Columnists

There usually are interesting tidbits of information that are gained by attending City of Berkeley meetings that don’t show up in the minutes. That's what An Activist’s Diary reports about, and here's what happened this week:

Item 36 on the September 15 City Council agenda was a Vote of No Confidence in the Police Chief. If you attended that evening, you would recall that Council members talked away the evening on earlier items and then abruptly ended the meeting on time with no extension on the stroke of 11 pm. It seems that some councilmembers and even the Mayor thought that running out the clock made it possible to escape taking a stand on the no confidence vote.

However on Monday Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Councilmembers Sophie Hahn and Susan Wengraf learned, as members of the City Council Policy Agenda and Rules Committee, that they do have to include items not addressed at previous council meetings. That means you will see the Vote of No Confidence in the Police Chief as the last item on November 10^th agenda. Don’t be surprised if you also see the same kind of blathering to run out the clock again. -more-

Growing up on the Left Coast, I was taught about the rise of the Third Reich, World War II, and the Holocaust tragedy. I asked myself, "If the American version of Hitler appeared in the United States, what would I do?" Now I know. -more-

If we have goals in life, things that we want for ourselves, the content of our minds should be related to what is needed to reach those goals. To do anything else and to believe it will happen turns the goals into a passing fancy or a pipedream. -more-

Gun sales are surging across the country and ammunition is sold out as fears of possible social unrest amid the pandemic. Pandemic anxiety has set in. Anxiety has turned to anger in many quarters after White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said amidst a Covid-19 surge in 30 states, "We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.” Of course, those of us paying attention knew that Trump had surrendered to the virus right from the beginning. This is prompting some Americans to turn to firearms as a form of self-protection, a phenomenon not uncommon during a crisis. -more-

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. -more-