Greensite… on the civil grand jury: an overlooked arm of democracy… Steinbruner… BESS storage, Community Matters, Capitola Annexes Live Oak?… Hayes… What’s the Opposite of Fascism?… Patton… Rhymes With “Mayonnaise”… Matlock… splinters…silence is intolerable…opinions provided… Eagan… Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover … Webmistress serves you… Pete Townshend… Quotes on… “Thanksgiving”
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HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN… I’m curious, do you have certain words or phrases that you can’t read or hear without hearing a particular song or movie that they appear in? Like how you may have heard Annie Lennox from Eurythmics just now? I know I do. I realized just how much this is the case once when I walked into a bank and saw a poster that said, “Let’s get down to business”, and immediately sang (under my breath), “and defeat the huns!”… Depending on the day, my mood, or the position of the stars, “My name is…” can be followed by 1) “Elder Price, and I would like to share with you this most amazing book.”, 2) “Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”, or 3) “What? My name is who? My name is *fricka fricka* Slim Shady.”… See what I mean? What are some of yours? Email me at webmistress@BrattonOnline.com and let me know!
THAT RAIN THOUGH… It has been raining a bit. Up here on the mountain, it’s pretty cozy! I’m not loving it when the power goes out, but I think some sort of generator or battery situation is going to be set up here at the Mountain Forge soon. We are also lucky enough to have functioning fireplaces, so the thought of winter doesn’t scare me. Now pardon me while I go knit a sweater. See you next week!
~Webmistress
BEING EDDIE. Netflix. Movie. (7 IMDb) 
“I’ve never been the real me, ever, on screen,” Eddie Murphy on David Letterman 2006
… and this documentary does little to change that.
As a biopic, it’s surprisingly thin, skimming the surface of a life that’s anything but ordinary. As a career retrospective, though, it functions well enough, offering a highlight reel of Murphy’s remarkable range and the admiration he inspires among peers.
The problem is that none of those peers – nor the filmmakers – seem interested in exploring the person behind the performances. A documentary doesn’t need to be a tabloid excavation, but this one feels almost determined not to ask any meaningful questions. The result is a film that runs a bit long without any moment to give it texture.
I walked away wanting to revisit “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places”, but not especially glad I’d sat through this to get there. In the end, it’s not really worth the watch.
~Sarge
FRANKENSTEIN. Netflix. Movie. (7.7 IMDb) 
Yet another Frankenstein (“that’s Fahnken-steen”) or Oscar Isaac in what feels like his 25th role of the year.
Visually sumptuous and soaked in both blood and atmosphere, Guillermo del Toro delivers a lavish reimagining of the oft-told tale. The film nails the gothic philosophy and metaphysics of its era, pairing beauty with brutality in true del Toro fashion. You can almost imagine the Shelleys and Byron nodding in approval at the moments where it strays, and smiling where it catches the heart of the story perfectly.
It’s not for the faint of heart – one shot that got me, of the Creature twisting a sailor’s arm a few rotations too far, proves that – but the grotesquerie serves the point. After all, this is a story about Build-A-Man from spare parts and asking what makes him human.
Dark, intelligent as always, and unsettlingly gorgeous – this Frankenstein is well worth a watch.
I LIKE ME. Prime Video. Movie. (8.2 IMDb) 
John Candy was one of the brightest stars born from the supernova that was SCTV (Second City Television) – Canada’s answer to Saturday Night Live in the ’70s and ’80s (if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth digging up). The cast was a who’s who of comedy royalty: Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, and more. And right in the middle of it all was Candy — the gentle giant with impeccable timing and a heart to match.
By all accounts, Candy was as kind and humble offscreen as he was hilarious on it. No one seems to have a bad story about him – which, in a crowd of comedians, is practically sainthood.
From “Uncle Buck” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” to “Spaceballs”, “JFK”, and even his lesser outings, Candy was always a joy to watch. His performances carried warmth, humanity, and that unmistakable glint of mischief.
Gone far too soon, “I Like Me” remains a sad “must-watch” — a reminder that true comedy often comes from a place of heart.
~Sarge
[Halloween Pick: WEREWOLF] AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Philo. Movie. (7.5 IMDb)
“Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors.”
The story is simple: two American backpackers ignore the locals’ warnings, wander onto the moors, and one ends up cursed with full-moon-itis while the other returns as a wisecracking, rapidly decomposing ghost. What follows is a sharp blend of horror, dark humor, and some amazing makeup work.
