Columns

Signs of the Times

I came across an inspiring political yard sign a couple of days ago. Revising a comment Donald Trump repeatedly made about the Coronavirus, the message on the sign's red-white-and-blue stripes read:

And One Day

Like A Miracle

He'll Be Gone

Exploring Electoral Politics for Kids

Mr. Mopp's may be closed for the moment but it's still managing to stay engaged.

The north-facing window is stacked with a wonderful selection books devoted to the promotion of democracy. Here are just a few of the titles (stroll by Mopp's and read them all):

Dr. Suess' One Vote, Two Vote. I Vote, You Vote, Kid President, President of the Jungle, I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, Why We March, Nevertheless, We Persisted, Lillian's Right to Vote, Sofia Valdez: Future President, and Kamala Harris's The Truths We Hold.

One book that's missing from the list is a book-for-adults that explains the mysteries of the Electoral College. In 2016 Hillary Clinton beat Trump by 3 million votes and Trump won the EC. In 2020, Joe Biden is expected to beat Trump by 7 million popular votes but could still lose in the EC. How would you explain such an unfair outcome if you were writing a book for children? Here's a possible title: The Electoral College: An Unfairy Tale. 

One Original Political Poster 

This week marks the first time I've spotted a mayoral candidate's campaign sign that looks like a hand-made poster. There's one on the corner of Rose and Henry and another near the Main PO. The colorful, hand-scribbled placards encourage undecided voters to cast a ballot for Naomi D. Pete for Mayor. Pete hereby wins the contest for the most "hands-on" campaigner. 

One Weird Political Poster 

One way for a voter to make up his/her mind before going to the polls is to go to the poles. Berkeley's wooden power poles—covered with stapled, tacked, and taped flyers—show what social media looked like before the advent of smartphones and the Internet. The poles that line our sidewalks have traditionally served as wooden magnets for political advertisements (as well as signposts for breaking news about yard sales and lost pets). 

Most pole-postings are straightforward promotions for a single candidate but there's one poster that's got passers-by scratching their heads. 

This self-described "Voter Guide on Policing" is supposed to help voters decide among three District 5 candidates for City Council—incumbent Sophie Hahn, followed by challengers Todd Andrew and Paul Darwin Picklesimer. But, instead of listing what positions the candidates support or oppose, the poster lists 1-5 issues. 

At first it looks like the candidates support all-of-the-below. On closer inspection, there is a code before each statement—a check indicates support, an X signals opposition, and a — records ambivalence. It's a confounding presentation. 

Hahn is best-served, with scores supporting and opposing all the right positions. Picklesimer, however, is poorly served. The poster lists only one issue beneath his name: "Hopeful about 50% cut to Berkeley PD budget" and marks the statement with an undecided "—". How can you say someone is undecided about being "hopeful"? (There's no url on the poster so it's authors are a mystery.) 

Faithless Electors: A Nightmare Scenario 

Fortune Magazine broke down how the Electoral College works—and doesn't—by recalling the 2016 contest when seven so-called "faithless electors" cast ballots that, instead of representing their state's popular vote, went to the campaign of the candidate they personally preferred. In 2016, that wasn't enough to swing the election. But in 2020, polls are tight and the stakes couldn't be greater. For a chilling introduction to the dark past of the Electoral College, you can read an article in The Atlantic called "The Electoral College's Racist Origins." 

What If Trump Refuses to Concede Defeat 

If Trump loses the November election and refuses to leave, a democratic majority may have to rise up and mount a massive nonviolent response. The alternative— thanks to Trump's poisonous strategy of division and hate—may risk civil war. 

According to The Daily Kos, one of the groups assembling to take action against a Trump take-over is The Protect the Results coalition. This is a history-making assembly of more than 140 activists groups ranging from Indivisible and the Sierra Club to Public Citizen and Black Lives Matter. Click here to find potential November 4 events near you. In the Bay Area, events are being planned for Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco. Let's hope it isn't necessary. 

Patently Ridiculous 

The morning mail brought an unexpected surprise—a letter that read "Congratulations from Professional Awards of America: Your Patent Has Been Issued!" 

News to me. While "getting a US Patent" is one of the items on my bucket list, I still haven't found the time (or inspiration) to earn one. No deterrent to Professional Awards of America—Serving the Inventor Community Since 1983." 

PAA's mailer came with a folder listing 37 different options to preserve and display one's US Patent—including wall-mounted frames, desk plaques, and transparent acrylic trophies with laser-engraved proclamations and cool, color accents. 

