (8.2 IMDB) A curious film made during the covid mask era in Greece. It’s about a music festival on an island, the handsome guy in charge of the festival, and all these gay guys who don’t seem to be happy while being gay. Then too there’s a sort of sub plot involving a 18 year old girl and a 40 plus guy. I couldn’t buy any of it.

DUNE. PART 2. Max movie (8.6 IMDB) (4 thumbs)  **** An absolute genius of a special effects extravaganza. You’ll need to see (or read) the plot from Frank Herbert’s book to remember /learn all the names and plot twists involved in part 2. It’s about intergalactic spices and who owns them. Timothee Chalamet is the lead and Javier Bardem plays a serious role too along with Christopher Walken, Zendaya, Josh Brolin and thousands of digital look a likes. It’s the best use of advanced screen effects I’ve ever seen. The scope, the plot, the movie itself is the biggest ever. Don’t miss it and go to a theater to see it on the biggest screen possible.

A SIMPLE FAVOR. Netflix movie (6.8 IMDB)  * It’s billed as a drama/comedy and doesn’t qualify as either one. Anna Hendrick is the lead and she is simply just not funny OR believable. Rupert Friend and Henry Golding are in it too, but shouldn’t have been. A child goes missing and finding her son takes most of this movie, and your patience.

BRIDGERTON. Netflix series. (7.4 IMDB) ** The very definition of a British costume drama. But this is no Downtown Abbey and contains only stereotypes of high court characters. Julie Andrews is in it, if you wait long enough. It’s interesting and possible that there really were that many races represented in the British courts at that time or is it the film makers attempt to stage racial balance?

BETTER THAN USNetflix series. (7.3 IMDB) *** This is a Russian attempt at a science fiction/ robot/ sex / half serious comment on where high tech will be taking us in the near future. A “female” robot vanishes and the search and her relationships are the crux of the plot. Interesting but not necessary.

DARK MATTER. Apple series (7.4 IMDB) *** Yes indeed, another space bending, time warping 9 episode distraction. This one stars Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. There’s a robbery he gets beat up then he gets reborn backwards 14 months and 10 days in his life. He made and remakes mistakes and so do many other characters in their new growth decisions, but it’s not all that bad. Go for it.

A NEARLY NORMAL FAMILY. Netflix series. (6.4 IMDB) A beautiful 19 year old daughter gets raped by a 40 year old guy. Turns out he’s not such a bad guy except that he gets murdered and she gets accused. Her parents and many friends and you too, will defend her. The ending is a surprise. It’s enticing, engrossing, and it has just a few gaps in the telling of the plot but watch it at your earliest convenience.

THE HIJACKING OF FLIGHT 601. Netflix Series (6.7 IMDB) This is a thriller from Columbia and it’ll keep you attached for all 6 episodes. It’s based about 80% on the true story of that high jacking of a passenger plane in the 1970’s. It’s full of government officials, much airline hostess’s activity and genuine well developed suspense. They manage to portray a lot of politics and the evils of huge sums of money and be sure to allow yourselves enough time to watch all 6 of the series because you’ll care which side wins.

REPTILE. Netflix movie. (6.8 IMDB) *** Benicio Del Toro is near perfect as the detective who works full time and near silent investigating the murder (cruel stabbing) of a housewife. Real Estate plays a background setting as Justin Timberlake and Alicia Silverstone do only halfhearted acting in their fill in parts.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT. Netflix series. (6.7 IMDB) *** Set in Norway this celebrates Midsummer Night which is the longest night of the year. (news to me!) It’s contemporary and they use their cell phones a lot. Lots of sex involved here and some of it is surprising because it’s between and older male and a young babe. You’ll probably up thinking about your own morals and their validity. Go for it.

MAXTON HALL.  Prime series. (7.5 IMDB). * This saga is centered on the full relationship/courting of a rich, well-endowed, young male and a girl who barely makes a living and still they both go to Oxford. They use iPhones which keeps it current but the tensions and the repairs to their coupling start out so boring and end up barely making it plausible. He also plays lacrosse which should give you clues right there.