The transformation scene – while dated by today’s standards – was groundbreaking for its time, delivering a visceral, painful metamorphosis and a final werewolf form that’s genuinely menacing. David Naughton makes for a sympathetic lycanthrope, Griffin Dunne shines as David’s decaying corpse conscience, and Jenny Agutter does her best as the nurse/love interest with questionable professional boundaries.
“An American Werewolf in London” remains the most watchable, witty, and downright entertaining werewolf film since the Golden Age.
~Sarge
OZZY: NO ESCAPE FROM NOW. Paramount+. Movie. (8.4 IMDb)
A farewell performance you can’t roll your eyes at. Plenty of rock legends have milked “one last time” for decades – but not Ozzy. His “Back to the Beginning” concert on July 5th, 2025, really was the end. He was gone by the 22nd.
“No Escape From Now” is an unvarnished chronicle of both his career and more importantly, his final, lucid march toward the inevitable. It’s less a myth-making documentary than a brutally honest goodbye, showing the man behind the metal: frail, funny, and utterly self-aware. Through it all, Sharon Osbourne is the quiet backbone – tending, cajoling, and loving the battered but unbowed Prince of Darkness as he takes his final bow.
~Sarge
GOOD BOY. In theaters. Movie (6.8 IMDb)
Full disclosure: I was ready to hate this film. Any movie that makes people cry about a dog is a very bad thing, because ALL dogs are the Best People, so that’s an automatic red flag.
But Good Boy surprised me. It’s a horror film told from the dog’s perspective – not another “evil dog” flick or a cheap scare where the pet gets offed to raise the stakes. Here, Indy the Dog follows his troubled Person into a forest full of strange smells, eerie silences, and one especially bad not-Person who clearly means trouble. Bad not-Person!
Some have called it slow, but I found it quietly tense, the way good horror should build. And yes, it includes one truly wrenching moment that no good dog should face. Still, it’s worth a watch – just make sure to hug your own dog after.
~Sarge
[Halloween Pick: VAMPIRE] THE HUNGER. Tubi. Movie. (6.6 IMDb)
Incredibly stylish Vampire film from 1983 by Tony Scott. Starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon.
A young, lanky Sarandon stars as a doctor caught between two vampires — Bowie, seeking a cure for his decay, and the impossibly elegant Deneuve, the ageless predator in search of a new consort. With a soundtrack that swings from Bauhaus to Delibes and lush, stylized cinematography, The Hunger remains an elegant, sensual cornerstone of modern vampire cinema.
~Sarge
WEAPONS. In theatres, Apple TV. Movie. (7.4 IMDb)
Weapons: “Pulp Fiction” meets “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”.
A perfect suburban horror: 17 children get up in the middle of the night, and run off into oblivion. The problem is, they’re all from the same class. The problem is, it’s the entire class…but one. The problem is, it must be the teacher.
Or is it.
The film structures its mystery through overlapping points of view, evoking Pulp Fiction’s fractured narrative. At the same time, it channels Rod Serling’s “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”, where paranoia and fear become more destructive than the supposed threat itself. Just when the audience feels grounded, the story pivots in an unexpected direction.
The cast is anchored by the elfin Julia Garner (Ozark), Josh Brolin (“Thanos” Avengers), and Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange). Rather than relying on gore or jump scares, the film builds an atmosphere of unease that lingers after.
It’s unsettling, thought-provoking, and worth a watch.
~Sarge
November 10, 2025
When hearing of the Civil Grand Jury, most assume it’s where you can be summoned to serve on a jury trial if you are a citizen. Or, if they know it’s the volunteer civil grand jury system that has oversight over local government functions, there’s a tendency to view it as ineffective, to not take it seriously. Having served on the Civil Grand Jury for 2023-24 and just returned from a state-wide conference of the Civil Grand Jury Association (CGJA), I want to encourage you to better understand this, your democratic institution- erased by all states except California and Nevada- and to consider applying to be a civil grand juror.
