Columnists

DT won't go away! The most recent Quinnipiac Poll ( https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3810) reports that 66 percent of respondents do not want Donald Trump to (re)run for President. Nonetheless, 66 percent of Republicans wouldlike him to run again. (Not surprisingly, the same percentage of Republicans do not believe that Biden's 2020 victory was legitimate.) DT refuses to disappear and, as a result, the Republican Party keeps acting crazy. What explains this? -more-

Human beings, through social osmosis, are taught to be happy when we experience things believed "good" and unhappy when "bad things" happen in our lives. Yet if the bad things do not physically directly affect us, it means we have wiggle room with respect to how much this will affect us. Diseases affecting the body and/or mind have a direct effect of causing suffering. Some circumstances, such as homelessness, starvation, or being incarcerated, have a direct effect of causing suffering. The above are situations that we can't make okay through mental gymnastics. Physical disease or an injury are painful, with few exceptions. -more-

Sen. Joe Manchin (D.-WV) says he will not vote for The People Act or to end the filibuster, claiming the legislation has no Republicans support. But he knows or should know that bipartisan support will not be forthcoming. Remember when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-KY) warned, “One hundred percent of my focus is standing up to this administration.” It seems Sen. Manchin is now aligned with Sen. McConnell and former president Trump in stymying President Biden’s agenda. -more-

No Home in the Biome?

On June 7, Mayor Jesse Arreguin shared the screen with NBC Evening News anchor Lester Holt to discuss the NIMBY vs. YIMBY debate currently roiling Berkeley's neighborhoods. Not broached in the broadcast was the issue that much of the pressure to build denser housing comes from UC Berkeley's plan to augment revenues by increasing the number of customers—er… make that "students"—from 55,130 to 67,200 over the next 15 years—a 22% increase.

In order to accommodate this planned 12,000-plus surge in the civic population, UCB plans to add another 8 million square feet to the 11.9 million square feet of Berkeley acreage that it currently occupies. This unprecedented 68% expansion will be needed to add 11,739 new beds for students, another 549 beds for new faculty and staff, and 1,240 more parking spaces.

It occurs to me that, if single-family homes are sacrificed to make room for multi-story apartment buildings (fueled by growth-addicted developers and revenue-seeking UC administrators), there is a constituency that is not being represented.

With the loss of open space as backyard gardens are buried beneath high-rise apartment complexes, what will become of the birds, bees, butterflies, squirrels, raccoons, and deer that currently inhabit our vegetated neighborhood open spaces?

Will the city's only gardens be rooftop gardens? And, without open spaces to roam and forage, will bucks and fawns be replaced by new populations of the dominant denizen of compact urban squalor—the rat?

Hippie Summer Boomer Bummer -more-