this crappy year – A Jaunty Little Blog

April 24, 2025

Things that matter

Friends,

I lied to a nun.

I was asked to lie and I went along with the lie. My pal Bruce, the schnoodle entrusted to my care by those caring for a beloved centenarian, was killed on my watch but I couldn’t bring myself to share that news. I danced around the issue at the Idyllwild Indivisible rally where we spoke. Protest rallies are a thing now that the country is descending into authoritarian rule. We meet and we chat and we wonder how to best use our voices to help those who can’t defend themselves. We hugged and she asked me how he was doing. Why was one dog here but not our little boy.

“We had to leave him at home.”

The nuns are lovely and I just can’t break their hearts. They know loss, but do they need more loss? More grief?

We’ve got work to do. We’ve got marching to do, and letter writing to do, and we’re not going to stop the kneecapping of our institutions by crying. We’ve got work to do.

And for that, I lied to a nun. I spent hours working on her computer for free later that day to try and atone, but it still feels wrong. I spared her feelings, but she deserved to know.

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).

September 9, 2023September 9, 2023

Where to begin…

Friends,

I had an idea, which is dangerous on its surface, but it turns out that this idea has been kind of expensive. The idea revolves around the idea of distraction-free writing. Which is in itself a misnomer. Who isn’t distracted by things? Dogs, coyotes breaking into the backyard trying to eat dogs, Nine Inch Nails suddenly popping up in the playlist, a smell, the garbage trucks playing catch-up from the holiday weekend speeding down the street. You get the idea. Life is hectic.

I thought that if I were to spend more time posting to this here endeavor, I could dig through the rubble of history to find a nice technological solution to get away from the social media and email notifications constantly ding-ding-dinging just in my periphery.

I thought that I might take advantage of one of the best compact keyboards from the mid-90s. None other than the Newton External Keyboard with a USB adapter.

It works great, but there’s that distraction again with the iPad happy to share notifications about EVERYTHING. Geez Karen, cool it.

Then I thought that I’d spend a little time resurrecting the trusty Palm Pilot. I already had the folding keyboard, so how hard could it be?

Hard enough. Palm desktop won’t install on Intel Macs. Palm Pilots of a certain vintage don’t have drivers for the keyboard built in, and Memo stinks as a writing tool. Also, getting files out is just as challenging as it is with the Apple Newton eMate. In either scenario, there needs to be an old computer sitting around as an intermediary. It doesn’t help that the more recent versions of macOS don’t play nice with Appletalk and the Apple Filing Protocol. Because, you know, progress.

Also, did the Palm Pilot screen get smaller? Just me? okay.

The answer for distraction-free writing, staring down all of us tech nerds, is the manual typewriter. Slamming slugs against an ink-drenched ribbon to leave some meaning behind. You’ve heard of it.

I got very silly and bought a couple machines through eBay. Machines that looked cool, but machines that I don’t like very much.

The key effort is too high for me and my now-noodly copywriter arms. Also, I wasn’t ready for the stadium layout of the keys. It turns out that I just don’t want to reach that high for the number row, since I’ve spent all this time on flat keyboards. I stopped by the Idyllwild Help Center today and found the machine everyone has been telling me I’d love—a mid-60s Olivetti Lettera 32. The key layout is nearly flat and the effort is so light that I could type on this thing all day.

It’s an absolute joy to type on, and once I put in a new ribbon, it should be a nice addition to the typing horde.

The plan is pretty simple(-ish). I have a sheet-feed scanner that I can connect to a computer that’s on most of the time. I’ll type a page, plop it into the scanner, and through some scripting I can recognize the text and save the image of the page, so everything just posts to the blog.

Like magic.

I guess we’ll see if that works when I post my first typed blog post.

The 20-something marketing experts offering advice on how to build audiences suggest not making promises in your blog that you can’t deliver. I can’t let them down, can I?

Actually, I don’t mind letting them down, but not you, dear reader. Let’s make this happen!

