Extra

How Do You Know When Waste Is "Excessive"?

On October 25, the Chronicle reported that 23 members of Congress had signed on to Rep. Zoe Lofgren's letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding the closure of three notorious ICE detention facilities in California. "For years, under multiple administrations, these facilities have been operating in a substandard manner resulting in repeated violations … and excessive waste of federal funds."

Did you notice the critical adjective "excessive"? Apparently the assumption is that a good deal of federal funds will always be wasted but sometimes the corruption is so egregious you need to append the qualifier "excessive."

Toward the end of the article, Chronicle reporter Deepa Fernandez provides this illumination: "The letter also accuses the federal government of wasting $1.34 million a day on unused detention beds."

That means we're paying an annual cost of $489 million for "empty beds." I'd say that's a pretty good example of "excessive. 

Reich On! 

Berkeley Prof. and MoveOn mover-and-shaker Robert Reich has added a new dimension to the demeanor of Democrat-In-Name-Only Joe Manchin, The West Virginia Senator is not just pro-coal because of his state's historic dependence on the polluting Carbon Economy. Nope, Reich noted in a recent Tweet: For Joe, coalmines are personal. Here's Reich's tweet:
"Do you think Joe Manchin opposes climate spending because he’s concerned about the costs? Or do you think it’s because he personally founded two coal companies in the 1980s, which are now led by his son, and his entire family’s fortune relies on the fossil fuel industry?" 

Fashion Plates 

Recently spotted: A Chevy Silverado with a license plate that read: QUITWHY. I'm guessing it's owned by some dude who really likes his job and has no interest in retiring. 

Also spotted: a parked jeep painted an eye-popping pink. The license plate remains a puzzle: TAJGLAM. Is it possible this flamboyant vehicle participates in Drag Races? 

A Subaru parked in a Walgreen's parking lot stood out by dint of the five plastic skeletons attached to the roof and seated side-by-side in a protective guardrail surrounding the trunk. (One of the skeletons has its right arm attached to its spinal column.) A large decal on the rear window appears to read DOWNSINCEDAY but that only raises an additional riddle. The license plate may offer a clue to this apparition but I haven't been able to break the code: The plate reads: TRNS UWU. 

Leaked Video — Billionaire Plots Against Billionaires Tax 

Recent polling shows that in 37 swing congressional districts, support for Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda grows from a net 14 points (56-42) to a net 43 points (69-26) when voters learn the package would be funded by taxing billionaires. Similar polling shows strong popularity for taxing billionaires in West Virginia and Arizona, the respective homes of Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. 

So: how to get the word out that Build Back Better isn't about "reckless government spending," it's really about tapping into the untaxed billions of America's wealthiest tax-dodgers. 

Bold Progressives has come up with a zinger. They've just released a “Leaked Video” that appears to show a concerned Billionaire Plotting Against the Billionaire Tax. 

In new "leaked webcam video," billionaire playboy "Grayson von Trapp" (portrayed by David Cross of "Arrested Development" fame) is caught on his Smartphone conspiring with his financial advisors to thwart Democratic plans to tax billionaires to pay for health care, child care, and fighting climate change. Here's the video. 

Karmic Strips: Pearls Before Bears 

"Pearls Before Swine" cartoonist Stephan Pastis recently devoted a Sunday strip to memories of his last year as a student at UC Berkeley. Upon meeting Julia, a recent Berkeley graduate, Pastis is moved to revisit his happiest campus memories: "I loved my last year at Cal. The campus activities, drinking at Henry's, the football games with Aaron Rodgers… Basketball games with Jason Kidd… and going to Top Dog for late night hot dogs… And just getting to know all the other students, like at the Daily Cal meetings and the protests where we occupied Sproul Hall. And, of course, graduation at Zellerback Hall. My whole family was there." 

That must have been one heck of a "last year"—given that Jason Kidd ruled Berkeley's basketball courts in 1994 and Sproul Hall was occupied by Free Speech Movement activists in 1964. 

After recapping his glory days at UC, Cartoon Pastis asks Julia "How'd you enjoy the experience" of attending UC? Julia's distraught Covid-era reply: "I sat in my bedroom and started at a computer screen." 

In the final panel, Julia is missing and Cartoon Pastis asks: "Is she still crying in the bathroom?" 