SUGAR. Apple series (7.8 IMDB) *** A genuine Hollywood movie about Hollywood. It stars Colin Farrell who does an excellent job in this absurd exploration of improvable plots. They throw in many, many cuts from classic Hollywood films in B&W and color. James Cromwell plays a legendary producer whose granddaughter is missing. It’s fun to watch especially when you try to match the old footage with the current confusing action.

FRANKLIN. Apple Series (7.01IMDB)* Michael Douglas does a half convincing job as an older version (70) of Benjamin Franklin in this politic filled boring movie. Noah Jupe is his young boyfriend. It’s full of twists, romance, and a lot of the script is in French so you’ll be watching subtitles more than usual. Not recommended.

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Good Friends and Lasting Legacies

On Sunday. June 2, the room was packed with well-wishers to celebrate Bruce Bratton’s 90th birthday. Such a grand age! So many planetary revolutions around our star. May we all be so fortunate to celebrate this milestone. Those who came to wish Bruce a Happy Birthday included many whose political imprint is indelible on the Santa Cruz landscape. The saving of Lighthouse Field from development, the preservation of the Greenbelt lands, including Pogonip and Wilder Ranch, are just a few of the treasures passed down from those who worked so hard in the early days to preserve nature and beauty for all to enjoy. They get flack now as being responsible for the current housing cost crisis, having dared to temper the seventies development frenzy, as though Silicon Valley, second homers, UCSC and market forces are irrelevant. We all owe them a debt of thanks as we bird Lighthouse Field (photo above) or walk the quiet trails of Pogonip and Wilder Ranch.

Celebrating Bruce’s 90th birthday brings the question of time and ageing into sharp focus. As a young child I thought old people came that way. I didn’t dwell on the question of how that could possibly happen. The reality that we are all on the wheel of life and death never occurred. It’s not something one reckons with in a youth-oriented, commercial culture that hides the reality of impending death behind the shades of disinfected nursing homes.

Some images however are memorable. While at the University of Sydney in the mid-1960’s I saw the film, The Ballad of Narayama, the earlier version of this Japanese classic than the one released in 1983.  Set in a remote Japanese village in the Shinano mountains during the mid-19th century, the film explores the ancient rural tradition where a villager on reaching age seventy is carried up the mountain by a son to be left to die. Orin, who is the focus of the story, is determined to fulfill this tradition with one problem, she is in very good health. The tension between this fact and her need to follow tradition makes for gripping drama. One scene etched in my mind has Orin smashing her sound teeth on a boulder to destroy her strength, her ability to survive and thereby end the tension.

Maybe it’s that image that makes me bristle whenever I hear young or old complain that “the room was full of old people” or “we need more young people” as if the former are expendable and the latter always wise. I’m not saying there is no need to consider youth and other constituencies when forming a group, mounting a campaign, or even making friends. When I was able to recruit a young Latina as teen representative for the City Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, at the next big Commission event at Soquel High, Latina teens were the majority in attendance, all due to the connections made by our teen rep. It’s the generalizations that feel misplaced. Efforts should be made to reach out to youth as well as to underrepresented groups but it’s a mistake to fill a box, sit back and think the job is done. UCSC made several mistakes in this regard, by selecting and placing weak candidates in high positions simply because they filled a particular category.

The sooner we drop the annoying categories of Gen. X et al. the better. I’m sure they are designed mainly for commercial exploitation. They serve to divide us and pit one group against another as though all in one group are homogeneous and different in kind from the other. Shared experience can give a common bond. However, the life experience of someone who was drafted into the War on Vietnam is different from someone of the same age who got a deferment due to bone spurs. We are all on the same wheel of life and death, just at a slightly different angle.

