punditry – A Jaunty Little Blog

January 7, 2025January 7, 2025

Settle Down 2025, It’s Only Tuesday

Friends,

These are the things that are making my teeth ache today, on this seventh day of the new year. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s full of things that if taken individually, would make you at least want to close the drapes and stay in bed.

With that fun lead-in, let’s get to it…

Jimmy Carter’s body has arrived in the District of Columbia today to lie in state. I happened to turn on the teevee when a half dozen burly men transferred his casket from the hearse to the caisson in front of the U.S. Navy Memorial. I didn’t anticipate how hard it would hit that the funeral procession for such a decent man would begin the countdown to the inauguration of such a corrupt man as the incoming 47th president.
The incoming administration keeps making noises about buying or in some way taking, maybe by force, Greenland and the Panama Canal. The news outlets assume that these plans will be carried out in some way, so I’m not sure who’s more unhinged here.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp has decided to run without fact checkers. This is more pre-obedience to the upcoming regime that’s going to get all of us in a lot of trouble by amplifying the dumb (see above) and burying the truth (see below).
The former and future president’s favorite judge, Aileen Cannon of Florida, has ruled against the release of Special Council Jack Smith’s report on the crimes he was investigating. She managed to get the order in 45 minutes before the report was to be turned over to the most ineffective U.S. Attorney General in the modern era, Merrick Garland. The release of the report relies on a ruling by the 11th Circuit and then a Supreme Court appeal. I’m sure we’re all on pins and needles wondering how that’ll go.
Intense winds are blowing through Southern California over the next few days, and Tommy’s Real Good Electric Utility (aka, Southern California Edison) has already warned us that they may have to shut off power to prevent wildfires. Too late to keep Pacific Palisades safe from fire this afternoon, but maybe that’ll be the extent of the destruction.
I just learned that the Apple Newton OS has a Y2026 bug. I’d let my Newton eMate 300 know, but it’s enjoying a spa day of deep battery cycles and a light vacuuming between the keys.
Justin Trudeau’s resignation as Canada’s Prime Minister is remarkably bad news, I think. He seemed to have a chance to deescalate the incoming administration’s tariff nonsense, but if he’s replaced with some hard line nationalist goon, who knows. A tit-for-tat trade war with Canada could be very bad for all of us.
Speaking of trade wars, can somebody rein in the once and future president’s pet billionaire? Elon Musk appears to be picking fights with European democracies and nobody can be sure if he’s acting alone or if he has the blessing of Time’s kleptocrat of the year.

Did I miss anything that’s keeping you up at night? Drop it in the comments and we’ll add it to the list of horrors!

Your best pal,

– bob

August 14, 2024

Softening the Readership

Friends,

I really haven’t seen people in the country and in my circle change their mood so dramatically from dour resignation to cheerful optimism, as when Joe Biden (may the goddess pour blessings upon him) stepped down from the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris. It turns out that the enthusiasm is not confined to we liberal elites on the coasts. People love her across the country.

There are 83 days until election day (can we talk about always having 100 day elections?) and if we keep this up, we could potentially have a landslide election and win enough down-ballot races to keep the Senate and take the House. Think about that for a moment.

I have.

Your pal,

– bob

June 20, 2024June 22, 2024

No Love

Friends,

Something was up about a certain computer that I happen to be using right now. Remember this?

In case you were wondering, the fans in my 2019 Intel Macbook Air are going nuts right now. Is it because I’m dropping so much truth (i’m not feeling very well right now. -ed Me neither, dog. um, gross. -ed). I think the problem is that this machine is underpowered, unloved for its zero-travel keyboard with the dodgy zero key, and ready to be retired. UPDATE: Or mail.app crashed. Why? No idea.

Apple does too, and they’ve decided that this machine is best suited to prop up a rat’s nest in a landfill.