Wes' Latest Work's a Waste—but Pretty 

Kudos to Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle for finding the perfect literary quote to critique Wes Anderson's latest exercise in cookie-cutter storybook filmmaking. LaSalle tags "The French Dispatch" as a perfect "cautionary example of what the writer Dashiell Hammett meant when he said: 'It's the beginning of the end when you discover you have style." 

LaSalle's point is that Anderson's pretty-but -shallow tales are like a novel without any hint of novelty. At least, Anderson gets some credit for setting his fable in a fictitious French village named Ennui-sur-Blasé (which LaSalle translates as "Boredom-on-Jaded"). 

A Truly Berkeley Event 

Phoebe Ann Sorgen, one of the spark-plug organizers of Wireless Radiation Education Defense (WIRED) and a leader of the local 5G rebellion, recently emailed a dispatch that captures the vitality of Berkeley's many public policy campaigns. (Reposted here with permission): 

"Though the WiRED Yard Sale was a LOT of work, we had a great time and exceeded our goal, so we’ll be able to pay our attorney’s final bill. YAYYY 

"Thanks to Stephanie T for the educational table with literature near the entrance, so shoppers became better informed re wireless radiation risks and safety tips, and to Sarah A for the excellent “Generation Zapped” DVD's. 

"We had amazing conversations all weekend and made good connections. SO many wonderful people pitched in, too many to name, but special gratitude to Diana B and Beth J who were there with me all day Sat., and Greg and Meave, there a good chunk of both days. 

"Big gratitude for the generosity of the many people who volunteered; donated goods to sell, food, and/or $; helped publicize and organize the sale; and who shopped and schmoozed. 

"Thanks much to the Green Party of Alameda County who consensed w/ the other orgs in that legendary collective (Copwatch, Prison Literary Project, etc) to let us use the Grassroots House backyard. We hope to pay an honorarium towards bldg & grounds upkeep. 

"A guitarist serenaded us for a couple of hours Sat. We played recorded music on Sun. 

We got a kick out of some of the donations. “My Lobotomy”! A Pandemic board game made in 1995! A bottle of sweet red vampire wine that sported a black velvet cape! Gorgeous pottery, glassware, artwork. 

Last night, over half of the leftovers had been taken from the sidewalk at 2022 Blake Street. It’s good that someone(s) took the leftover books, and that KO took clothes/shoes to the Omni for homeless people, because rain is expected tonight. After tarping the pile Sunday evening, when I was removing signs, a nice homeless guy offered help. (He has a tent on Shattuck, said a police raid is expected this Fri.) 

"If you spot any signs we missed (near the Farmers Market?), pls put them in a recycle bin. 

"Go WiRED! And Go Berkeleyans and allies who uphold humane Berkeley values! It took a community, and so many of you came through! 

"PS: If anyone knows how to contact a thin, Black woman named Ramonda, let me know offlist. I found the ivory pear she wanted, but someone bought “The New Jim Crow” before she returned for it Sunday morning. Fortunately for us, while searching for the pear, she and her daughter discovered other treasures. 

Meet the 2021 Brower Youth Award Winners 

On October 14 and 19, Berkeley's Earth Island Institute celebrated the latest slate of young activists to be honored as recipients of the David Brower Youth Awards (BYA). The six activists saluted for their achievements and leadership in environmental and social justice movements included: David Baldwin, Alexandria Gordon, Peter Pham, Alexia Leclercq, Artemisio Romero y Carver, and Sonja Michaluk. 

If you missed the live and virtual events, you can still experience the BYA by watching the online postings of 2021 ceremony and the subsequent Meet the Winners Q&A session. Winner profile films and speeches are now posted on the BYA website and YouTube channel. 

Shameless Fakery of the First Order 

The Internet is becoming a weird, unreliable world unto itself—an alternate-reality universe of fraudulent news and fictitious "truths" promulgated by cults, clowns, and Qanon. 

Case in point: The same day that Bill Clinton was reported to be recovering from an infection in a California hospital, an outlet called "Real Raw News" was reporting that the former president had died from poisoning during his incarceration at the Guantanamo prison complex in Cuba. Clinton reportedly had been found "face-down in a puddle of vomit." The article was filled with copious details, source references, and names of quoted individuals. 