The institution of the Grand Jury has a considerable history, dating from 12th century England. The first formal grand jury was established in Massachusetts in 1635. By 1683 grand juries were established in all the colonies. The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution includes reference to the grand jury; however, states vary in whether a grand jury indictment is needed for all crimes. Twenty-five states including CA make indictments optional. The civil watchdog function of grand juries, while historically one of its functions, emerged more prominently in the 19th century. By the latter half of the 20th century, most states had weakened or discontinued the watchdog function of the grand juries. Currently only California and Nevada mandate that civil grand juries be impaneled annually to specifically function as a watchdog over local government. Each CA county is required to empanel a civil grand jury. The by-laws around confidentiality are strict. Investigations are rigorous with all facts cited and cross-referenced. A supermajority of jurors is required to approve each report. County counsel and the supervising judge must review each report before publication to confirm it maintains the confidentiality of information and doesn’t exceed its legal purview. For a full history see the CGJA website.
Before I served my year on the grand jury, I shared the view typical of many local political activists; that the grand jury was a bit of a joke, that nobody took it seriously, especially not local government.
That view was a mistake. It served to dismiss an institution that gives the public a legal avenue to document government waste, inefficiency, and in some cases, corruption, and to make those findings public and to recommend changes. The grand jury has public oversight over local governmental agencies and special districts including the jails. It does not, however, have the power to mandate that local agencies adopt its recommendations. It can only shine a light on local government that the press and the public must then amplify and pursue.
Once a grand jury report is published with its findings and recommendations, an agency has ninety days to respond. The past three years of published reports show about a third of the recommendations were checked as “will be implemented.” Future grand juries follow up to determine whether this claim is accurate.
A government agency will sometimes initially refuse to adopt a grand jury recommendation, only to adopt it themselves a few months or a year later. This switch recently happened in Santa Cruz. One of the investigative reports from the Grand Jury of 2023-24, was titled, Housing for Whom? An Investigation of Inclusionary Housing in the City of Santa Cruz. The investigation uncovered that the city has no record or tracking system to verify who is occupying this scarce, below market rate housing, other than confirming the income level. There’s a lot of lip service paid to providing affordable housing for our local workforce but no evidence to show that it is happening. The grand jury recommendation was that the city adopt a tracking and verification mechanism to ensure that residents and local workers receive preference for such housing; the preferences themselves already mandated in the city’s Municipal Code. The city basically said “no” to the recommendations. Their response was frustrating after a year’s work and a clear need for accountability.
Then came Measure C. Named as the Workforce Housing Accountability Act, it contained no mechanism for ensuring that its listed preferences for affordable housing would in fact go to residents and local workers. A group of local activists, including myself, pressed the issue, drew up a Resolution incorporating a mechanism to check and verify, gained the support of two councilmembers, and ultimately a unanimous vote from the city council with no opposition from staff or city attorney. The actual ordinance is slated to return to council in January 2026. Of course, there is a need to keep engaged to ensure the final ordinance expresses the intent of the council vote. Anything less would be a betrayal of public trust.
Given the amount of criticism against local government on Next Door and letters to the editor, you would think that folks would be lining up to apply to be a civil grand juror. In fact, the pool of applicants is shrinking annually. Nineteen jurors are needed each year. The final count includes eleven alternates since the resignation rate is high.
After you pass an interview and are accepted as an applicant by the supervising judge, the selection of who will become jurors is made with an old-fashioned spinning lottery barrel. I rather liked that feature, except I was randomly chosen as last of the alternates! I was assured that alternates are always needed and indeed it wasn’t long before I was sworn in and set to work.
The lack of people applying is understandable. It is very hard work. The time required is not overstated at twenty hours a week although taking on responsibilities can vary. It is also an incredible experience. But the time required excludes anyone with a fixed full- time job. Most jurors are retired older folk like me. We are fabulous but want to attract more young jurors. And more jurors of color. At the CGJA conference, recruitment was a big issue. Success with recruiting a university student was mentioned so, visits to Political Science classes at UCSC and Cabrillo are in order.
Overall, we need to value this democratic institution and use it to improve local government efficiency and transparency. Hopefully some of you will consider applying to become a juror. Or bring a concern/complaint about local government to the attention of the Civil Grand Jury. Both can be explored here.
| 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. |
Thursday evening, the Capitola City Council voted not to annex areas of Live Oak and Pleasure Point, but in my opinion, had poor information.
This was all initiated by a 2022 Santa Cruz County LAFCO report that recommended Capitola either submit a plan for annexing the large areas of Live Oak and Pleasure Point that lie within the City’s Sphere of Influence, or take action to amend their Sphere of Influence by May, 2027 when the next LAFCO evaluation would be due. The City determined it would require a $45,000 study to move forward, and asked LAFCO to help pay for it. That request was granted, to the tune of $15,000.