What Macs will support macOS 15
iMac — 2019 and later
iMac Pro
MacBook Air — 2020 and later
MacBook Pro — 2017 and later
Mac Pro — 2019 and later
Mac Studio — 2022 and later
Mac mini — 2018 and later

…because they believe, and with good reason, that this machine can’t handle the next version of the operating system. It’s a ruthless decision and a reasonable one all at the same time. This machine is a little sad about everything but the most lightweight text editing. Sad, really.

I’ll miss it, though. It’s got a cool shape and the battery life is very good, even after all this time. I’m sure my new M3 Macbook Air will spare a thought. It probably won’t be a kind thought, but it’ll be a thought.

Your pal,

– bob

December 31, 2023February 5, 2024

The Fates

Friends,

The end of 2023 is fast approaching. Even though the calendar year is an artificial construct, I’ll be glad to see the last hateful, hurtful, and mournful 365 days go away. Just to give you a taste, my father in-law died on the day before Christmas Eve and his widow fell and hit her head later that evening. We spent Christmas Eve morning in the Emergency Room, which led to her admission for a brain bleed. We made our way home and got a few hours of sleep before she was discharged (“I’m not sure why she’s here,” said the attending physician.) so we picked her up and took her to her apartment. Did she fall again that night?

Of course she did.

This time, we asked if she was in pain or bleeding, then asked the attending staff not to send her back to the hospital. This bought us a day to see Mom in the desert.

2023 has been an expensive year, a sad year, a dumb year, a hate-filled year, a violence-choked year, and a year that we must not forget. Remember 2022? It was pretty terrible and sad and dumb. 2021? Not great! Previously, I filled these pages with scratchy-eyed moping about how awful things had become and maybe we should simply stay in bed ¹. Not this year.

This year I’ve had it with the defeatism and dour predictions.

I’m just not having it from me or from you. This is our year to punch real-life nazis. The bad guys, who mostly identify as Republicans here in the United States, but not always, are trying to take away our rights so that their masters make more money and accrue more power. in 2024, we’ve got a job to do, vote them out and reinforce structures originally designed to keep thugs and autocrats away from power. Using the plain language of the Constitution’s Article 3 is a good start if we hope to keep insurrectionist off of the ballot.

It’s taken us 150 years to finish Reconstruction, but it looks like the time for half-measures and appeasement is over. Whatever we do is going to have to happen this year.

Yes, I’d rather lick my wounds and feel sorry and mourn and regroup, and I honestly hope that we have time for that soon, but this is going to be messy. The bad guys won’t respond to reason. Maybe they’ll respond to a solid pasting at the polls. That’s going to require all of us getting out there again.

Your pal,

– bob

¹ My Mom’s mother had suggested that if things got too rough or scary, the best solution was probably to stay in bed with the covers pulled up. That might not be the best advice these days (or even in those days, to be fair).

October 6, 2023October 6, 2023

The Conceit

Friends,

It’s been a while, but I’ve been busy.

However, I have a plan. Two weeks ago I visited my piney paradise (more on how much I miss the forest tomorrow) and stopped by the local thrift shop. While there, I was thrilled to discover a 1964 Olivetti Lettera 32 that I promptly picked up. This was in service to satisfy my newfound desire to own a nice typewriter (this is news. – ed I don’t know if you missed this, but I haven’t posted anything new in quite a while.)

The new machine is going to replace the previous two typewriters I picked up solely because the typing effort on the other two is way too high—I really have to stab the keys on the Sears machine and the Smith Corona very hard to get anything on a page and that’s annoying.

So here’s the idea: I type out a post on paper, plop it into the scanner, then it shows up here. It seems fun to me. Gizmos, scripting, and old mechanical things. What could possibly go wrong?

– bob

June 30, 2023

Creeping fascism, alarms, and the tyranny of zero

Friends,

Let’s dispense with the apologia and get right to it. (good luck with that. you’re feeling terrible right now, aren’t you? -ed Okay, I’m not feeling great about the time that’s passed since the last post, but I simply wanted to get on with it. Is that so wrong?)

