Bratton…Webb space telescope news. Greensite…on debating a YIMBY. Schendledecker…peace, love, and dog whistles in Santa Cruz? Steinbruner…CZU fire rebuilds issues, city housing battles, B’40 fire district annexing. Hayes…migrating butterflies. Patton… the laws of power and the rule of law. Matlock… where have you gone Joe Dimaggio? … and Walter Cronkite? … jobs available! Eagan … Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover. Webmistress…pick of the week… Hurt. Quotes…” Leaves”
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DATELINE August 7
THE WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE NEWS.I haven’t a clue whether or not our readers will be able to open this link to this profound article from yesterday’s New Yorker. (August 6)
If you can open and read the article you’ll know all the latest known facts about life on other planets, the age of earth, and a very educated expert guess on the size and depth and age of the universe. It’s beautiful and very scary. You’ll go deep into just where religion has taken us/or left us. The James Webb telescope was launched in 2021 and this article gives us the plot, plans, failures, and unbelievable successes that the telescope has brought to our known world…and exposes us to even just a fraction of all the unknown worlds out there to be discovered.
I search and critique a variety of movies only from those that are newly released. Choosing from the thousands of classics and older releases would take way too long. And be sure to tune in to those very newest movie reviews live on KZSC 88.1 fm every Friday from about 8:10 – 8:30 am. on the Bushwhackers Breakfast Club program hosted by Dangerous Dan Orange.
QUEENMAKER. (NETFLIX SERIES) (7.6 IMDB). 
Another meaningful and well-made Korean movie. This one tells the dynamic story of a Korean woman who is a public relations chief for a huge corporation who gets into politics. She fights developers and leads a campaign for the mayor of Seoul and realizes where she’s both powerful and weak. Almost reminds us of our very local political scene!
LITTLE WOMEN. (NETFLIX SERIES) (7.8 IMDB). Definitely NOT the Louisa May Alcott story or from any other Little Women sagas playing on your video now. This Korean movie tells the tricky and complex story of three sisters who have a cruel mother and face poverty and corporate theft plus alcoholism and even suicide. It does have some plot holes later on but it’s well worth watching.
THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART. (PRIME SERIES) (8.0 IMDB) It’s good to see Sigourney Weaver back on screen in this Australian movie. She does a wonderful job as the prime mover in this series dealing with children and women who have been abused. They live in a community named Thornfield and help each other survive and return to their lives. The stories start out with a nine year old’s fate, then a fire and deeper and deeper. Very well done as far into the series as we’ve seen so far.
THE ENGLISH. (PRIME SERIES) (7.8 IMDB). A very serious almost pageant like saga about the relationship between the American Indians and the settlers from England and the rest of the world. Emily Blunt is the English woman who is hunting for the man who killed her son. She runs into such evil doers as Toby Jones and Ciaran Hines but makes close friends with Chaske Spencer who is a real Lakota Sioux. Together they make their way through all the usual western movie plots and scenes. It’s very heavy and serious…especially for a western.
THE LADY OF SILENCE. (NETFLIX MOVIE) (6.4 IMDB). This documentary is from Mexico and deals with the 49 murdered senior women from 1998 to 2005. There are many suspects…all the women were strangled with cords, ropes, or wire. The governor of Mexico is involved and much also happens in Juarez. It comes down to the terrible job the police do in finding and pursuing the killer. It’s well done and has a few surprises which I won’t divulge here.
SPECIAL NOTE….Don’t forget that when you’re not too sure of a plot or need any info on a movie to go to Wikipedia. It lays out the straight/non hype story plus all the details you’ll need including which server (Netflix, Hulu, or PBS) you can find it on. You can also go to Brattononline.com and punch in the movie title and read my take on the much more than 100 movies.
BARBIE…SECOND VIEWING. (DEL MAR THEATRE) (7.5 IMDB). With the surprising reactions world wide to this Mattel film I had to check it out to see what I had missed. I missed the 180 million dollar plugging that Mattel spent trying to sell all the other non-stereotypical Barbies. They push Doctor Barbies, Supergirl Barbies, Black Barbies, and Army Barbies ad infinitum. Mattel’s trying to justify their billions in profit and the movie is still a mess plot wise.
FULL CIRCLE. (MAX SERIES) (6.4 IMDB). It’s difficult to follow the plot of this movie about a screwed up kidnapping that happens in New York City. Thugs actually kidnap the wrong teen ager and his real family goes berserk while the victim fights for his life. The kidnappers aren’t the wisest operators, and you’ll wonder how anyone keeps a check on reality during the police chase.
IRMA VEP. (PRIME SERIES) (6.8 IMDB). 
The very talented, beautiful and fascinating Alicia Vikander plays an American movie star who goes to Paris to film a re-make of Irma Vep. Irma Vep was actually a classic silent film serial from 1915 and she’s a vampire. There’s laughs, great photography, and a switching type plot that will keep you affixed. We watched the original silent series in Earl Jackson’s film class at UCSC years ago it was excellent…so’s this series, so far.
LAST CALL. (HBO SERIES) (7.7 IMDB). A very serious documentary covering the brutal killings of gay men in and around New York City back in the 1990’s. The credits list Leon Panetta as a member of the cast but after watching the first two episodes we don’t see Leon yet. It’s a dark and unrelenting search for the gay butcher who cuts and dices up each of his murders. It’s also a condemnation of the official legal and New York City Police reaction to the murders because the victims are gay. Well worth watching and thinking about.
ALICE IN BORDERLAND. (NETFLIX SERIES) (7.7 IMDB). 
An unusual Japanese film from a graphic novel about Tokyo waking up, well three boys waking up to an empty deserted city. Somehow they are directed to, or forced to, enter a game of finding the right door to escape flaming death in each of these rooms.
FULL OF IT
I was recently invited to be a guest on the KSQD radio show, Talk of the Bay hosted by Bodie Shargel. The topic was Heritage Trees. The two other guests on the panel were Cyndi Dawson and Zennon Ulyate-Crow. Cyndi is a current city Planning Commissioner and was coordinator of the Measure N, Empty Home Tax initiative. Zennon is a UCSC student in his first full year living in Santa Cruz, a founder of UCSC Student Housing Coalition, a current city Transportation/Public Works Commissioner and member of Santa Cruz YIMBY (Yes, In My Backyard) a pro-housing development group.
Heritage Trees as the topic quickly shifted to trees v. infill development. The photo above, the new six story mixed-use development on Pacific, Laurel and Front Streets is an example of significant “infill” development. Many more are on their way.
