As of 6 p.m.Friday: Adding latest Contra Costa numbers to latest Alameda County numbers:

Wicks: 22,505

Beckles: 10,718

Kalb: 10,151

Appel: 7,906

Contra Costa County updated today; Alameda County did not (as of 6 p.m.) When AC updates again, there will probably be some shift toward Kalb and he may take the lead again. Turnout in AC is only at 21.62 so far while turnout in the latest update in Contra Costa County is at 29.61% suggesting that most remaining votes are in AC, which has favored Kalb over Beckles 19% to 13%. If these percentages hold, he could pick up 60 votes for every additional thousand counted in the AC part of AD 15, and the number of uncounted votes numbers in the thousands. It’s likely to be close.

AC: https://acgov.org/rovresults/235/1414.htm

CC: http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CA/Contra_Costa/75371/Web02.195726/#/cid/740

CA Secy of State (behind county counts not up to date as of 6 p.m. ): https://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/state-assembly/district/15http://http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CA/Contra_Costa/75371/Web02.195726/#/cid/740

In San Francisco, Mark Leno is ahead of London Breed but only by 144 votes after today’s count. -more-

We call to your attention the case of Ani Mauck, an 80-year-old American ordained Buddhist nun of the Tibetan Buddhist Karma Kagyu lineage, who received teachings and empowerments from the 16th Karmapa, KaluRinpoche, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, among others. Ani has been homeless in Berkeley for over 5 years and has been a member of the First They Came For The Homeless (FTCFTH) encampment community for the last year. Although she had fallen through the social services safety net, she was welcomed into that community. FTCFTH provided her shelter, and to the best of its ability, accommodations for her special dietary and physical needs. Ani not physically well. For quite some time she has been afflicted with severe diabetes, has suffered several small strokes, and recently broke her toe, which significantly exacerbated her mobility problems. Although she very much appreciates living with the FTCFTH community, she believes she will not survive another winter living on the street. -more-

Is Donald Trump losing it? It appears that there was complete agreement at the conclusion of the G7 meeting. Trump professed to be pleased, calling the summit wonderful and rating his relationships with other leaders as ten out of ten (the G6 members rated it as a zero). -more-

According to a recent Gallup poll President Trump achieved a 46 percent approval rating with regard to his role in making the United States (U.S.) prosperous. Although there is certainly disagreement about Trump's accomplishments, he nevertheless commands considerable support. A main reason for his high rating is his stance on immigration. Most of all, Trump has apparently convinced many Americans that he will work to improve the economy and provide good paying jobs primarily for American workers. Trump claims that he is not only unhappy about illegal immigration. He also wants to impose more restrictions on legal immigration as well. In his own words, "We will reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, the forgotten people. We're going to take care of our workers".

These proclamations are perspectives that American workers and their families like to hear. But it certainly doesn't reflect the views of Republicans who value the availability of cheap, compliant foreign labor. We would expect, then, that they would be unhappy with Trump's immigration agenda. Yet according to the polls, 84 percent of Republicans believe that Trump is doing a good job making America prosperous. How is that possible? That's an easy question to answer. The Republicans realize that Trump's message to the public is only propaganda. In fact, this characterizes the posturing of the Republicans generally. Let us take a look at the gap between Trump's rhetoric and what he is actually doing and not doing on behalf of working people. -more-

It started with a slightly salacious lyric that moved quickly through what any woman would recognize as the typical trajectory; he loves her, he kills her, he mutilates her body in an effort to humiliate her and/or cover his tracks. It elicited a couple of nervous laughs, but most of the audience quietly endured it. -more-

Since I am the unnamed 'song writer' referenced in this article, I am puzzled as to why Ms. Denney has chosen to "edit' reality. She has left out the real 'punch line' for some unknown personal reason. The truly remarkable thing about this encounter was that the women who called me out on my song was able to convince me to NEVER sing it again. -more-

Dear Editor,

I did not identify Mugg Muggles as the "mutilation song singer" in my essay "A Song and a Me Too Moment." But I'm glad he outed himself. He apparently thinks it's enough to retire one of his many racist, sexist songs while privately showering me, the one who tried to write about the damage such songs do, with insults and personal attacks, thus missing the point. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

When I was a technology developer, in Silicon Valley, I adopted the technique of "managing by walking around." Recently I've talked to two outstanding 2018 Democratic political candidates who've adopted this same technique in their campaigns. While it may not be obvious, "politics by walking around" addresses one of 2018's burning political questions: what does the Democratic Party stand for?