The study was presented to the Capitola City Council on November 13, providing data of revenues expected but vaguely alluded to expected increased expenses, reported only as percentages of increase without any data to support it.
The Council unanimously rejected the idea of expanding the City’s boundaries, largely because there would be a big increase in police demand.
Hmmmm…I spoke with Chief of Police Sarah Ryan afterward. She said the proposed areas of annexation do not have a significant demand for law enforcement response. The only other expanded service that would have been affected would be Parks & Recreation. The only park that would have been added is Floral Park, a very small space.
Hmmmm… It will be interesting to see what LAFCO does when it next meets in February, 2026.
City of Capitola Annexation Study Areas [pdf]
RSG, Inc. gathered data from City and Santa Cruz County staff to analyze the financial impacts of potential annexation. One important revenue source challenging to research due to confidentiality requirements was the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue within the County. Staff ultimately relied on the number of short-term rentals in the SOI, and their exact locations, and evaluated them against comparable short-term rentals within the City of Capitola’s to estimate revenue.
Because current analysis does not point to annexation being financially feasible or advantageous, City staff asked that RSG pause their work to present their initial findings before conducting time-consuming interviews with City Departments to begin estimating projected new City costs, though this was initially part of their scope of work.
Staff suggest the study be submitted to LAFCO and the City’s sphere of influence be adjusted by LAFCO. Before approving a revised Capitola SOI, the LAFCO Board will receive options from LAFCO staff, who have offered to partner with Capitola City staff on this endeavor. The City of Capitola’s LAFCO representative will also have the opportunity to make comments and vote on the revised SOI before it is approved.
Capitola City Council Agenda Report
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SUPERVISORS CONSIDER NEW RULES FOR GRID-SCALE BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE PROJECTS
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors November 18 review of the Draft Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and how you can participate. It is scheduled for 1:30pm Tuesday, and the meeting will be held in the basement of 701 Ocean Street Gov’t Bldg. It is in hybrid format, and will hopefully provide Spanish translation. Board of Supervisors, Current And Upcoming Meetings
Find helpful information here: Stop Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz
NOTE: COUNTY STAFF HAS ADVISED DUPLICATE SENDING OF ALL WRITTEN COMMENTS SUBMITTED ON THE COMMENT PORTAL TO INDIVIDUAL SUPERVISORS AND THEIR ANALYSTS, DUE TO “PROCESSING TIME” OF COMMENTS ON THE PORTAL. Find their contact information here:
Board of Supervisors
LISTEN AND BE HEARD
SantaCruzVoice.com is a great local platform that airs a variety of programs daily, available to listeners free, from anywhere in the world, by listening in via computer or smart device. I host a weekly program there on Fridays, 2pm-4pm Pacific Time, called “Community Matters”
Here’s last Friday’s guests, topics, and schedule:
Hour One: (2:15pm-3pm) Capitola resident Mr. Tom Ginsburg will lead discussion of how his neighborhood has responded to questionable tactics a developer has taken in Capitola for an affordable housing project at 3720 Capitola Road, what the City staff has done, and how the neighborhood has taken action with the Capitola City Council.
Hour Two: (3:15pm-4pm) Local Researcher Ms. Nina Beety will discuss the harms related to MBARI employing very high decibel levels for its geophysical mapping surveys above levels that experts say are injurious. MBARI has responded dismissively.
With many people now alarmed about possible oil and gas drilling in the Monterey Bay National Sanctuary, shouldn’t we be just as alarmed by potential harm to marine life by MBARI researchers using very high-decibel tactics happening now?
Also, we discussed the upcoming Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors November 18 review of the Draft Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and how you can participate.
Find helpful information here.
The program will be recorded and posted on the Santa Cruz Voice.com website, under “Current Shows” and “Community Matters”.
Listen in!
MAKE ONE CALL. WRITE ONE LETTER. ATTEND THE NOVEMBER 18 COUNTY SUPERVISOR MEETING FOR THE 1:30PM HEARING ON NEW RULES THAT COULD ALLOW LARGE FLAMMABLE BATTERY PROJECTS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE BY DOING JUST ONE THING THIS WEEK.