I work for a company based in London, as do a half dozen other charming individuals here in the States. Most are on the Atlantic coast, while only three of us are here on the left side of the continent. Because several of my colleagues live in Florida, I take a moment from my work day to give them grief about their current governor. This person is also a presidential candidate, and is working very hard to be more cruel, more inhuman, more opposed to human life on this planet than his opponents. Essentially, the Republican party game plan. Here’s a data point:

Florida bill allowing radioactive roads made of potentially cancer-causing mining waste signed by DeSantis

Because I don’t understand messianic Christians and their deal, I don’t get the destruction of the planet in service of their belief in some sort of redemption by fire or apocalypse or whatever. I don’t get it. Further, while I have shifted my worldview to allow for people’s religions as a fun fandom that we should probably not subject to our scorn, I’m not nearly as sanguine about the hard-right Catholics on the US Supreme Court. They’ve issued opinions this week to take away rights from a large swath of the population. This week, at the end of their nutso decision-making and making up stuff, they let us know that we shouldn’t criticize them for their highly partisan decisions.

In my country, we have a saying; “You need to go fuck yourselves.”

The modest proposals to fix this, to add four more justices—with 13 justices to coincide with the 13 circuit courts—still hasn’t gained the support of the president. Madness.

Maybe he’d prefer my plan, adding 50 justices, selecting a baker’s dozen for each case via lottery. It’s reasonable, which is why they won’t do it.

What’s left? The destruction of this democracy through the machinations of fascists and would-be fascists in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, and too many other places. It’s hard to be encouraged here. The only thing we can do is to keep them out of power.

That’s it.

Let’s go!

Your pal,

– bob

March 22, 2021March 22, 2021

Opportunities

Friends,

As you know, I’m still looking for a full time gig after the contract information technology “engagements” fell flat. I had a nice interview this afternoon with the copy manager at a software house in New York, so that looks promising. In the meanwhile, I thought it would be nice to get some work published elsewhere that I can add to the portfolio.

I threw my hat into the ring at a nascent auto industry analysis site and they asked for a writing sample. The brief was in “500 or fewer words about something you don’t see getting any coverage, but you think the auto enthusiast press should be reporting on.” Oh boy, I can write that all day. So I did!

Media Should Talk About The U.S. Auto Industry

I’m old enough to remember Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 1979. The evening news led with breathless coverage about the ensuing loss of jobs, the political ramifications, the victims and who to blame. Foreign manufacturers were demonized. It was a very important American crisis.
I’m also old enough to remember the triumphant stories heralding Lee Iacocca’s repayment of emergency government loans ahead of schedule to save Chrysler. This made him a very important American business leader.
Renault’s takeover of AMC? I remember the gasps of horror. How can the French own American Motors? Then somebody said, “Jeep” and everybody nodded. Chrysler’s takeover of AMC? “There’s Lee, flexing his muscles,” the media shrugged and moved on.
It wasn’t until the Daimler take over of Chrysler and the media’s stenographic coverage of the “Merger of Equals” that the auto industry merited some sort of analysis again. Not the right sort, of course. Not the kind that would have identified the OE’s exposure to collapse at the hands of the credit markets.
Now, post-Carpocalypse, post-UAW bashing, post-bailout coverage is mostly a Tesla blooper reel.
I think I’m old enough to handle the truth about each car maker’s plans for American mobility. Are they planning on continuing to make cars at all? What’s driving their decision making?
Nobody has said a peep about why the Stellantis merger happened in the first place except that the late Sergio Marchionne though any merger would be a good idea. It can’t just be to sell Challengers in Brazil, can it?
I’d like to find out about these things. Wouldn’t you?

I hope that little rant lands me a sweet, low-paying gig. Maybe it’ll even lead to something else that’s could be a lot of fun.

Fingers crossed.

Your pal,

– bob

January 11, 2021

Insurrection.

Friends,

I’ve had a little time to think about the insurrection attempt promoted by the sitting president of the United States that ended in a bloody skirmish in this nation’s capitol. Giving this a little bit of space has been helpful, even though the act and the implications rising from these acts have left me as shaken as I was after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (we see what you did there. shaken. cute. -ed That wasn’t my intention, even though it’s all about “intention” nowadays. I’ll get to that later.)