Politifact and other legitimate news services had to go online to assure visitors that the former president was still among the living. 

Real Raw News has uploaded a slew of breaking stories "overlooked" by the mainstream press. Here's a current sampling: Colin Powell Committed Suicide, Hunter Biden Hanged at GITMO, Chelsea Clinton to Face Military Tribunal, Hillary Clinton Hanged at GITMO, Military Arrests Andrew Cuomo, Bill Gates Hanged at GITMO, Fake Biden Receives Fake Booster on National Television. 

All these stories were written by Michael Baxter, a self-described "former English teacher." High on its website, RRN claims it "explores content often avoided by the mainstream media." But hidden far down at the bottom is a disclaimer—added "for our protection, on the advice of legal council." The disclaimer reads: "This website contains humor, parody, and satire." 

Apparently RRN's hundreds of thousands of faithful followers have never noticed that disclaimer because they continue to fill the site with the endless rants of true believers. 

Here's a sample reaction to the report that Hillary Clinton had been lynched at GITMO. "Rene" writes:
"Bill Clinton is already with her in Hell having a party with their God Satan. What was executed was an official execution, of a clone, the way I understand, both of them were executed in 2919 [sic]. Barak [sic] Obama was also executed with his trans husband…." 

DoobTube Videos Conjure Fictitious Superpower Conflicts 

It's always a bother to spot something on YouTube that features an intriguing "front-door" photo only to discover that the inside content contains no trace of the advertised image. Apparently creating "fake come-on" images to promote clicking on dubious videos (aka "DoobTubes") is an "offense to reality" that now has become a reality. 

Even worse, there are videos that pretend to be offering news but are actually designed to capture eyeballs with raunchy, sensationalistic "news" that has little-to-no basis in reality. 

But even more concerning—and potentially threatening—are the hair-raising video reports on military superpower conflicts that appear on websites like USA Post, US Military Defence, American Patriot Military, Today News Post, You News2, The Specifications, US Defense Line, and US Daily Military. 

For months, these sites have been posting reports of blazing armed confrontations as the US Navy confronted Chinese fishing fleets hunting for squid off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands. The Chinese-vessels-hunting-for-squid part is true but these DoobTube reports have also claimed: "US Navy arrests and sinks 300 China illegal fishing boats." Sometimes the videos report it was the US Coast Guard, not the Navy, that attacked and destroyed China's fishing fleet. While the videos appear convincing, there is no corroboration for these massive Superpower sea-battles to be found in legitimate news sources. 

A report from Armed BN claims the US and Japan joined forces to "sink 2,586 illegal China fishing boats in the Sea of Japan." The same site uses a slightly altered version of the same cover photo for a story headlined: "US Navy sends 50,000 troops to sink illegal China fishing boat in breach in Pacific." 

In other never-happened confrontations, Argentina, Indonesia, Japan, and Russia are reported to have destroyed hundreds of Chinese vessels in their local waters. The videos offer compelling visuals of high-seas combat that seem to provide convincing evidence of these epic "Fish War" clashes around the world. The only problem is, there is no substantiated reporting of these epic collisions on any reputable mainstream newsite. 

On October 22, a DoobTube site called US Defense Line reported: "High Alert!!" Beijing Threatens to Invade US After Taking Control of Entire South China Sea." 

The videos are advertised with photoshopped images of an apocalyptic battle involving scores of battleships, squadrons of dive-bombing aircraft, erupting explosions, and skies filled with billowing black smoke. Only problem: It never happened. 

Two weeks ago, Today News Post uploaded a news story headlined "US military shoots down Chinese jet to protect Taiwanese Territory" accompanied by two photos of a military jet falling from the sky in flames. There was no mention of this alleged shoot-down in the actual video—let alone any footage of a Chinese fighter jet tumbling out of the sky, engulfed in flames. 

These DoobTube videosites are plentiful and they appear to be well-funded. As to their purpose, that's a puzzle. Who would benefit from stoking suspicion and fear among the world's leading military superpowers? The global arms industry? 

Useful Tip: Tools to help detect and combat faux news can be downloaded from the Arizona State University's News Co/Lab. 

The Founders Sing: "Who Are You? (Manchin, That's Who)"