Zennon stated there needs to be a balance between preserving heritage trees and denser, more affordable housing so folks aren’t driving so far to work. That carbon emissions and climate change make this an imperative. This sounds reasonable unless you know it is a false dichotomy: that infill housing is not affordable; that more and more low-income long-time workers are leaving the city for cheaper housing further away and that no heritage tree has ever held up a housing development…ever. I suggested that if a balance needs to be struck, then trees should get more attention than the zero they get now. The city has a record of ignoring its Heritage Tree Ordinance Resolution which requires development projects to alter their design to accommodate healthy, sound heritage trees. The latest example of ignoring this requirement is the library/garage/housing project on Lot 4 where no attempt was made to preserve any heritage trees along the outside edge of the property.
I listened carefully to Zennon articulating the YIMBY position. It seemed largely based on assumptions and cherry-picked data. One assumption is that new infill developments will enable people to live near their work and shop on foot or bicycle rather than by car, thus saving green-house gas emissions. We hear this a lot at public hearings. It may well be true for at-home workers and students. It is not true for most low-income workers, even more of whom will be needed to supply the consumption needs of all the new high-income residents; coffee shops; grocery stores; wine bars; craft breweries; bike shops; receptionists; restaurant workers and the like. The former will increasingly travel long distances into Santa Cruz as they are displaced by rising rents and costs. And if they all travel by a future train (unlikely) then the whole YIMBY argument falls apart. And will high-income residents never drive? To SF, to Lake Tahoe, to a concert, to work? Ah yes, electric vehicles. But back home, where will they park since YIMBY’s are against providing parking?
Most significantly, an increase in market-rate housing puts affordability further out of reach. This fact must be grappled with. According to the 2023 State Income Limits from the Department of Housing and Community Development, in Santa Cruz, an individual is at the low-income level at $92,500 a year, a fraction less than the $92,950 for the individual Area Median Income. Development of ever-more market-rate housing raises the AMI, squeezing more and more earners into the below-market rate categories while not increasing those percentage requirements in new construction. To make matters worse, the percentage requirements for below market rate units are slashed by a third due to state density bonuses. The YIMBY argument is that the number of affordable units is the same even if the total market-rate units increase due to density bonuses. This ignores the impact of an ever-increasing AMI on lower income workers as just described. The oft repeated, “we need more housing!” may well be the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It certainly is not the path towards more truly affordable housing which is the real issue. In fact, it may be a U-turn.
Cyndi expressed a skepticism of orthodoxy from either side, including challenging that density is always a good thing. How we densify, she said, is probably the more important question. That there are cascading effects such as overwhelming open space lands as new residents in small living spaces turn to open space and State Parks for relief. Carrying capacity came to my mind. She urged the need for data; for broadening the focus; for examining the cascading effects and making decisions based on values such as whether there is a need for urban green spaces within the new densities.
As the discussion continued, Zennon tried to bolster his assertion that paying too much attention to heritage trees can hold up much-needed housing by citing the development at 130 Center St. (which I covered last week). He stated (incorrectly) that the project document contained a sixty -page arborists report; that I had appealed the project based on traffic and the arborist report, which held up the project from being developed. Not accurate. The appeal, submitted by the group, Santa Cruz Tomorrow was based on the inadequate traffic study which omitted study of weekend traffic, a quarter mile from the beach and Boardwalk. The arborist report was two, not sixty pages long and I had no problem with the project removing the few scrappy, neglected trees. The appeal made no mention of trees. The project is held up because the developer, Swenson Builders is waiting for better interest rates. Such inaccurate accusations are concerning. Zennon moves in high political circles.
It was Zennon’s Student Housing Coalition that organized a letter-writing campaign generating around 200 form letters urging a no vote on the appeal when it went to city council. The form letter misstated the facts in the appeal. It said we were against much-needed housing when all we wanted was a proper traffic study so those impacts could be mitigated.
For his closing statement on air, Zennon chose to distinguish between the preservation environmentalists of the 1970’s and the climate environmentalists of today. He granted that the former achieved clean air, clean water and protected open space. But, he said, they had an ethos about preventing growth and change and the same folks are now trying to prevent change such as infill development. His assertion that the Sierra Club sued to stop offshore wind turbines at Morro Bay does not comport with the Sierra Club’s enthusiastic support for wind turbines, including Morro Bay, as described on their website. Maybe they pushed for a more complete environmental review to better protect the environment while still providing wind turbines, but they unequivocally support wind energy.
As more and more infill developments move towards city council for deliberation, including the mammoth Downtown Extension Project with its multiple twelve and twenty story towers, with no weekend traffic study, one can be assured that the YIMBY’s will be out in force, along with the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership and the building trades. Be prepared for the worst.
If you want to listen to the radio show you can find it here.
KSQD August 1st Talk of the Bay 5PM.
And I neglected to say last week that you must be a city voter to sign the Housing for People petition. I’m still waiting for an email: gilliangreensite@gmail.com so I can come by and get your signature. It’s our only hope!
| 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. |
August 7
PEACE, LOVE, AND DOG-WHISTLES IN SANTA CRUZ?
Last weekend I attended the annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance Day event at the Clock Tower, which this year (as in the past) was enveloped by a “Peace in Ukraine” rally. The Collateral Damage sculpture by the Town Clock is cleaned and polished annually, and is an important, intersectionalist anti-war, anti-racist, universal justice symbol for the community to rally around.
Generally speaking, this is my crowd, and the kind of event that I love: grassroots organized, small, peace-loving, intersectionalist, sometimes a little cheesy. But this year I had some qualms about attending at all, because of the involvement of one group: Brave and Free Santa Cruz.
I have nothing against any of the individuals in this group, since (as far as I know) I don’t know any of them particularly well. I suspect that a few people that I like very much may be increasingly drawn to them as they are drawn to support RFK Jr’s seriously effed-up presidential bid or Ukraine anti-war positions that may lean towards Putin-apologists.
I’m used to having close relationships with people that I disagree with strongly on a few issues (including Trump voters and anti-vaxxers). So I’ve been thinking hard about why this group concerns me so much, especially at this particular event, aside from my immediate turn-off due to their anti-vaxx stance.
It’s because they employ dangerous tropes and misinformation, while partnering with people and organizations that are funded by the far-right. It makes the whole world, and our little community, more dangerous for queer, BIPOC, disabled, neurodiverse, nonconformist people. People like me, my kids, and my friends. People I love. What they espouse or endorse is also fundamentally anti-democratic and anti-social, in spite of their stated values.
Scan the Brave and Free Santa Cruz home page and you might decide that their views are not so bad. I think there’s general consensus in our community that we support much of what they include in their vision bullet points: healthy ecosystems, free speech, civil rights, anti-war peace, and the weakening of corporate power.
Scratch the surface and follow their links, and you might start to think: “They’re a little out there, but hey, to each their own. They’re not outright saying they hate Jews or trans people.”