Considering that nobody is really in charge in the Executive branch of government right now, and that the folks who should be protecting the inauguration of Joe Biden are under the Executive in the org chart, I think it’s safe to worry about the future of the American Experiment. I think we can also be clearheaded about the problem that a lot of Republicans are okay with a constant state of seige, including an uncomfortably large number of elected representatives. I can only assume that these are largely intelligent people who are cynically going along with the mob for political gain.

What I don’t know, is what to do with this dread I’m feeling right now.

Your pal,

– bob

November 9, 2020November 9, 2020

The 2020 Jaunty Election Guide – How’d We Do? Edition

Friends,

It’s time to tidy up around here and where better to start than with a bit of self-flagellation for our lack of sway over the electorate. Apparently, besides voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, you pretty much ignored the rest of our thoughtful advice. This is going to be bad news for a lot of people pretty quickly, but as we know, reading is hard and it’s sometimes a thrill to vote against your own interests to “own the libs.”

So let’s check in with the Big Decision Tally-Uppers™ to see how we did:

Candidates

Here, we’re three for four. It’s encouraging.

President of The United States – Joseph R. Biden, Vice President – Kamala D. Harris
Winner! Although they won by over four million votes, it seemed like a squeaker because of the Electoral College tally. It’s probably way past time to ditch that and elect presidents based on the popular vote. This will make sparsely populated states in the center of the country feel bad, but they’ve been telling us for four years that they don’t care about what we think. It’s probably time to return the favor.
United States Representative, District 36 – Dr. Raul Ruiz
Also a winner, by a pretty big margin.
United States Representative, District 50 – Ammar Campa-Najjar
Mr. Campa-Najjar has conceded defeat to Darrell Issa in CA-50. Issa ran an attack ad-heavy, fact-light campaign that people apparently believed. A lot of people.
San Diego County Board of Supervisors, 3rd District – Terra Lawson-Remer
Winner! There’s now a progressive Democrat majority running the County, which is a big change from the last few decades. They’ve already been told by Republicans how to behave in the few days since their victory. Being a gracious lot, they have yet to recommend that their colleagues pound sand.

California Propositions

There’s a big list this year, so let’s get to it…

Prop 14 – Authorizes Bonds Continuing Stem Cell Research – Initiative Statute: We picked this one, and it was a winner with 51.0%
Prop 15 – Increases Funding Sources For Public Schools, Community Colleges, and Local Government Services By Changing Tax Assessment Of Commercial And Industrial Property – Initiative Constitutional Amendment: This one lost, only getting 48.2% of the vote. The GOP’s plan to destroy civic structures by calling taxes theft is still working.
Prop 16 – Allows Diversity As A Factor In Public Employment, Education, And Contracting Decisions – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: This one lost, getting only 43.5% of the vote. It looks like 56.5% of Californians are pretty sure that institutional racism isn’t a thing anymore. Or they’re okay with it continuing.
Prop 17 – Restores Right To Vote After Completion Of Prison Term – Legislative Constitution Amendment: This won with 58.9% of the vote, which is great, but I’m still not sure Duncan Hunter should get his voting rights back.
Prop 18 – Amends California Constitution To Permit 17-Year-Olds To Vote In Primary And Special Elections If They Will Turn 18 By The Next General Election And Be Otherwise Eligible To Vote – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: 44.5% said yes to this, not enough to let fired-up teens vote in the primary.
Prop 19 – Changes Certain Property Tax Rules – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: This won with 51.3% because it was billed as the Meemaw Gets To Keep Her House Proposition in the ads.
Prop 20 – Restricts Parole For Certain Offenses Currently Considered To Be Non-Violent. Authorizes Felony Sentences For Certain Offenses Currently Treated Only As Misdemeanors – Initiative Statute: This one lost by big margins, with 62.2% voting against.
Prop 21 – Expands Local Governments’ Authority To Enact Rent Control On Residential Property – Initiative Statute: This one failed as well, with a 59.9% vote against. (hey, for all your wailing, you’re not doing to badly. -ed Just wait. It’s downhill from here.)
Prop 22 – Exempts App-Based Transportation And Delivery Companies From Providing Employee Benefits To Certain Drivers – Initiative Statute: Ridesharing companies poured a ton of money into this with wall-to-wall misleading ads, and it worked! This measure passed with 58.5% of the vote. Sorry gig workers! Looks like you’re going to be wage slaves forever.
Prop 23 – Establishes State Requirements For Kidney Dialysis Clinics. Requires On-Site Medical Professional – Initiative Statute: This failed with 63.9% of the vote against the measure.
Prop 24 – Amends Consumer Privacy Laws – Initiative Statute: This passed with 55.9% of the vote, which is going to be a problem if you want your data off of the Internet. This Google and Facebook-sponsored measure means you have to opt-out of data collection, and can only appeal to a new agency. Sorry privacy advocates!
Prop 25 – Referendum On Law That Replaced Money Bail With System Based On Public Safety And Flight Risk: This failed with only 44.2% voting in favor. I can’t tell if it was a victim of its scary ballot language or if the scheme itself wasn’t fully baked. Proponents will probably try again when they have an actual plan.

