Columns

Say "Hello" to Mr. Mopps

At the beginning of June, the display windows of the Mr. Mopp's store on MLK debuted a new selection of books with titles reflecting the seeming return of post-pandemic normalcy. The array of books had one thing in common—the word "hello" in their titles. The ranks of welcoming titles included: Hello Farm, Hello Bear, Hello Lighthouse, Hello Rain!, Hello Moon, Hello World, Hello Universe, Hello Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Say Hello, and Hola Cangrejito (that's "Hello Crab" in English).

With the store's doors reopened in accordance with gubernatorial decree, it was finally possible to casually walk into the longtime-and-still-standing landmark and meet the book-lover in charge of choosing which books to put on display. The window wizard is Mopps' staffer Clare Doornbos and she has already rolled out a new selection of titles to engage the eyes of passing pedestrians. The current theme celebrates the world of "young artists." Trot on over with your junior Picassos and Kahlos and give it a look. 

Is This Breaking-News-App Broken? 

The Chronicle is offering a new phone app for subscribers who want quicker access to breaking news. The ad for the online offer pictures a smartphone with a headline about the "Global Climate Change Fight." 

Well and good? No so much! On closer inspection, it turns out the story refers to the US pullout from the global climate treaty—following orders from "President Trump…." In 2020. 

Not a stellar choice for demonstrating "up-to-the-minute" news. 

Fashion Plates 

Some personalized license plates spotted around town: OOOOF (on a sports car brandishing several decals of dogs—and one "Hello, Kitty"), EEKACAT, BLQ OPL (on a black Mercedes Benz), IBETUDO (I bet you do, too), and BSRKLY (on the backside of a Toyota RAV4). Interested in seeing some of the Vanity Plate requests that the DMV's censors nixed? Here's a short sample: 

DC Statehood: A Challenge for Flag Designers 

This upcoming week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold its first hearing on the issue of granting statehood to the District of Columbia. [Note: This might be a good time to also consider granting statehood to the residents of Puerto Rico since adding two stars might make it easier to redesign the flag.] 

Last year, members of the House passed the Washington, DC Admission Act with overwhelming support. DC statehood also is winning support in the Senate. Granting statehood would transform DC's 700,000 tax-paying residents into citizens with full voting rights and representation in the Congress and Senate. 

But there is a "branding problem" that needs to be addressed. The District is named after Cristobal Colombo, a privateer in the service of the Spanish Empire who introduced disease and ethnocide to the "New World" (aka "Turtle Island"). 

In cities across the US, from San Francisco to Syracuse, crowds of aggrieved Americans have been taunting and toppling statues of Columbus. What is our message to the world when our capital is located in a state named for a foreign invader and an imperial colonizer? (Well, if you think about the USA's own historical record of invading resource-rich foreign lands and murdering the locals, calling the new state "Columbia" might be grimly fitting.)  

So we need a new name. The DC Admission Act proposed naming the new entity "the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" in honor of Frederick Douglass. But that would give the US two Washington States—one on each coast. Maybe just "Douglass State" would do. 

Or we could put it up for a Name-Our-Capitol-State vote-of-the-people: "Freedom State"? "Green State"? "Blessed State"? "Founders' State"? "Piscataway State"? "State of Emergency"? 

Greenhouse Gas-lighting  

Louie Gohmert a Trump-loving Congress-critter from Texas will tell you that climate change is a hoax and there's no reason to make lynching a federal hate crime. While Gohmert didn't storm the Capitol building armed with a can of bear-mace, he is the only member of Congress to sue then-VP Mike Pence for failing to flip the 2020 election and grant Trump a second term. 

During a recent congressional hearing on dealing with extreme weather, Rep. Gohmert went on record to propose the following "cure" for climate change:
“We know there’s been significant solar flare activities. Um ... and so is there anything that the National Forest Service or [Bureau of Land Management] can do to, uh, change the course of the Moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the Sun? Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.”  

It appears that well-oiled politicians like Gohmert are "willing to move heaven and earth" to protect the pollution profiteers who are destroying the planet. Why ban fracking and oil pipelines when we can just ask NASA to tinker with orbits of the Earth and Moon? 

The High Costs of Home Care 

The local activist community recently received a flurry of emails concerning the long illness and declining health of a local and beloved Berkeley scholar and teacher. A GoFundMe account had been set up in his name. First-time visitors to GoFundMe were surprised to discover that the fund-raising site imposed "a 3% platform fee and an industry-standard payment processing fee of 2.2% + $0.30 per donation." One friend who made a $100 donation was startled to find GoFundMe requesting an additional $12.50 in service fees. 

In response, one member of my activist circle wrote: "Home care costs for that last year are a need that's only going to grow among [our group] and the rest of our cohort. If we could turn home care for us elderly into a well-paid, subsidized occupation, we'd go a long way toward job creation." 

This provoked the following observation from another member of our activist cohort: "Good observation. Creating a national cadre of caregivers for the growing-older population would be a good way to create new jobs for younger Americans. Maybe we could call it the 'Rest in Peace Corps.'" 