Your pal,

– bob

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022

A Tree Grows There

Friends,

My Dad took warnings about the drought pretty seriously. Actually, he took the price increases imposed by the local water district seriously and he decided that he should allow the landscaping in the front of his house to go fallow. Sure, the city threatened to fine my parents for failing to landscape the front yard. Dad’s answer was a mix of, “dirt is desert landscaping,” but more often that he would get around to it soon enough.

When Mom called asking for suggestions on what to do with the front yard, I suggested a fruit tree. A grapefruit tree would be ideal for the shade they provide, but enjoying the fruit is a no-go. Maybe an orange or tangelo? Something full-grown, so we won’t have to worry about maintenance from a distance. I even offered to pay for a tree to be delivered and planted.

So Mom picked out a Palo Verde, which is not a fruit tree.

I still paid for it and tried to make planting day into an event, which didn’t happen. A neighbor suggested that the tree be a memorial to my Dad. I’ll leave a determination on that to your best judgement.

Your best pal,

bob

February 18, 2022February 18, 2022

The Smartest Man In The Room

Friends,

My Dad passed away the other day. He hasn’t enjoyed anything resembling good health for years so we weren’t taken by surprise. My family has assumed that every fall, every diagnosis, would be the “precipitating event” for longer than I can remember. It turns out there wasn’t one.

More Than One Math

Dad had a remarkable memory and ability to perform complex calculations in his head. You could tell that he was working on something by the slight head tilt and swivel up 10° and 7° to the right. Right eye in a squint, then he’d turn back to you and share the answer.

He did this to calculate the length of conduit to buy for a certain sized pool, a certain distance from its equipment. He did this to check a server’s math after receiving the check at a restaurant after memorizing the price of every plate ordered. He could tell you to a precision of a half hour how long it would take to fill that pool based on its volume and the flow rate from a garden hose.

I like to think that he enjoyed finding order in chaos. Lots of things are knowable, and understandable, if you think about them hard enough.

A Casual Relationship With The Manual

The skill I gained from him instead of his innate grasp of the mathematical world, was his desire to know how things work. No instructions? Not a problem, just take it apart and figure it out. Listen to experts. Pay attention to advice, then trust your instincts. And know when you’re in over your head.

This works great for mechanical things. Most things built by people can be taken apart. Systems can be understood.

However, Dad had very little time for instruction manuals or service guides. If he didn’t need a specific value, like a spark plug gap or what that flashing light means, he could usually figure it out on his own. He didn’t care for code readers and had no patience for the Internet. Too much chaff, not enough grain.

Precious Gifts

He wanted to make sure that I got to see The Ernie Kovacs Show when I was a kid and to understand why it was funny. It’s the only television I can think of that made him laugh out loud.

Above all, and I spent a lot of time on this in his obituary, he was kind and generous. Maybe a little too trusting of door-to-door salesmen, but it seemed like his default position was that everyone is inherently good until they prove otherwise.

A pretty good example to set, I think.

I miss him.

Your pal,

– bob

October 17, 2021

It’s The Spanish Word For Minivan Ownership

Friends,

I applied for a job to write for the ad agency that operates the auto buying service for a big box retailer you’ve heard of. Had a couple interviews that went well and waited to hear word on their decision for what seemed like far too long. Eventually, they passed.

While I was waiting, I heard from a recruiter who thought I’d be great for an opening at a flooring company minding their database of dimensions and color profiles. I did that for Hewlett Packard half a lifetime ago and it led to some big things. As long as I’m starting my career over, might as well start over from the beginning.

Okay, this will make you mad: I went through a couple interviews and poured my guts out, then waited for far too long, again. When they finally made their decision, they decided to go with nobody and hire an agency to do the work. It’d be less expensive, they said.

So yes, I’m back at it. If you know anybody who needs a copywriter, let me know!

Your pal,

– bob

May 12, 2021May 12, 2021

Sometimes The Universe Just Knows

Friends,

I’ve been looking for a new gig for a while now and it’s really getting to be a drag. I’m spending a fairly large number of hours every day applying for jobs on various sites, responding to recruiter queries, chatting on the phone with talent acquisition professionals, and involuntarily twitching when an email from Phil at Ziprecruiter arrives with jobs that “he” thinks I’ll like. I just want to get hired for a job that I can enjoy and be fairly compensated for that work. That opportunity feels strangely elusive until today.