Looking back, we only had two really wild misses with independent contractors and with privacy. Good thing nobody needs those things.

Also, the 45th president needs to get packing, so that’s pretty good.

Your pal,

– bob

October 4, 2020October 4, 2020

The 2020 Jaunty Election Guide – The Rest Of The Propositions Edition

Friends,

Before you dive into the remaining propositions on this year’s California ballot, we recommend that you start with the first part of the 2020 Jaunty Election Guide, then come back here.

A couple notes before we dive back in. First, the president’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center hosted a press conference that painted a picture so rosy of the president’s health, you’d think they were talking about Ray Milland. Second, the Vice President of the United States, who is next in line, should the president meet with a sub-suboptimal outcome, isn’t under recommended quarantine for a fortnight but is jetting around, being irresponsible. I guess the GOP really does want to install President Pelosi to complete their next-level 4-dimensional chess strategy that is totally escaping me at the moment.

Well then! Let’s get to the rest of the propositions…

California Propositions

There’s a big list this year, so let’s get to it…

Prop 19 – Changes Certain Property Tax Rules – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: 1978’s Proposition 13 property tax freeze takes another little hit here, but overall, it seems like a nice idea to allow the over-55 set to take their tax rate with them to a new home anywhere in the state. This could hurt non-farm family businesses passing down property though, but there’s no light green color in the palette.
Prop 20 – Restricts Parole For Certain Offenses Currently Considered To Be Non-Violent. Authorizes Felony Sentences For Certain Offenses Currently Treated Only As Misdemeanors – Initiative Statute: Wow. Do you want to incarcerate a lot more people for longer? Do you want to reduce the chances that shoplifters get parole? Do you want law enforcement to collect more DNA samples? Then this one is for you! With so many bad ideas wrapped up in one proposition, it’s hard to know where to begin. By creating new felonies for the state to incarcerate in already-crowded prisons, we’d have to turn to the private prison industry to make up the difference. During a pandemic, that already sounds like two bad ideas. How about limiting parole board discretion when releasing non-violent offenders? There’s a third bad idea for you. We suggest a no vote on this one.
Prop 21 – Expands Local Governments’ Authority To Enact Rent Control On Residential Property – Initiative Statute: I know I’m dating myself again, but there was a time when you could rent a nice apartment in San Diego for less than half of your salary. That’s no longer the case and it’s grinding the entire local economy to a halt. This proposition allows new rent control boards to be established, which is fine, but that might reduce earnings that some homeowners rely on. This one also doesn’t provide eviction protection for tenants living in rent-controlled units, which is bad news. This is a big nope.
Prop 22 – Exempts App-Based Transportation And Delivery Companies From Providing Employee Benefits To Certain Drivers – Initiative Statute: The Uber Protection Act exempts Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and others from providing basic protections and benefits to their workers. The Attorney General has determined that gig workers are employees, the companies disagree and are fighting with this proposition. We think that employees should have unemployment benefits, sick time, health care, worker’s compensation insurance, and protection from discrimination and harassment at work. We strongly urge a no vote.
Prop 23 – Establishes State Requirements For Kidney Dialysis Clinics. Requires On-Site Medical Professional – Initiative Statute: The last time this came up in 2018, it failed. It should probably fail again.
Prop 24 – Amends Consumer Privacy Laws – Initiative Statute: As you open sites on the web over the last few years, those that collect your information (but not this one! – ed That’s right, we never collect your information because our files are already overflowing with information and we can’t possibly store one more bit.) have had to put banners on their home pages to ask your permission. Proponents would like for you to think of this proposition as the California version of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and very well might be. This proposition limits sharing, allows you to correct data, and limit use of your sensitive information with new penalties and a new agency. The problem is that this essentially forces you into arbitration with the privacy agency as your advocate. It also circumvents existing protections and creates new classes of information that are exempt. Probably a good idea to reject this one.
Prop 25 – Referendum On Law That Replaced Money Bail With System Based On Public Safety And Flight Risk: I like the idea of eliminating money bail and am extremely uneasy about the implementation. We don’t have a recommendation on how to vote, but do recommend that you read the text of the referendum.