Cheers,
Becky
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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 |
The type of governance matters for environmental conservation. I have long celebrated the potential of democracy to produce what we all want: peace on Earth and the wellbeing of human kind and Nature. In recent memory, environmental conservation wasn’t a partisan issue…what a long way we’ve come – in the wrong direction.
Antifa
I was surprised to hear that Antifa has been proclaimed by the president to be a domestic terrorist organization. I wasn’t aware that it was an organization, but I haven’t really looked into it. Perusing the amazing resources on the internet, I found that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security categorizes domestic terrorism in several ways, all of which include the use of violence in contravention of law (I suppose this discounts warfare) to intimidate the population, influence policy, or affect the ability of the government to conduct its regular business:
- Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism
- Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremism
(What is the non-governmental “authority” that they are concerned about?)
- Animal Rights or Environmental Violent Extremism
- Abortion-Related Violent Extremism
- And “Other” including “related to religion, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Antifa would all into the second bullet, if it were indeed an organization. So would the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, two organizations that have not similarly been called out explicitly by the President, though he did pardon members of both groups involved in the January 6th issues. What about the group “Patriot Prayer,” which is also a violent group that intimidates the population?
Antifa stands for “Anti Fascism” – at the most recent Indivisible rally in Santa Cruz, I was surprised by how few people knew that. Many had never heard of the (non)group or the President’s proclamation about it. Search all you want, you won’t find any evidence of such a group. Imaginary groups do not meet our government’s definition.
Fascism Definition
Miriam Webster: “a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition”
Parts of this definition are at work in the USA currently, though the best of minds suggest we aren’t really in a fascist state. It is better to pick out the parts that fit and follow their trajectory. “Autocratic” – we aren’t quite there, but it seems more so than any time in memory. “Dictatorial” – well, what do you think? “Severe economic and social regimentation” – seems to me we are headed that way. “Forcible suppression of the opposition” – looking more and more like it: close the government instead of negotiating…don’t swear in new members of Congress.
Profa
Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
George Bush: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
So…in this black-and-right world of Bush’s, if you are against (the imaginary) Antifa, does that make you Profa? Is anyone pro fascism? Presidential popularity polls would suggest that we have 42% of the US population that approves of Trump. Since we aren’t fascist yet, we can’t call them Profa or “pro-fascist,” but wouldn’t that be the ‘equal and opposite reaction’ to the Trump administration’s declaration about Antifa?
If we are to follow Newsome’s lead, we should meet the ludicrous with the ludicrous. So, if you have the gumption, why not start naming the people who must be members of Profa.
Eco-Fascism
Yes, fascists can be environmentalists, too. Nazi Germany was very pro-environment. The path to fascism is autocracy, so we must be wary of that trend when we look at anything in our culture. Californians should be proud of their Antifa law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which guarantees public disclosure and the opportunity for public involvement in decision-making that affects our environment. But, oh wait, Newsom and our legislature is rolling back CEQA (thanks John Laird for not joining them!). Is Newsom Profa?
Examine the Trend
Examine any of our public processes, from minor to major, and report back about if those are being moderated in true respect for CEQA or any other means of public input. I have followed many decision-making processes and am here to testify on my experience: yes, right here in Santa Cruz, we have been in an autocratic regime for the last many years. It is evident that decision makers are just going through the motions of approving whatever the more monied interests have decided is good, checking boxes for public process guidance in such a way that they avoid lawsuits, but in no way sincerely involving the public. When even our more ‘progressive’ communities have shifted in this way, why is it that we expect something different from the President? And who will cheer the election of Newsom and any other ‘leader’ who is on ‘the other team,’ even if they are autocrats.
It is time for something different. We need something different if we want a future for Planet Earth.
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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 |
Pictured is Edward Bernays, sometimes called “the father of modern consumer culture.” Yes, his name does rhyme with “mayonnaise.” I mention that because “mayonnaise” is made by melding individual ingredients into a soft and pliable condiment that obscures the fact that the individual ingredients from which it is made are actually quite distinct. Our modern world, a world that Bernays has done so much to help bring into being, can also be seen as a world that so well obscures our individual selves that we no longer even recognize what has happened to us.
I have written about Bernays before, though only indirectly, and without even mentioning his name. My non-explicit allusion to Bernays occurred in an earlier blog posting that referenced Zeynep Tufekci’s wonderful article, “Engineering The Public: Big Data, Surveillance and Computational Politics.”