Unfortunately, their foundational Mission Statement, Vision, and Values include beliefs that are inseparable from anti-Semitic, racist, anti-queer, trans-phobic, xenophobic, anti-abortion, and decidedly reactionary movements, ideas, and individuals. They are linked to a world-wide movement that can be incredibly dangerous.
Central to this movement are dog-whistles–insider speak or code words and symbols that outsiders either don’t get the significance of or that can be plausibly denied when called out.
For example, personal sovereignty in the literal sense is something that most of us can probably agree on: privacy and bodily agency are essential to our civil rights and healthcare choices. Personal Sovereignty in the context of the other words on the Brave and Free homepage is also coded to reference the Sovereign Citizen movement, which, in large part, is rooted in white-supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, and rejection of our social contracts to live together in ways that are developed over time through community, consensus, and democracy. It is anti-communitarian and libertarian in its anti-government and anti-tax stances.
The Great Reset is a real and troubling pro-capitalist program; the Great Reset conspiracy theory employs anti-Semitic tropes and dog-whistles.
Another event they’re holding this week focuses on 15-Minute Cities. 15-Minute Cities are a good thing: its how most people lived for ages, basically getting around by foot or slow transport to everything they needed in their village or neighborhood in about 15 minutes. It’s a great idea for universal accessibility and pro-social economic and environmental justice. Somehow, the 15-Minute City conspiracy theory, on the other hand, invokes the bogeymen of government surveillance, confinement, control, and scarcity.
We have good reasons to oppose Geolitica (FKA PredPol) and I have written about them critically in the past. But I can find no link between them and the concept of 15-Minute Cities at all.
The “News” link on Brave and Free takes you directly to The Last American Vagabond (LAV) website, an implicit endorsement of their content. Among many (MANY!) other troubling elements, in their online shop they sell this t-shirt.
As an outsider, I didn’t get the significance of this name/image at all until I did a couple of internet searches. It’s a reference to a 2018 shooting-suicide at Youtube’s headquarters in San Bruno, CA. The shooter, cis-woman Nasim Najafi Aghdam, was quickly co-opted by the conspiracy world as a trans-woman scapegoat. In part thanks to anti-trans fake news like this, in the US murders of trans people nearly doubled from 2018-2022. And we do have anti-trans shenanigans happening in our own county and state, it’s not just Ron DeSantis’s Florida suffering. Check out this local gem!
I don’t want to get into an encyclopedic listing of problematic LAV partners and merch, so I’ll just flag Lift the Veil and an apparent love of cryptocurrencies.
I’m an artist with ADHD, and I love (or can’t help) thinking outside the box and lateral thinking. But when lateral thinking falls off the edge of the earth and stockpiles weapons or tries to coup or promote hate (even laterally), I’m done. Like the Querdenker movement in Germany tipping over into the Reichsbürger movement.
I’ll leave you with one more resource to help get you grounded: The Transnational Institute. Please, we cannot fall into hate-fueled conspiracy theories that harm or kill people. It’s not enough to say that the less obvious discriminatory views of a group can be ignored so that we can work together on what we do agree on. It’s not enough to tolerate hate so that we’re not seen as canceling members of our community.
We can only come together in solidarity when we are truly and proactively anti-racist and anti-sexist. We must call in our community members to do better if they want to collaborate with us. We must make our community safe for ourselves and all of our diversities. If a rally or meeting is unsafe for any of us, then it’s not okay to keep going.
| Joy Schendledecker is an artist, parent, and community organizer. She lives on the Westside of Santa Cruz with her husband, two teens, mother in law, and cats. She was a city of Santa Cruz mayoral candidate in 2022. You can email her at: schendledecker@icloud.com. |
Three years ago, much of our County’s rural Communities were devastated, instantly rendering nearly 1,000 families homeless. The journey to rebuild and attempt to recover has been long and painful for many, and the County of Santa Cruz and CAL FIRE have made the permitting process so expensive and tortuous that many gave up.
The rebuilding permit data is shockingly low.
As of July 2023. CZU fire occurred August 2020, so it’s now three years later.
Houses destroyed: 911
Houses rebuilt: 32
Permits Issued, Ready to Pick Up: 213
Why is that number so high??? Supervisors Justin Cummings and Bruce McPherson asked that same question, and requested staff report back this month to explain.
Data from page 10 of the August 2023 issue of the Capitola Soquel Times.
Why are the numbers so low? If you read the article by Mr. Tom Decker in the Aptos Times, you’ll get an idea
From that point it took us:
- two sets of structural engineers
- three hi-tech companies
- one licensed registered environmental engineer
- two California licensed general contractors
- three permitting consultants
- two sets soils engineers
- one topo map placement consultant
- one ancient debris flow advisor
- thirteen months and
- a 166-page plan set
… just to permit our first home.
Is this in alignment with the County Board of Supervisor action to instruct the County Planning Dept. to be “Pro-Housing”?
County Takes Steps to Seek Prohousing Designation — Housing Santa Cruz County
CITY OF SANTA CRUZ DESIGINATED PRO-HOUSING
What does that mean for the look and feel of downtown Santa Cruz? Well, for one thing, it means more money for the cash-strapped City.
But what will it mean for those who live here and the environment Santa Cruz has always said we embrace?
A recent interview with Housing for People leaders Keresha Durham and Frank Baron gave me a new insight as to what is in the planning process for the Laurel Street neighborhood, near the Arena. The City does not need to build the skyscrapers they have planned there in order to meet the new RHNA mandates. The reason the City wants to do that is to bring in revenue to fund the new Warriors Stadium planned for the neighborhood.
It seems the City’s focus is purely on the bottom line.
Help the dedicated Housing for People organizers to get enough qualified signatures on the ballot for November to allow the people of Santa Cruz to vote on building heights, densities and to increase the percentage of affordable inclusionary units in developments of 30 or more units. Housing For People – Santa Cruz – Housing for People Not unaffordable towers! Take Back your Democratic Right to Vote on Height and Increase Affordable Housing
City of Santa Cruz earns Prohousing Designation to allow accelerated housing production – KION546
STATE AUDIT QUESTIONED ACCURACY OF NEED TO TRIPLE HOUSING MANDATES
There is a great article in the August edition of Capitola-Soquel Times illuminating last year’s State Auditor report of the Regional Housing Number Allocation (RHNA) mandates whipping cities and counties into feverishly working to get their papers in order to build, build, build.
Capitola Soquel Times: August 2023 — Times Publishing Group, Inc. (“Why did State Housing Demands Double?)
