I’d like to spend time at our April 26 meeting talking about Sarah Kendzior‘s Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. She was supposed to be doing a reading at the Hillside Club on Northside this week, and we all know what happened to that…

Two news stories today illustrate to me why Dr. Kendzior appears prescient.

Paper stimulus checks are being delayed for several days while “President Donald J. Trump” is added to the memo line. Trump wanted to sign the checks, but is not one of the officials authorized to do so. Kendzior told us years ago that autocracies are structured such that All Good Things Flow from the Autocrat. Like checks.

We also have Ivanka sitting on the President’s committee on re-opening the country. (Jared the failson-in-law sits on a separate committee mucking up the supply chain.) Kendzior: The Autocrat Trusts Only his Family. In Trump’s case, that seems to include a few mob friends like Rudy Giuliani, so it’s a “family” in the mafia sense.

Links to buy the hardcover version from major retailers are here; same link for eBook and Audiobook versions in all imaginable formats; her local (St. Louis, MO) bookstore is shipping signed copies.

Looks like she didn’t even need our postcards, but it feels great to have been on the team: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/us/politics/wisconsin-primary-results.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

On Tuesday, April 14, 2020 the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition will kick-off a national call-in campaign to compel Congress to Protect Our Vote. In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, Congress must institute reforms that will allow voters to safely cast their ballot and provide states the $4 billion in funding they need to run safe and secure elections.

On April 7th, voters in Wisconsin were forced to choose between protecting their health and participating in our Democracy. This cannot happen again.

Call your Senators today at 1-888-415-4527 to ask them to include $4 billion in funding to secure our elections in the next stimulus package.

This critical funding should be used by states to increase vote-by-mail, expand early voting and online and same-day registration, and to ensure the safety of voters and poll workers, amongst others reforms.

Voters should not have to choose between their health and their vote. Voting by mail or absentee ensures that the voters can participate in our elections without having to venture outside during the pandemic. And expanded early voting will ensure that voters that need to vote in person won’t be faced with long lines and massive crowds. In order to win funding in time for the November election, we need to demand our elected officials act now!

Learn more about how you can take action to protect our democracy by participating in the coalition’s Digital Town Hall series, which kicks off on April 20th!

In the thick of the pandemic, Alameda County Sheriff Ahern proposes to bypass other budget needs to vastly expand staffing at Santa Rita Jail – already the “most dangerous place in Alameda County” – for $85 million a year for the next thee years. County supervisors will consider the proposal on April 21, and the Berkeley City Council has a chance at its meeting on Tuesday evening to weigh in against this money grab for handcuffs over healthcare.

The sheriff’s budget has ballooned to $452 million, even as the jail population declined over the last decade. The county badly needs funding in the next year to address the pandemic and profound economic crisis our communities face, on top of existing needs. The sheriff’s department has abused and exploited prisoners at Santa Rita Jail for years, and COVID-19 cases in the jail are now 16 times what they are (per thousand) in the County. The answer is not an unaccountable, massive expansion of jail staff. Instead, the County should invest in public health and programs for those with serious mental health challenges or who are at risk of losing housing. 

Community members have come together to draft the below City Council resolution that will need to be “walked in” to the Berkeley CityCouncil meeting on Tuesday. Please urge the Berkeley City Council to send a unanimous message to county supervisors.
PLEASE EMAIL COUNCIL MEMBERS TO URGE THEM TO OPPOSE THE MONEY GRAB FOR SANTA RITA JAIL. 

Write to all Berkeley City Council members at: council@cityofberkeley.info
OR Council Members individually at:
Mayor Jesse Arreguin – mayor@CityofBerkeley.info
D1 – Rashi Kesarwani – rkesarwani@CityofBerkeley.info
D2 – Cheryl Davila – cdavila@CityofBerkeley.info
D3 – Ben Bartlett – bbartlett@CityofBerkeley.info
D4 – Kate Harrison – kharrison@CityofBerkeley.info
D5 – Sophie Hahn – shahn@CityofBerkeley.info
D6 – Susan Wengraf – swengraf@CityofBerkeley.info
D7 – Rigel Robinson – rrobinson@CityofBerkeley.info
D8 – Lori Droste –  ldroste@CityofBerkeley.info

Proposed Resolution for Berkeley City Council for April 14 meeting

Continue reading →

URGENT ACTION ITEM

As I said in today’s meeting, as of Friday 15 inmates and 2 staff members at SRJ had tested positive for Covid. That is out of a population of appx 2000 remaining inmates, which means that the rate of reported infection in the jail is about 13x the rate of reported positive tests for Alameda County as a whole. Of course, only inmates with symptoms have been tested, a very small percentage of the population.
Please call DA Nancy O’Malley at (510)272-2222 and urge her to release all pre-trial and immunocompromised inmates and inmates nearing completion of their sentences immediately. Stress the urgency of the situation. Even before the Covid crisis, Santa Rita Jail had a shocking death rate. (appx 47 deaths in the past 5 years). Please spread the word as widely as possible as well. Thanks!

The following gallows humor is circulating on the Internet and bringing cheer to many of us:

Captain Trump of the RMS Titanic here.

~There isn’t any iceberg. 

~There was an iceberg but it’s in a totally different ocean.

~The iceberg is in this ocean but it will melt very soon.

~There is an iceberg but we didn’t hit the iceberg.

~We hit the iceberg, but the damage will be repaired very shortly.

~The iceberg is a Chinese iceberg.

~We are taking on water but every passenger who wants a lifeboat can get a lifeboat,

and they are beautiful lifeboats.

~Look, passengers need to ask nicely for the lifeboats if they want them.

~We don’t have any lifeboats, we’re not lifeboat distributors.

~Passengers should have planned for icebergs and brought their own lifeboats.

~I really don’t think we need that many lifeboats.

~We have lifeboats and they’re supposed to be our lifeboats, not the passengers’ lifeboats.

~The lifeboats were left on shore by the last captain of this ship.

~Nobody could have foreseen the iceberg.

Author unknown

I wish I knew who created this.

Grab a glass of wine and join us for a report from Andy about keeping up with important political developments in an age of Too Much News. Don’t drown—-pay close attention to the important shifts taking place around us since they will determine the playing field when we go out and get on it. We’ll go over what people are up to politically and generally cheer ourselves on for the major fight ahead. If you want, bring postcards to fill out as well.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/168021011?pwd=eWVmczIzUGpPb0tlcEM1N3kxOXEvdz09

Tomorrow’s meeting will be 4:30, and the Zoom link is below.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/168021011?pwd=eWVmczIzUGpPb0tlcEM1N3kxOXEvdz09

You should know, we hit the big time. First piece of Russian spam, claiming to be a comment, sent to this blog. (I deleted it.)