Putin’s war on Ukraine is producing a huge impact on neighboring countries as well. This letter is from Marta, a Polish woman who lived in California for about a year as a teenager, an au pair with an academic family. She is now back in Poland, a marine biologist with a family of her own.

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This is terrifying time. We can see victims of this stupid war everywhere now. There are many (thousands) people, refugees, mothers and children, elders coming to every larger city in Poland. People organize help, go to the borders to transport the most deprived, prepare food at the help spots, clothing and blankets and so many other activities are undertaken. Many people offer their homes, rooms to stay. I am really proud how people act in this hard situation.

Unfortunately, the government support is not enough. There is a need for school, pre-school for children, work for their mums, psychological and health care for so many broken human beings. -more-

The Twitterverse has been aflame all week with outraged tweeters denouncing the editorial which was scheduled to be published in Sunday's New York Times print issue (March 20).

Let’s detour for a brief pre-rant. The on-line version of the essay appeared sometime mid-week, with comments allowed, which is not always the case. The number of comments posted, chosen by moderators from reader submissions, is close to the 3,000 mark. A somewhat cursory scan doesn’t find even twenty comments that endorse what was said by the New York Times Editorial Board, whose hallowed byline the piece carries. And yet, well before the print paper had been delivered to subscribers in California like me, the comments were closed, so print readers can’t comment online. This happens frequently, and it’s annoying.

But what about the substance of the complaints that did make it online?

Let’s start with the online headline:

America Has a Free Speech Problem.
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I was at a gas station this morning, a place I frequent (because I'm addicted to a product they sell), and an employee there made a remark that made me think.

You can't judge a person by outward appearance. Yet, he looked like a former sheriff or CHP officer--very tall and very stocky, not too big of a gut, shaved head, no tattoos visible, Caucasian--not to insult or deny nonwhite cops or cops with tattoos, or cops who don't look like cops. Notwithstanding, the gentleman exudes and seems to have the attitude of law enforcement. And certainly, the way he behaves matches that.

(Not that I have anything against that. Most law enforcement seem to do a fairly good job of watching out for public safety, and our society is not close to utopian. Although the exceptions to this are many, Homo Sapiens haven't reached a level of thinking that would allow us not to need cops of some kind.)

The employee, likely a manager of the gas station--or at least he acts that way--has always been friendly toward me.

When I first got to the gas station, the door was locked. Then a moment later, the employee/manager/cop appeared and opened the door for me. He said, "Sorry about that, I had to check the bathroom--we had one of those strange people in there." Maybe he isn't aware that I am potentially, also, "one of those strange people." And. when he'd made that remark, I was surprised and disappointed. I guess I am naive. -more-

It's been three weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine and the Western world is wondering: "How can we bring this horrible war to an end and spare the lives of millions of innocent Ukrainians?" We're searching for a tipping point; searching for a way out.

Here are several factors to consider:

1.Vladimir Putin: The Russian dictator is blocking a reasonable end to the conflict. To say the least, Putin has a warped worldview: he invaded Ukraine with the intention to reassemble "Russkiy Mir" (Russian World); to unite all Russian-speaking people. Building upon this perspective, Putin does not consider Ukraine to be a separate part of Russia and plans to annex it.

Experts believe that Putin intends to seize the four largest Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Lviv. If he is successful, Putin will install Russian puppet mayors, hold mock elections, and declare that Ukrainians have voted to rejoin Russia.

Putin does not care how many civilians he kills in order to achieve his objective.

Putin is the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler.

2. Incrementalism: On March 12th, I listened to a ZOOM briefing on Ukraine (https://rdi.org/situation-report-from-the-ukrainian-foreign-minister/ ) featuring Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, renown Russian dissident Garry Kasparov, national security expert USA Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle, and individuals from the Ukrainian front lines.

Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman (retired) is the former Director for European Affairs for the US National Security council; a naturalized US citizen, Vindman was born in Kyiv. He opined that what is required to stop Putin is a massive NATO response, certainly providing aircraft to Ukraine, and possibly declaring a "no-fly" zone. He reminded viewers that Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and for the next 27 months -- until December 11, 1941 -- the US policy was "incrementalism." While the US did provide some support to Europe, it was woefully inadequate; Hitler rampaged across the continent and killed millions of innocents. Colonel Vindman said, in effect, that Putin is Hitler and will not be deterred by anything short of a massive military response. Vindman warned that unless we do this, Putin will kill millions of Ukrainians. (Ukraine has a population of 44 million.)

At the ZOOM briefing, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked the United States to provide four forms of assistance: sanctions on Russia, humanitarian assistance, conventional arms (including anti-tank weapons), and planes. -more-

Sidewalk Preaching

The sidewalk on the south side of MLK Jr. Middle School is still painted with a half-dozen uplifting words colorfully covering the path to the stairs leading to the entrance of the school's main building. The words include RESIST, UPLIFT, and PROTEST.