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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Webmistress here: I jumped the gun on the column this week in order to catch everyone before Bruce Bratton Day is over. I didn’t catch Becky in time, so I’m running a quick repeat of a piece from last week:

Show up at the June 4 Final Budget Hearing at 1:30pm and let the Supervisors know you expect them to uphold the funding promised at the ballot box…

I don’t know about you, but I don’t go on spending sprees when I know I have no money.  Apparently, CAO Palacios and the County Supervisors need to learn that.  Maybe it’s too late…the County has borrowed an unprecedented $95 Million, and will lease back the buildings owned used as collateral…with massive debt service burden sucking the General Fund and Contingency Fund nearly dry.

No money for repairing the County’s miserable roads?  Oh, well..Supervisors will just deceive the voters yet again and reach deeper into their wallets with a smile on their faces, because no one is discussing staffing cuts, furloughs, or management salary cuts.

Please attend the June 4 Board of Supervisor meeting, either in-person at 701 Ocean Street, 5th Floor Supervisor Chambers (Room 525),  or remote.   The Final Budget Hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:30pm. You can also speak at the 9am public comment time during the Regular Board meeting. 

Please share this with your family, friends and neighbors.

FIRE INSURANCE TOWN HALL MEETING AVAILABLE TO REVIEW
The recent Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce town hall meeting to provide information about property insurance issues was excellent and well-attended.  In case you could not attend it, here is the link to the YouTube video recording and slide presentations: Community Wildfire & Insurance Preparedness Workshop

MAKE ONE CALL.  WRITE ONE LETTER.  ATTEND THE JUNE 4 FINAL COUNTY BUDGET HEARING.  TAKE A PHOTO OF POTHOLES AND ROAD WASHOUTS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND SEND THEM TO THE COUNTY SUPERVISORS.

MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK AND JUST DO SOMETHING.

Cheers,
Becky

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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Right Livelihood

Picking a livelihood that helps to reduce suffering and creating a community that has access to such livelihoods are big and necessary challenges for everyone. The centrality of these goals is often overlooked. Here, I illustrate some hiccups with this process for those pursuing careers related to biology.

Biology Jobs

Bright-eyed young people gravitate towards careers outside, working with critters or plants, hoping that somehow they can help save the world by becoming experts at biology. They work hard to get biology degrees up against others who are pursuing more lucrative careers as doctors or genetic engineers. They compete for volunteer positions and internships to get hands-on experience. They go into further debt to attend a Master’s degree program so that they are competitive in the biology market.

A very few of these well-educated students will go on to get PhDs to become research biologists or even professors. There are fewer and fewer of these jobs, however, and most realize that this is a losing proposition unless they are affiliated with the best University faculty and labs as doctoral candidates.

Most budding biologists discover that the most available, and well-paying, jobs are as biological consultants; they have loans to pay and families to raise, and that is the easiest way forward. But, some can’t stomach being biological consultants (more on that later) or just never seem to be competitive in the application pool. These folks settle for jobs with government agencies such as public parks (BLM, State, City, or County Parks), regulatory and planning agencies (state or federal wildlife agencies, water districts), or advisory agencies (US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Conservation Districts).

Teaching and Research

How well does teaching and research mesh with ‘right livelihood?’ I will paraphrase Thich Nhat Hahn with this example. I teach biology and conservation to many students, but some of those students will get jobs in biology just to make money which will enable them to raise children who likewise have no ethical appreciation for conservation of life on earth. I already benefit from those students’ contribution to the economy and their unethical children will likely pay for my social security.

Does that mean I shouldn’t teach and research about conservation? No. What it means is that I need to consider these outcomes of my work seek to improve my approaches to conservation. I also realize the need to improve my community, so that the biological careers that are available to the students I teach are more ethical, so even those who enter those fields ‘for the money’ can do less harm.

Agency Biologists

It is nearly impossible for biologists working for agencies to practice excellent biology for conservation. At best, they might incrementally reduce harm to nature, but more likely they are enabling harm to nature by helping to ‘cover’ for the other, more politically supported mandates of the agencies. For instance, the tidal wave of outside influence on parks by well-funded groups such as the Outdoor Industry Association has created a situation where parks agency biologists’ opinions are marginalized, and they are not allowed to insert any meaningful biological protective language into parks planning (for instance, for BLM, see this, and for State Parks, this). Instead, as you will see when following those links, they are asked to rationalize imbalanced planning approaches that will cause environmental degradation. When such approaches from agencies are challenged in court, there is a long legal history of courts siding on behalf of the agencies. I need to do another column on the bad news that happens when courts are asked to decide on biological matters: the quote that comes to mind is ‘if a scientist testifies to affirm it in the courtroom, a pig can fly.