Punjabbed by Spammers 

Some spammers are better than others. I recently received an email designed to look like it came from my email provider, but it was addressed to "Dear EarthLink" and it read [sic all]: 

"Due to this, Some of your incoming messages were pending until you upgrade your Earthlink homepage. Earthlink is proud to announce this major changes to Webmail earthlink.net. In order to assist you, We have UPGRADE our Earthlink Mail System for new features and easy navigation. Click on MyAccount and verify your account email to upgrade your Earthlink homepage." 

Sampling the "My Account" live link revealed the surprising news that the actual source of the message was "https://www.armedpolice.punjab.gov.in/wellness"—a branch of the Indian government devoted to the "State Armed Police in Punjab, Jalandhar." 

My guess is the Punjabi government must not be paying its police officers a decent wage. 

Remembering Ramsey Clark 

As the former Attorney General during the Lyndon Johnson Administration, Ramsey Clark developed an impressive resume of progressive accomplishments. But unlike other powerful political figures, Clark didn't parlay his political connections to become a highly-paid corporate lobbyist. Instead, Clark dedicated his life and skills to defending the victims of corporate, political, social, and military crimes. 

He spoke out against the Vietnam War. He condemned the US bombing of Hanoi. He defended the Chicago 7. He spoke out for Palestine. He represented political prisoners. He condemned the blockade of Cuba. He decried the US-NATO assault on Yugoslavia. He spoke out about the Pentagon's arrest and kidnapping of Haiti's popular elected leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 

And for his outspokenness, he paid the same price that the US exacts on anyone who dares call out the oligarchs and billionaires who control the mainstream news empires—enforced oblivion. 

Clark became a "non-person." His progressive campaigns and radical criticisms were ignored by the Mainstream News Media. His opinions were never sought out by the MNM. He was not to be seen on Meet the Press. He was not to be heard on NBC Nightly News. His words were not posted on the opinion pages of The New York Times. Instead, he was routinely censored—another victim of the Media-Military-Industrial Blacklist. 

Clark was plain-spoken and forthright, sparking his speeches and essays with incendiary truisms. Two examples: "A right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one can take from you" and "The greatest crime since World War II has been US foreign policy." 

Ramsey Clark died on April 9 at the age of 93. His brave and uncompromising life was celebrated in a June 12 webcast hosted by the International Action Center, an organization that Clark founded. The program included more that 50 recorded and written tributes, more than 100 photos and recordings of Clark speaking at meetings and during humanitarian trips around the world. You can watch the video of the memorial at iacenter.org/ramseyclarktribute/. And here is a salute to Clark that recently aired on Democracy Now! 

Ellsberg's Moving Tribute 

June 13 marked the 50th anniversary of The New York Times' publication of the Pentagon Papers. (See samples of media coverage of the anniversary here. Also, The Ground Truth Project and UMass Amherst have created The Whistleblower, a podcast that celebrates Ellsberg's mega-leak.)  

UMass Amherst (which now oversees Daniel's archive) recently held a 3-day virtual conference on the Papers' legacy that included an exchange between Ellsberg and Edward Snowden. (Recordings of the conference are here.)  

At the age of 90, Ellsberg has again made history with the unauthorized disclosure of a still-classified top-secret review of proposed US nuclear plots against China. During his online intro, Ellsberg confided that he had offered the documents to Tom Wicker of the New York Times 40 years ago but received no response. Four decades later, The New York Times reported the leak and the shocking disclosures have generated international headlines. 

On June 13, Daniel Ellsberg was joined on a live webinar with former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, and journalist Barbara Myers. Noam Chomsky was to have participated but had to cancel owing to a family emergency.  

At one point, I was thrown into a panic when I heard the moderator announce: "And now we'll have a few thoughts from Gar…." 

I was scrambling desperately for a notepad when I remembered that the fourth featured guest was Gar Alperovitz. 

Here is a video of the webinar: 

Blacksmith, Woodsmith, Garsmith?  

I recently got a surprise while reading about the Battle of Hastings (as commemorated on the Bayeux Tapestry). I discovered that the favored weapons of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon soldiers who engaged in that ancient conflict were not the sword or the cudgel but two "long-hafted" spears—the "Ash" and the "Gar." 

The shape of the Gar is still referenced in our modern vocabulary, which calls a certain spear-shaped plant, "garlic" (from "spear-leek"). 

And that means that (despite my pacifist resume) my moniker night lead an 11^th century Anglo-Saxon to mistake me for a "spear-monger." 

Notable Quotes 

"The top people in the Pentagon… want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy." 

• Donald J. Trump, September 7, 2020

"We cannot allow the filibuster to stand in the way of progress or imperil the health of our democracy. The US Senate is the only institution in the world where a vote of 59-41 can be considered a defeat instead of a huge victory."
— Sen. Bernie Sanders. 

"We would love to have a ban on nuclear weapons but, in this day and time, we cannot honestly say that we can protect our people by allowing the bad actors to have them and those of us who are good trying to keep the peace and safety not to have them." 

• Nikki Haley, Trump's UN Ambassador, March 2017

"The concept of 'mental health' in our society is defined largely by the extent to which an individual behaves in accord with the needs of the system and does so without showing signs of stress."
— Ted Kaczynski, aka "The Unabomber" 

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