Take a moment and read over the State Auditor’s Report
The auditors examined the Dept. of Housing and Community Development (HCD) developed for RHNA numbers of three regions and found:
1) “We identified multiple areas in which HCD must improve its process. For example, HCD does not satisfactorily review its needs assessments to ensure that staff accurately enter data when they calculate how much housing local governments must plan to build.
2) We also found that HCD could not demonstrate that it adequately considered all of the factors that state law requires, and it could not support its use of healthy housing vacancy rates. This insufficient oversight and lack of support for its considerations risks eroding public confidence that HCD is informing local governments of the appropriate amount of housing they will need.
3) HCD’s needs assessments also rely on some projections that the Department of Finance (Finance) provides. While we found that most of Finance’s projections were reasonably accurate, it has not adequately supported the rates its uses to project the number of future households that will require housing units in the State. Although these household projections are a key component in HCD’s needs assessments, Finance has not conducted a proper study or obtained formal recommendations from experts it consulted to support its assumptions in this area. “
Does this mean that HCD sort of made it all up, and now cities and counties are left to scramble their way to get a Housing element approved by HCD to comply? Never mind the lack of infrastructure and environmental impacts…or quality of life.
Read the State Auditor’s Recommendations to fix this issue on pages 22 and 29 of the Report and start talking with your local representatives to speak up for our quality of life in Santa Cruz County.
LISTEN TO COMMUNITY MATTERS THIS FRIDAY (8/11) TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CITY OF SANTA CRUZ BUILDING ISSUES
Santa Cruz Voice is a new online local radio platform, hosting many programs focusing on local issues. This week’s “Community Matters” Friday 1pm-3pm program will host John Hall and Lira Filippini with Our Downtown, Our Future. Listen in and join the discussion: Santa Cruz Voice
WHY WOULD SCOTTS VALLEY FIRE LEADERS REJECT ANNEXING BRANCIFORTE FIRE DISTRICT IF REQUIRED TO TRANSITION TO DISTRICT-BASED ELECTIONS?
The informal opinion of LAFCO director Joe Serrano when I spoke with him after last Wednesday’s meeting. The Commissioners did not seem to understand or care that the Happy Valley residents and property owners will absolutely lose all representation when the Branciforte Fire District dissolves upon annexation. Why doesn’t Mr. Serrano think this is important? He acknowledged it is a concern, but was adamant that the annexation go forward.
He want to submit the annexation for an award at the upcoming State LAFCO convention in Monterey. Hmmm…
“We can work on pressuring Scotts Valley after the annexation is complete” he told me. Really? What incentive would Scotts Valley ever have?
There is a 30-day Request for Reconsideration in which ANY PERSON can submit a request for the LAFCO to reconsider their approval of the Plan for Service that would cause Happy Valley residents to surrender all of the fire engines, the fire station, and all equipment, all tax monies and the Measure T special Assessment the Branciforte Fire District voters approved in 2016 to fund equipment, the station, and “contingencies, yet will have no say at all as to what happens to those assets. It would all be up to the SVFD existing Board of Directors to decide.
Hmmm…. That is a very rude and ruthless Board. Unless there are changes, the people of Happy Valley will not be served equitably.
Kate Anderton was the only member of the public from B40 there, along with Chief Lackey and Director Kuksht. The new Scotts Valley Fire District Chief Correira and Director Patterson were in the audience. Kate was the only one who spoke.
She brought up real concerns about the Measure T funds and that the B40 Board alone has governance of those funds. How could Scotts Valley Fire Board legally dictate the use of the Measure T or dissolution of it in the future? She asked that Item 6(i) in the Resolution be omitted.
6(i) Branciforte Fire Protection District Revenue Source: Upon the effective date of the reorganization, the successor agency will receive the property taxes, benefit assessments, special assessments, special taxes, fees, and charges currently in effect and being collected by BFPD, including Measure T and any new benefit assessments to fund the Branciforte Fire Station. Pursuant to Government Code Section 56886(t), all charges, fees, assessments, or taxes existing within BFPD shall be extended and shall continue to be levied and collected by the successor agency until otherwise determined by the successor agency’s board of directors. The successor agency shall have full authority to impose, administer, and collect said special taxes and fire suppression benefit assessments in the same manner as the existing districts within the applicable portions of the successor agency.
I spoke about the need for better representation with district-based elections.
Director Serrano focused ad nauseum about “Branciforte Fire is a sinking ship”. He made it sound as if the District will fall apart by the end of the year if the annexation does not happen. He said the new Type 6 engine is being purchased with Measure T funds, which is not true.
The Commissioners asked a bit about Measure T…how much money is it? Branciforte Fire Chief Lackey did not even go to the podium when asked. : About $167,000 per year.” Commissioner Roger Anderson asked about the number of calls that other agencies have responded to (Joe reported 159 calls/year for B40). Joe did not have the information handy, but estimated Scotts Valley responded to about 50% of them.
Supervisor Koenig asked about the effect of removing Item 6(i) regarding Measure T and asked if the LAFCO could alter the Resolution and Plan for Service? Director Serrano said Yes, then told him the Advisory Commission would be able to address the issue of keeping Measure T monies in Branciforte District after it dissolved.
The Commission then approved the Resolution with no changes.
Director Serrano later told the Board that he plans to submit the Reorganization to the State LAFCO meeting to get an award.
Individuals or agencies have up to 30 days after adoption of the resolution to submit a written request. The reconsideration period is scheduled for August 3 to September 1.
BFPD Reorganization Staff Report Page 15 of 16
Protest Proceeding In accordance with Government Code Section 57000, when the Commission adopts a resolution making determinations regarding a change of organization, affected residents within the proposal area will have an opportunity to voice their opposition during the protest period. The Commission shall specify a timeframe between twenty-one (21) and sixty (60) days for the collection and filing of written protests pursuant to Government Code Section 56886(o), and that timeframe shall be included in the terms and conditions of an approval for a change of organization. Within thirty-five (35) days of the adoption of the Commission’s resolution, the Executive Officer shall notice a protest hearing and, in the notice, set the hearing date as prescribed by the Commission in its terms and conditions. LAFCO staff has set forth a 24-day protest proceeding. The protest period is scheduled for September 4 to September 27, 2023. A protest hearing will be held on September 27 to collect the final petitions and hear any resident feedback. A public notice for the protest hearing will be advertised no later than Friday, September 1, 2023.