Consulting Biologists

Another career choice that biologists might make, and the most profitable by far, is biological consulting. Biological consulting is an area of the economy that has mostly been made feasible through regulations designed to protect the environment. However, such consultants might make a living helping agencies that don’t have in-house biologists; in this latter case, the same pitfalls play out as outlined in the prior section. In the former case, biological consultants have a variety of approaches to helping their clients navigate regulations. There is a spectrum of such approaches, and at the far end of the spectrum there are what a mentor of mine called ‘biostitutes’ – biologists who are in the business of ruining the earth for money.

Biostitutes

During my 35 years of watching environmental discourses play out across the Central Coast, I have seen quite a few biostitutes profiting from environmental destruction, but their numbers are diminishing for a variety of reasons. I’ve seen perfectly well educated biostitutes claim over and over again not to understand clearly written, required monitoring guidelines; instead they have created half-baked reports on poorly collected monitoring data in order to reduce costs for their clients. And, I’ve witnessed biostitutes misrepresent the extent of endangered, legally protected habitats by inventing their own methodology of vegetation classification. And, in my experience, it is not at all uncommon for biostitutes to, without any evidence whatsoever, claim that it is feasible to restore new areas of habitat or rare species so that there is ‘no impact’ when destroying natural habitat or rare species populations. It is amazing to me that these people keep getting employed, but they do…why?

The Politics of Biology

It is my contention that biostitutes and other less blatantly unethical career biologists keep earning their livings because of their expertise in navigating interpersonal political bond formation. Subtly or not so subtly, a biologist can signal their willingness to be helpful to those with ‘biology problems.’ Be it a subdivision developer, a parks manager, or a public works director, there will inevitably be environmental protections to integrate as part of getting things done. The biologist is faced with the dilemma of telling their clients (or their bosses) that there is ‘serious work’ that needs to be done to avoid biological impacts or, on the other hand, that such impacts are normal, inevitable and relatively easy to justify or repair. In the case of the biostitutes I’ve seen, there’s also often the formation of chummy comradery via framing: ‘us’ (the world-improvers) vs ‘them’ (the regulators). This last situation is particularly weird as the regulators easily recognize this and so the clients of the biostitutes end up paying a lot more money than if they had been advised by biologists with collegial working relationships with regulators. Ask a suspected biostitute to show you where they have succeeded with environmental protection measures, take a guide/buddy to help, and you’ll either not be able to find anything or be led to something less than success.

Learning and Growing

Those with the more collegial approaches to ‘biology problems’ are seeking the path of right livelihood. They serve as educators to both the regulators as well as those who are navigating the regulations. This approach helps the regulators learn and improve environmental protection while also helping push practitioners to be more environmentally sound. These ‘learning and growing’ biologists keep up on the science, are great communicators of science, and have a track record of succeeding with well-informed environmental protection outcomes. They will be proud to show you where they have succeeded, where they are learning, and where they look for evidence of moving in the right direction for environmental protection.

Aren’t these examples with right livelihood in biology interesting to apply across the spectrum of other jobs? I hope that you will now more easily identify the right livelihoods around you and work to make it possible to have more of these options in our community.

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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SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2024
#154 / Let It Be Known

Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty
If your cup is full, may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men

“Ripple,” The Grateful Dead

It would be pretty hard to overstate the impact of “Ripple,” the Grateful Dead song that you can listen to and see performed on the Playing For Change video that is presented below. Some of the musicians who appear in that video are famous. Some aren’t. They are all great.

Here is a link to the lyrics, in case you don’t know those lyrics all by heart. I am, personally, swept away by that verse that I have put at the top. It’s Sunday, and a good day to remember that all our human works, including the world we create ourselves, are ultimately dependent upon that other world, the “World of Nature,” the “World God Made.”