That was a lot, but we did it everybody. Please vote this year. Please tell your friends to get out and vote.

Only 29 days left.

Your pal,

– bob

October 3, 2020October 5, 2020

The 2020 Jaunty Election Guide – Can We Panic Now Edition

Friends,

Remember when our politics were normal? There was a time, wait for it, when we Americans wouldn’t punch each other in the face for supporting the other party. When we wouldn’t bring long guns to protests. There was a time when we wouldn’t have to worry about somebody coughing on us during a pandemic just to prove a political point.

There was a time before the president of the United States was being hospitalized for a deadly illness that he and his administration made much worse. (there was a time when you used to use an initial capital letter when spelling president. – ed Seems like a long time ago!) I remember when inaction by a president that resulted in the death of over 200,000 Americans would have been immediately disqualifying. Have a seat and let me tell you a story about how the nation would be scandalized by a president that used curse words. There was a Vice President who left office in disgrace for tax evasion. A President who left office for campaign violations and another who was impeached for lying to a grand jury. These things happened before the Republicans coalesced on a plan: lie, block, obstruct, and disenfranchise anybody who won’t keep them in power.

You have to give it to them that their project has been very successful. They’ve appealed to the worst impulses of the American electorate, ensuring GOP minority rule for years. Xenophobia, white nationalism, and a vague reinterpretation of public comity into their familiar bugbear they like to call “socialism” has kept their older, whiter electorate coming back for more. I have hope that it ends this year.

That’s why everyone here on The Best Political Team on this Blog™ has been working double-overtime to analyze your choices in this election and to provide you expert analysis so you can make an informed choice in this crucial election.

Candidates

We haven’t picked actual candidates in actual races for a while, but if you’re wavering on who to choose in this election, maybe this’ll help push you over the edge.