Protest Results Upon determination of the value of written protests filed and not withdrawn, the Executive Officer shall take one of the following actions: a) If less than 25% of the affected registered voters or landowners oppose the proposal, then a form of resolution making determinations and ordering the change of organization or reorganization will be adopted without an election; b) If 25% to 50% of the affected registered voters or landowners oppose the proposal, then a form of resolution making determinations and ordering the change of organization or reorganization will be adopted subject to confirmation by the voters; or c) If more than 50% of the affected registered voters or landowners oppose the proposal, then a certificate of termination will be issued, which ends the LAFCO proceedings. For additional transparency, and to clarify the statutory requirements outlined in the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act, the Commission adopted a Protest Proceedings Policy (refer to Attachment 17)
LAFCO Branciforte Fire Protection District Reorganization
What happens in Branciforte Fire District can happen in your neighborhood. This sets a precedent for Santa Cruz County. Please contact Santa Cruz County LAFCO with your thoughts, and urge anyone you know in the Happy Valley area to get involved while they still have a shred of direct representation.
MAKE ONE CALL. WRITE ONE LETTER. ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING AND ASK QUESTIONS TO HOLD ELECTED OFFICIAL ACCOUNTABLE. DO ONE THING THIS WEEK, AND MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
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 |
MIGRATING BUTTERFLIES
Monarchs, painted ladies, and tortoise shell butterflies are three kinds of butterflies that migrate to and from the Monterey Bay area. Each has its own story.
Butterfly Life History, Reviewed
To understand the rest of what I have to tell you, you’ll have to recall some basics about butterflies. The flying creatures you see are just one of the life history stages of these insects. These flying ones are called ‘adults’ because they are the ones that are reproductive. They mate and the females attach eggs to just the right plant where their hatchlings will want to feed. The eggs sit a while before hatching. When they hatch, out comes what is called a larva, or caterpillar. The caterpillar feeds on certain kinds of plant leaves, gets bigger, and one day finds itself yearning to change. At that miraculous point, the caterpillar morphs into an entirely different-looking thing: a chrysalis. The chrysalis hangs apparently doing nothing, but actually it is using stored food to change into an adult. A chrysalis can move a little. Once the chrysalis has developed it morphs once again, this time emerging as an adult.
Co-Evolution
Plants and butterfly larvae co-evolve, plant genetic diversity creates new generations increasingly well-guarded against caterpillars that eat them. Plants evolve caterpillar toxins, better hairs to clog the mouths or throats of larvae, changed leaf shapes or colors so that they are less recognizable to ovipositing female butterflies, and modifications for food and homes for ants that guard against caterpillars. There are countless other evolutionary strategies to avoid what is called predation by caterpillars. On the other side of the playing field, butterfly species also evolve so that new generations are better adapted to those strategies.
Food Plants
Each of the butterflies I focus on in this essay have co-evolved with plants as outlined above. Monarchs eat milkweed, a highly toxic plant that a few other closely co-evolved species can eat. Painted ladies eat a wide variety of plants with many complex adaptations to herbivory – they are super-eaters! California tortoiseshell butterflies eat Ceanothus, a widespread shrub genus with its own chemistry to ward off herbivores.
Butterfly Maps
Monarch butterflies travel west to the Monterey Bay area in large numbers for the winter to avoid inland frost. Painted ladies travel north as their food dries up in the desert and new food is still edible further north. Tortoiseshell butterflies travel west from high elevations in the Sierra Nevada, also to over winter in our more temperate clime. Those are the simple overviews, but the details are much more complex.
Monarch Life History
In Spring through Fall, four generations of monarch butterflies enjoy life across much of the US before returning to their overwintering spots in Mexico or coastal California. That means there are four batches of fattening caterpillars munching away on milkweed, metamorphosing into chrysalises, and emerging again as those beautiful orange and black, big butterflies to move north. That last generation somehow knows that it must move south (or West to CA), where to avoid the frosts that would kill them if they didn’t leave their succulent patches of milkweed.
Many monarch butterflies have been traveling to high elevation northern Mexico where the climate has been just right for their winter respite. People have been harvesting wood from those forests, reducing habitat. Also, climate change is creating hotter, drier conditions, which might be negatively impacting the quality of that habitat. The only other place that monarch butterflies know to go is coastal California.
On California’s coast, there have been approximately 400 historic overwintering locations from Mendocino County to San Diego County. Only a small subset of these overwintering spots are on land managed by conservation organizations. Most people around here know to check out Natural Bridges State Beach, but there are other spots, as well. The UCSC Arboretum’s Eucalyptus Grove has been home to large numbers of overwintering monarch butterflies in the past. And, overwintering sites #3009 and #3010 are in groves of eucalyptus near Davenport on BLM’s Cotoni Coast Dairies property.
Painted Lady Life History
Painted lady butterflies have a slightly more complex life history and some populations travel much farther than monarch butterflies. The African population flies back and forth 9,000 miles! That’s twice the monarch butterfly migration length.
One late spring, I watched as thousands of painted ladies flew by me, moving south to north in the high elevations of Big Sur’s wildlands. They had originated in the deserts near California’s border with Mexico and were headed as far as they could fly, with an ability to fly most of the length of California in about a week. When one uses up their body fat, which they made as caterpillars, they stop, mate, and lay eggs. The next generation hatches, caterpillars eat as much as they can, then they metamorphose through to chrysalis and adults, which then fly, fly, fly, towards the Pacific Northwest. Come August, wherever an adult painted lady might be, they turn to fly south again. You can see painted lady butterflies all summer long here, but they are more numerous in the Spring when you, if you are lucky and it’s a good year for this species, you can spy hundreds moving north.
California Tortoiseshell Life History
8 years after the Lockheed Fire, the California lilac was head-high and abundant in the footprint of that fire. As I led a University field trip in late June, the students were tittering and I couldn’t get their attention. They gleefully pointed out that the shrubs around me were twitching and dancing. I was astonished to see the frantically wiggling chrysalises of hundreds of California tortoiseshell butterflies shaking denuded Ceanothus shrubs all around us. Above the shrubs, clouds of newly emerged California tortoiseshell butterflies were sailing about. Soon, they would be taking flight to the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada to lay eggs on a different species of Ceanothus; they’d run out of tasty leaves here on the coast! After that generation similarly denuded those patches of Ceanothus and made that same wiggle-frenzy of excited chrysalises, those adults fly to the highest elevations in the Sierra Nevada to eat yet a different species of Ceanothus. Running out of Ceanothus and elevation, it is that generation that flies all the way back to Monterey Bay to lay eggs on our Ceanothus and start the cycle again.
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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 |
July 29
#210 / The Laws Of Power And The Rule Of Law
There are two sets of laws that people live by. The first are the primordial Laws of Power. These are the rules of the jungle; eat or be eaten. The second set of laws undergird a democratic society; a mutual agreement to live by the Rule of Law. These two sets of rules are in absolute conflict with each other. The Rule of Law is a relative newcomer, where the Laws of Power can be traced back through human history. I propose that the Rule of Law was developed to thwart the Laws of Power and level our playing field. The Rule of Law is a prerequisite for pluralism to survive and flourish in a democratic republic.