That world – the world into which we have been so mysteriously born – is not a world that was “made by the hands of men.”

The songs that remind us of this – and everything that reminds us of this – can, and perhaps will, and certainly should, bring tears to our eyes.

Click that video link, below, to see if I am right about that.

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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HUSH…NOTHING FOR LOSERS, SUCKERS, AND SCUMBAGS

The winner of the haiku contest, identified only as AJ, and held by Andy Borowitz of The Borowitz Report, was announced at a very opportune moment. Contestants submitted haikus on the theme, ‘Trump’s innermost musings as he sits in court.’ AJ says that he would not have incited a riot had he lost the contest, while lauding the community for their submitted taunts against a “wannabe dictator.” Rather than write a haiku in it’s original form of three lines or phrases containing seventeen syllables, with the phonetic units in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, he realized Trump would break the rules just as he breaks everything, so he bent the rules to fit the former- and now felonious-president’s character. Exaggerating his greatness, as he insults others smarter than him, AJ submitted Trump’s likely musings:       

I write the best haikus
You’ve never seen anything like these
Counting syllables is for losers

MAGA princeling, Eric Trump, drew slings and arrows after his Memorial Day weekend post on Xtwitter, when he shared another user’s post of a photo of Daddy DonMelaniaEric and Lara, and DJT, Jr., with Kimberly Guilfoyle, crediting the clan with “giving up everything to Save America.” “And we will do it again,” added Eric, sans IvankaJared and Tiffany, evidently. Former Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger pounced with, “Your family has sacrificed nothing, your name will become synonymous with ‘Benedict Arnold’ and how dare you tweet this, THIS weekend. You don’t know the first thing about service you child.” Other posters called out The Don’s derogatory comments on US service members and veterans, and fallen soldiers as “suckers,” mentioning his five deferments to avoid the draft. Snark Tank posted, “Yup, Donald even sacrificed his bone spurs after the draft was over.” One poster asked, “How many years in service or number of deployments do you all have? FYI, taking part in the events leading up to J6 doesn’t count as military service.” Of course we got the usual respectful, solemn but upbeat Memorial Day message from the Orange Bully…to all the, “human scum that is working so hard to destroy our country.” To his credit he also posted an image of himself saluting at the tomb of the UnknownsPhotoshoppedBocha Blue on The Palmer Report took a jab at Mr. Trump with, “We know you’re stressed, Donnie. However, you need to know that Memorial Day isn’t all about you. You see, on this day, we honor those who are your direct OPPOSITE. We honor the courageous, not the cowardly. We honor the strong, not the weak. We honor America, not those who hate her. It is fitting that the jury will decide your fate on the week of Memorial Day. How lovely to see you get what you so richly deserve.”

The Borowitz Report divulges that, “In what has become a Memorial Day tradition for him, on Monday Donald J. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Podiatrist. Trump made his annual pilgrimage to pay homage to the heroic doctors who issued bogus diagnoses to ensure that their privileged patients never answered the call of duty. In an emotional tribute, Trump thanked the fallen foot specialists who bravely risked their medical licenses so that others facing military service could be free. Choking back tears, he said, ‘They gave everything so people like me could give nothing.'”

And it came to pass, that on May 30, 2024, history was made with the New York jury convicting The Trumpmeister of all 34 counts in his business records coverup case, commonly known as the Stormy Daniels Hush Money trial. The rule of law asserted itself, that no man is above it…and with certainty, not even the former leader of the country. The jury glossed over the defense’s attempt to criminalize Michael Cohen, quickly considering the preponderance of evidence that would have taken Trump down anyway…emails, texts, phone recordings galore and twenty witnesses. Steve Schmidt on The Warning, applauds the results of the trial, saying, “Donald Trump is a convicted felon and the Republican nominee for president. He is running on a platform of rage, revenge and payback, and his party stands behind him. A great tragedy is at hand, and the American people should understand the last nine years have been a short preface to what is coming next. Something terrible is building in America, and the only political question that matters is: how do we get through this? The corruption of this era is deep, wretched and everywhere. We are about to pay the bill, and it will be brutal. Things will get better, but not before they get much worse. Much worse.” Steve believes that one day people will look back on this era with the profound contempt it deserves, and ask: how did this happen? The answer will always be the same: one day at a time.