This got me wondering: Why do we have a word like "uplift" but we don't have a word like "downput"? One the other hand, we have the word "off-putting" but we don't talk about "on-putting."

And then there are the pros and cons of prose. The opposite of Protest is not Contest (they are actually closer to being homonyms than antonyms). On the other hand: The opposite of protrude (to extend beyond) is contrude (to crowd together). The opposite of provoke (to spread mayhem) is convoke (to draw together). The opposite of proscribe (to forbid or exclude) is conscribe (to enlist).

Signs of the Times

There's a public service sign on display in the bus-booth and the northwest corner of San Pablo and Ashby with a disturbing message. "Pressure," it states, "Stops Bleeding." The ad shows two hands pressing down on a blood-red background above the words: "Simple Acts Save Lives." How's that for a status report on the current hazards of urban living? -more-

Since the Taliban drove out the Americans and took control of Afghanistan, the country has faced a monumental humanitarian crisis leaving half of the population experiencing acute hunger. The U.N. Refugee Agency reported a staggering 3.4 million Afghans are internally displaced. The country’s healthcare system is experiencing chronic shortages. The new generation of children are bereft of the most basic education while workers in schools and hospitals are going without salaries while facing rising food and energy costs. Many attribute the dire situation to cruel economic restrictions the Biden administration implemented while diverting $billions to families of the 9/11 victims. Many 9/11 families have condemned Biden's decisions and attributed his actions to pandering to domestic policies. -more-

I have a little catching up to do, having taken a holiday from writing last weekend.

I had lunch with friends this last week who live just across the Bay in San Rafael. The husband used to live in Berkeley and both were curious about local Berkeley politics. I described what I knew of the incident at the Berkeley Drop-In Center, four police with guns drawn, handcuffing the program manager and keeping him on the ground even after it was determined that he didn’t have a gun, just a phone.

The incident didn’t fit with their image of Berkeley as the bastion of liberal politics, but as I described to them Berkeley has changed with the high price of housing and gentrification--or maybe it hasn’t. I was pretty shocked when I started attending City Council in 2014 and saw firsthand the in-your- face racism.

I finished two books this week A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes and White Space Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality by Sheryll Cashin. Both books cover similar territory: the familiar story that if you are Black (non-white) your experience with policing is different than if you are White, although some might argue that being Poor White or Poor White and Homeless isn’t much better. Even though this isn’t new information for many of us, the books are still worth reading.

Hayes focuses mostly on the difference in who, what, where and how policing is performed and law is applied, based on race and neighborhood, and how Black neighborhoods are treated like an occupied colony.

Cashin goes deeper into history and the broader impacts and describes how “the Hood is a place of confinement, an enclosure, with surveillance, disinvestment, and dislocation from opportunity created through federal and local policy”. Cashin writes a lot about education financing, and also showsl that police are more likely to use force in a majority Black neighborhood and an integrated police force is no guarantee of ending biased policing.

Looking at old census data back to 1940, the highest percentage of Black residents in Berkeley was in 1970 at 23.5%. Now it is 7.8%. In the council redistricting map (Amber 2) which will be before council at 4 pm Tuesday, March 22 the neighborhoods with the highest percent of Blacks are still the formerly redlined areas, with District 2 as the highest with 18% Blacks. District 5 is 2% and Districts 6,7 and 8 are 3% Black. -more-

Worth Noting:

Tuesday City Council has a busy last day before their twenty-day Spring Recess from March 23 through April 11, 2022. The 4 pm special meeting on Tuesday is the next step in establishing the new council district boundaries. The Independent Redistricting Commission determines the district boundaries and has selected the Amber Map 2. The 6 pm meeting starts with two preliminary matters which should be of interest to everyone. The first is titled Anti-Eviction and is really about densification and dispels some commonly held myths. The second preliminary item is on the condition of the Maudelle Shirek (Old City Hall) and Veterans Buildings and what seismic stabilization and water leak repair will cost. The agenda looks long, so expect some of the action items to be postponed.

Wednesday the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission will continue the discussion on Eucalyptus Tree Groves and the request by a neighborhood group to use public funds on privately owned land. Managing fire risk is complicated. If, as presented at the last meeting, the Hillside Group is looking to remove Eucalyptus trees and fill with mostly grass, then fire danger may actually increase.

Thursday at the Mental Health Commission the SCU (Special Care Unit) for people suffering from a mental health crisis is on the agenda. It is unknown how much detail will be provided, but the efforts to provide the mentally ill with crisis intervention instead of jail or a 5150 trip/a 72-hour hospitalization against a person’s will is worth our attention. -more-