Debilyn Molineaux is the President/CEO of the Bridge Alliance. According to its website, the Bridge Alliance is a nonprofit organization that hopes to “join citizens from across the country to bridge the divides that separate us and help fix our political system now.”
That sounds like a pretty good objective, right? I don’t want to say, “no; no it’s not,” but I do want to suggest that efforts to “bridge divides” can, possibly, misdirect our efforts to achieve that “Rule of Law,” which I do agree we ought to be striving to achieve. My point is that the “Rule of Law,” properly understood, does not “bridge divides,” in the sense that it reconciles differing views of what we, collectively, ought to do, and thus eliminates “conflict” and “division.”
In fact, the way I see it, the “Rule of Law” is defined by the idea that “we,” collectively, “make the law,” and that the “law” that we decide upon and establish today can be reversed by some other, quite different, and completely contrary “law” that we decide upon, tomorrow.
Conflict and division, in other words – what the political theorist Hannah Arendt calls “plurality” – is absolutely a “feature,” not a “bug,” of our democratic political system. A felt necessity to bring everyone together to agree that one thing is “right,” and that some different thing is “wrong,” is exactly what leads us into the kind of polarization that the Bridge Alliance deplores and wants to eliminate.
We don’t need to agree on what’s right and what’s wrong – in fact, we won’t be able to, and we shouldn’t want to. A society in which only ONE thing is considered to be “right” is commonly called “totalitarianism.” What we do need to agree upon is the process by which we will decide what we, the people, will actually do, and the process by which we will determine how our collective power will be deployed. We need to decide, in other words, on how we will determine what the “law” will provide.
My “equation,” frequently displayed in this blog, and on the blackboards of the classes I teach in the Legal Studies Program at UCSC, is helpful in making the point:
POLITICS > LAW > GOVERNMENT
We do govern ourselves by “law.” In other words, to understand “government” – the rules that will apply to all we do – we need to work from the right hand side of the “equation,” above, and move, one term at a time, towards the left hand side. That is where “politics” is found, at the origin, and that is where the equation of self-government begins. Another way of saying this, which has given me the title under which I write these blog postings, is that “we live in a political world.” We live in a world in which what happens, and how we are governed, is determined by laws, and WE make the laws, as we engage in the political process that ultimately determines what those laws will say.
To think we can “bridge divides,” in the sense of getting everyone, or the vast majority, to come to some Kumbaya moment and agree on everything is not only fruitless; it’s dangerous. As I say, “totalitarianism” is the name given to systems that refuse to recognize the fundamental “pluralism” that is inherent in our human community and human condition.
Note that Molineaux’s statement, printed at the top, agrees that “pluralism” is what we need to maintain. As long as we understand the “Rule of Law” to be a “rule” that grants political power to those entitled to wield it, according to the political principles we have agreed upon, I am right in tune with what Molineaux has to say. I just want to emphasize that the politics of American self-government does not contemplate that we will “agree,” except to the idea that the political process is the way that we will decide how power is deployed, and by whom we will give the right to deploy it.
We yearn, all of us, for tranquility and agreement. If we believe in self-government, let’s not get too starry-eyed about “bridging divides.” Let’s just be absolutely clear that what Molineaux is calling for is not a system in which conflict and division disappear; she is calling for a system in which real power (the power to tax, and the power to spend, and the power to punish, and the power to determine the goals towards which we will, officially, bend our efforts) is a power that belongs to “the people,” and that what Abraham Lincoln called for in the Gettysburg Address, at the moment in which we renewed our commitment to this nation, is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
A government that is, truly, “by the people,” is a government in which we, the people, make the “laws” by which our nation is ruled. It is “politics” that will decide who has the power to make those laws, and what those laws are, and thus how we will govern events in the world in which we live. If YOU are not engaged, personally, in politics, then you are letting someone else use the power that belongs to you, and to all of us. “Elective autocracy,” which I inveighed against about a month ago, is the opposite of self-government, and it is genuine self-government that comes directly from the “Rule of Law,” as the “Rule of Law” is properly understood.
The “Rule of Law,” properly understood, puts politics first.
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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 |
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE JOE DIMAGGIO? …AND WALTER CRONKITE? …JOBS AVAILABLE!
Former President Donald J. Trump was finally indicted last week on four federal charges: conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction or attempted obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against voting rights. As expected, he pleaded ‘not guilty,’ conducting himself in a respectful demeanor in the proceedings with an air of ‘been there, done that.’ Get used to it Donny Bratso! Before boarding his plane to Washington, Donny had to spew a few words on his social media site about being persecuted for challenging “a corrupt, rigged, and stolen election. It is a great honor, because I am being arrested for you. I need one more indictment to ensure my election!” All words in caps, as you might have guessed.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/3, 4:08am – Deep State Invasion! Please make a contribution to fight TYRANNY – send money.
After the latest Trump indictment, President Biden had no comment, and other living presidents were quiet as well. The vacuity of any comments from a “trusted singular voice of moral authority,” brought on the Trump partisans with their accusatory rhetoric which will engulf the court cases, as well as the presidential race. Following Richard Nixon’s resignation, Washington Post’s Toluse Olorunnipa cites the presence of Walter Cronkite, Senator Howard Baker and other Republicans, and even Vice President Ford before he fumbled by pardoning Nixon. He quotes presidential historian, David Brinkley, who said, “There’s nobody that the public at large is willing to listen to, because the trust in government has corroded to such a low degree; and, the polling on journalists, the Supreme Court, Congress, the Presidency are all low. People aren’t admiring our public servants.” Biden is keeping a low profile to lessen charges of political interference, with ongoing legal difficulties of Hunter Biden making it more difficult to speak out, thereby playing into the hands of Trump’s rabble-rousing base.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/3, 1:08pm – My last email before my arraignment. I have committed no crimes! Thanks for your support, prayers, and sacrifices. Contribute to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Trump, after pleading ‘not guilty,’ claims his prosecution is “a persecution of a political opponent. If you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can’t let this happen in America.” He has alleged that he is being undermined by “saboteurs, to include journalists, prosecutors, judges, military leaders, intelligence officials, former presidents and government bureaucrats, resulting in a broad list of nonpartisan figures being drawn in to such a point that no national figures have been able to speak to the moment with a sense of gravitas that might be broadly accepted across political battle lines,” says Olorunnipa. Russell Riley, presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, feels that though American history is full of examples of deep ideological divisions, today’s battles lack a sense of “loser’s grace” in which both sides agree to accept the outcome and move on.
Eric Trump email: 8/3, 1:54pm – A dark day for the country, an innocent man committed no crimes. Patriots, send money!