Trump teased for weeks that he might take the stand and testify (test-a-lie?) in his own defense, with legal experts warning it would be a risky undertaking. On WABC Radio, he blamed Judge Juan Merchan’s rulings throughout the trial while other witnesses were on the stand, when he often ruled for the prosecution. “Because he made rulings that makes it very difficult to testify. Anything I did, anything I did in the past they can bring everything up. And you know what, I’ve had a great past. The other reason is because they have no case. In other words, why testify when they have no case? There’s no crime, so when you say, ‘Why not testify?’ they have no case, other than it’s a corrupt system.” Trump’s most laughable post sent out with a fundraising appeal is, “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged!” Got that? With the guilty verdicts, there has been no rioting in the streets…so far…just the expected overdose of whining. With Judge Merchan’s scheduled sentence hearing on July 11 we might look for more activity, all dependent upon what combination of penalties are levied…a fine, probation, probation with supervision, or prison time. Merchan also has to consider Trump’s age, his lack of previous conviction, and possibly his violations of the court’s gag orders as he arrives at a decision. With the threatened appeal of the verdict, Trump will likely remain free on ball in this process, as his legal team prepares to face the Appellate Division Court in Manhattan, or possibly the Court of Appeals.

Professor Anna Cominsky of New York Law School says grounds for an appeal might be that evidence provided by adult film star Stormy Daniels could be viewed as not necessary, where it becomes irrelevant and prejudicial. For the prosecution, her detail makes her a credible witness, and during her testimony the defense twice called for a mistrial, both denied by Judge Merchan. Falsifying business records are usually a low-level misdemeanor in New York, but the Class E felony charges arise from Trump’s crime of an alleged illegal attempt to influence the 2016 election. Prosecutors allege that violations of federal and state election laws, along with tax fraud apply to Trump’s case, but it was not specified to the jury exactly which was broken, which might form a basis for appeal. There is no precedent of a state prosecutor invoking an uncharged federal crime, which then questions whether or not Manhattan DA Bragg has jurisdiction to do just that. Trump’s impeachment counselor, Norman L. Eisen has calculated that during Bragg’s first year in office his team filed 166 felony counts for falsifying business records against 34 people or companies, with about 1 in 10 cases resulting in some term of imprisonment, with other charges possibly tipping the scales toward incarceration. Bet that raises a red flag for our former president!

Many legal minds believe that if only Trump had kept his mouth shut during the trial, and not violated the gag orders which resulted in multiple fines, he might have expected lighter sentencing. But his breaches, not holding back in public, raises the possibility of incarceration, not to mention that Class E felonies are punishable by 16 months to four years in prison. Michael Cohen raised the specter that a “loose-lipped” jailed Trump might spill US “secrets,” jeopardizing national security, from which he might garner financial benefits, or simply “bragging rights.” “You now have a Republican leading candidate, who’s a felon, who’s going to be debriefed on national security issues, knowing how loose-lipped he is, and how he’s willing to give away America’s secrets to Vladimir Putin…with the Australian billionaire at Mar-a-Lago…with the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador. So, my concern is, in a prison situation, he is willing to give away these secrets. He will do it because he does not care. If America turns against him, he’d rather see America burned to the ground. And that’s who Donald Trump is.”