President of The United States – Joseph R. Biden, Vice President – Kamala D. Harris
In the primary, I voted for Elizabeth Warren because I wanted somebody to prosecute the case against the 45th president, but the wisdom of selecting Joe Biden as the nominee seems brilliant in retrospect. He’s (almost) everything the current president isn’t—informed, compassionate, gentle, steadfast, and devoted to service. Sounds weird writing that because we’ve been missing those qualities in our current craven, self-serving, grifter government. I’m ready to not have to worry about the next politically damaging tweet or dumb trade war. I’m ready for competence in government.
I’m going to miss Senator Harris’ representation of California, but she’s perfect for Vice President at this moment.
United States Representative, District 36 – Dr. Raul Ruiz
The good doctor is the incumbent and has been doing a remarkable job for the Coachella Valley. In addition to his stewardship of the Salton Sea restoration project, he’s taken on veterans’ health issues, and protections for the workers in the fields who put produce on our tables. There are two groups how don’t like him—GOPs who see a seat ripe for the picking and activists who don’t think he’s moving fast enough. The former need to become comfortable pounding sand for the foreseeable future and the latter need to just cool it.
United States Representative, District 50 – Ammar Campa-Najjar
We don’t know too much about Mr. Campa-Najjar except that he lost in the mid-terms here in California’s deeply red and disturbingly nuts 50th district to indicted, later convicted felon, Duncan Hunter Jr. Now he’s running against carpetbagger Darrell Issa who bailed out of his own coastal district when it was clear he was going to lose to Mike Levin in 2016. Fortunately, Mr. Issa has plenty of cash on hand for a comfortable retirement. It’s only right that we help him do that.
San Diego County Board of Supervisors, 3rd District – Terra Lawson-Remer
The County Registrar of Voters seems to be having a very tough time getting voter information out this year. Ms. Lawson-Remer’s opponent, a weird GOP acolyte, is having no trouble putting out campaign hit pieces and polluting the discourse. We’ve had it up to here with that nonsense and we’re endorsing Ms. Lawson-Remer, who seems to have had quite a history of mixing things up for the good of average Americans. Keep an eye on her.

California Propositions

There’s a big list this year, so let’s get to it…

Prop 14 – Authorizes Bonds Continuing Stem Cell Research – Initiative Statute: 2004’s Proposition 71 caused the anti-choice activists in this state (And there are a lot. Just drive 25 miles away from the coast and you’ll find them.) to writhe on the floor and choke on their tongues. The idea was that the state would support and protect a burgeoning, but legislatively at-risk biomedical industry with the trade-off that the state would share in the profits of any therapeutic discoveries developed with our money. Well, the money has run out and they’d like a new bond issued. We don’t normally support bond issues, but this one seems important. We knew progress wouldn’t be quick, now we’ll need to put up the cash.
Prop 15 – Increases Funding Sources For Public Schools, Community Colleges, and Local Government Services By Changing Tax Assessment Of Commercial And Industrial Property – Initiative Constitutional Amendment: It’s surprising that this proposition isn’t getting more ink, since it’s intended to start unravelling the infamous Proposition 13 from 1978 that essentially locked in property tax rates to a maximum of 1% of values, and annual increases of 2%, prohibiting reassessment unless property was sold. Great news for your grandparents who own their house outright. Bad news for school districts who rely on local property taxes for funding that haven’t kept up with inflation (or the cost of technology, training, removing asbestos, pandemics, etc.) The original proposition was intended to protect homeowners from gouging by evil county tax assessors, but it also included commercial property. The new proposition, firmly treading on the third rail of California politics, seeks to remove those protections from commercial properties worth over $3 million to provide somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion in new funding to schools. It’s a slippery slope and could be bad, but we feel it’s worth the risk to provide a quality education to kids in California. Hell, they may even reinstate civics classes. Remember, despots dig low-information voters. Just sayin’.
Prop 16 – Allows Diversity As A Factor In Public Employment, Education, And Contracting Decisions – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: Remember when institutional racism ended in 1996 and California voters approved Proposition 209, which banned consideration of race in hiring? In cart-putting before horse voting, Californians were convinced somehow that we didn’t need to protect minorities and underrepresented groups because something magically happened and there weren’t any racists anymore. This proposition fixes that.
Prop 17 – Restores Right To Vote After Completion Of Prison Term – Legislative Constitution Amendment: I’m all for restoring voting rights for people who have served their time, unless it’s Duncan Hunter, so it’s a toss-up. Not sure how I feel about this one.
Prop 18 – Amends California Constitution To Permit 17-Year-Olds To Vote In Primary And Special Elections If They Will Turn 18 By The Next General Election And Be Otherwise Eligible To Vote – Legislative Constitutional Amendment: Also known as the Expanding The Field And Democrat Protection Act, this one allows kids to vote (for Democrats) before they turn 18 if they’ll be 18 before the general election so they can vote (for Democrats). It’s so crass and blatant if you spend any time at all looking at polls, that you have to love it—or at least you should love it.