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/3, 4:13pm – What I thought on the drive back from the D.C. court house. I saw the filth, the decay, the broken buildings, walls of graffiti. Please send money!
“What is distinctive today is not, essentially, that we don’t have a common national figure both sides can turn to. The system wasn’t built to require a Walter Cronkite to pronounce from on high that something is profoundly wrong. It was constructed on the premise that losers would accept the expressed will of the people. That’s the responsibility of a loser. And when it is not exercised, the system wobbles,” says Riley. Brinkley feels that Trump’s strategy of denigrating Special Counsel Jack Smith and the broader justice system, with the implicit goal of effectively putting his case before voters rather than jurors, increases the likelihood that the 2024 race will be dominated by debates over the status of the nation’s democracy. “When Cronkite left in 1981, we lost a referee on public affairs; with the advent of cable and the internet and social media, it’s completely balkanized. Now, everybody is a consumer of the media they want.”
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/3, 6:04pm – I’M BACK HOME. Thanks for the support of the past 48 hours. Nothing truly great in life EVER comes easily. SAVE AMERICA, send money!
Nixon bowed out once his own party was done with him, but Trump’s eminence grows within the GOP with each new indictment. Outliers such as Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Bill Barr, and Johnny-Come-Lately Mike ‘Too Honest’ Pence are finding themselves even more isolated as they speak out against Trump. Pence didn’t go to the FBI when Trump’s arm-twisting failed to convince him to overturn the election, and he refused to appear before the J6 House Committee, but he was forced to respond and cooperate with Jack Smith, bringing his trove of contemporaneous notes which documented the pressure he was subject to in the days following the 2020 election. He did his legal duty, refusing to join the coup plotters, but the yellow streak down his spine for the past three years had been verging into a brilliant Day-Glo until he was questioned by reporters following his former boss’ recent court appearance. “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States. Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. And while I made my case to him, with what I understood my oath of the Constitution to require, the president ultimately continued to demand that I choose him over the Constitution.” That ‘crackpot lawyers’ phrase may be part of The Former Guy’s defense…don’t give it away, Mikey! By the way, the MAGAs hate you more than ever, so don’t try to snap them out of their moral stupor.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/3, 6:06pm – YOU are the President’s hope. His courage, his unbreakable resolve can’t be bought, bullied or controlled. Send money!
On CNN, Pence admits he testified before the grand jury once he got clarification about the protections he had under the Constitution in his role of president of the Senate as the Congress conducted official count of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021. He said he has no plans for further testimony, but will always comply with the law. Trump attorney, John Lauro, on the other hand says he can’t wait to cross examine Pence during the trial “because he will completely eliminate any doubt that Mr. Trump firmly believed that the election irregularities had let to inappropriate results,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Lauro explains, “Trump thought his VP was certifying an election that was not lawful and he had every right to petition Pence to deal with the issue.” Facing Dana Bash on CNN, Lauro defends Trump in saying he “asked” Pence to overturn the election in an “aspirational” way. He said, “Asking is aspirational. Asking is not action. Its core free speech. The Press should be defending free speech. Asking is covered by the First Amendment.” The indictment against Trump is quite lengthy as it details his pressure campaign on VP Pence to cooperate with his plan to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes in his ceremonial duties. Pence’s notes show that The Don accused him of being “too honest” when he rejected his slanted notion of the law.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/4, 8:37am – Will you join me for dinner? America vanishing under Joe Biden. An important dinner for grassroots patriots – contribute any amount to enter for a chance to win a VIP ticket, round-trip coach airfare and hotel accommodations for two to Nashville. Included is a photograph of the winner(s) with Trump, approximate retail value $5K – send money!
Attorney George Conway, of Lincoln Project and Kellyanne Conway fame, asked what advice he would give Trump if he were on his team, offered, “I would tell him that he needs to own up to it and plead guilty and work out a deal with the government. One of the things the Justice Department will consider doing in settling, in plea-bargaining political corruption cases, is to take a commitment from the defendant, and enforceable commitment, not to hold office again, to resign. Vice President Spiro Agnew had to resign as part of his nolo contendre plea in 1973. And so, what I would say is, you need to work out the best deal possible, and you just have to say, you’re just gonna leave public life and pay a fine, and I’d do my best to keep him out of prison. He’s never going to agree with that. He’s not going to plead. But that would be his best move: I’ll leave the republic alone, and you leave me alone. The problem with it, of course, is that even the suggestion of it that came from the Justice Department would be pointed to by Trump and his supporters as, ‘Ah, this is why you’re doing that.’ And in a sense, they’re not wrong. One of the reasons we have to do this, why we have to make sure we enforce the law, is so that somebody can’t do this again. It is actually an important function of criminal law not just to deter people but to basically prevent them from committing further crimes.” A noteworthy quote from Steve Schmidt on his ‘The Warning’ blog: “Donald Trump did more than break the law. He assailed the American civilization and way of life, while desecrating the sacrifices of ten generations of Americans who recognized that freedom is paramount in the United States and the people are sovereign. Trump broke the American creed and tried to make himself king.” Steve’s entire Sunday posting is worth a look-see, entitled ‘The hour of choosing has arrived’ as he looks back at founding father, George Washington.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/4, 9:03am – Eric Trump says: My father officially arraigned, in the belly of the beast, closer to Biden Tyranny! Never give up – send money!
The Washington Post says the former President and his legal team see an upside to the latest case against him, allowing him to use the upcoming trial to further argue his false claims of a stolen 2020 election. The showdown is poised to push his insistence that election fraud occurred into the midst of the 2020 presidential campaign, about which many in the GOP, including his own advisers, wish he would stop whining about. Former White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly says, “He is never going to stop saying the election is stolen because that would force him to admit he is a loser.” Trump wants to subpoena prospective witnesses who will argue that he won in 2020, while prosecutors allege he knew very well that he lost. Democrats delight that The Don is choosing this tack, causing consternation among GOP strategists who would prefer to pursue different focal points. Mercifully, Trump did not give a defiant speech after his court appearance, ignoring shouted questions from the press, and conspicuously, no nighttime rally was held. Trump staffers were annoyed that Washington traffic control offered no partiality as his motorcade struggled through rush-hour traffic, forcing them to view a slightly hostile crowd longer than they wished. Especially grating was a Biden flag on a corner near the courthouse.
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: See 8/3, 4:13am above
Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire predicted to CNN’s Poppy Harlow that the 2024 election will not be contested by either Biden or Trump. He says Trump is “very, very beatable” with an opportunity for a breakthrough by a rival, Vivek Ramaswamy being especially exciting to people. He also names Pence, Haley and Scott as “great individuals with amazing records,” with a mention of North Dakota’s Governor Doug Burgum starting to raise money. As for Biden, Sununu thinks he will go through the primary process, collect all the delegates, and arrive at a wild convention where he and his people start steering the delegates somewhere else. All this resulting from a health issue and “the Hunter Biden thing.”