If you’d like to read what Tufekci has to say about the impact that Bernays has had upon our society, and upon our politics, and upon our economy, please click the link that I have just provided. Here is a “quick hit” from her article:
The rise of broadcast media altered dynamics of politics in fundamental ways. Public relations pioneer Edward Bernays explained the root of the problem in his famous “Engineering of consent” article where, discussing the impact of broadcast on politics, he argued that the cliché “the world has grown smaller” was actually false (Bernays, 1947). The world is actually much bigger and today’s leaders, he pointed out, are farther removed from the public compared to the past. The world feels smaller partly because modern communication allows these leaders, potent as ever, to communicate and persuade vast numbers of people, and to “engineer their consent” more effectively.
Bernays saw this as an unavoidable part of any democracy. He believed, like Dewey, Plato and Lippmann had, that the powerful had a structural advantage over the masses. However, Bernays argued that the techniques of “engineering of consent” were value–neutral with regard to message. He urged well–meaning, technologically and empirically enabled politicians to become “philosopher–kings” through techniques of manipulation and consent engineering.
This current blog posting, with the picture of Bernays at the top, was not inspired by Tufekci’s article (though I really do urge anyone reading this blog posting to check out what Tufekci has to say). The picture comes from a more recent essay by Jeremy Lent, who has also been mentioned before in my series of daily blog postings, now heading into its sixteenth year. Here is a link to Lent’s article, “Mind Control: It’s Happening To You Right Now.”
Lent’s article (definitely recommended) points out that we are more and more living in an “online world,” and that this fact makes it increasingly easy to manipulate us. The “broadcast media” about which Bernays wrote is but a pale adumbration of the kind of media that is being used to influence us today – media that are delivering tailored, individual messages straight to our brains, with even those sitting or standing right next to us having no idea what we are seeing as “reality,” since other people are getting profoundly different messages about what is “real,” and what is “not real,” even though they live in the same household, city or town, state, or nation.
Let me reiterate what I have said before. It is time for each one of us to realize what is going on, and to cut ourselves off from the manipulations to which we are now succumbing. To do that will require us to return to the “real world,” and one way to do that (and maybe the only way) is to “find some friends.”
“Real” friends is what I mean, the “flesh and blood” kind of friends, who may well be our last hope. Those who stay within the online realities in which they now, increasingly, live – which “realities” are minutely targeted to appeal just to them, will be “catfished” continually. If we all stay there, and if we don’t return to the “common world” which used to be the only world we had, we can just forget about “e pluribus unum,” and that will be a problem.
Trust me. It really WILL be a problem. Since we are, inevitably, in this world together, our failure to find the common ground that is actually under our feet, and which is the actual foundation upon which all of our lives are built, is not only going to be a “problem.” Such a failure will prove to be fatal.
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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 |
People for the American Way website has a new report entitled Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears, in which they evaluate how far Trump’s judges and justices are inclined to rule in his favor as the president goes for the long game — no short-term power grab for him! In September through October, the report highlights 14 new rulings that undermine civil rights, environmental protections, and those agencies meant to serve our population. The organization expresses alarm that these results show exactly why Trump’s judicial legacy continues to be one the most dangerous aspects of his gangster regime.
Upholding Trump’s authority are decisions that splinter our rights, each one accentuates the importance of fighting against confirming judges nominated by Trump. People for the American Way track the various rulings, document patterns, and make the particulars available to journalists, activists, and lawmakers, for which they also provide a database. Among those disturbing decisions by various Trump judges is a case letting coal companies off the hook for black lung disease; another granted broad immunity to prison officials accused of serious abuse and denying justice to those that were harmed; a district judge allowed the administration to terminate billions in climate change grants, and halt foreign aid already approved by Congress; and, a most egregious one — the Supreme Court voted to uphold Trump’s authority to fire officials protected by law, thereby gutting oversight and accountability.
Steve Schmidt writes on The Warning of Judge Mark Wolf, a 78-year old serving since 1985 after being nominated and confirmed by the US Senate to serve a life term. Wolf has resigned from a job that he loved, explaining in his article in The Atlantic, that appointed at 38 years old, he eagerly looked forward to public service for the rest of his life. He gives his simple reason: “I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom. President Donald Trump is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment. This is contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench. The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”
Schmidt calls Wolf’s resignation a great service for the country with his powerful dissent against a metastasizing corruption that destroys justice, liberty and democracy. Schmidt writes, “The president of the United States, a sick, twisted and sinister man, has desecrated his oath of office. He has unleashed the power of the state against innocent Americans — per his promise — using his power to seek revenge, retribution and payback against his enemies, real and imagined. He has directed his malignant attorney general and a bevy of hideously deranged prosecutors — a mix of Fox News loons and vapid beauty queens — with a deep disdain for the law to lock up his political enemies as if America was the Soviet Union. What is happening in America is real, dangerous and unjust.”