Lordy. We’re not even half-way through. Check back in tomorrow when we weigh in on the remaining seven propositions, provide some handy voter information from The Handy Voter Information Desk™, and throw in a couple surprises.

Only 30 days left. We can do this.

Your pal,

– bob

UPDATE: The second part is online now! Just head over there when you’re done here.

July 22, 2020July 22, 2020

Secret Federal Police Squads Making Trouble

Friends,

Remember back when rolling out a secret Federal police force in the United States was illegal? Get this, it still is! The super fun part is that the current president has done it anyway. But why?

The narrative on the pro-fascism media is that the protests against police brutality targeting Black and brown people aren’t largely peaceful, but “destroying our cities.” This leads to chaos, which leads to anarchy, which leads to the unraveling of the social fabric, etc, rinse, repeat.

They play the scenes of a police station and a Wendy’s burning down over and over again to prove to their viewers that society is crumbling and lo! the president steps in to rescue us from societal collapse! Aren’t we fortunate!

The justification that the acting administrators (Ken Cuccinelli and Chad Wolf, who are political hacks who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate because even Mitch McConnell has *some* standards) have offered seem to change by the hour. The latest, and arguably more egregious than “proactive arrests” is to “teach them a lesson.” That said, this will make your skin crawl…

Acting DHS secretary says federal agents are "proactively" arresting people in Portland. pic.twitter.com/cU1zw0IChz

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 22, 2020

So here we are. A failed game show host in hock up to his eyeballs to foreign interests has gone full rogue and made a play for the elderly white people already afraid to step outside because of the pandemic: Society would be in ruins if it weren’t for his tiny iron fist.

It’d be a pathetic and transparent play if consumers of the state media outlets took a moment to come up for air, which I don’t see happening until 2021.

Your best pal,

– bob

P.S. Is it just me, or did the name “Department of Homeland Security” creep you out from the day it was introduced? Didn’t it seem like a nod to 1930s Germany? Just me? Okay.

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020

Getting A Little Stabby

Friends,

At least 90,000 of our fellow Americans have died as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as of today. It’s likely that many more will perish before this crisis is at a point that we can call “over.” That makes the president’s comments today, complaining that the numbers are so high because we’re doing so much testing, not because of the administration’s failed response, that much worse.

A small number of nitwits claim that the public safety response by local governments to have them stay at home represents abridging their fundamental freedoms. Freedom to get a haircut, freedom to get a new tattoo, freedom to get a bucket of wings, and ultimately the freedom to get infected. These are the “covidiots” you’ve been hearing so much about — mostly because they’re so loud, not because there’s so many of them. It only takes one mask-free demonstration to spread a virus, of course. We’ve already seen new outbreaks among the impatient science/math/statistics denier set, and their parents, grandparents, and children. Dopes.

Because most people are indoors and over 20% are unemployed, spending has gone down, which means tax revenue has gone down in the state. This leads, as the Governor noted in his May budget revision speech today, to a $60 billion budget shortfall. As it stands right now, it looks like we state employees are going to take about a 10% haircut (speaking of haircut, what’s going on with your ridiculous mane, wayne gretzky? – ed I wish! I’m merely cultivating an homage to The Great One.). I kinda don’t mind a temporary pay cut as long as it comes with fewer hours. I guess it depends on what the union has to say about it. Complicated!

Your pal,

– bob

March 22, 2019

Toddler Watch: The Mueller Report Has Been Filed

Friends,

Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, has submitted his report this evening. What’s in it? Only a few people know. Many more people are speculating about what might be in it. Many more still are filled with hope that its contents will lead to a septuagenarian carnival barker being hauled out of our White House in manacles.

Magical thinking on my part, certainly.

We should be patient and see what’s in it before rushing to judgement. That’s way easier to say than actually do.

Breathe…

Your pal,

– bob