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/4, 1:05pm – TRUMP IS CRUSHING GOP RIVALS, according to Times/Siena Poll! George Soros supports CROOKED JOE! Send money to Primary Victory Fund. FIRE Crooked Joe and Love America!
A protective order was given to Trump and his legal team by the judge during the hearing in view of The Don’s history of posts on social media, to protect witnesses, judges, attorneys and prospective jurors, but within hours he had posted, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” The Justice Department then asked the judge overseeing the case to step in to counter this promise of revenge resulting in an order for the defendant to appear in court to answer this apparent threat. The legal team then asked for a three-day extension, but the judge isn’t playing this game of delay, so Monday was the day! A spokesman immediately posted on Trump’s MAGA site, “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the one funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth.” Let’s add Hair Club for Men, for good measure!
Win.donaldjtrump.com email: 8/4, 1:44pm – FOLLOW UP INVITE TO PRESIDENT’S TRUST FOUNDATION MEMBERSHIP, despicable witch hunt, own party backstabbing, need trusted allies to defend me. Send contribution to fund your membership within The President’s Trust.
Harvard law professor, Laurence Tribe, told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that Jack Smith’s indictment against Trump is “brilliant,” but that the one factor that could render the whole thing moot is “timing.” He feels that Attorney General Merrick Garland might have proceeded faster to prevent the case from dragging on into the next presidency. “If the next presidency is held either by Donald Trump or by one of his acolytes or by virtually any Republican, there is the horrible prospect that this will be wiped away, being relegated to a historic footnote” he said. Several of Trump’s GOP opponents have indicated they might, or will, pardon Trump, reminding us how “vulnerable and fragile” our legal system is. Tribe adds, “We have a system that might go too slowly, that might be too opaque, and a system that is not at all guaranteed to triumph over politics.”
Win.donaldjtrump.com email (from Team Trump): 8/4, 3:41pm – BIDEN’S WEAPONIZED DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ATTEMPTS TO JAIL PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR LIFE, an innocent man, you are selected from your ZIP Code to participate in a head-to-head poll. IF ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR? ? PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. ? CROOKED JOE BIDEN
So, even with Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s brilliantly written indictment, he and his team still have a job to do…as do we! Two out of three of Trump’s wives were immigrants to the US, so what conclusion can we draw from this? Immigrants were needed to do jobs that most Americans wouldn’t do. Remember…he is doing this for you! Explains why Trump is still reaching out to Vladimir Putin?
Moral questions: If Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau were drowning and you could only save one of them, where would you and Justin Trudeau go for lunch afterwards? If Donald Trump and Putin were drowning and you could only save one of them, where would you and Justin Trudeau go for lunch instead?
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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.
“Leaves”
“Come, little leaves,” said the Wind one day, “Come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; For Summer is past, and the days grow cold.”
~George Cooper
“To ask why we fall in love is to ask why the leaves fall. And to ask how we stay in love is to ask how the trees stay.”
~Jimvirle/Jinvirle
“This is a green world, with animals comparatively few and small, and dependent on the leaves. By leaves we live.”
~Patrick Geddes
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The story of Johnny Cash covering the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt”. Watch this, and then give the song a listen again. It is really good. |
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Reviews are all over the place on this one. It’s an excellent dramatized biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer who more or less invented the atomic bomb. He was by all accounts a conflicted man and dreamer. Watch his odd mannerisms and his humanitarian conflicts. Its 3 hours long and full of very deep humane decisions. Cillian Murphy does a great job as Oppenheimer. And you’ll be quite surprised by Robert Downey Jr. and his very straight negative role. Don’t miss it.
Ethan Hunt also known to the real world as Tom Cruise says he does his own stunts in this awful waste of time movie. I’m predicting that we’ll learn later that the script was written by L.Ron Hubbard and yes Scientology does have a church here in Santa Cruz…go here to see what they’re up to now 
JULY’S FLOWER
scrape or otherwise disturb the soil and the next spring the species is abundant in those disturbed areas. So, when thinking about this species’ habitat, think not only about coastal prairie but also about some kind of disturbance that makes for bare soil, which is where it wants to germinate.
According to CalFlora, my favorite native plant website, some folks have seen the plant along the bluff trail at Año Nuevo.
A beautifully created movie about a couple who were youngsters together and close friends. They led separate lives moved continents apart then reunite. They explore and debate their similarities and likes and loves together and silently consider their chances on ever getting together again. It’s another Korean delight…as so many are lately.
This could easily scare anyone into serious worry about the dangers of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE or AI! It’s about a toy company that made an automated animated doll named M3GAN. M3gan looks a lot like Scarlett Johannsen. The plot soon turns into a child abuse and child custody story. Many flaws in it but it is absorbing.
Another Korean film that accomplishes exactly what was intended …and it works. It’s about loan sharks, everybody wearing covid masks, and guts flying everywhere. Guts fly because the lead characters are not just close buddies but also are boxers…Korean style boxers of course.
Still More Oak Friends
Chris Hemsworth is the big star of this war movie. It takes place in Georgia (right where Europe joins with Asia. It’s nearly 98% hand to hand battling…way too much and we don’t care who wins anyways with a name like Tyler Rake for Hemsworth.
There are many native dandelion relatives on California’s Central Coast, and none of them are weeds. They all have that enigmatic seed head, so familiar to most of us. I’m naming a special wildflower “June’s flower:” the largest native dandelion of them all, Agoseris grandiflora, aka giant mountain dandelion.
species were to go extinct, it was ‘Nature’s Way.’ Such is the state of manufactured political division and miseducation in the USA. Kangaroo rats are as related to the invasive house pest rats as humans are to lemurs. The same can be said of the invasive, non-native dandelion and our native giant mountain dandelion, though the two species look superficially similar. Nevertheless, I bet some folks suppose they have no use for even native dandelions; I hope that they are too few to threaten the web of life that provides us all the comforts we currently enjoy. Our native dandelions are important!
tried eating the greens, but I bet that they are very bitter: I haven’t seen bites taken out of them in nature. Some birds love dandelion seeds, and I suppose these are no exception, though the large amount of fluff might dissuade.
I wish I had more thumbs to give this detailed “near documentary” of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases. The film failed miserably at the box-office, but won awards all over the world. Two New York Times women reporters (one played by Carey Mulligan the other by Zoe Kazan) pursue Weinstein leads all over the world. Ashley Judd, one of Harvey’s victims appears in it and acts her part. 82 women have come out revealing their having been raped by Weinstein. He’s now serving a 23 year sentence