I had a nice chat with a talent acquisition professional who was lovely on the phone, did not seem to mind the spotty cell coverage at my Secret Alpine Laboratory. She suggested that I would move to the next interview round after consultation with another manager, so I’ll take that to mean that it went well.

Then, I spied in my inbox that a job I’d been passed over for a month ago is open again. It’s a weird one for sure; a high-paying custom picture framing job. Mostly production-type work, but they’re working on building their custom framing business. I can do that! I’ll even join the Professional Picture Framers of America to lend legitimacy to the effort. That sounds like good fun.

I hit Apply, then got a notification that the local company that’s been selling home automation gizmos for decades has an opening. You know how I love my gadgets, integrating X-10 Powerline stuff into Dad’s high-end swimming pool projects to provide rudimentary remote control. I automated the Lodge before that was a thing. Now I’ve moved to Homekit, but I think I better brush up on my Zigbees and my Z-Waves.

Yes, of course I applied. This could be very entertaining.

That’s a lot of fingers to cross, but I hope you’ll spare some phalanges for your best pal in the whole world.

– 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

March 2, 2021March 3, 2021

Cloaking Device

Friends,

As you may know, my contract at my “forever job” wasn’t renewed and the bosses wouldn’t tell me why. My superpower, to make a simple thing into a catastrophic thing when I lack information, has led me down many soul-crushing paths. Maybe they didn’t renew my contract because of that one day when I wore Converse All-Stars into the office instead of fancier basketball shoes favored by my colleagues. Or maybe it was simply lack of funding.

Hint: It’s always funding.

Then my cool software administrator job started. Knowing that we had a 4-year contract with the client, I figured that I could work with that. It would be plenty of time to show them our talent and hopefully extend that contract. What could go wrong!

Funding? Again? That’s what they said when they cancelled the contract two months in, so that’s what we’re telling everyone else.

Now it’s time to look for new jobs and talk to recruiters, including the friendly guy from Texas who’s recruiting for a tech job at a local hospital. Big round trip to find people in a five-mile radius, but I gladly took his call. “I’ll send you more details in a moment. What’s your preferred email address?” he asked. Then nothing.

Hours later, still nothing. He probably got the address wrong and the email bounced. No worries, I’ll just call him back.

“Oh, hi. This is Bob Therieau. Is this [redacted]?” *click*

Of course I called back and the call went straight to voicemail.

It’s important to note at this point that I’m not all that qualified for his job. I did that work years ago (it seems like I’ve done a lot of jobs at some point), but I’m not currently doing that work. I could figure it out, just like I figure out the computers and software that I’ve been asked to support before I’ve ever seen them, during my entire career, but that’s everybody’s objection, isn’t it?

“The client is looking for a copywriter who has recent experience writing cat food radio commercial scripts.” “I wrote dog food commercials a few years ago.” “Oh dear, I don’t know. That’s not really the same, is it? Two different markets…”

There are a few more things in the pipeline, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a recruiter actually hang up on me. This is a wild time to be looking for a new job, but that was really weird. He could have just said something if I don’t meet the criteria.

You know. Just say something.

Your pal,

– bob

WEIRD UPDATE: Did Texas recruiter call back today? Yes, he did! Something, phone’s messed up, didn’t see the voicemail, etc. You legitimately have earned extra points if you saw that coming. But, you know. You could’ve said something.

December 9, 2020

Nature Is Healing: Buzzard Edition

Friends,

It’s Wednesday, and as we start returning to normalcy (at least in 45 days or so), there are a few loose ends in this terrible disaster script that need tying up. Things like Murder Hornets.

Never fear, nature has come to the rescue. Meet the Oriental Honey Buzzard:

And it just so happens that the Oriental Honey Buzzard is the natural enemy of Vespa Velutina and can wipe out a nest in an afternoon.

Now if we could just do something about Ted Cruz…

Your pal,

– bob

P.S. I didn’t take these remarkable photos, but they came from a tweet by Foxfeather Zenkova. She has neat stuff in her store called The Foxloft, which is worth a visit.

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 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.