Schmidt quotes federal judge Sara Ellis in her ruling about the obscenity code-named ‘Midway Blitz‘ which was led by liar and fascist Greg Bovino: “The government would have people believe instead that the Chicagoland area is in a vice hold of violence, ransacked by rioters and attacked by agitators. That simply is untrue, and the government’s own evidence in this case belies that assertion.” Schmidt charges that Trump has turned federal law enforcement into his Gestapo, and set it loose on the American people, targeting innocent Americans for prosecution because he hates them. He points out that Trump has ordered the US military to direct weapons at the American people; he has ordered the murder of more than 70 people on the high seas, without any credible evidence or legal authority; there are long lines at food banks across the country, but champagne continues to flow at Mar-a-Lago; and, Ghislaine Maxwell awaits at her Texas ‘Club Fed‘ looking forward to a pardon.
Liar/fascist/assistant deputy attorney general Todd Blanche recently threatened the arrest of California’s Governor Newsom, his attorney general Rob Bonta, US Representative Nancy Pelosi, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins for interference of federal agents and officers who “are tirelessly working to keep America safe.” The speech policeman says, “You have a right to watch your mouth, you have a right to my opinion, and if you don’t have an opinion, one will be provided for you.” ICE isn’t enforcing federal law, they are enforcing the whims of a madman, a demented traitorous sociopath. J. David McSwane and Hannah Allam of ProPublica write about ICE storming into Santa Ana, California in June, resulting in panicked calls flooding the city’s emergency response system to report masked men ambushing and forcing residents into unmarked cars. Complaints to the mayor and the police chief had little chance of holding individual agents accountable for alleged abuses with no way to identify them. There are virtually no limits on what Trump’s agents can do to achieve his goal of mass deportations, and Santa Ana is only providing a template for larger raids and more violent arrests.
Kat Lonsdorf reports on NPR that Trump has talked of invoking the Insurrection Act many times, especially in regard to deploying the National Guard. In doing so, to allow troops to help with immigration enforcement; it’s also something Stephen Miller has mentioned, and as far back as 2023, he is quoted as saying, “President Trump will do whatever it takes.” That probability has both legal experts and immigration authorities worried, especially about the implications it could have for Americans at large. Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, an immigration rights advocacy group, says it has her worried about the upcoming 2026 midterm elections and what the presence of troops might mean for voters as they cast ballots. “What I have said repeatedly is that the path to authoritarianism in this country is being built on the backs of immigrants. They will begin with immigrants. They will not end with immigrants,” she says.
After the off-year elections last week, Trump seemed to wake up with the realization that the GOP is in trouble, the shutdown causing a political disaster for his MAGA monsters as blame is falling on them according to polls. But since Trump can only think in political terms, he isn’t worried about the human costs of the shutdown — only ways to increase political pressure. So look for your life to continue its journey through hell, since this is the way the president operates. He only knows how to destroy, whether a federal agency, American businesses, or actual livelihoods, so expect more pain and destruction. Increasing suffering in hopes of achieving a policy goal can’t work, but that’s all Republicans have to offer.
We’ll never hear a Republican propose assurances that tax advantages will directly benefit lower income workers, before actually approving business tax cuts, since the GOP philosophy says that the poor will try to take you for every penny — though the corporations and others at the top of the wealth ladder are a constant and can surely be trusted fully. However, take the nation’s tax gap, or the difference between taxes owed and taxes the IRS is equipped to collect, an estimated $1 trillion annually. Charles Rettig, Trump’s former IRS commissioner, says, “Most of the unpaid taxes result from evasion by the wealthy and large corporations.” Yet, Republicans blame it all on the lack of work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP recipients. As inequality.org reported in September, the richest top 0.1% of Americans are worth a combined $22.48 trillion and the bottom 50% are worth a total of $2.44 trillion. As Dana Wormald writes in the New Hampshire Bulletin, “I’m certain because, try as I might, I just can’t seem to see poverty as the lucrative endeavor Republicans tell me it is.”