“It’s time for everybody to realize that the world is not trying to unfairly screw Donald Trump. In fact, it constantly seems like Donald Trump is trying to screw Donald Trump. Nobody tricked him into having an affair with a porn star. Nobody made him assault E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room. Nobody forced him to become a grifter and commit fraud in every aspect of his life. He ran for president the first time because he wanted to appear powerful and finally do something successful. Ironically, it screwed him. He was exposed. And now, no matter how badly he wants his old tabloid cover life back, he can’t have it. He has to run again in November. It’s the only way to stay out of prison. He’s a felon. We all know he’s going to appeal, it’s the only way to delay the inevitable. But if he wins, it all goes away. This conviction, and three more potential ones that won’t even begin until after November. We have to stop him. Justice has to be served.” – The Lincoln Project

David Frum writes in The Atlantic“The wrong case for the wrong offense just reached the right verdict. Donald Trump will not be held accountable before the 2024 presidential election for his violent attempt to overturn the previous election. He will not be held accountable before the election for absconding with classified government documents and showing them off at his pay-for-access vacation club. He will not be held accountable before the election for his elaborate conspiracy to manipulate state governments to install fake electors. But he is now a convicted felon for all time. It says something dark about the American legal system that it cannot deal promptly and effectively with a coup d’état. But it says something bright and hopeful that even an ex-president must face justice for ordinary crimes under the laws of the state in which he chose to live and operate his business.”

“He’s trying to sell me an America that doesn’t exist,” says sports pundit Colin Cowherd. Nor did it EVER exist, Colin. “Donald Trump is a felon. His campaign chairman is a felon. So is his deputy campaign manager, his personal lawyer, his chief strategist, his national security adviser, his trade adviser, his foreign policy adviser…they’re all felons. If everybody in your social circle is a felon, I don’t think it’s rigged,” Colin goes on to say. Authoritarianism expert at New York UniversityRuth Ben-Ghiat, wrote, “These MAGA acolytes also came to New York to wage information warfare and discredit the judge and the democratic justice system that dare to try and hold their idol accountable for his crimes. Republicans have been on a larger crusade to delegitimize democratic institutions, turning the public against the courts, judges, the press and politicians who uphold the rule of law, truth, and accountability.” John Bolton echoed her in warning of the danger of undermining the system, saying prior to the court’s verdict, “It’s dangerous to question the integrity of our entire legal system. Our enemies in Moscow and Beijing believe that anything that undercuts America’s general faith in the Constitution weakens America. A lost faith in our Judicial Branch is a win for our enemies.” The lies that flowed following the 34 guilty verdicts are coming from those who should be educating and informing the public about how our laws work…they should know better! Just remember, Trump says he is doing this for YOU!

And, according to Andy BorowitzTrump would like to do even more: “Calling the situation a ‘rigged disgrace,’ Donald J. Trump said on Thursday it is ‘totally unfair’ that he is not on the jury of his trial. ‘You have these twelve losers in a room, trying to figure our what the hell was going on,’ he told reporters. ‘Meanwhile, I was there the whole time and know everything, but I’m not allowed to be a juror? This is like some kind of banana republic. I saw the movie ‘Twelve Angry Men.’ I should be one of those angry men. I would be the angriest man, by far.’ Blasting Judge Juan Merchan, Trump said, ‘Look at him. Look at where he’s from. I’m not going to name the place, but he’s from a very bad place. That’s why he won’t let me be a juror. I’d be a juror if Aileen Cannon was the judge.'” That’s right, Donny…just keep pitching it and you may succeed…for us, of course!

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.

“Proclamation”

“It was a great feeling to be honored by my hometown where it all started. Watching my father get a proclamation for his hard work as well was incredible.”
~Caleb Plant

“The existence of slavery cast the shadow of hypocrisy over the otherwise noble proclamation of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in our Declaration of Independence.”
~Blase J. Cupich

“When you’re 17 in the suburbs and know only three gay people, holding hands with your girlfriend is a proclamation.”
~Mary Lambert

“The Proclamation does not, indeed, mark out exactly the course I should myself prefer. But I am ready to take it just as it is written, and to stand by it with all my heart.”
~Salmon P. Chase

“Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.”
~Lyndon B. Johnson

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June 4, 2024 is Bruce Bratton Day! This is Justin Cummings delivering the proclamation to Bruce at his birthday party on Sunday. Emceeing the event was Gary Patton. I really messed up by not getting a photo of all the present Brattonites together…


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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
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