It’s been more than two weeks since the disastrous presidential election. It’s time to consider what happened, why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. Obviously, Democrats had problems, and we need to understand what they were so we can fix them before the 2026 midterm elections. -more-

Ishii Elected Mayor

Adena Ishii 19,268 (38.2%)

Sophie Hahn 18,827 (37.3%)

Kate Harrison 11,388 (22.6%)

Others 989 ( 2.0%)

Total 52,448

Ranked Choice Vote

Ishii 25,131 (51.1%)

Hahn 24,092 (48.9%)

Kate Harrison voters favored Ishii over Hahn by 4841 to 4174 with 3086 making no second choice. -more-

The Washington Post reports that President Biden has quietly approved the provision of new anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, adding to his earlier authorization of cluster munitions and another type of anti-personnel mine. These actions blatantly violate the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, which 164 countries have ratified—though neither the U.S. nor Russia is among them. g The International Campaign to Ban Landmines recently released its annual report, revealing over 5,700 deaths and injuries from landmines worldwide last year—an increase of 1,000 from 2022. The campaign’s director strongly condemned the use of these "vile weapons" under any circumstances and called on all nations to join the Mine Ban Treaty to end the suffering they cause. -more-

We lost the election. That doesn’t mean we have lost hope. -more-

The ongoing slaughter and starvation of Palestinians by the Israeli government marks a dark chapter in human history. Despite widespread outrage, the Biden administration continues to enable these atrocities by supplying more weapons to Israel, compounding the moral and humanitarian crisis. Both the U.S. and Israel seem to have forgotten the spiritual truth: "What you sow, so shall you reap." These actions cast a grim shadow over the future of both nations and their leaders, including Biden, Harris, Netanyahu, and especially Trump, who hypocritically claims to revere the Bible. -more-

Corporate "Reform" as a Money-making Ruse -more-

Only about 30% of ballots were counted countywide on election night. An update was posted by the county Registrar of Voter on Friday. The Registrar’s Web site says the next update will be on Monday, which is Veteran’s Day. We’ll see if that happens, but there will certainly be more updates next week. -more-

Worth Noting:

The coming week is very busy as Boards and Commissions reschedule meetings around Thanksgiving week and fit in meetings before the winter recess. The City Council winter recess is from December 11 through January 20, 2025.

Ballots are still being counted. The next release is expected November 20. Over 17,000 ballots in Alameda County are left to count. You can follow election results with this link. https://alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/252/

Go to meetings are in BOLD. -more-

Here in Oakland California, we had our own slip into darkness on election day.

Our local version of the reactionary backlash in the deep Democrat part of dark Blue California does not conform to the liberal-radical reputation we have across the country.

That is a good reputation that we do not deserve.

To start with, two reactionary recalls won hands down. Oakland will be without our mayor and our Alameda County will be without our progressive district attorney. They are being blamed to for high crime rates and other things that have nothing to do with them and had started literally before they were born.

Our own Oakland Local mini-Musk bankrolled the expensive signature gathering required, starting only weeks after the mayor and DA had been sworn into office, two years ago.

The subsequent, well-funded advertising campaign sounded a lot like the campaign against the progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin two years ago. We all know the Trump song about how the liberals just let the criminals go without consequences and how we need to teach those bad people a lesson with harsh policing and harsher punishments. Well, the song sung around here by recall people should open them up for copywrite infringement. -more-

It looks very likely that YIMBY candidate Adena Ishii will be Berkeley’s next mayor. -more-

MoveOn Shares this Dire Warning:g -more-

Democrats should begin to prepare for the 2026 midterms. Before we get started, we need to understand what broke in 2024. -more-

In the latest batch of votes posted by the Registrar of Voters this afternoon, Adena Ishi surpassed Sophie Hahn by 441 votes, narrowing Hahn’s lead to 633 votes. Hahn has 38.8% to 37.1% for Ishii. More importantly for Ishii, Kate Harrison’s second choice ballots in the latest batch favored Ishii 1323 to 1084 in the ranked choice count. Sophie leads in that count 17,437 to 17,055, a margin of only 382 votes, 50.6% to 49.5%. -more-

Hello dear readers. I am not here to argue with psychiatric wisdom or with established science. If you have a severe mental illness, especially one that involves psychosis, you probably need to be medicated. Medicating people with mental illness to help them (us) recover has worked since the early nineteen fifties, with the discovery of Thorazine. -more-

Worth Noting:

Monday, November 11, 2024 is the Veteran’s Day Holiday.

The agenda for the November 19, 2024 City Council meeting is available for comment.

Check City website for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov

Go to meetings are: City Council on Tuesday, the Parks Commission on Wednesday, EBWC on Thursday and the San Pablo Specific Plan (walking) tour on Saturday November 16. -more-

Only about 30% of ballots were counted countywide on election night. An update was posted by the county Registrar of Voter on Friday. The Registrar’s Web site says the next update will be on Monday, which is Veteran’s Day. We’ll see if that happens, but there will certainly be more updates next week. -more-

https://alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/252/ -more-

Update: