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SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces
Bucket Brigades to Save People's Park!
Ace Backwords was one of the first to notice.
"What is up with the People's Park lawn?" he asked. "They've always had lush, green grass. But now all the grass is scorched and dying. Let me guess: The University won't let anyone water the lawn."On August 8, Lisa Teague, with the People's Park Committee, confirmed these suspicions: "UC hasn't been watering the lawn in People's Park." Not to worry. There's no way the people are going to let the park wither away, Teague reports. A frisky band of park rangers quickly purchased a long hose and a sprinkler after which Teague happily reported spending "a couple of hours watering with Russell Bates yesterday, overjoyed, because we're gonna have green grass again."
Coop Center Preparing to Become Homeless?
It came as a surprise to many members of Berkeley's Cooperative Center that the Federal Credit Union is looking to sell its long-standing headquarters at the corner of Ashby and Adeline in order to "pay off debt incurred during the [2008] financial crisis and strengthen [its] capital position…."
According to a joint message from the Board Chair and CEO, the Coop is negotiating to sell the land to "a local nonprofit affordable housing developer" that plans to build "about 80 units of affordable housing at the site."
The note states, without explanation, that the property "has not been optimally used" despite being located across from the Ashby BART stop.
While plans to abandon the Ashby site are well underway, there is, as yet, no clear plan for a new location. The Joint Letter claims the profits from selling the property will go to "improve services to members" but there is no clarity regarding where—or when—the Coop will reopen, just a statement that the main branch will "move to another location within the next one or two years."
It's usually not a good idea to move out of your home until you know where you'll be moving to.
One option would be to keep the Coop at the same location since the new development plan includes "ground-level space for one or more local nonprofits." Why couldn't the Coop simply reemerge as the ground-floor anchor tenant in the new high-rise housing complex?
Instead, the Coop's administrators are thinking small by simply "examining the feasibility of placing a shared-branch kiosk or ATM in the new development."
If the Coop hopes to find a new location that "improves services" to members, it will need to provide, at minimum, the same level of convenience members currently enjoy, including ready access to BART and free parking for 38 automobiles.
Another question: What is to become of the 108 solar panels on the roof of the current building?
Defeat Moscow Mitch
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking a lot of heat these days for his self-appointed role as Trump's "Grim Reaper," assuring that no gun control or ballot protection legislation gets a hearing in the Senate. As a result, the Louisville Courier-Journal recently noted that "#MassacreMitch was the top national trending topic on Twitter as online critics blamed McConnell for the nation's two latest mass shootings."
Meanwhile, McConnell holds the contradictory position that (1) Russia didn't meddle in the 2016 elections while (2) steadfastly refusing to support a House-passed Voting Rights Bill to protect the 2020 elections from foreign hacking.
If Trump frequently acts like Vladimir Putin's lapdog, this makes McConnell look like Putin's poodle. (Or, if you prefer, Putin's Turtle.) "During Mitch McConnell's speech at Kentucky’s premier political event Saturday," Slate reported, "protesters frequently broke out into chants of 'Moscow Mitch'."
But let's not dump too much opprobrium on Moscow Mitch's wounded shoulders. Remember: we still have to deal with Leningrad Lindsey, Petrograd Pompeo, and Volgograd Bolton.
Rampant Racism? Trump Caught Red-handed
I think I may have discovered photograph evidence that ties Trump's race for the White House to the rise of White Supremacy.
You know that familiar "OK" hand-sign that Trump always flashes—with thumb and index fingers joined in a circle and the remaining fingers spread wide? It used to be a common way to signal "all is well." But in 2017, some trolls on the 4Chan website started a rumor that the gesture had a second meaning—forming the letters W and P as a shorthand for White Power.
Intended to mock snowflake liberals, the hoax actually caught on. In the process, it overlapped with a childhood goof called "the Circle Game" that involves showing the OK sign upside down and below the waist.
Regarding Trump: Searching on the Internet, I was unable to find any images of Trump using the "OK sign" prior to the 2016 presidential race. Just plenty of "thumbs-up," and "open palm" signs.