Michael Tomasky writes in The New Republic that November 1 marked the day that the Trump administration stopped paying SNAP benefits to 42 million Americans to buy food for themselves and their families — an average of $175 a month — despite a $6 billion reserve for food stamp emergencies, though the administration argued in court that it’s no emergency. The date also marked 51 days since the House of Representatives had cast a vote, denying Arizona’s Adelita Grijalva the House seat she had won. House Speaker and lying Christian, Mike Johnson, is making children go hungry while protecting pedophiles, a reasonable explanation for the situation. Mikey has no power to block the Epstein vote from coming to the floor if the House were back in session with new Democratic member Grijalva, and as Tomasky argues the GOP/MAGA gang are only hurting their own constituents of rural white folks. People point to this fact as if the GOP don’t know this, and telling them would make them respond, “Oh, heck, we forgot, thank you, we better go change our ways. Praise Jesus.” News flash: They know. They just don’t care. After all, who can forget the imperishable New Testament chapter where Jesus said to let the poor go hungry and the undeserving poor take ill and die for the sake of protecting sexual predators? Keep on a-smilin’ Mikey!
Satirist Andy Borowitz jumps on Mikey’s bandwagon with this Borowitz Report exclusive: “Calling it the ‘nuclear option,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson opted on Tuesday to enter a medically induced coma to avoid swearing in newly elected Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijalva. Johnson spoke to reporters at Walter Reed Army Medical Center moments before doctors administered pentobarbital through an intravenous tube connected to this left hand. ‘I’m doing this as a last resort,’ he said. ‘I was really hoping that people would forget about the Epstein files or that the Rapture would happen, but no such luck.’ A Republican colleague who visited Johnson’s bedside hours after he fell into a coma said that the Speaker ‘seemed like his usual self.'”
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough says that President Trump’s ‘self-dealing’ is becoming a political issue for the GOP, as it’s been estimated the president and his family have raked in up to $1 billion since his return to the Oval Office in January. Tweedledumb and Tweedledee, his two sons, have been using their father’s position for their own benefit in business ventures. But to ‘Morning Joe,’ the ‘Great Gatsby‘-themed party at Mar-a-Lago a couple of weeks ago epitomizes a snowballing problem for Republicans. “As far as approval ratings on the economy here, only 34 percent of Americans believe that he’s lived up to expectations on the economy. Nearly two out of three say he’s fallen short, and with food assistance being torn from people in red state America especially, but also blue state America, there are a lot of people in his own party asking, what the hell’s going on?”
Now we find that the Trump Syndicate is reaching into the US military by selling Trump-branded wine and cider, tax-free for military members at Coast Guard Exchanges, using his position of power to boost his brand and personally profit off the Presidency. Happy Veteran’s Day! Under any other president, it would be a shocking revelation — for Trump, it’s just another day in the USA. Forbes magazine quotes Jordan Libowitz of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who points out that, “You don’t want the military essentially playing sides,” and sees the wine sales as an ethics issue. It’s not established how long the Trump products have been on the shelves, but the administration is not backing down, with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin saying, “The brave men and women of the USCG are pleased to be able to buy Trump wine and cider tax free.”
Dekleptocracy says this is not the behavior, not the statement, of an administration that is taking corruption or conflicts of interest seriously. Assistant Secretary McLaughlin is practically writing advertisements for Trump brands in thinly veiled PR statements when she should be focused on homeland security. Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest before taking the oath of office, but for Trump raking it in is never enough. He simply can’t stop himself from trying to squeeze every last dollar and cent out of the American public, using the Presidency as an aesthetic along the way, and now the military is paying the price as he sets an authoritarian backdrop for our troops — inculcating them with the idea that they serve Donald J. Trump, the person, not the US Constitution. Hey, sailor, how about a Trump Bible, or a pair of golden tennis shoes to go with that wine?
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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. |
“Thanksgiving”
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
~Henry David Thoreau
“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
~Jim Davis
“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”
~Erma Bombeck
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
~Oprah Winfrey
“My fondest memories are generally the day after Thanksgiving. I get the total decorating Christmas itch.”
~Katharine McPhee
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Stephen Colbert interviews Pete Townshend. Enjoy 22 minutes of this living legend discussing all sorts of things! He comes across as a very genuine and sincere human being. |
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(Gunilla Leavitt)