"Managing by walking around" was originally developed in the 1970's at Hewlett Packard. I adopted "managing by walking around" because I was working on a large IBM campus, in Santa Clara, and the engineers who were developing different aspects of my product were widely dispersed. While I could have relied upon emailed progress reports or formal meetings, I found it more informative to talk to them in person. (I also thought that engineers were likely to be more candid in a face-to-face conversation.) -more-

In American culture, and probably in most cultures, people are fond of saying "Life is hard..." And most people would agree. Even privileged people born into wealth sometimes feel sorry for themselves. So, is life in fact hard, or is this merely a perception? -more-

Judge Aaron Persky's recall should be celebrated. What is disturbing about his decision in the Brock Peters case is that this made every women less safe at colleges and universities because that description of Turner’s sexual assault fits most campus rape cases, which essentially takes campus rape from the category of crimes you can go to prison for and instead be awarded a lighter sentence. The recall is a victory for the #MeToo movement. -more-

For me, at least, and perhaps for many others as well, the final two days of the 2018 Berkeley Festival presented under the aegis of the San Francisco Early Music Society were dominated by the towering figure of Johann Sebastian Bach. For me, it all started with a 1:00 PM concert on Saturday, June 9, at St. Mark’s Church featuring an ensemble called Cantata Collective and featuring the amazing soprano Sherezade Panthaki. This was an all J.S. Bach concert featuring local instrument-alists who joined together just this year to form Cantata Collective dedicated to the cantatas of J.S. Bach. The members of Cantata Collective will be familiar to Bay Area audiences for their involvement in many prestigious local chamber music groups. Marc Schachman played oboe; violinists were Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss; violist was Anthony Martin; cellist was William Skeen; Kristin Zoenig played bass; and Avi Stein played organ and harpsichord. In the works where they teamed up with soprano Sherezade Panthaki, this was J.S. Bach at his best. -more-

On Thursday, June 7, I attended two concerts of the ongoing Berkeley Festival & Exhibition presented by The San Francisco Early Music Society. The 4:00 concert at St. Mark’s Church featured Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players performing works known as the Paris Quartets by Georg Philipp Telemann. The 7:30 concert at First Congregational Church featured Voices of Music performing a semi-staged version of Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas with the San Francisco Girls Chorus. -more-

When a conductor puts together a program that is bold and wide-ranging, including works that are relatively unfamiliar to the audience, and succeeds in making each work stand out clearly and forcefully, that is a sure sign of greatness. Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki returned to Davies Hall this weekend to lead the San Francisco Symphony in just such a bold and wide-ranging program, and Ms. Mälkki showed once again her greatness as a conductor. For my money, Susanna Mälkki ought to be considered the front-runner to succeed Michael Tilson Thomas when he retires in 2010 as the San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director. -more-

Worth Noting:

• City Council meets Tuesday. Even if you don’t plan to go to the 5:00 pm special session it is worth taking a cruise through the City Council referrals to the City Manager/staff. The regular 6:00 pm meeting agenda is heavy with the proposed charter amendment for the Police Commission near the end of the agenda.
• Urban Shield subcommittee meets Wednesday.
• The Follow-up meeting to Caring For Our Community – Responding to the Houseless is Thursday evening. So often the message to the homeless seems to be top down. The last meeting included a panel of homeless people who responded to the question of what are their most immediate needs. The responses included: access to bathrooms (or porta potties), drinkable water, showers, food, a place to store their belongings, pick-up of trash, a place to be (evictions, raids, towing of vehicles)
• Friday is special event Uniting Against Hate
• The City of Berkeley labor negotiations with Firefighters, Police, SEIU, Clerks and Maintenance workers continues with 2 closed sessions this week.