Trump's Hand-signs in Context\
It appears that Trump may have trained himself to start using the OK/WP sign during the early days of his presidential bid and it has now become a habitual, signature gesture. But how do you tell if someone wants the gesture to mean "OK" or "KKK"?
As Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League explained to the Chicago Times: "You absolutely cannot assume what someone is doing when they make the OK sign unless there is contextual information." In Trump's case, the context is scary.
Trump flashes the WP sign during the 2016 campaign
When Trump speaks at rallies and mentions Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez he first lifts his right hand and forms the White Power sign. Clearly, he is not signaling that he is "OK" with AOC. The gesture clearly is meant to convey a negative message. And many in the crowd believe they know what that message is—"Send her back."
Trump also lifts his hand to brandish the WP sign when he mentions AOC's compatriots on "The Squad." Again, he is not signaling to the screaming crowd that these Congressmembers—women he has called "socialists," "communists," "terrorists"—are "OK." He is raising his hand to send a signal and a threat: "The solution to progressive women of color is . . . White Power."
The crowd's response to this incitement varies—from "Send her back!" to "Lock her up!" to "Shoot her!"
The BBC Takes a Look at Donald Trump's Hand Signs
Background Checks and 'Red Flags'
It's a no-brainer that background checks should be required before anyone is allowed to possess a deadly weapon (be it a pistol, a crossbow, or a knife). And it's only logical that guns should be confiscated if family, friends, or co-workers raise a "red flag" that a gun-owner has become unstable and poses a potential threat to the community.
So why don't these same sensible preventative restrictions apply to a singular individual who has a proven record of reckless bullying, threatening behavior, and emotional insecurity?
In short, wouldn't the US—and the world—be safer if Donald Trump had been required to pass a background check before being handed the keys to the nuclear codes?
It's time for Congress to raise a red flag.
You Can't Cover Up a Nuclear Disaster
Internet newsies encountered a great example of a cover-up following the explosion of a nuclear-equipped Russian cruise missile on August 8.
Addressing fears of radioactive fallout, a video dispatch from Al Jazeera quoted a Greenpeace source who cited official Russian monitoring data that showed radiation "spiked 20 times above normal" in a city located 30 kilometers from the blast.
However, a competing report from RT News (an official Russian government broadcast operation) had a different take on the story. The news anchors repeated the government's line that there had been no leak of radiation and there was nothing for residents to worry about. In a delightfully sloppy piece of editing, RT News inadvertently included one of the background scenes that appeared in the Al Jazeera report. It included a clip of a local resident holding up a radiation detector that was clearly registering elevated levels of ambient radiation.
Bad Sex and Comic Strips
On August 13, Chronicle columnist Barbara Lane made mention of the British Literary Review's annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Noting that the current winner was too lurid to reprint in a family newspaper, Lane reposted the following excerpt from the 2017 winner, Venetia Welby's "Mother of Darkness":
"The green grass curls around Tera's left breast as she curls her sleek physique around Matty's diabolical torso like a vine. Paralyzed, complete, the marble statue of the lovers allows itself to be painted by the dawn's lurid orange spillage."
The same issue of the Chronicle also contained an exchange of naughty talk between two characters in Greg Evans's Luann comic strip. Gunther and his BFF Bets are seen posing in hand-made Renaissance costumes. Bets praises Gunther for his craftsmanship and Gunther tells Luann: "I hand-trimmed my jerkin and custom-fitted her bumroll." To which Bets replies: "I love it when you talk nerdy." To which Gunther replies: "Want me to tell you how I hooped your farthingale?"
Letters from Elizabeth Warren
I recently got a Facebook note from Aaron Glanz whose latest book is (take a deep breath): Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream. (The title is too long to memorize, so you either have to write it down or just pony up and buy a copy.)
Glanz's note proudly displayed a photograph of a letter of praise from one of the book's newest fans: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Coincidentally, I had recently sent a note to Warren's campaign proposing two new T-shirt slogans: WARREN PEACE and FOR THE MANY/NOT THE MONEY. I also sent a greeting card with a personal message and three anti-Trump haikus.
This Monday, a small envelop arrived in the mail. It was from Warren's office. Inside was a thank-you note personally signed by the Senator! She ended her message the same way she finished her letter to Glanz—with the hand-written salutation "Persist!"