Now that I think of it, I did apply for a patent once. As a peace activist and draft resister during the Vietnam War, I was concerned that the Pentagon might want to draft my son. So when our child was born, my partner and myself used an official US Patent Office certificate to "patent" him. We were required to "verily" declare that we were "the original, first and joint inventors of the invention described herein." I figured that patenting a child as a "unique and original" creation might grant a protected status could be used to keep him off the Pentagon's recruitment list. If the Pentagon ever came calling, I was ready to yell "Infringement!" 

A Hard-to-Notice Notice 

I happened to observe that the skinny, tilting power pole on Hopkins Street near the Monterey Market, is now adorned—thanks to AT&T and the BPD—with both a stovepipe-shaped 4G/5G transmitter and a shiny, new notice. But the notice is hard to notice since it is posted waaaay up near the top of the pole. 

What folks at street level can't read in the unnoticeable notice is the warning that "above this point you are entering an area where Radio Frequency (RF) fields may exceed the FCC General Occupational Exposure Limits." 

The sign also advises passing pigeons that it is important to "Follow safety guidelines for working in an RF environment" and advises curious squirrels to "Keep (1) ft. away from the fronts of antennas." 

And here's an interesting design note: The empty "fill-in-the-blank" space between the words "Keep" and "ft. away" is large enough to accommodate figures up to 999 feet. 

As one Berkeley resident put it: "I understand from the Notice that the FCC IS concerned about the environment in alerting pigeons, other birds, and squirrels of the dangerous equipment they've put up. I'm sure it will be followed soon by regular broadcasts from the pole in bird calls and squirreleze." 

The Trump Crime Family 

With 11 days until the November 3 election, the folks at MeidasTouch media released two videos with the hashtag #TrumpIsPathetic. This "double header" reportedly became "top-trending in the USA," while receiving millions of views. These anti-Trump social-media perps followed up with a third video baring the name ‘Trump Crime Family.’ Herewith: all three: 

Trump Fails to Stall Stahl in 60 Minutes Huff 

After Donald Trump stomped off in the middle of his interview with 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl, he decided to take revenge by posting his own taping of the interview online in an attempt to undercut the forthcoming CBS broadcast. (Here's a link to the 60 Minutes version.) In the tweet that accompanied his pirated release on YouTube, Trump texted: "Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS!" 

So how did Trump's tantrum play out in the only terms he seems to recognize—i.e. ratings? It appears that Trump's attempt to damage 60 Minutes' ratings failed. 

According to YouTube, Trump's truncated posting racked up 199K views (first 2 days) while the subsequent CBS broadcast topped 3.9 million views by day three. 

For more bad news for our ratings-obsessed leader, check out to following tallies: 

• Joe Biden's Final 2020 Ad: 495K (one week) 

• Seinfeld's Newman closes down Trump in new Dem Ad: 848K (2 weeks) 

• Trump's video deposition in his Trump University fraud case: 1.7M (one month) 

• Trump Threatens Saturday Night Live with 'retribution' over parody: 2.4 M (1 year ago) 

• Colin Powell explains why Trump shouldn't be re-elected: 2.7M (4 months ago) 

(But here's a Pro-Turmper Reality Check: The live broadcast of Trump's October 24 rally in Circleville, Ohio claimed 7.3 million viewers.) 

A Fireside Chat or an Open-fire Chat? 

The Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) describes itself as "an independent, nonpartisan policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking and debate about national security strategy and investment options." CSBA recently sent out a press release announcing that it was hosting a "Fireside Chat with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper." 

Props to CSBA for admitting that it receives support "in the form of government, corporate, and foundation grants and contracts" and for including a list of funders that, over the past five years, have dug in to help support the CSBAs "independent, nonpartisan" work. Here is the CSBA's "independent/nonpartisan" list of supporters: 

Aerojet Rocketdyne, Army Strategic Studies Group, Army War College, Austal USA, Australian Department of Defence, BAE Systems Inc., Carnegie Corporation of New York, Chemring Group, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Department of the Navy, Embassy of Japan, Fairbanks Morse, Fincantieri/Marinette, Free University Brussels, General Atomics, General Dynamics—National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), Harris Corporation, Huntington Ingalls Industries. Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Kongsberg Defense Systems, Inc., L3 Technologies, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Maersk Line, Limited. Metron. National Defense University, Navy League of the United States, Northrop Grumman Corporation. Office of the Secretary of Defense/Office of Net Assessment (ONA), Office of the Secretary of Defense/Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (AT&L), Polski Instytut Spraw Miedzynarodowych (PISM), Raven Industries, Raytheon Company, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, SEACOR Holdings, Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellows Program, Smith Richardson Foundation, Submarine Industrial Base Council, Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Textron Systems, The Boeing Company, The Doris & Stanley Tananbaum Foundation, The Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation, United Kingdom Royal Air Force.